There are MILLIONS of people on the internet clicking away and completely addicted to their computer screens. No location is off limits for surfing the Web. That's millions of people who quickly say one of the top things they can't be without is an Internet connection. So what are all these people doing?

Shopping? Watching movies? Playing cards?... Nope - they're playing Farmville on Facebook, Tweeting about their days and addicted to the latest iphone app and guess what - that audience is not only consistent, the addiction is growing! So now is the time to position yourself in front of this flood of ever-growing internet traffic and learn to leverage this mob to your advantage.

With sites like Facebook boasting over 400 million users worldwide, it's no wonder social media is creating such a large buzz within the industry. A good social media strategy can potentially place your brand in front of hundreds of millions of eyeballs. Though the ability to interact so closely with your customers on sites like Twitter, Facebook and blogs seems too appealing to pass up, it's important to evaluate the various social media channels and establish a strategy customized to your company and its needs.

As marketers and business owners, we need to keep in mind that social media is more than just Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace and LinkedIn. In fact, there are over 20 different "varieties" of social media that you MUST know in order to stay ahead of the game, as each business and client that you encounter may have vastly different needs and these industries change so rapidly.

In this article we will discuss:

• Social media challenges - what you need to consider when developing your strategy.
  
  
• Building your brand and managing your reputation.
  
  
• Measuring your social media efforts like a pro!
  
  

Social Media Challenges - What you Need...