by Melissa Austin

Created on: September 15, 2010   Last Updated: September 17, 2010

When the job market started looking grim, many people started looking at how they could work for themselves, from the comfort of their own homes, without having to worry about corporate downsizng and pay cuts. The problem was, trying to figure out how to start-and grow-their own business.

The number one problem that plagues self-employed individuals is lack of marketing. Especially if they are working from home and are behind a computer all day. While most brick and mortar stores thrive-or die-on word of mouth, it is hard to get that same networking if you are working for yourself.

This is where social media comes into play. Unless you have been living under a rock, you have at least heard of sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, and Wordpress. If you are like most people, you have at least one social media account. Social media is a great, and inexpensive, way to grow your business and generate new leads.

Facebook-It is not just for harvesting crops

Facebook boasts millions of users. At the click of a button you can re-connect with old high school flames, find your long lost first love, and reach an ever growing audience of people that have the potential to become new leads for your business.

One of the best ways to grow your business using Facebook is to start a "fan page". These are easy, and free, to set up, and you can have more than one fan page if you do more than one thing. Simply scroll down to the bottom of a page that you already "like" and click on "create a page for your business". Setting up a fan page is almost exactly like setting up your personal Facebook page. Once you have it set up, click "suggest this page" located under the photo and send the suggestion to your friends.

A few tips: Facebook hates spam, and they have a pretty finicky spam filter. So, be careful. Think before you hit share. Make sure that you change up the content that you are sharing, don't just share the same link over and over. Make sure to keep it professional. Not only are you representing your business, but you are representing YOU. People are more likely to buy from people that they trust. A good rule of thumb is to not post anything that you wouldn't want your mom (or grandma) reading. This goes for personal pages as well.

Tweet! Tweet!

Twitter is one the best ways to reach millions of people. With just 140 characters, you have to get right to the point. By adding hashtags to your tweets, you can reach people who are not even on your followers list.

Twitter is

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