You may be hearing a lot about social media marketing.  Or you might just be hearing about this thing called Web 2.0.  Social media marketing is part of the Web 2.0 revolution.  It's all about using online communities and resources to communicate with others on just about anything.  It's turning upside down many of our traditional beliefs in marketing - and I'm not just talking about internet marketing. 

Think about social networking online to be the electronic (or online) version of talking to our friends, neighbors and family members about anything.  We often talk about our social networks - the people we talk to about a variety of things including getting their opinions about products and services.  The internet, through these online communites, is quickly becoming a meaningful and convenient place to solicit people's opinions on a variety of things.  These online communities take the shape of blogs, wikis and forums, and could very well include comments (good and bad) about your company's products and services.  Rather than hoping no one is saying anything negative about you, get involved.  There are numerous examples of companies using social media networking to strengthen their offerings and turn criticism into good will.         

Do a search for your name and your company, and look through what people are saying, if anything, about you.  Log into some of the large social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and do a search for your company and name.  Find out what people are saying about you.  Then, get yourself involved in social media marketing and get in front of this new marketing medium.