WHEN IT COMES TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING, many business owners are asking themselves the same questions, such as:

“I’m beginning to see how these tools and strategies will help my business—and, most of these tools are free! Can’t I just do all this by myself?

OR, “Do I need to hire a social media consultant? Golly… My brother-in-law’s sister is a computer programmer. Can’t she just help me with this?”

OR, “Do I need an artsy graphic designer type—or maybe a high-priced ad agency to help me?”

We understand. It’s a little overwhelming.

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THEN, to make matters worse, everyone has different answers to those questions. If you talk to some SEO (search engine optimization) experts, they may tell you that social media is primarily about SEO. If you talk to a marketing agency, they may tell you that it’s all about online branding. A public relations specialist may see the social web more for PR. If you talk to Twitter experts, they may tell you that social media is about microblogging. Someone with a heavy computer programming background may believe the magic is in the HTML, PHP, and CSS.

As true social media guru, Jason Falls said, “We’ve got grammar-geek PR folks and copywriters talking touchy-feely stuff on one side and numbers-nerds SEOs and analytics experts on the other side, and never the twain shall meet.”

There are also more and more consultants around who act like they have an omniscient grip on every component of social media marketing. Talk to ten of those folks and you’ll get ten different versions of what you should be doing and why you should be doing it.

So, having said all this, let us be clear… While there’s no one-size-fits-all social media marketing strategy, there are many highly qualified, experienced, extremely competent people—real specialists in their fields—who are prepared, anxious and willing to help you take advantage of these powerful, effective marketing opportunities. The Academy of Social Media brings them together—mixing them in with our unique, hands-on, step-by-step approach—to help you and your business reap the benefits of social media marketing.

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We’re a transparent bunch. It’s kinda the way social media works.

WE’RE ASSUMING that you’re here on our site because you’re already reasonably convinced that social media marketing is relevant, in some way, for your business. You may not yet completely understand or recognize how it works, or what benefits your business will realize—however, you know enough to know that you shouldn’t ignore it. Your gut sense tells you that.

And gosh… If Oprah is talking about it, it must be true, worthwhile, good, and non-fattening, right?

Is social media marketing powerful? Can it make a difference—regardless of the size of your business? Absolutely. But if you’re not convinced about this assumption, you need to attend our free overview first, entitled, “Introduction to Social Media Marketing.”