How exactly do you define social media? What’s changed?

    Well, that’s a good question. And the complete answer could fill pages without really delivering the clarity that a small-business marketer might desire.

     So here’s the simple definition for the purpose of this document. Social media is the use of technology to co-create, know, like, and trust.

     Social media, and by that I’m lumping together blogs, social search, social networking, and bookmarking, presents the marketer with a rich set of new tools to help in the effort to generate new business.

     If you studied marketing in the textbook world, you likely covered the 4 Ps of marketing—you simply created a product, figured out how to price it, got it placed in the market, and promoted the heck out it.

     Today’s approach to marketing, the approach infused with social media, leans much more heavily on the 4 Cs of marketing. Tons of relevant, education-based, and perhaps user generated content that is filtered, aggregated, and delivered in a context that makes it useful for people who are starving to make connections with people, products, and brands they can build a community around.

     Content + Context + Connection + Community = Social Media Marketing

     Source: Let’s talk, Social Media for small busniess, version two (John Jantsch) e-book