2011 could be the year businesses leverage social networking to improve their bottom line. Shall we call this Social Networking 2.0? Already many businesses are using Twitter to promote their product or service. Sometimes not in a very subtle way - spamming Twitter in hopes someone might come across it via the Twitter search engine. Facebook is a tougher nut to crack because each social circle is 'private', so businesses can't necessarily market to these private social circles.
However, there are ways businesses can get their message out via Facebook. One way is by having a page that users can "Like". Then when businesses publish something new, it will appear in the users' newsfeed. Of course, there are challenges getting people to "Like" your Facebook page, especially smaller companies. You can learn how to address these challenges at SocialCRM Expo taking place February 2-4 in Miami, FL. Check out this graphic, which describes this show in a nutshell: