You know I’m a big fan of the use of social media for marketing a small business. Having said that, I’m really a fan of social media done right for small business. That means that some of the tools won’t be right for you, the ways others use some of the tools won’t be right for you, but the power contained in the new way people expect to communicate – and therefor you must learn to communicate – is something that every small business must come to understand.

Standing out and marketing a business takes work, but many of the social media tools make that work much easier and, for the small business that gets that, creates a tremendous competitive advantage. In my ongoing effort to help small businesses understand, prioritize and use social media tools, I teamed with Microsoft Office Live Small Business on a new very practical e-book called Let’s Talk: Social Media for Small Businesses. It is available for download for FREE.

Update: Microsoft has now made this download available without the need to register or login.