Social media marketing is the big winner with local businesses in the marketing method sweepstakes, according to a new survey. But social media’s win comes at the expense of traditional offline marketing methods, which continue to decline.

Groupon, as a first-time Super Bowl advertiser and new company, has a much different branding agenda for the big game than Chevrolet, Coca-Cola and other marquee marketers. The social-coupon marketer is looking to boost brand awareness. Chevy, in contrast, is well-known, but wants to change the public perception of its cars, while Coke is seeking to bolster its connection to consumers.

Corporate blogging is popular and gaining momentum. Companies in all sectors are doing it. I’ve seen corporate blogs at online travel agencies, law firms and financial services companies. So, with everyone getting in on the social media marketing action, why are some businesses sitting on the sidelines? Let’s get specific: why aren’t your competitors making a move? After all, you really aren’t interested in anyone else.

For many years, Seth Newman had one big regret. In 1997, Newman, president of Action Envelope, a $12 million envelope retailer based in Lindenhurst, New York, passed up a chance to buy the domain name Envelopes.com for $10,000. At the time, the price was more than the small company wanted to spend—and Newman was happy with his website, ActionEnvelope.com.

By: Jacob Share, PersonalBrandingBlog.com

I’d be surprised if you don’t immediately grab at least one of these productivity-enhancers.

Quick tip on Jan. 28, 2011: I just discovered these tools recently and am still trying them myself. Some of them are very new and a little buggy, but if you like their concept (or even if you don’t), reply to them on Twitter with feedback. They’ll love you for it.

Read more on Tools to reduce your Twitter time without cutting corners…

By Mikal E. Belicove, Entrepreneur

Everybody knows the importance of making a positive first impression, but if you assume prospective customers first encounter your website through its homepage, think again. Natural search results drive users to individual pages that best match each user’s search query, and often that page is not your site’s homepage.

Read more on Why you shouldn’t focus on your website’s home page…

In the past few years, businesses have increasingly dedicated resources to creating social media strategies in hopes of boosting site traffic, sales and brand engagement.

The infamous leak of 100 million Facebook user pages in July of 2010 caused a scare among users and created what may turn out to be a golden opportunity for potential Facebook competitors. A security researcher by the name of Ron Bowes created a script that downloaded the information that users chose to make publicly available from the Facebook User Directory. Hence, this alleged leak was actually nothing more than the collection and publication of user information already made public by 100 million Facebook users.

By Jesse Stanchak , SmartBlogs

Strom Thurmond was my wingman in college.

Not literally, of course. I only met him once, for about a minute in the spring of 2000. But I got a story out of that meeting that I would later tell to almost every girl I ever tried to impress. Part of that stems from the fact that I went to a university where people talk about politics all the time, but mostly it’s just a really funny story.

Read more on 6 ways to reach out and touch your online followers…

It used to be so simple.

Decisions were made according to an organization chart that classified people according to their functional role. If you were low on the chart, you just carried out the orders handed to you from higher on the branches. If you were higher on the chart, you handed down the decisions and were accountable for whatever happened below you, rarely getting your hands dirty in the details. Businesses sorted employees into silos like marbles into jars.