It's no secret that social media sites like Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook have taken over traffic on the web. But does that mean that every business needs to adopt a social marketing campaign? Or is social marketing a waste of time for most businesses? A quick scan of the top ten most visited sites (according to Alexa.com) is revealing:

1. Google (Founded 1997)
2. Facebook (Founded 2004)
3. Yahoo (Founded 1994)
4. YouTube (Founded 2005)
5. Windows Live (Founded 2005)
6. Wikipedia (Founded 2000)
7. Blogger.com (Purchased by Google 2003)
8. MSN.com (Founded 1995)
9. Baidu.com (Founded in 2000, it's the leading Chinese Search Engine)
10. Yahoo.co.jp (Yahoo in Japanese)

There are two conclusions that I draw from this top ten list. First of all, that internet users are primarily interested in three things: searching, socializing, and entertainment.

Secondly, it's fascinating to look at the dates the sites were founded. For example, how amazing is it that Facebook gets more traffic than Yahoo, even though it launched ten years later? What does that mean? To me the message is loud and clear. While search and information gathering is still very important to the internet user, socializing and connecting is what they really enjoy and do the most. One unknown source said, "People are leaving the internet for Facebook." I think there's a lot of truth in that.

One other point about this top ten list is this: don't assume that visitors to Google, Yahoo, and Live are only going there to search. Far from it. Each of these services offers social media aspects. Google offers Gmail, Docs, Picasa, Knols, and a very popular live chat feature. Yahoo has a whole host of services that connect people, as does MSN. So the lines between simple search and social connecting are becoming blurred, as the big search engines take on more and more social connecting services.

So how does a business respond to this massive social trend? The debate rages over what value, if any, Twitter, Facebook, or Youtube could possibly offer to corporations. Executives worry that Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and others are a waste of time, and don't understand how to leverage these services as marketing weapons. Who wants to give employees license to start spending hours at a time on these sites? Where's the ROI? But while the debate rages, savvy companies are quietly (or in some cases not so quietly) planting their flags and claiming their share of the Social Media world.

Best Buy advertises their Twitter page on their TV commercials, effectively fusing their off-line and on-line advertising. Blendtec gets millions of dollars of free advertising from it's "Will It Blend" videos on Youtube (if you haven't seen them, go to Youtube now and check out Blendtec's channel. Their videos are entertaining, compelling, and viral).

These "Will It Blend" videos (not commercials, videos!) each get hundreds of thousands of views. It's impossible to put a price tag on that. The cost of viewership on television would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Youtube is free. Blendtec has a single video with over 7,000,000 views!

Other uses of social media: Jet Blue monitors the "Twittersphere" for any mentions, and has been known to actually call disgruntled "Tweeters" on their cell phones to immediately resolve concerns! ESPN has Twitter accounts, Facebook Fan Pages, and a Youtube channel (with forced advertisements at the beginning of their videos). Walmart's Twitter account features New Release Tuesday, Pre-Order Specials, and positive news articles and corporate announcements.

(You can grab a free twitter marketing guide on my blog)

To me, there is no debate. Smart corporations will market where the people are, the same way that smart fishermen fish where the fish are. Surfing provides another great analogy, it's a lot easier for a surfer to "grab a wave" than to create one! The corporation that isn't adopting Social Media right now is just like a surfer out there creating a wave. It's not going to happen.
The key, then, is to understand the mindset of this new breed of customer. What are their new habits? How do they prefer to get their information? How do they make buying decisions in the new world of the social web?

If your customers love social media like Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter, why fight? The profits are at the front of social and technological shifts, not at the back. You're either cutting edge, or trailing edge. The market is brutal, it moves fast, and it rewards early adopters, creative thinkers, and thought leaders, but punishes old school marketers.

How do you take advantage of the trends? Marketing messages should be current, entertaining, and educational. If people want information and entertainment, why not give them both? A smart corporation will figure out the art of what I call "edutainment"- the skill of creating video, social content, and tweet streams that entertain, educate, and sell the way the new marketplace wants to buy.

So when it comes to social media, corporations have two choices. They can ride this exciting, profitable, and inexpensive marketing wave, or sit on their surfboards and watch their competitors take all the new market share.