Charlene Li, senior analyst with Forrester, stopped by the Duct Tape Marketing podcast to discuss social media and her new book, co-authored with Josh Bernoff, Groundswell.

Much of Li’s work at Forrester is in working with very large organizations to help them understand how to use social media, but the funny thing is that most if not all of what is contained in the book applies to small businesses as well. In fact, big companies are actually diving head first into social media in a bit of an attempt to look and feel smaller.

Make no mistake, the Groundswell that Li and Bernoff cover in this book is not a passing trend, it’s a reality.

As a small business owner the only really tough question is not what or how, it’s why. Understand what practical objective you want to achieve (Groundswell covers many) and then pick that one objective and apply the appropriate tool – it’s that simple. Don’t try to do it all – do one thing in social marketing and then move on to the next. (See: Hierarchy of Social Marketing)