Every week as @SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Liana “Li” Evans @StorySpinner who is known as the online marketing geek girl who loves all things social media! ­She has been an accomplished online marketer since 1995. She is also the author of Social Media Marketing: Engaging Strategies for Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media.

SmallBizLady:  Can Any Small Business Use Social Media?

Li Evans: I believe that any small business can use some aspects of social media, there are many different types, it’s a matter of what’s the right fit for the business & where their potential audience is.

SmallBizLady:  What’s the biggest mistake a small business can make in social media?

Li Evans: Not setting goals and measuring what they are doing to meet those goals.  Without setting goals and measuring what you are doing, how will you know if your efforts are successful, need to be tweaked or a complete waste of your time & resources?

SmallBizLady:  Where should a small business start in social media?

Li Evans: Understanding your target demographic thoroughly because you’ll need to research where they are active online in social media to engage with them.

SmallBizLady:  Can my social media activities also help give my business leverage in search marketing?

Li Evans: Absolutely!  Although you shouldn’t just do social media for search rankings, the content you produce for your audience and customers in social media can definitely be leveraged in your efforts search marketing such as SEO.

SmallBizLady:  What issues do you hear as a stumbling block for small businesses not getting into social media?

Li Evans: Mostly that these smaller companies are afraid of what’s being said about them in the social media environments.  Since they are smaller, they tend to “hear” more one on one from customers and they are afraid that this can get amplified in social media communities.  Instead of looking at these situations as opportunities, many small businesses make the mistake of either ignoring them, or dismissing them arbitrarily.

SmallBizLady:  Can a company actually sell “things” through social media?

Li Evans: That’s a pretty tricky question, it really depends on what it is you are trying to sell.  Is it your brand, is it your reputation, or is it physical things?  It’s a lot harder to track back “sales” of a product or service to interactions in social media than it is to track back brand lift, buzz, and even sentiment.

SmallBizLady:  Can other parts of my marketing plan work with my social media marketing initiatives?

Li Evans: Certainly!  In fact I often say the “social media cannot operate in a vacuum”.  You actually need to integrate all aspects of your marketing efforts with your social media efforts.  Everything for paid advertising, affiliate marketing, email and even your offline marketing efforts should be integrated with what you are doing in social media.

SmallBizLady:  If my competition is out in social media, tweeting, on Facebook, and Myspace, should I be there too?

Li Evans: Not necessarily.  You should have those profiles secured in the prominent social media sites, but actively engaging there because your competition is there is the wrong reason to be there.  Even though they are your competition, you still might have a different audience.  On top of that, how do you know the competition is finding their engagement in the social sites beneficial?  It’s better to do the research on your own audience than worrying about your competition in social media.

SmallBizLady:  What are some of the biggest misconceptions of social media?

Li Evans: That it’s easy, quick and cheap!  The media plays up social media as this easy to implement marketing godsend that practically happens overnight, when that’s far from the reality.  What they fail to outline is that relationships take time to build, trust doesn’t come easy ad that just because it’s free to have a Twitter or Facebook account, that doesn’t mean your time is free to run the accounts.

SmallBizLady:  Is there some sort of guidelines small businesses should follow for setting up a successful social media strategy?

Li Evans: I call it the “Four Pillars of Social Media Marketing”.  The first pillar is research, without doing it you won’t know where to even start or how you should be engaging.  The second pillar is strategy, without a strategy how are you going to know what you are doing, who’s going to do it and how are they going to do it?  The third pillar is engagement.  Without engaging your strategy will be dead in the water, you can’t just lurk in social media, for your strategy to be successful in social media, you actually have to be social!  The fourth and final pillar is measurement, without measuring what you are doing, how are you going to know if what you are doing is helping you attain your success goals?

My other “guidelines” are outlined in Social Media Marketing:  Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media – there’s 45 chapters chock full of good advice and guidelines any business can follow.

SmallBizLady:  Should I let my employees engage in social media?

Li Evans: How can you stop them?  That would be my question to any business owner.  When your employees leave your four walls, what they do in their own time is of course their own.  Undoubtedly they are on some kind of social network, whether its YouTube, Flickr or Facebook.  They are sharing and engaging with their friends and family. 

The question is should you let your employees engage in social media for you?  That’s a question you need to research and understand how your employees communicate currently with your customers.  It’s also about placing guidelines for your employees to understand how they should represent you in social media.  If everyone is on the same page with your message and understanding where you want to be at the end of the day, utilizing your employees in social media can actually be mutually benefiting.

SmallBizLady:  What if I don’t have a lot of time, can I still do something in social media to market my small business?

Li Evans: Sure!  Pick the most valuable channel you can and dedicate the time you have to mastering it and engaging with your audience there.  Make yourself a valuable asset to the community and pour your heart into it.  Let the community know you are real and there to help.  Spreading yourself too thin by trying to be everyone with very little time only hurts your efforts.

If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9pm ET follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. 

How to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/S797e

Melinda F. Emerson, also known as SmallBizLady is a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach. Her firm MFE Consulting LLC, specializes in small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. She hosts #SmallBizChat weekly on Twitter for emerging entrepreneurs.  She also publishes a resource blog www.succeedasyourownboss.com. Her first book Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works was released in March 2010 by Adams Media. For more information: www.becomeyourownbossbook.com