More than a billion netizens around the world are members of Facebook. Studies show that about half of all small businesses use Facebook for business. Some businesses even have a Facebook “fan page” – and no website. As a leading developer and landlord of commercial, office and warehouse space in Palm Beach County and South Florida, Danburg Properties of Boca Raton has long had a successful and growing Facebook presence.

What we and other business owners have realized is simple: The power of social media – from blogging to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, even Pinterest and other sites and services – is exerting itself as the new “traditional” marketing application.

Social media for some is a secret weapon and power tool that is turning marketing on its head, and in some cases, completely replacing traditional and costly services. Many of the same companies that once were forced to spend thousands on print, radio or even phone book marketing or listings now can forego expensive marketing and instead explore “free” marketing concepts.

Of course, social media isn’t “free.” It requires time and expertise. If you don’t have the first or an employee with the second or the first, then you’re forced to hire a consultant who knows how to transform a social media existance into a corporate presence.

That said, no business owner or executive who reasonably hands off social media operations to a vendor has any excuse to be aloof to or removed from the process. Knowing how your marketing works makes you a more engaged partner in the marketing effort. Simply, if you can suggest blogs for your hired blogger or share relevant web links with the person who feeds your Facebook you will help fuel a powerful marketing product.

In the end, the company has a more successful social media presence, a vendor who can better serve the organization and its needs, and – hopefully – together, all can deliver the best possible results.

And that’s something today’s Yellow Pages or print ads often struggle to deliver on their own.