Over the last few years, businesses have discovered and enlisted social media as a word-of-mouth form of marketing. Many of these companies have been Internet-based or depend on their Web site to drive new business.

As we approach 2010, standard business practice demands at least a basic Web site. But, many business owners still consider the addition of a social media plan a waste of time.

Social media plans have been suggested and even hyped by many marketing professionals. Many businesses — especially brick- and-mortar retail along Main Street  – have ignored the call.

Whether you ignore it or not, social media is coming to Main Street.

As I mentioned in my Dec. 9  post, Google announced real-time searches, which will combine traditional and social media results on one page. This action alone makes it mandatory for businesses to consider tweeting and offering status updates to take advantage of the opportunity for a new audience.

Imagine this:  You are in a new city and you’re hungry.  You pull out your smart phone, open your Yelp application and take a picture of a street full of restaurants. Using GPS, Yelp identifies each restaurant along with customer  ratings and reviews.

Customer opinions now carry more weight than a newspaper’s restaurant critic. Everyone is a VIP if a business wants to attract future customers. This is just the beginning; everything will be under social scrutiny and review.

On Dec. 7, Google announced the release of the Google Goggles visual search tool. Like Yelp, Goggles allows you to take a picture of an object or location and Google displays information about it.

If you are interested in a car you see on the street,  snap an image of it. Need more information about a book? Take a photo of it.   Research the history of a landmark while traveling.

While this technology was originally used for tracking automotive parts, the day-to-day opportunities will be amazing for smart phone users who use this application.

Google is mailing bar code stickers to 100,000 retail stores. Once these bar codes are attached to store windows, information about that retail location will be available to anyone with the Goggles application.

The bar codes are easy to make; make your own here.

I’m considering placing a bar code on my photo cards to offer more information to smart-phone users.  What information would I offer?  Maybe I’ll link to a special offer or to a unique portfolio on the Web. Eventually this application will be standard equipment on smart phones.

If your brain isn’t running on overload with ideas for your photography business, you are not thinking.  Opportunity is around the corner. Those with the creative ideas will earn the new business.

Rosh