Every year industry thought leaders and well-respected bloggers converge at BlogWorld Expo for a weekend of insightful discussions and panels around social media and blogging best practices. Given that there’s a track dedicated to SMBs, and experts constantly roaming the halls, I thought it wise to seek out some of today’s top thinkers and get them to share specific tips and advice for small businesses.

Here is what they had to say:

1. Create a bridge to transactionsBrian Solis has made a name for himself, in part due to his own social media savvy, but also as a result of his successful PR and new media agency, FutureWorks. Albeit a small business in its own right, Solis’ name and agency have become big on the web, synonymous with great branding, strategy, networking, and even industry events.As such, Solis knows a thing or two about the secrets to effectively using social media, and his biggest piece of advice for you is to build a bridge between the real-world and the web-world for transactions you can take to the bank. He says, “Online activity has to balance real-world activity. No amount of tweets will create real-world goodwill unless you’re generating it offline.

via Sage Social Media and Blogging Advice for SMBs From the Experts : Technology :: American Express OPEN Forum.