Simply put, social media connects you to others and others to you using interactive, easy-to-manage and community-driven technologies.

Some of the most well-known examples of social media, or social networking, are sites like Facebook and MySpace. Others include LinkedIn, Hi5, Connexion, Gay.com and others. Experiencing fast growth in popularity is Twitter. In fact, many would argue that Twitter has become an integral part of online outreach and social networking.

In the early days of the internet, websites and online companies operated much like traditional, print, radio and television media. Information flow was one-way. The company — be it a newspaper, television, clothing store or mechanic — imparted information to the reader/customer, but the reader/customer had no way of communicating back. Blogs and social media have changed that landscape, allowing online media to become a two-way street: Website operators dole out information to readers, who in turn create feedback for the operators. Taken up a notch, social media allows that information to be shared with friends, or distributed via other social networks.

So, how can social media grow my brand, you ask? It’s simple, really.

First, you need an online presence. (Learn why a website is important here.) But, having a website is just merely the beginning. Without adding in a healthy dose of social media, you’ve thrown your online outreach back to the days of one-way communication. If you allow commenting on your site, readers discuss articles and conversations among readers can increase site traffic. Or, you can allow readers to share information on your website with social media sites like Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Facebook, Twitter and a host of others. Allowing readers to distribute your content for you (read: free advertising) opens your business or organization up to exposure to more potential clients and supporters.

Once unleashed on social media and networking sites, your website can be shared over and over again. Person A posts to his profile. Person B reads Person A’s profile and reposts to her profile. Persons C and D read Person B’s profile and both repost to theirs. From here on out, it’s exponential growth… viral marketing at it’s best: so cheap it might as well be free.