The rules of the game are different now – marketing for tourism businesses in Ireland (hell, all businesses) has changed dramatically. No longer can Irish hotels, B&Bs, etc. rely on the annual, mega-bucks TV advertising of Tourism Ireland or Discover Ireland to bring in customers.

All the doom & gloom of the economic situation in Ireland can be overwhelming for new or small/medium businesses & service providers but for those that have a product or service, social media may open a new channel to you.

If you're an SME owner reading this blog then there's a good chance that you're already thinking of how to use the buzz tools of Twitter and Facebook and so on. First of all, remember that they're just tools so like any tool only use those social networks that you think will benefit your business.