MARIETTA - About 56 companies signed up to participate in a seminar hosted by the Cobb Chamber of Commerce on the topic of using social media Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter to enhance their businesses.

It's a sign of the times that so many businesses have taken an interest in online networking sites, which were once primarily viewed as communication vehicles for children and teens. The social media industry has now blossomed into a powerful marketing tool for small businesses and corporations.

William and Cheryl Musial of Kennesaw-based Mopdog Creative + Strategy conducted the seminar on Wednesday. They gave instruction on how to leverage social media and use them to benefit and grow businesses.

"When used properly, it helps to expand their market reach and to expand customer and consumer interaction," Cheryl Musial said. "Social media puts more power in the hands of the individual consumer and allows businesses and organizations to be more responsive to feedback."

Cheryl Musial advises clients to make sure they update their blogs at least every other week and to update their Twitter accounts at least four to seven times per week. Otherwise, she said, it's not a good idea to use them.

Don Keller of Blue Sky Exhibits in Marietta, which designs and builds trade show exhibits, attended in hopes of using social media to advance the 6-year-old company. He said his 18- and 14-year-old children are already social media experts.

"We felt like we should be become more educated about it," he said. "It's going to help us by plugging into a market element we are not in."

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs are just a few of the numerous social media platforms that exist.

Newsday reported that a recent survey by the Association of National Advertisers of 172 marketing professionals found that 66 percent of respondents were utilizing social media in 2009, an increase of 20 percent from just two years ago.

Cheryl Musial said that social media has become more popular than using e-mail. Mopdog, which helps its clients better market themselves, advises businesses to integrate all of their social media networks together to maximize their reach.

"Organizations need to define the 'personality' of their company and ensure that it is in sync with (their) corporate messaging and brand identity," she said.

Cobb-based Wing Zone is a company that is doing just that.

The chicken wing restaurant chain with nearly 100 locations across the nation was founded in 1991 by CEO Matt Friedman and co-founder Adam Scott in their University of Florida fraternity house. The company only began utilizing social media six months ago. It can now be found on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube.

"We're trying to get that loyal following or that Wing Zone fanatic base," Friedman said.

Wing Zone recently had a coupon campaign on its social media networks in which it offered free meals to customers.

"That was a great test for us because that promotion was only launched through social media and within a two-day period we had over 400 customers come in," Friedman said.

He said he views social media as the future for businesses looking to market themselves to customers.

"We think that it's a great way for us to communicate to not only our customers, but also to reach out to potential investors and franchisees, and allows us to kind of control what's being put out there as far as the brand," he said.