If you've been invited to appear as a public speaker to discuss the topic of marketing, there is little chance that you won't mention social media if those involved have any kind of web presence. The need to understand social media is stronger than ever, with it now influencing not only sales, but PR, marketing and SEO. There are several ways that a company can integrate social media into their marketing efforts, it your job as the speaker to inspire them. Here's some ideas on where to start.

Present using social media

Show how versatile social media can be by using various social media in your presentation. Perhaps use Google Plus to communicate the your point about sharing content via one of Google's apps being a strong factor in building backlinks to your site. Remind your audience that any new content on your website should be shared with the world, and the more people that see it, the more likely it is that the content will circulate. Twitter lends itself particularly well to presentation. By it's very nature it encourages short and concise sentences. Use the 140 character limit to your advantage to keep your ideas clear. A knock-on benefit of using this in presentation is to show your audience how social media looks.

Identify new opportunities

Pinterest is a fantastic example of how companies are using visual media to stimulate a target audience. The interface of Pinterest itself is super-clean and crisp, and extremely easy in its usability. Use examples – as a speaker you may not want to rely on vocalising alone. Show your audience how easy it is to share content via Pinterest. Mention that while the source of the image has now been made a nofollow link, URLs are still clickable in the descriptions – working towards SEO.

Show some Face

As you engage with your audience, ask them if anyone there is not on Facebook. You might be surprised at how many aren't. It is worth stipulating that most people use Facebook as a means for communication – a fact of the 21st century. Those in younger generations especially may see if a business has a Facebook page before turning to Google. The reason? It's easier to open a channel of communication. Once you post a comment on a page, it's there for all to see. The visual aspect of communicating via Facebook has an altogether more personal feel than automated responses. Invite your audience to try this by demonstration.

The most important thing to remember as a public speaker on web marketing or social media is that you cannot expect to inspire your audience by word of mouth alone. Be prepared to show examples of social media works, be innovative in your use of existing social sites to demonstrate how powerful the right strategy can be.