How often do you get to pick the collective brains of social and search professionals and hear about what they can do to help you and your business do to grow and prosper?

I had the good fortune to, at the eleventh hour, get a ticket to The Local Social (Dallas) event thanks to a very generous sponsor who donated 50 tickets. That the proceeds went to Trymunity, an organization that works with Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors was icing on the cake.

Things that stuck with me from the conference (now that some time has passed):

* “Local” is a concept that is completely changed by the Internet. There was a presentation by representatives of Baidu & Gridsum discussing the digital marketing landscape in China.

* If you have a business and you don’t have a social media presence, you’d best get one. And if you’re not social media savvy, don’t be afraid to find someone to help you with this.

* Even if you feel you are social media savvy, it can’t hurt to have an expert look at what you’re doing and give you suggestions on how to make it better/more effective.

* What works for one business might not necessarily work for another. You have to try different things. And just because it works today doesn’t mean that the same thing is going to work next month. Be flexible. Be open to finding new things. You will go through a lot of donkeys before you find your unicorn (you can thank Larry Kim’s awesome presentation for that analogy!)

* Traffic is great but it doesn’t mean much without conversion. Again, don’t be afraid to get some expert help with that.

If you are just starting out or a small business owner who doesn’t have a big budget (yet!) for getting professional help, you still have options.

You can:

* Join Facebook Groups

* Join LinkedIn Groups

* Use tools like this awesome Free Keyword Tool

* Read blogs and forums on sites like Copyblogger and Search Engine Journal

* Read a book on Social Media

The point is that you should have a social media presence, you should be very open to getting professional help setting up and optimizing your Social Media presence and there are a number of ways for you to get that expert help.

And then there’s one of MY personal favorites (and I fully admit I’m biased). You can come to the Rocks Digital conference ! And to keep you motivated until the conference, visit rocksdigital.com for tons of search and social tips and tricks!