Today, as a business and self-brand manager, I am very avid user of social media.
From Facebook to Twitter to Linkedin over to YouTube and some not often used and upcoming platforms. If I am not active on those platforms, I have, at least, secured my name on them. I do not bang away at Facebook or Twitter, in an effort, not to upset my friends, but I stay active in the conversation, reaching out and engaging as many people as I can. 
And, it is the “engagement” that you get on social media sites that you cannot do very well or at all in other media platforms, like newspaper, TV or radio (unless you do a call-in show), but then we are battling the cost factor again. This is about…
I am true believer in video, I’ve been using since late 2007, whether it was host on Vimeo or Youtube. (click on the links to the right to see my social media page) I am a big BIG fan of video and so are a lot of other people and the fact that it can SEO’d is a major plus. Video is a great way to make yourself the local expert in real estate and mortgages. You can do video from about anywhere. Have you seen my carcasts? If I were a plumber, I would be adding simple “how-to” videos on my site. You will be the guy they call when $%!t hits the fan.
Really, the world is your oyster, and these are all free platforms. Free is a relative term, it will cost you your time, but you were just going to watch TV anyway.
Social Media has ushered in many new ways to advertise for nearly free…and moto is…
“if it ain’t for free…it ain’t for me”
Dave
Side note: This concludes my 3-part series for “free advertising”. you can find the other posts