You likely came here looking for a list of social media companies. If you for a social media agency, vendor, consultant or more, check out the new social media directory, InvestInSocial.com.

As the newest ecosystem within the marketing world, Social Media is a collection of many different types of animals fighting to survive and thrive.

Software developers, advertising agencies, and public relations firms alike are all doing very cool things within this evolving space. Defining what a Social Media company is can go in many directions. This list takes a broader look at all the companies that define social media, each leveraging the power of people in unique ways.

1. Buddy Media – App Builder (Facebook apps FedEx Package and Ad Battle), buyer of other top FB apps, and creator of their own ad network.

2. Crayon, (now a part of the Dachis Group) Joseph Jaffe and a slick list of clients

3. Crispin Porter + Bogusk – The Burger King Subservient Chicken and Whopper Sacrifice. Also doing some cool things with American Express OPEN.

4. Hubspot – They own the “inbound marketing” title. They are their best case study with HubSpot.tv and a collection of free marketing tools like Twitter Grader and Facebook Grader

5. Ignite – They stepped into the social media sphere early and they operate out of the tech and research heavy North Carolina triangle, giving them unique access to the right resources, ideas, and people that matter. They also have a pretty glowing client list that continues to grow.

6. IZEA – Creators of blog monetizing sites PayPerPost and Social Spark, and recent blog app Cloud Shout, an open source, social network in your sidebar.  They are run by Rock Startup man Ted Murphy and have a blogger advisory board of rock stars.

7. Radian6 – Good people with one of, if not the best social media tracking and analysis software technologies.