MAKATI CITY--Amid the increasing use of the Internet for sales and marketing, many Philippine-based companies are not taking advantage of this platform.

It is for this same reason the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), which sees the Internet as a viable marketing and sales platform, is introducing courses designed to provide basic to intermediate knowledge on Internet usage, blogs and social networking.

Noting the growing number of social networking users and bloggers, AIM is offering the ?Winning Internet Marketing Strategies and Tactics? in April as a four-day supplemental course for businessmen and marketing executives.

AIM Associate Dean Ricardo Lim said the idea for these courses is to give local businessmen and decision-makers better perspective on how to use the Internet as a marketing tool.

He said many business executives are largely afraid of the Internet and are unable to effectively use it to promote their company.

Lim said courses would also deal with local cases of online marketing campaigns that have either succeeded or failed.

"We want to change perceptions that the Internet is not just something for younger, more progressive companies but also corporations who may want to tap communities of bloggers and users of social networking sites. That way, they will understand what these communities needs and address them," Lim said.

After the four-day course, the institution is looking to make the course into an elective subject as part of their regular Master of Business Administration (MBA), Lim said.