NxtGen Blog

Social media is a great tool for any small business owner.  It does not require a large amount of capital to get started, is easily measurable, and the more time you put in the more you get out of it.  Social media is a great way to connect with your customers.  It is really predicated on the honor system.  As long as a company is completely up front with their social group on-line, then it can be a successful avenue.  A report from eMarketer, shows that most people including social media users, still rely face to face word of mouth to suggest products.  The first on-line entity is internet advertising coming in 4th with 28.3% of social media users and 23.1% of average adult respondents.  Social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace came in at 22.6% of social media users and 14.6% of the average adult respondents.  To see the whole story go to “Spurring Social Users to Search“ 

The lesson here is that social media is not any different than networking in the real world.  Even though it seems to be a little more anonymous because you are sitting behind a computer, the social interaction of the these communities is still the most important part.  It is important for your business to build a trust factor.  The customer should feel that they are getting something out of their relationship with you, just not a sales pitch.  In my business one of the best feelings is when I get a phone call from a referred customer.  It lets me know that I have done a good job.  It is very important that you treat your social network just as you would treat your next door neighbor.  You never know when they will give out your next referral.