Social Media Is NOT A Fad – It’s Where YOUR Customers And Prospects Want To Connect & Engage Did you know that only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI.   It’s no wonder considering that 90% of people skip TV ads using their TiVo/DVR.   Reportedly, 24 of the 25 largest newspapers are reeling from record declines in circulation.  And when circulation drops, advertisers drop. But who trusts paid advertisements anyway? Do you generally trust advertisements?  Or, do you trust recommendations from your peers?  In a survey, only 14% of consumers indicated that they trust advertisements while 78% of respondents trust peer recommendations. Peer recommendations are becoming increasingly easy to solicit or find via social media sites.  Just think about how often you see a Facebook friend, Twitter follower or a connection on another social networking site express how they feel about a movie, restaurant, product or service.  Recommendations are plentiful throughout social media…on Facebook, Twitter & “review” sites like Yelp as well as blogs, forums and more! The above statistics speak loudly to the sentiment that Social Media Is NOT a Fad – It Is a Revolution.  It is an easy way for people to stay in touch and communicate with friends, family, coworkers, non-profits & businesses that they like & support, etc… The bottom line is that people are using social media to communicate and some of that communication is about you, your company, your product & services, your competitor’s product or service, etc… If you are not using social media to actively engage with your target market, then you are missing out on an opportunity to:

• generate leads
• build customer loyalty
• respond to what’s being said about your company
• keep abreast of what’s going on in your industry and with your competitors
• etc…

So I have to ask, are you effectively using social media for business purposes? Wait, before you leave…please click the “Share/Save” button below to email this blog post to a friend or post a link to this blog post on your Facebook wall, Twitter stream, etc… And do let us know in the comments below, are you part of the revolution?