the era of open communication between business and customers

social media….how would you use it? and would you recommend it to others? i know it does not work that way…you are connecting with your friends on FB, tweet about stuff in ur life through twitter, fliker is for your pictures, youtube..i know u cant live without, and blogging? yea it is a normal thing to blog…and so forth..but nowadays social media start to prove to be an effective tool for business. but hey how will you prove your point that social media becomes a must in the world of business? how to convince the decision makers that social media can boost their business? it is not easy at all..especially with individuals who do not use (and do not care much about) social media for different reasons. they may be do not know how to use it, they may fear for their online safety, or they just do not care. however, it is hard to convince one of them to use social media to boost the income. the other reason is that you cant show them results…so you create a twitter account, a fb page and a blog and you have a lot of followers then what? the decision makers would ask for results in money right away…however, they may not be aware that time is changing and this era is about communication..especially in business. to have open channel between customers and a business is the mark of this era..no communication channels, no money coming….the good example i can use is the food industry. how many times we go to a restaurant because we read about it on FB or recommended by our tweepes? some restaurants actually benefit from social media to have more customers. in a radio interview on CJAD (in montreal) last month, the owners of (…this…) restaurant highlighted the importance of social media in their jobs, and how it brings them more customers, providing them with better feedback, and better way to handle reservation and services…they read how customers tweet about their meals and services,and they would know if a customer is coming for a dinner (through his/her tweet). cool ehh? and fun also

now it is your turn as a social media consultant (if you are one) to invent and create convincing methods to show the decision makers that these cool tool really work, and it is their relationship with their customers that counts…good luck and let me know please.