The extra-ordinary growth of internet and mobile technology usage in the home and in business is leading many more businesses to consider how they can use new tools from Facebook to Twitter to win new customers. Another attraction is that, as much of the technology has been developed for self-use by consumers, it is comparatively low cost, making under-pressure marketing budgets go much further.

The term social media refers to a basket of different tools, but in a business context, these essentially perform three functions. If this is still a new-ish area to you and you would like to get a feel for how each of these tools can build sales, check out our previous post on using on-line tools for business development.

The key to success lies in understanding which mix of these tools is right for your business, as using them in combination is much more powerful than relying on one approach.
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