We all know the world is changing rapidly. We were only talking about this the other day, weren't we? When we talked about how technology has changed over our careers – and the fact we can remember the days before computers!

Yes, I know. So we both live and breathe Social Media now but 25 years ago I started my career on a Canon Typestar display typewriter which at the time I thought was cutting edge. Then 12 years ago a manager suggest we try blogging, I'd never heard of a blog at the time but fast forward five years and I was blogging, running email & Facebook campaigns and training charity groups on social media. So, I guess the point is, the digital world has exploded, and small businesses ignore the benefits of social media at their peril because ultimately, we never know where the next tool is going to come from, or what the developments from these channels might be. So, miss the boat and you are already behind the curve.

Communication has always been important, obviously in marketing. It's just a little faster moving nowadays – which can be an amazing commercial opportunity, but also businesses need to be mindful of the risks if they get it wrong or, worse, bury their heads in the sand. I guess the key to it is the interactive aspect. It has to be a 2-way dialogue, otherwise you're just making noise and talking AT people.

Definitely. Now we all know how a well-managed social media campaign can help you build your market whether that's simply to just increase communication with clients or drive traffic to your site or whether you're using it to gain feedback and customer insight, or possibly all those objectives at the same time.

The only real negative I can think of with social media is that to do it properly takes time and effort. Lots of time and effort. What's more, once started you must keep putting one in front of the other. You can't just stop when you think you've done enough.

Yes, it's all about consistency and we talk about that all the time at The Marketing Menu. Plus, there are simply 100's of channels, and obviously, others are coming on stream all the time so it's no wonder people get confused about which are the best channels to use.

True. Businesses need to find out which channels their customers are using. While it could be said that there is little need for an accountant say to be on Facebook, Facebook may well be the platform that people are on when trying to avoid doing their tax return for example. So maybe Facebook isn't the platform you'll prioritise, but it should be one you at least have a presence on, although you will more likely get a better return on LinkedIn say, which is still a social media channel, or at least increasingly so.

So, we would advise listeners to think of social media in the context of traditional marketing. For any marketing to work, you have to look at what we discussed in podcast 4, What Makes Your Customer Tick: Attention Interest Desire Action. So it's important to:

• Research your audience: Understand your demographics – what do they read, what do they do, where do they go, what are their hobbies

• Gain ATTENTION either through advertising or posts

• So you can arouse INTEREST - not by flogging things but by either educating or creating engaging content

• So that you increase DESIRE in your product or service

• Which will, in turn, lead to ACTION on behalf of your audience through increased interest and ultimately potential sales

Yes, perfectly put. It is ALL about raising awareness and influence but remember the more useful and interesting the content means you will gain more interest. But ultimately remember the old mantra of "be everywhere" should be replaced with "be where it matters". It all comes down to interaction: so how many people listen and talk back to you on social media (...