Unless you have been living under a rock for the past five years, you’ve no doubt heard the term “social media.” At its core social media is a platform for creating relationships. And if you haven’t heard me say it already, People buy People, not products and services. What I mean by that is that when a buyer makes the decision to buy, it’s based on the person who sells it to them more than on the actual product or service they are buying. Stop and think about it if you don’t understand, because this is a crucial point in analyzing how and why social media can help you grow your business.

Why do the biggest companies in the world hire celebrities to endorse their products? Because People Buy People, and it’s much easier for a consumer to form a relationship with a living breathing person (in this case a celebrity endorser) than for a consumer to fall in love with the form or function of a particular product or service.

So, back to social media — it is a platform that allows you to generate your own content that connects you with a whole new world of prospects who you can then take on the journey of knowing, liking, trusting you and ultimately doing some business with you.

As in any typical social setting, you can’t be “that guy/gal” who is known for being “a hard sell” or “pushy.” Think of the online social media outlets as huge cocktail parties. You wouldn’t walk into a cocktail party and start screaming, “Cheap Mortgages, right here! Come on over to the sofa and I’ll write up your paperwork, right here on the spot!” Would you?! If you would… well, let’s keep moving.

So the key is to join the conversation that people are already having and find a way to make yourself (and your products and services) relevant. Ultimately, what you want to do is join the conversation on the social networks and find ways to interact with people about things they are already interested in. I know this sounds like it will take forever, and now you have to worry about not saying the wrong thing, etc. I get it, but here’s the key to social media: you can form relationships with huge groups of people all at the same time. No one said you have to talk to each person on a social network individually. This is where the real power of online social networking comes in.