Within a month, Twitter had gone from 1 million to 13 million users. No wonder thus that it has crossed the 20 billion mark already. Despite that celebrity tweets continue to capture the hearts and minds of viewers or users, the fact remains that a majority of users are not celebrities themselves. So what makes a social media like Twitter so ticking?

Today there’s an implicit assumption that every company serious about selling has to talk about it online. You are considered virtually a nobody if you don’t appear on the search results of the engine. The perpetrator of this trend is that consumer sitting conveniently before his PC or laptop, wanting to know about the ends of his desires without moving an inch.

This is what makes Social Media really work for most sellers. It is truly the new age word of mouth as the word spreads through the Internet. A consumer decides to buy a product from you not only because you have what he needs but also because you have a unique way of selling it. He gauges these characteristics through a social networking site.  For example, on Facebook there’s clothing brand that offers you to create your own design of clothes, choose your own fabric and colour and order it. In 24 hours, you will be holding your own creation in your hands.

The online ‘word of mouth’ has several names such as ‘Like’, ‘Follow’ and so on. If a certain group of college students decides to ‘Like’ a certain company page, soon others follow suit. Since social media also allows the consumers to have their say through ‘comment’, it opens up ever-newer avenues to market the product. The consumers feel happy and satisfied and usually ‘recommend’ it to others.

Social Media has another very interesting aspect. It gives ‘personal’ access to people, products and services. You can participate in healthy online discussions on issues that affect your choices. Consumers usually here are very observant and keen on getting up, close and personal with the products and services. This provides a great opportunity to sell and market products better.

Thus, online social media has a big mouth. It’s time to use it.