I recently came across an article on CNN’s website titled, “Facebook launched my startup” talking about entrepreneurs who relied exclusively on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to start their small businesses. The story featured five small businesses and, as I flipped through each of them, up popped a picture of a friend and her business partner and their Dallas-based, three-and-a-half-year-old business Smocked Auctions. Their success in a short period of time is a true testament of how social media alone can have a profound effect on businesses.

After they used their initial investment to buy inventory to sell, Smocked Auctions had no extra money for marketing and advertising so they turned to Facebook and began weekly auctions to sell their goods. Almost instantly they attracted 20,000 followers and the rest is history. They now have more than 450,000 followers on Facebook, 10 full-time employees and are on track to do $5 million in sales this year. And although they have added an e-commerce site, Facebook still generates 65% to 70% of their sales.

Now, it’s hard to think of life before social media even though many sites aren’t even ten years old! But it has become pretty clear that social media is a must for all businesses. There are many benefits of social media marketing including increased exposure, competitive advantage, increased traffic, new leads, increased sales and improved search ranking. But I think the biggest benefit of social media compared to traditional marketing is the ability to communicate with customers and a target audience on a daily basis.

With so many social media platforms available it’s important to be educated about each of them and know which is best for your business as far as reaching your business goals. Here is a list of the most popular networks:

• Facebook – Still the leading social media network
• Twitter
• You Tube – More popular than cable television
• LinkedIn – The largest professional business network
• Google+ – Now the second largest social network
• Pinterest – The fastest growing social network
• Instagram
• StumbleUpon
• Digg

As powerful as social media is, it really is crucial to succeed in today’s business environment. Make sure you take a strategic approach to your social media plan and make sure it works with your other marketing initiatives.

This 4th of July, my family was on the lake. For the first time, we went out to the middle of the lake in a boat to watch the fireworks. It was exciting to be on the water and have a 360 view of the sky lighting up in celebration of our country. My two young boys snuggled up with me looking up at the sky and eventually fell asleep in my arms (that hasn’t happened since they were babies). For me, it was a perfection. For them, not so much …

Is your brand, product or service perfect? Of course! No one ever says, “My baby has imperfections.” If customers view your brand as less-than perfect, there is a perception challenge. Your customer’s perception is your business’s reality.

The Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” Ad Campaign of 2013 is one of my all-time favorites! A woman describes herself to a forensic artist and strangers who have met the woman that day do the same. The result is two images that are very different. The tagline is, “You are more beautiful than you think.”

How interesting would it be if brands could do this? If executives and employees could describe their products and services and customers do the same. How would the pictures differ?

In 2009, Domino’s Pizza had a perceptions issue. What did they do? They listened, responded and communicated how they were changing, resulting is amazing business results. Watch this Domino’s Pizza Turnaround.

Perception is reality.

Three ways to do a brand perception reality check:

1. Outside Business Consultants
2. Customer Intercepts, Focus Groups & Surveys
3. Social Media

Outside Business Consultants come in many forms; research firms, advertising, marketing and PR agencies, executive coaches, assessments, mystery shoppers to name a few. The value an outside partner can bring to your business is an objective view of your customer’s perception

Customer intercepts, focus groups or surveys are feelings and attitudes of your product or service. When asked, people will give you insights on areas to improve or let you know to stay the course. A very simple first step is a suggestion box in retail locations. You can get some really great ideas!

Social Media has opened the customer conversations wide open! Leverage this opportunity to listen, watch, collect and engage with your audience. People have immediate access to your brand to share in a public forum their likes, dislikes and desires for your product and services. Are you listening? Are you taking action? Social media allows you to respond immediately to customer feedback.

Listening to your customers and being open to feedback is an important business strategy to ensure your products and services are aligned with your customers’ perceptions.

My oldest son’s journal entry on my perfect 4th of July night: “On 4th July at night we did not get to see that much fireworks.” It was not his best 4th of July, our perceptions of the evening differed greatly, but perception is reality.