Recently, a popular online magazine, Mashable, posted a study about how consumers interact with FaceBook. Only 13 percent of the respondents said they post updates about brand that they like.

However, the bread and butter for brands is not in the status updates from consumers, but by the passive interactions with the brand.

• 56 percent said they are more likely to recommend a brand to a friend after becoming a fan on FaceBook.
• 51 percent said they were more likely to BUY from that brand after becoming a friend on FaceBook.
• 78 percent of consumers who like brands on FaceBook said they like fewer than 10 brands.

Those are just a few of the numbers from the study, feel free to hop over to Mashable to read more about it.

Fans are more likely to spend money with you after being interacted with on a social media platform like FaceBook or Twitter.

Most become fans because they hope to access special discounts or the latest news about your products or services. Knowing that, you should always post your latest updates on these social media outlets.

Say you’re a bakery and having a huge sale on a Saturday, all that week you should be posting about your upcoming sale so it gets in front of your fans and keeps them reminded to stop in and spend.

But make sure you know that anyone can become a fan and post on your brand page. So you may be running some light customer service and support duties on your fan pages, too. Not just posting specials and driving business.

If you have any questions about using social media for your Annapolis business, feel free to comment and I will do my best to field your questions.