Have you ever recommended a good movie to a friend on Twitter?  Have you ever stayed away from a restaurant because someone posted on Yelp that  they had a bad experience there?  This is word-of-mouth advertising in social media  and it can have a huge impact on your business.

In most cases of advertising, the business owner has control of how the ad looks, feels, and the message it conveys to the potential customer.  The exception to this is in social media.  With social media marketing (or good ol’ word of mouth advertising) , your prior customers have all the control over potential customers.  If they rave about you, you’ll attract new customers.  If they gripe about you, they will deter people from becoming your customer.

No matter how hard you try — you just can’t fake good customer service or sweep customer’s complaints under the rug. You need to be transparent , authentic and honest.

Good word-of-mouth advertising can work wonders for your business, and the best part is that it is free.  Your prior customer may run into someone who needs your services, and if you have provided quality products or services, chances are they will recommend you.  If you sought out ten customers through your own marketing efforts and they each told one person about you, who then became your customer, you would have doubled your customer base. Potential customers are much more likely to buy from you if you come recommended by someone that they trust.

Bad word-of-mouth advertising can have the same effect, only in a negative way.  When you mistreat a customer or sell them a poor product, they will definitely let people know about it. They will blog about , tweet it , and share their story with just about anyone who will listen.  When someone is spreading good word of mouth advertising, they will usually wait to tell the good stuff until someone specifically asks about it.

For instance, if they recently worked with a great graphic designer, they will be more than happy to recommend them when someone asks if they know of a good graphic designer.  However, with bad word-of-mouth advertising, the hurt party isn’t going to wait for someone to ask if they know of a bad graphic designer.  They are going to tell everyone and anyone , whether they want the information or not.

The fact that the angry customer is telling this to people who may not even be interested in hiring a graphic designer doesn’t sound so bad, but unfortunately, these people will probably remember the story.  When they are asked if they know of a good graphic designer, they will retell the angry customer’s story.  The person in need of a graphic designer will stay away from the designer who made the angry customer so angry in the first place.

You can protect yourself from the negative aspects of social media marketing  by consistently providing quality products and great customer service.  Of course, you cannot please everyone, but if the majority of your customers have only good things to say about you, you will start to see social media work for you instead of against you. You will start to develop lasting relationships with your customers and they in turn will trust you with their businesses.