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When social marketing arrived in the landscape of sales, many thought that it was a phase or a fad that would eventually fade out. While the landscape will continue to evolve with social media innovations, I think it\u2019s safe to say social marketing is here to stay. A huge majority of corporations are now deeply engaged in social marketing, and the funding and incentives to stay online are not going away.\nIn an age where humans are increasingly forced to live online to conduct regular daily tasks and business, it only makes sense that they would congregate in communities. Social media is a combination of two common practices: socializing and marketing. Social activity reflects the deep human need for communities and connection, while marketing tries to catch the attention of individuals and communities with the intent of making money. While many online communities in social media are free to join, they could not exist if they were not somehow sustainable and profitable. Never underestimate the platform\u2019s ability to influence the sales cycle.\nToday\u2019s new demand generation efforts for sales leads are now a collaborative effort to impact social communities while pushing a product or service to the forefront. A savvy social media marketer lives in communities online, creates relationships and waits for opportunities to push the sales incentive. While \xa0social media is a relatively new phenomenon in the world of sales, it is really very similar to traditional word-of-mouth (WOM) advertising. It is becoming increasing obvious that the less time people spend face-to-face or communicating on the telephone, the more WOM advertising is going to be accomplished through social marketing. In fact, a closer look reveals that social marketing has taken on many of the characteristics of traditional WOM referrals.\n\n\n \tGreat WOM advertising and great social marketing both start with building relationships. Humans are social creatures and live in communities. Have you ever heard the expression \u201cpeople follow people?\u201d The trick in social marketing is gaining trust through relationships. Great salespeople are great listeners. Becoming an integral part of any online community requires the same skill set. It is no wonder that, in a day and age where online communities are forming and thriving, social marketers are quickly catching on to the impact that they can have simply by engaging in conversations from the comfort of their own space. Half the battle of getting a WOM referral is simply showing up and staying present and engaged, which is why you see the presence of large corporations and their representatives in social marketing.\n \tSimilar to WOM, social marketing starts by giving the audience something to talk about. If you have ever found yourself online killing time, you will have noticed the plethora of post and article titles vying for your attention. Chances are you have clicked through to a story or a post and thought, \u201cWhy am I reading this?\u201d Humans are always interested in things that go above and beyond expectations. In the past, a typical WOM referral may have been the result of an organization going above and beyond with excellence. Nowadays, when a social marketer posts in a way that is captivating and entertaining and the results are shared by friends, that activity can have the same psychological effect (and potential impact on the sales cycle) as a traditional WOM referral.\n \tGreat WOM campaigns and great social marketing campaigns always ask for referrals. Have you ever noticed the \u201cLike\u201d and \u201cShare\u201d buttons\u2014calls to action (CTAs)\u2014at the bottom of each post on social media platforms? Of course you have. Social marketing platforms are built to grab WOM endorsements. It\u2019s interesting to me that the CTA doesn\u2019t just say \u201cendorse me.\u201d While your intention of sharing content may not have been to draw attention to a product, service or individual featured in a post, you may be doing just that.