Every interaction is an opportunity to offer world-class customer service. No customer is too big or too small. Each person we come into contact with deserves the best service and attention we can muster up.

The principles and importance of quality customer service apply to all interactions regardless of industry or technology.

We must ask ourselves the following questions:

• What are we doing to reward others for their peaked interest in our brand and what we have to offer?
• Are my twitter followers acknowledged for their retweets and mentions?
• Do we treat every interaction as if we’re speaking to the C.E.O. or does our conversational tone vary based on the position, popularity, or experience of our audience?
• Are we consistent in offering quality material across all our communication mediums?

Important questions for us to ask as we continue towards building a strong social graph and rewarding fan base.

Winning friends and influencing people is the heart and soul of social media. Individuals and brands are on a mission to capture audience attention, build trust, and turn fans into advocates. In "How to Win Friends and Influence People", American writer and lecturer Dale Carnegie offers readers several tips, tools, and strategies for making new friends comprising a relevant study for today's students of new media.

Six Ways to Make People Like You

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person's name is, to him or her, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in the terms of the other person's interest.
6. Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.

Clearly, success is built on the art of personalization.

Some business owners make the mistake of trying to appeal to the widest audience possible. That's a great way to lose everyone at once. When someone reads your headline, they need to feel an instant sense of recognition that you are speaking directly to them. Personalization of the message and a consumer's response to that message are all-important.

(Source: Web Marketing for Small Businesses)

Define your niche and then focus on being the best at what you do. Excellent insights for those wanting to start something great.