LONDON: It's easy for businesses to be sceptical about social media - corporate blogs have been hyped and many remain stale and dull - and the likes of Twitter and Facebook are criticised as passing fads.

But as people continue to flock to them and since most corporate websites are akin to brochures with a library attached, it's little wonder social networking sites are increasingly being seen as the bread and butter of customer relations management. Gurus predict that in two years they will have more influence and power than corporate websites.

"Businesses should be using social media because their customers are all using it," says Nancy Williams, MD of the social media marketing consultancy Tiger Two.

Because social media is a conversation and not a broadcast it's a hugely effective marketing tool, says Williams - and it's free. "Most people will respond more positively to a two-way conversation with a brand than to being shouted at with yet another marketing message."

The result is the holy grail of personal endorsement.

"Social media also provides brands with the ultimate focus group," says Gavin Sheppard, development director at the communications charity Media Trust.

"Would Marks & Spencer have discovered their tiered pricing of bras by size caused so much resentment in their customer base if a group of consumers hadn't taken up the cause in Facebook?"

Any business can benefit, says Robert Epstein, head of small and medium businesses at Microsoft. A restaurant, for example, could use YouTube or MySpace to take customers behind the scenes, provide updates on Twitter, use Facebook and Linkedln to get ideas about how to improve, and enable people to post their CVs on those sites.

Social networking also allows you to find enthusiastic like-minded professionals in your field sharing their ideas and contacts, says Tim Prizeman, director of Kelso Consulting.

Paul Armstrong, from communications agency Kindred, says opportunities for monitoring in real time are unsurpassed and astute firms don't just listen and protect, but engage customers and potential customers too.

Businesses, says Matt Rhodes, head of client services at social media experts FreshNetworks, should know what you want to achieve (increased brand awareness, customer retention, a feeback mechanism) and who they want to engage (new or existing customers, a certain part of the customer group, or more general), then work out where they congregate and what will engage them best.

The biggest mistakes companies make, he says, are using a toolbased strategy instead of a people-based one, and simply choosing the best-known communities.

"It may be that you just won't engage people in, for instance, Facebook," he says, adding that sustained engagement is vital.

Social media is particularly good for micro-interactions, says Rhodes. "Rather than having one Twitter account, companies can easily run a range, each aimed at different groups of people."

Rhodes also encourages brands to create their own online communities. "Ask people to upload their memories of a particular experience with a brand or to work with you to develop a product."

A survey by the Global Web Index found people think better of brands that provide a page on a social network where you can ask questions. Audi recently turned this to its advantage by using Facebook to help gather views as part of its product development cycle.

And manipulate social networking's conventions at your peril - Habitat caused irritation among Twitter users for attracting unsuspecting traffic to its advertising.

Don't forget the power of social networking for recruitment, adds Lucie Bickerdike, account executive at the Hoffman Agency.

"I was recruited exclusively through Twitter. My line manager was searching profiles for people looking for PR jobs, and my profile matched the criteria.

"We set up a meeting through Twitter and I was offered the job after one interview." - The Independent