HispanicBusiness

Miracle Mile recently earned a silver designation from the International Council of Shopping Centers during an award ceremony recognizing innovation in retail marketing.

But increasing followers isn't the only goal. Effective social media should bring people into stores, too.

In the first year of its Follow Friday program, Miracle Mile increased its traffic by almost 18 percent, Albert said. The mall now gets between 75,000 and 80,000 daily visitors.

Still, not every business has a giant board on Las Vegas Boulevard that it can use to sustain interest and attract new customers.

No worry. Social media can benefit owners of all sizes and types of company.

However, the smaller the company, the less important it is to have an elaborate networking plan. A Facebook page or Twitter account may be enough.

"My rule of thumb is if you know most of your advocates by first name, you don't need an advocacy program," marketing expert Rob Fuggetta writes in "Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force."

The key is getting customers to talk about a business or product.

"I've tried every marketing trick and tool in the book, and nothing works better than word of mouth," Fuggetta said.

The most effective social media engages customers in conversations, either among themselves or with representatives of a business. Websites and mobile apps give consumers a platform on which to compliment or complain and businesses a way to listen, respond and learn.

"It used to happen over the water cooler at work," Fuggetta said. "Now it's happening on Facebook, Twitter and Trip Advisor. But the value of fan and follower is zero until they start recommending you."

Positive reviews on websites such as Yelp and Trip Advisor are an important way to funnel customers to a business.

Consider the example of Circus Circus, one of the Strip's oldest properties.

Zuberance, the company Fuggetta started to track online reviews of Las Vegas hotels, found that nine out of 10 Circus Circus customers said they'd highly recommend the resort. In the hospitality industry, satisfactory reviews from half a resort's customers is average.

Moreover, of the 85 percent of guests who rated their Circus Circus stay as excellent, more than a third used social media to recommend the resort to their friends. The industry average is 1 percent.

"It's a truly amazing statistic at Circus Circus," Fuggetta said. "People love Circus Circus at about 35 times the average rate. It blows your mind."

Part of Circus Circus' secret is making it easy for visitors to recommend it. The casino-hotel sends guests emails with embedded links that allow them to post positive reviews of the resort with a few simple clicks.

"A positive review on Trip Advisor is like the Holy Grail in this industry," Fuggetta said. "We've found a way to increase those number of reviews. That's been kind of our secret sauce."

Zuberance also helped the Palms go from three positive Trip Advisor reviews every week to more than 100.

Fuguetta has found that every customer who shares a positive experience about a company online brings in an average of three new customers to that company. A recent Nielsen survey found that 92 percent of people trust recommendations from their friends, while 70 percent trust online reviews.

"If you have 10,000 advocates, they will bring you 30,000 customers," Fuguetta said. "That's in the millions of dollars."

For bigger companies, the challenge is keeping up with fickle customers who are barraged by advertising and technology. Businesses have to ensure their message translates seamlessly across multiple platforms.

That becomes harder to do when a company divides its social media duties between marketing, advertising and corporate communications departments.

"Each of those groups within a single company might be talking to the same customer at the same time and not realize how each are relating to them," Owyang said. "It can be daunting. You have to have one total unit, one experience. You have to think of them all in tandem."