Social Media Obsessed

My name is Ali Ackerman and I am addicted to Facebook. It all started about a year ago when I had my son. Where else can I go to get an almost instantaneous fix in the form of compliments from friends on my baby's cuteness?

But for me, Facebook is more than just an electronic brag book. I also use it to get credible answers from trusted sources (my friends) on questions about baby products . If I post "Akron mommies: what brand of diapers are best for toddlers?" as my status, I guarantee I'll get more than 20 responses recommending this product or that one. Then I'll go out and buy the one that was most often recommended. And that's the power of Facebook right there! If you're not leveraging the social medium to better listen or sell to your consumers (and there are about 500 million on Facebook and counting) then you're missing out on a lot of opportunity.

In our Best Practices section, learn how RightSize Heath & Nutrition is using an application that provides Facebook users with the ability to view and purchase products directly from the fan page. This issue also touches on other hot trends in sales and marketing. Our cover story with Jelly Belly reveals how the SMB reduced customer churn and added $60,000 in revenue each month using a modern CRM solution.

But before I let you move on to the cool content in this digital issue, I would like to say a big congratulations to CGT's Assistant Editor Alarice Padilla and her husband, who welcomed their son Kai Michael in September. She hasn't joined Facebook just yet, but I'm sure I'll be getting a friend request any day now.