COMPANIES need to include social media in their online sales and marketing as a matter of urgency – but chasing the newest technologies without keeping the consumer in mind can spell digital disaster.

Research company Gartner has predicted that companies will make half of their online sales from social media and mobile applications by 2015, so it is a lucrative area to sharpen your skills in.

As consumer desires for interactive brand experiences increase, companies should develop relevant and personalised content that can be used in conjunction with mobile devices.

Firms that remain focused on creating greater engagement with their target audience by providing entertainment, information and content through an array of platforms are likely to find themselves quickly on top of the game.

However, while there is an urgent need to be part of the evolving digital medium, we are seeing more and more examples of brands chasing new technologies for the sake of being involved and forgetting the importance of adding customer value.

An example of a global brand doing it well is Burger King, which recently proved that a creative and original campaign cleverly executed with the consumer in mind most certainly pays off.

Burger King asked their existing and new customers to sacrifice 10 friends via a Facebook application in return for free food.

It was adopted by more than 20,000 users who sacrificed 200,000 friends for burgers. The campaign was reported in the press and went viral on almost every social media platform.

The application was a success because the idea was built with the consumer in mind from the beginning – Burger King enabled the target audience the ability to share it, the incentive to use it, and added just enough humour to make it a hit.

As more people use mobile devices to interact with brands, they will expect an extension of their customer experience to be supported by this kind of device, but businesses shouldn’t make the mistake of jumping feet first into the social media pool.

The brand-driven social media campaigns that thrive and are well received are the ones that demonstrate a strong knowledge of their target audience, cater to them and constantly stay relevant.

INTERNET entrepreneur Ben Hatton is founder and managing director of Liverpool agency Rippleffect. Link to Rippleffect on Twitter @rippleffected