An industry leader has outlined the importance of social media.

Retailers using parcel delivery and courier services have been told to face up to the future with Facebook.

Today's Group managing director Bill Laird said social media will be a "key business toll for retailers" in the future, thegrocer.co.uk reported.

It would be wise to "get to grips" with the technology now, explained Mr Laird, as "the days of doing business on a desktop are numbered. The future is in handheld devices such as mobile phones and pads".

Peer recommendations are vitally important as they "command a huge amount of respect", much more so than traditional adverts, he added.

Personal recommendations from friends are a central element to social media and must always be kept in mind when developing a marketing strategy.

This week, New Media Trend Watch project manager Carmel Dennis explained that travellers rely on sharing information with friends via social networking sites, after a survey from Sheraton Hotels revealed that 60 per cent of people use the likes of Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch when on the road.

Posted by Matt Watts 

Article Added: 26/11/2010 09:30:20