Most of the roles I’ve written about recently are appropriate for authors, coaches, consultants and professional service people. But what if you have a retail or restaurant business? Or maybe you are a larger company with a product launch? You’ll want a different role, that of buzz creator.

Your goal will be to get people talking about your product or your place of business. What are the best social media channels for you?

If you are a retail business or a restaurant, you’ll want to look at channels like Twitter or check-in apps like Foursquare, Swarm and the like. Twitter is where people go to keep up with the latest buzz, and check-in apps are where people go as they travel around. You’ll want to have your Google business page updated so you’ll show up in Google Now recommendations and push notifications from other apps. In other words, you’re going to want to pay close attention to your mobile strategy. Mobile is going to continue to grow in use and popularity.

Planning a product launch? Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest are ideal. Create a hashtag for your product and get people promoting it. Hold a Twitter chat. Create a contest for people using the hashtag. There are lots of ways you can get people talking about you and your new product.

What does your time look like? You want to start the buzz by letting people know you’re there, but mostly you’ll want to let other people do the talking while you chime in to keep the conversation moving.

How does this bring your company business? The answer should be obvious. If people are talking about you, they are going to remember and buy your stuff. Social media can lead to impulse purchase. And if you engage with your customers, they are going to remember you, like you and talk about you with their friends.

The Millennial Generation is very active in social media. They look to it for recommendations. They use it to ask their friends what’s hot and what’s not. If you aren’t there, encouraging and participating in the buzz, you’re not going to be hot.

Image credit: SocialMediaIconcollage under a Creative Commons license