How Social Media Can Rev Up Revenue Social media helps local businesses better engage customers and boost revenue. Here's how to make it do the same for yours.

Joe Sorge is a soft-spoken guy with a fast smile. He runs a couple of restaurants in Milwaukee, including the AJ Bombers burger place, which is where I met him. But how I met him is the real story: I tweeted that I was visiting Milwaukee, and Sorge was fast on the response: "Well, if you're hungry, we have a burger waiting for you at AJ Bombers."

It turns out Sorge does this a lot. By listening to people talking on Twitter and Facebook about visits to his city, mixed with customers' word-of-mouth on the quality of their experience, Sorge is seeing great results. How great?

• Business gross revenue doubled in six months. (He hit his five-year goal in one year.)
• He accomplished a one-day gross sales increase of 110 percent from a social media-only event promotion.
• Sales of one item, the Barrie Burger, increased by 30 percent--when the burger was advertised only on social media.
• He has spent zero dollars on traditional advertising.