Many would contend that the real emergence of brands using social media started when Facebook launched FB Pages back in 2007. Less than seven years later, it’s hard to believe that a brand like Coca-Cola would have amassed over 84 million ‘Likes’ through this (relatively) new media channel. Now virtually every major brand in the world is activating daily campaigns through all of the major social networks whether it’s Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, or Snapchat. Leveraging these owned media channels to push content was the first way for brands to benefit through social media and continues to be the primary use case for brands on social media today. With content marketing strategies being activated daily through creative video, blogs, localized content, etc., leading brands are finding clever new ways every day to promote and educate existing fans, followers, and customers.

While these one-way marketing efforts through the owned social channels continued to grow and evolve, leading brands also began to recognize more and more that it wasn’t just a one-way street – that customers active on social media were talking about them, and in many cases, expecting a real-time response. What emerged were sophisticated listening tools and social platforms to help brands react more effectively to existing fans, followers or customers – helping them identify brand advocates and amplify positive experiences while mitigating the impact of negative sentiment. In some cases, even using these two-way conversations to capture new forms of earned media. It was the real-time interactions between brands and their customers that became as critical as the broadcasting of new content through these owned channels.

Now, progressive brands are beginning to recognize that social media can also be a new channel for proactive discovery and customer acquisition withprospective fans, followers, or new customers. The key is context and timing – connecting with the right people with the right message at the right time so it has lasting impact.

For example, a hiker in Yosemite who tweets about not being able to start a fire is ripe for engagement from any outdoors company whether it’s Patagonia, REI, or Coleman, even though their tweet didn’t mention any of those companies. Likewise, a person in the process of cleaning up their basement after a flood, and sharing their experience through social media, is a prime candidate for an empathetic, supportive reply from All State, State Farm, or Nationwide. Brands no longer need to be held back by engaging only those people talking to them on social media, but rather, engaging people when the context and location of the post combined with an understanding of the person is relevant to the brand. With over 96% of all tweets today not mentioning a brand name (Brandwatch, May, 2014), the universe of opportunity is unlimited for this untapped sales channel as it leads to significantly higher conversion rates and longer lasting brand affinity.

The challenge for brands though, is sifting through the millions of posts being made every day and finding those golden nuggets that drive lasting impact. Leading brands are beginning to recognize that having a small team of 2-3 Community Managers activating campaigns and responding as best as they can to social mentions is under-utilizing the potential of this massive pipeline of prospective customers on social media. New tools and technologies on the market today are making it easier to look beyond the post or a generalized influencer score to ascertain the value of an engagement and provide more predictability and ROI for their efforts.

If traditional advertising is the proverbial ‘shotgun approach’ to capturing new customers, these 1:1 engagements and more authentic conversations become the effective ‘rifle’ that compliments. With only 1-2% of all promoted tweets being read and no assurance that they will be seen at the right time, right place, there is a complimentary approach to connecting with consumers when it matters most. And, with information about location, conditions, interests, sentiment, and history at our fingertips, social media no longer has to be recognized solely a promotional or customer service channel. It can become a very powerful sales channel to drive new customers for life.

David Rush (@davidmrush) is the Founder and CEO of Earshot, a location-based engagement and intelligence platform that helps brands discover and acquire new customers at the right place, right time.