My friend Mike is a self proclaimed Luddite. He told me the other night , in a small french town square, over a lovely meal; that he doesn’t believe in advertising. (note : Although he has relied on it for years to promote his theatre and jazz festival events…)
His reasoning is that, if a business has to rely on advertising it either (a) isn’t good enough to have word of mouth recommendations fuel sales or (b) has too much money and therefore he won’t support it further and will look for fledgling competitors to buy from instead.
Okay, I could agree with some of his sentiments whilst simultaneously driving a big bus through his argument.
The thing that interested me more though was that this anti (broadcast?) advertising stance was reversed when it came to actively seeking out artisan / start up businesses via the web. By that I mean that Mike will always google a small food manufacturer or wine maker he has spotted at a country market or at a festival. And he is surprised and disappointed if they don’t have a website. Or can’t find a blog or forum reviewing them.
He also didn’t get (doesn’t approve of) twitter or facebook until I explained how said small artisan business could build up a great follower, customer or advocate base by using both intelligently and with integrity. Of which he approved. By the time the coffees arrived I had a social media convert 
Much like Mr Toon excellet efforts with Mikron’s social media presence by the sound of it
Always good to have another convert
Twitter and Facebook etc have opened up so many doors for smaller brands (especially in the areas of food and wine you mention) I love connecting with a cool brand I spot abroad through social media: something that would of been impossible just ten years ago!
Thanks for the comment Lee, yes SM has really levelled the field for smaller businesses.