We've been bombarded with research lately that talks about the trust people place in social media recommendations because they come from "people like them." This is new news or not so much. Sure, the way we get some of the information has changed, but just a few years ago this was called word of mouth. Any marketer knows that the absolute best, always-trusted source is from someone you know.

We have better, faster ways to learn about many more people's experiences with a brand or product than we ever did. More and more people are investigating online to see what folks they consider their peers are buying.

But this marketing communications gem – we trust people like us or people we'd like to think are like us – has been the core of all messaging since the earliest ads. In business-to-business, you're still talking to individuals who identify with the success they'd like to achieve. So, how we talk and what we show in our ads and the one-on-one experience with the brand, drive the conversation once our target audience goes social.

Technology has given us a way to make everything happen faster, sometimes better and in greater numbers and that is new news. The end result – we buy products we trust – proves that everything old is new again.

For a good, concise view on talking to a business audience, read this recent article from BtoB Magazine.