Though teens are an enigma to many adults, they are the consumers of tomorrow — heads of households and holders of the family purse who will make the decisions and shape the habits and attitudes of yet another, even newer generation. With enormous potential buying power and influence, we may believe we don’t understand this group, but what we do know about them offers great potential to vegetarian food businesses.

Selling doesn’t just take place in the aisles of grocery stores anymore. Those days are long gone — in fact, selling is often taking place on laptops, on cell phones, and most recently, on iPads! A new study from Nielsen finds that the world spends over 110 billion minutes on social media networks and blog sites, which is equal to 2% of all time spent online or one in every four and a half minutes spent online per user.

In today’s marketplace, engaging with customers and potential customers goes well beyond coupons and newspaper ads. In fact, today, many consumers actually invite businesses into their lives through social media. More commonly known as Facebook, Twitter, and a score of other upcoming platforms, businesses can now interact directly and publicly with a nearly infinite number of potential customers, making it critically important to establish and define a sound set of guidelines and procedures by which your business will engage with consumers.