It seems like every company is embracing social media these days and that’s great! From start-ups to corporate giants, a social presence is a critical component of any marketing effort in today’s competitive environment. But, just because you have a social presence, doesn’t mean it’s a good one. With that said, we thought it would be helpful to share some examples of companies that are doing social media well.

We selected a company from each size level (small, medium and large) to prove you don’t have to be big to be awesome at social.

Our three examples are as follows:

• Tacolicious (small) – Tacolicious is a modern, casual Mexican restaurant in San Francisco. They source their ingredients responsibly, take their tacos as seriously as their cocktails, and offer a fun sit-down, full-service experience.

Why we think they’re doing it right: Starting out as a little taco stand at San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, Tacolicious embraced social media from the get go. Social became the backbone of the company as they went mobile with their first food truck. Tacolicious converts used Twitter to locate the truck to get their next taco fix. Today, after opening two sit-down restaurants, Tacolicious is still embracing social. They’ve stepped up their Facebook presence and even have a blog where they highlight food, drink, Tacolicious personalities and more.

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• The Corcoran Group (medium) – The Corcoran Group is New York’s premier real estate brokerage. They have over 2,000 agents, specializing in homes for sale or rent in Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Hampton’s, and Palm Beach.

Why we think they’re doing it right: Anyone who thinks real estate companies don’t get social, has never come across The Corcoran Group. The premier brokerage in Manhattan, Corcoran has taken the social bull by the horns. Matthew Shadbolt, Director of Interactive Product & Marketing, who manages The Corcoran Groups social efforts, has dipped his toe into every platform known to man. But what differentiates his efforts, is that he not only tries new and interesting platforms, he masters them. While others were sitting on the sidelines, Corcoran took the underutilized Foursquare and absolutely dominated it in New York. How? By leaving helpful tips all over the city. These efforts established Corcoran as the trusted knowledge base for anything Manhattan. And we’ve seen this on other platforms too; like their recent inclusion in a case study from Facebook, to their first public Google+ hangout that happened just this week.

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• Starbucks (large) – One of the premier roasters and retailers of specialty coffee in the world since 1971 

Why we think they’re doing it right: You’d think talking about coffee all the time would get boring after a while. Well Starbucks has found lots of ways to make all things coffee top of mind with their rabid fan base. With nearly 31 million likes on their Facebook Page and 2.6 million followers on Twitter, they’re doing something right. Now I know you might be saying, “But it’s pretty easy to do social with so many people in the world using your product.” But social doesn’t work that way. People want to feel like they are involved with and part of the company. And that’s just what Starbucks does – They encourage fans to get involved in their social efforts and this fosters actions through shares on Facebook or retweets on Twitter. And like The Corcoran Group, they like to try new social platforms like Pinterest to be where their customer is, or is going to be.

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A common theme we see across all of the examples is that they bring the human element to their business. Each business interacts and converses with their fan base and builds a community which is what social is really all about.

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