I hear of many brands trying to work out how to ‘monitor’ all this social chatter online. But they are missing the point if they do not participate. If a brand doesn’t educate itself and change it’s attitude, then it will flounder. It must generate two-way conversations, increase its value to its customers and build relationships. Just as I was saying in my last post.

In his article ‘Empower your social media users‘ Michael Burke, suggests that ‘Social media is about people, not properties or impressions or engagement or whatever else we sales people come up with next.’ He give the following tips on using social media the right way:

“1. Users: Understand what users are doing before you decide what your campaign is actually going to be … then ask yourself, Can we offer anything of value?

2. Value: If you can offer value, it is important to not only know, but focus on the fact that social media is all about people.

3. Momentum: The media plan should enable users to build momentum for you, rather than be self-contained. [This is the hard bit, if you have any ideas please let me know! It's like trying to work out if a video on YouTube will go viral!]

4. Metrics: The metrics you need to understand are not about the property itself, but rather about the people with whom you may be able to connect. When you engage with people, not a property, you can actually drive sales, drive results and impact the brand.”

Many companies are afraid to tackle social media, as they are afraid that people might say bad things about them in public. I’m sorry, but people say bad things about companies, governments and people in public, all the time. Fortunately, the Internet allows you, as a company, to take a deep breath, hold on to your prejudices, and listen. But listening is not enough. Once you have done that, you need to do something about it. Proactively deal with things that people say about you or to you. Respond, be honest and authentic. This is well covered in this Smart Company article, particularly in the comments!

You have to rebuild the relationships that drove all our economies years and years ago.  Many companies have forgotten that these relationships are the key to success.