Most companies have realized the tremendous benefits of creating communities and becoming involved in social media. It is a vital component to your business, marketing, sales and customer service strategies.

Some companies fear creating a social media presence because they believe that if they do, they may provide their audience with a platform to complain or otherwise post negative feedback. Whether you create your community or not, the “talk” is still out there and if you are not listening, then you are missing the opportunity to troubleshoot and amend any potential detrimental comments about your organization.

The Internet is a vast abyss of content and if a customer or prospective buyer is having an issue with your company, they will surely voice their opinions and with the viral reach of social media, you need to be able to counteract and turn the situation around before it spirals out of your control.

Your company can create alerts using Google, YAHOO, Twitter or other social media tools for keywords to monitor the chatter about you and your business. Isn’t it better to know what is being said than to hide from the conversation?

Be proactive and take the opportunity to listen and respond to what your audience is saying. It will help to create loyal customers, increase sales, provide customer service, instill goodwill, and give your company the chance to provide the best service and industry voice.

Real Life Example:

Recently I was having issues with AT & T and I chose to utilize social media to reach out vs continuing to endlessly remain on hold or deal with offshore techs. After 3 months of conventional methods, I chose to tweet and post on Facebook. My voice was heard- loud and clear!!  I received responses on Twitter and Facebook and shortly thereafter, 3 phone calls from their corporate offices. My problems were solved, I received credits and now have direct phone numbers of people who can make a difference.

This was not the first time I used social media to get in touch with organizations who were not responding to phone calls or emails. These companies are listening to the conversations and responding. Social media proves to be a valuable customer service tool.

You don’t have to tweet, or Facebook, or even blog. But choosing not to embrace social media, even minimally, is choosing to be invisible.” Cindy Kraft

Your customers are talking, are you listening?