Social Media Done Right

I attended to a great webinar yesterday. Presented by Hub Spot and presented by Chris Brogan, social media pundit extraordinaire. The theme was “How to Demonstrate the Value of Social Media to You Boss,” and while the suggestions for selling social media inside your company were valuable, the most interesting part of the presentation was listening to a top social media expert discuss why every business should be engaged in an inbound dialogue with consumers.

Brogan talked about using Twitter search to “listen at the point of need” and how a company greatly increases its chances to connect with consumers at that moment. He discussed Community Platforms, like Dell’s Idea Storm, where consumers with like interests can come together to provide valuable feedback to companies. Brogan stressed that companies should have a presence on social networks or outposts where consumers gather. They should use these outposts to listen to what consumers are saying and provide noncommercial advice to help solve consumer problems.

The long and short of it is that companies, big and small, need to be involved with social media. When used well, social media will provide companies with unprecedented opportunities to hear what consumers are saying and to begin a dialogue that can lead to higher sales.