As more and more companies continue to add social media into their marketing and PR repertoire, one of the big questions they will need to ask themselves is if “they are part of the conversation?” By this, I am referring to if they are actively engaging conversations that mention them, and if not, why.

When you were in school, if a rumor was started about you, your best chance at squashing it before it grew into something outrageous was to confront it head on and to clear the facts. In the same sense, being able to recognize conversations you are being mentioned in as well as identifying ‘potential customers,’ is what makes social media so powerful.

Listen First

In school, they teach you to listen first, then ask question if you don’t understand. Similarly, with social media, you need to be constantly monitoring what people are saying about your company, brand, or service. By knowing what people think and if they have problems or concerns, you can then provide the solutions to ensure your customers are satisfied and happy.

One of the biggest concerns that companies need to be aware about is using their Twitter feeds and Facebook updates as just news feeds. While this is practical use for social media tools like these, this is just scratching the surface. Companies need to remember that the beauty of social media lies in two way interaction. You don’t have to respond to everyone who has a question, but it doesn’t hurt to thank someone whose constantly saying good things about you.

Control Your Brand

Another important aspect that companies need to be aware of is that if they don’t monitor what people are saying about them or engaging people who have questions or complaints even, they are leaving their brand up to the public to control. An example is if your company provides internet service and someone had a complaint about why your internet service was down. While one person may seem harmless, imagine if their one update sparked 100 other updates. It’s easy to overlook situations like these, but always remember that all it takes is one person to start a conversation.

By not answering questions or ignoring what people say about you, the public has the ability to become authorities when it comes to your brand.

The Best Kind Of Market Research

Being active in conversations relevant to your brand and market also can prove beneficial in the long-run as well for several reasons. The most important of which is that by constantly monitoring and participating in mentions, you are able to develop a better understanding of your market and also dynamically see how trends change over time.

For example, by monitoring how often people mention your product over time and whether it is positive or negative, you can actively develop market strategies down the road based on what you know now. Social media is not only allowing individuals and companies the opportunity to “join in” on the conversation, but it is allowing them to learn about their market in real-time.

Joseph is the Director of Marketing at Viralogy.com & works in social media & sports consulting. Read more about him at http://JosephAYi.com

Tags: conversation, Facebook, Monitoring, Social Media, Twitter