Image: Social Media UK

There have been a lot of articles recently written about the need for companies to engage with their customers via social media. Some companies look at Dell’s $2 million revenue via social media and say – how do we scale to that over the next X months? While making money is a very good thing, the results don’t magically happen over night, but that gets lost in the hype. Something else that often gets lost in this tornado is whats really important, the conversation and the company’s image and reputation.

Think about it, as recently as a year ago, companies  – and newspapers – were ignoring blogs as a medium for people to communicate and share information with their peers. Many of the companies that dismissed blogs and forums for that matter, may wish that they had a Delorean to go back in time. Let’s face it blogs aren’t going anywhere and ignoring them can only lead to headaches down the road for companies.

The same can be said for social media. Sure some will still call it a passing fad, but these folks are not ready to believe in a change in the way that companies do business. With the real-time conversation engines across the Web, companies need to embrace the chaotic theory that their brand is owned by their constituents. So they better be listening and dialed into the consumer.

Failing to do so could be truly bad news for the company and their brand image. For example, let’s look at hash-tags and you are a resident of the Philadelphia area. Right before the first pitch of the World Series, your local Fox affiliate decides that they’d rather show Family Guy reruns than the game. Granted this is extreme, but I can guarantee that within minutes there would be an active hash-tag about this dilemma and the local station could either A fix it or suffer the consequence of a real-time complaint storm making news both locally and nationally from a little computer key – #

Yes the example is extreme, but say for instance you are a decent sized company who gets blindsided by a negative thread on a well-known blog. In this age of new media, you could simply broadcast your side of the story out there. Whether or not you screwed up consumers will get to hear your side, not the slanted side from the blog or complaint board. This holds true for large companies as well, especially with the resources at their finger tips. It is almost negligent to not know what is being said about you.

One of the biggest questions for businesses are Who? What? Why? and How?

Let’s address them one at a time:

Who - The person monitoring and reacting for the company should be decided on. While the organization could choose anyone they want, a person with a PR or communications background usually helps. It is also important to note that the voice should remain constant.

What – Listen to where you are being talked about. Are your customers engaging on blogs, Twitter, Forums, Facebook, etc? Well that’s where you should be. However don’t jump in blindly, listen and get to know what is being said before acting.

Why – The day of not caring and believing that a company can control the message that the consumer sees are over. Mommy blogs and review sites hold weight with consumers and are the new Word of Mouth.

How - Set a plan, listen, react and repeat

To be honest it isn’t rocket science, it just is a part of caring about what is being said about your company and brand. If you want to be loved by your customers, show them you care.

Oh and if you want to say I forgot the When – you should be doing it now.

While my Internet has been down this week (patiently waiting for Comcast as I type) some of the thunder of this post has been stolen by none other than the President, but it’s worth posting none the less. Over the weekend, I finished reading Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Granted the book offered insight for those of us engaged in social networking and PR as ways to improve how we interact with folks within the space as we build up our influence among our networks.  I could go on and on in a big review about how the book offered X,Y,Z benefits and why YOU should buy it, instead I am going to dive into who should be reading this book – College Students and Young Professionals.

While this may be one of those Why is he saying this? moments, but flip back to the President’s speech the other day to students Watch what you put on Facebook. Granted he said that everyone does dumb things that can come back to haunt them, but he didn’t get into what kinds of dumb things employers may see that can be a detractor in job searches, granted TA doesn’t either, but it highlights the importance of an online reputation.

This is something that should be hammered home in college classrooms across the nation. This is not only important for the PoliSci, Communications or Pre-Law students, but rather for everyone.  Think about a few of the stupid things that you’ve done in your past, did they wind up online? Probably not, but if they did, you know that it is a pain to make them disappear, especially if it is our friends who think that its funny to show them to the world.

With that in mind, when I look at my cousins’ pages, I cringe and try to offer them some feedback. Granted it may be cool to show off pictures of you and your buddies hitting the bong or getting so drunk that your friends draw on you, having them posted online can lead to you losing a job or missing out on landing one. Here & here are examples of the former.

On the later, I can speak in more concrete terms. As the reputation watchdog for my company, I have seen these kinds of posts and worse using my various search tools. Perhaps the most egregious one could have been avoided if the candidate thought before Tweeting. In this day and age, it is naive to think that large companies do not monitor their trademark on the social space and saying: X Company is sweating me hard right now, I’ll rape them for the best salary; I don’t even want to work for X, but a check is a check right? It’s a great starting point; or When the hell is this company going to make me a better offer? I pwnd them – is sure to come back to bite you in the end.

Those statements (with some editing) were things said by candidates at my company that were passed along to the hiring managers. They also are not unintelligent students, but from Ivy League and top tiered universities. So the question becomes would they have avoided these posts if they had some education on an online reputation? I think so.

What do you think? Have you seen these while managing your company’s online reputation?