Ask most communications professionals today and they have at least a sense of the scope and scale of social media worldwide.  But then take the next step, and try to discuss social media strategies and applications for their own organization with them. Most will throw up their hands and respond with a litany of predictable objections and roadblocks.  

Here are some of my personal favourites:

• We don’t have the resources
• Negative comments would reflect badly on our organization
• There may be legal ramifications
• Our customers (members, audience, etc.) really aren’t on social media
• We’re not tech savvy
• Our staff is overworked

But whatever the reasons invoked for not actively engaging in the back-and-forth of social media, there is no reason for an organization not to take the first social step and listen. 

Unlike full blown social media engagement where an organization openly and transparently shares information, responds to comments and queries, and actually becomes part of a community(ies), listening is just the first step in successful social media engagement. 

As a general principle of social engagement, listening  uncovers the nature of the conversations within a particular community. Just as you would not arrive at a cocktail party unannounced and attempt to monopolize the conversation, listening within a social media network allows you to determine your comfort zone and ease into conversations.

Whether it’s from a business perspective, or that of a not-for-profit advocacy organization,  listening allows you to determine who the thought leaders are in a given community and what it is that makes them most relevant. Listening allows you to  determine what content is most relevant. And most important, listening allows you to hear what people are saying about you, your brand or your issue.

Listening is easy and there are a number of  tools  available, from simple listening to advanced brand and reputation management platforms. 

The point is that with the ever-accelerating growth of social networking and social media, organizations cannot afford to wait on the sidelines.  Whether the problem is figuring out the return on investment of social media, or uncertainty about its relevance within your marketplace; there is only one way to answer those concerns, and that’s by listening.

Take that first step, listen to the conversations. You’ll find that soon, you’ll want to join in.

Tags: listening and social media, reputation management, Social Media, social media monitoring

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.