The Social Wave

The impact of social media is becoming more and more pronounced in business, personal and government interactions. I have personally seen how things spread like wildfire on Facebook and Twitter as many people share and retweet the same piece of news or information. We have moved from a truly hunt and find paradigm to one where people are now bringing their "social circles" online to help provide the answers they need. I think this is happening for multiple reasons, but some main ones are:

• Fear of Fraud and Spam
• Daunting Amount Information Available
• Need to be "In the Know"

For businesses that are not yet integrated into the social wave they are falling behind in their online presence and are losing out on important conversations. However, I have seen companies jump into social media and attempt to resolve each and every concern, customer support issue and slight hiccup using these new methods. This can reward people for complaining, bad mouthing and creating bad press for the companies that are online.

Personally I think the key to social media is that it needs to reinforce your strategy and be in line with the culture of your organization. Any inauthentic attempts online will be quickly detected further decreasing the good will you were attempting to build.

Following are the keys to remember:

• Be Authentic in your Conversations
• Engage your Target Customers
• Reward Good Behavior
• Treat all Support Forums Equally
• Create Demand and Awareness

The impact of the social wave is evolving and will become further ingrained into our everday lives, lets just hope it doesn't create a group-think mentality on the web and the independent nature stays alive.