Image by Amend

The first and most important action you should take in social media is listen and respond. Every company has a community.  You have customers and interested visitors who come to your website or blog. Your community might be a small one, but it is a community nevertheless.

Muhammed Saleem writes today about lessons we can learn from companies that have run into trouble with their community.

“It often stuns me to see how poor social media entrepreneurs and their executives are at listening to their communities, communicating with them, and generally using the communities’ feedback to improve their services.”

Saleem gives examples of uproars that have occurred on some of the top social sites.  Although the post is about top sites like Twitter, Facebook and Digg with million of users, the lessons are just as valid for any company with an online presence.

1. Communicate – even when you have nothing groundbreaking or newsworthy to announce.
2. Be forthright – talk to your community first. Tell them everything you know, what you plan to do and why you have to do it.
3. Let them know you’re listening – be responsive to their requests and comments.
4. Acknowledge your mistakes – never try to brush mistakes under the rug.  It will backfire on you every time.  Be open and willing to admit errors.
5. Learn from your mistakes -  make improvements and really deliver on promises to change.

Social Media Bootcamp and Advanced Social Media Practice workshops

NYC,  DC, Chicago and San Francisco  February 2009