My last post on tips that brands can use to build Customer relationship got some amazing feedback. So much so, I thought it would be a good idea to share some of it with you. Of course there are the comments below that you can see. When your using Social Media to get your message..aka content..Blog post out conversations can happen on many different sites. So here are some of them for your review. I will share them in list form, as people like lists.

-Rich Goldsmith, Senior Account Executive at Padilla Speer Beardsley:

Social media is an opportunity to not only listen in on what your customers are saying about your brand, but to also really establish a brand identity, even a persona. Taking advantage of that opportunity, however, has tripped up a lot of companies — most of them because they’ve either been dishonest in their approach, or shortsighted and fallen victim to the “it’s really cool” factor of social media.

Essentially, people need to ask themselves what they hope to achieve with social media, and then tailor their strategies and tactics toward those objectives. There’s a huge universe of potential activities associated with social media, and it grows every time someone does something new with Twitter’s API or develops a new iPhone app. But too many brands don’t take the time to craft a social media strategy that will actually move their businesses forward and improve their relationship with their customers in a meaningful way.

Do you want to improve customer satisfaction? Personalize the brand? Improve customer loyalty? Something different altogether? While these objectives can play off each other, each one requires a slightly different approach. Social media can do many things to improve brand equity and customer attitudes, but you have to know exactly what you’re setting out to do before you can be successful at it.

-Janelle Yates, Owner/Operator at The Little PR Company:

Use it to actually interact, not sell…I see it as a method of two way communications with current and potential customers.
I think it is also important to use it as a call to action for events, brand development research, PR/marketing campaign research and recognition of who your consumer base and target audience is.

Heather Whaling, Communicating … Connecting. Strategic, results-driven public relations, social media, marketing:

There are *lots* of ways companies can use social media to create stronger relationships with consumers. The answer to your question depends on the specific goals you’re trying to achieve. For example, if you develop a product, you can use social media to identify how people are using your product, what enhancements would be beneficial and general satisfaction levels. You can also use it to improve customer service through tools like Twitter or Get Satisfaction.
If you’re trying to position your brand as a thought-leader, blogging (on your own and guest-posting) can be very beneficial. Use this also as an opportunity to show some of the “inner workings” of your company — helping people relate more to the brand.

If you provide a service, you can develop relationships with people who might be in the market for whatever you’re offering. Also, monitoring tools can help identify people asking questions that you can answer, positioning your brand as a valuable resource.

Whatever your goal, it’s important to remember that social media is about conversations — between business-to-consumer as well as consumer-to-consumer. After you create your strategy, remember to keep your eye on the goal, but don’t forget to be personable as well. If you take a strategic approach to social media, take the time to listen, and understand the existing sub-cultures on the various networks, you’ll see that social media can be very beneficial.

Thoughts?

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