A reply method is critical to the success of your social media communications strategy. Social media is fueled by two way communication. If you don’t respond to your customers problems in a timely manner, their perception of your brand is changed instantly.

Their initial reaction will be to tweet, buzz, write on a wall or blog about their unpleasant encounter with your company.

Businesses are held to a very high standard in the social mediasphere. Everyone is watching closely to see whose social media strategy works and whose doesn’t.

PepsiCo and Dell are fantastic examples. @DellOutlet was a big story last summer and PepsiCo’s social media spending in lieu of their traditional TV ads during the Super Bowl was tweeted about so much it should have been a trending topic.

How and when a company responds to their customers should be one of the first five questions you answer before strategizing your social media marketing plan.

I’ve seen individuals so enamored with one social media platform that they lose sight of what they should be doing: communicating with people.

A good communications strategy involves having multiple ways firms can communicate with their customers, and most importantly, how their customers can communicate with them.

I prefer having sites on several SM platforms, then linking them to company websites or blogs. If you’ve got a new product, toot it–or in this case Tweet it–on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, LinkedIn, Buzz and everything else. Just be sure to have a “reply” method on each customers can give you feedback.

Another point that needs to be made is this: some companies have SM sites but don’t do anything with them. If you are going to have a SM presence, respond to comments in a timely manner.
>>Dave Reynolds

The platforms are definitely piggy backing one another, and someone will dig deep to find their competitive advantage. Once that’s discovered, the new social media network will soon emerge.