3 guiding principles of ways to network with consumers online

[mandy]

You've heard the hype about viral, homemade TV ads on YouTube. You've read scathing peer-to-peer product reviews on blogs. You've seen brands evangelized or slammed by teens and twentysomethings on social-networking sites...

Clearly, in the age of online social media, companies can no longer talk at their customers. They need to cultivate conversations with them or risk getting slammed. Smart companies realize their customers, whose voices now have widely distributed forums for complaints or praise, have the potential to become either brand partners -- or brand message hijackers...

First, companies need to develop and maintain clear and transparent brand messaging across all platforms. Second, they need to be ready to accept and work with consumers' instant feedback. Social media involves instant, raw communication. Consumers turn to these channels for honesty on both the part of corporations and each other...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/jtHAfYE9...ions.xhtml