An interesting subject indeed and also interesting to see how the Management of Social Media will evolve over the next few years, with many Companies and Organisations still failing to constructively engage with Social Media.

Your ‘Four Step to Social Media Management’ of Review, Objective, Team Build & Measure make a lot of sense and I do hope that these fundamental management protocols are beginning to be applied in business as the engagement with Social Media is indeed an opportunity not to be missed.

Best wishes

Charles

As a marketing advisor I have seen first-hand the parallel world of communication in corporate life, and it looks like this:

World 1 – Businesses sign off every press release, dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ in brochures, letters and communication materials. Drafts and re-drafts are common until everyone is happy. Meetings are held where strategies emerge to ensure brand consistency and tone of voice. Brand guidelines and communication protocols = control.

World 2 – A free-for-all where staff tweet, blog, and have an open dialogue on social networks. Employees tell the world about products, issues and services often before the planned corporate releases commenting on business and customer activity and in many cases in a style that does not resemble their employers’ tone = anarchy

World 1 and World 2 are going on simultaneously in many businesses right now.

So, Diana, you’re absolutely right – there will be (expensive and chargeable) late nights in Legal Chambers and probably many new hires in the legal profession – until businesses get to grips with the basic challenge, which is: managing the issue.

How many of the main board directors in a business can explain what social media is? Very few. And how many know what is happening around their brand in social media? Even less.

Martin Derrick makes the point that we need protection of both brand and individual against a tide of untruths – I agree.

But, managers need to manage and businesses can do a lot to avoid the risks and capitalise on the opportunities by recognising what’s happening and developing a clear and measurable plan for social media.

Social media is not rocket science. After 25 years in business, I’ve made the time and managed to grasp it and harness the benefits whilst recognising the risks.

The biggest challenge is time. Few leaders in business take the time to learn and engage with social media – but until they do, the risks are stacking up.

You might be interested to follow @socialmedialaw1 for a legal view, and Media Digest @mediadigestUK who track media news and keep you up to date. (note I have no business interest in either party – I just follow their updates)

If you want to explore how your business can tackle the issues – get in touch!

I would say that it’s never too late to get started, the challenge is where to begin! It must be pretty confusing to jump straight in to social media today without a guide to help. Tools like Tweet Deck can help you keep track, but where do you start – and what are you trying to achieve by starting off?

The business applications for social media, in my opinion, have yet to be fully explored, understood and the protocols established and whilst they are in this period of development, millions of people are using it and their views influence others in making choices about all kinds of things from politics to product choice.

Seems to me that until a brand or organisation has a real understanding of what’s being said in these conversations that they’re ignoring a significant and growing part of their customer base.

In the motor industry the world’s number two company General Motors has now devoted considerable resource in this area http://www.leftlanenews.com/gm-keeping-customers-happy-through-social-media-monitoring.html

Social media is a free-form, open space. How you behave in it and what you do with the things you hear is another thing…!

Do you use it in your business activity?

So what is the difference between your blog, twitter, facebook, myspace you tube and your linked in account??? what about the different technology needed to access these apps, both mobile and static???

With Facebook and all the other usual suspects, is it now not a bit late to jump on this bandwagon, should we not be heading in a different direction now?