Facebook, Twitter, blogosphere – three terms that you hear constantly upon any discussion regarding social media. Facebook has left everybody in the dust in being a client network that bears one’s heart and soul. But beyond our borders, if you don’t have a Twitter account, people may look at you didn’t even exist, and blogs were actually what started all this years ago**. Today, nobody underestimates the power of social networks, and companies are slowly but surely becoming interested in using all available tools, intending to maintain their finger on the pulse of the times. Andy Sernovitz recently offered three simple steps for engaging in this phenomenon.

Start monitoring: You’ve got several means at your disposal that are free of charge (Google, searching on Twitter) of finding out what’s being said about you and your field, but mainly who said it. You can even find opinion leaders or discover in people’s debates a calling, which your brand is facing without you even knowing it.

Monitor blogs and hold conversations: Sernovitz obviously means blogs relevant to your business. It is not in the power of each marketer to maintain his/her own blog, and this is a way of remaining in the picture and getting a feel for how it is possible through an albeit foreign blog to influence the perception of your brand, and what reactions it incurs. Join in the commentary and sell yourself and your company.

Form an account on Twitter: It is much easier than building a name amongst blogs. You don’t have to spend more than a few minutes on it each day. Twitter will also allow you to contact the right people and monitor their insights, thoughts and ideas within the space of a few hundred characters.

Dialog is thus the key word and common thread joining all of Sernovitz’s tips; but it will remain decisive on into the future. Some fortunately realized this for themselves, while others may even need a flogging about the head and shoulders to finally get the point. Take for example the American juice giant Tropicana. It opted for a major change in the packaging of the Pure Premium series, without preparing its customers for it. But a strong group of consumers piped in, not wishing to relinquish the iconic image of the orange with straw, and not wanting to buy Tropicana now with the dispassionate theme of just a glass of juice. To its own surprise, Tropicana had to read off the complaints on paper and the computer screen, and handle a slue of irate callers. “This wasn’t in our research,” offered Tropicana’s then President Campbell in defense. And the result? The label remained the same, the redesign was washed out and the weak packaging resurfaced as the new series Trop50. This lesson came with a price tag of USD 35 million.

Starbucks ran in the opposite direction. When checking out their Website during the launch of their new instant coffee, you’re inundated with a Website chock-full of social media. Photography, video, twitter contributions, commentaries, a link to Facebook… No effective flash, no “Hurrah! We have new coffee!”, but rather the customer plays the starring role. And the next project only confirms the fact that this is the role in which Starbucks loves its customers the most. At My Starbucks Idea, you can take part in anything you can imagine relating to your favorite purveyor of coffee-to-go. This isn’t about how big your idea is; what’s important is that someone is interested in your voice. “Help shape the future of Starbucks – with your ideas.” And for clarity’s sake, in the section “Ideas in Action Blog” you can see what’s going on with your ideas. As Tropicana may have found out for itself, listening pays dividends (or saves a bundle).

Do you listen to your customers? And did you ever think that they could be the ones who work on the future image of your company?