As a brand, when indulging in social media it’s not just about the networks and communities you know, it’s also about the ones you don’t know. Listening to the dialogue using specific keywords, appropriate to your brand, will help you discover where the conversations are taking place. When you have this information you can pinpoint the communities and networks that require your attention, the level of attention required, the type of language required and the tone you have whilst there.
There are tools available such as Radian6, socialradar and brandwatch to help monitor and steer dialogue across social networks, blogs and forums whilst also showing opportunities for building relationships with those who are contributing to your brand.
Getting a presence on social networks and building relationships with bloggers isn’t something that should be attacked blindly. A failure to listen, create and engage content that inspires the communities will result in damage to the values/attributes that your brand is trying to uphold.
Your actions within the social space will shape your brands personality.
Check out this list for more tools available.
eWilko 