First, listen

How do you get started with social media? The first step, as Mack Collier writes on MarketingProfs, is by listening.

Before you can launch a successful social media strategy, you must begin monitoring existing conversations about your company.

The most obvious reason is that if conversations about your business are taking place, you want to know about them and have the option of engaging in them when it makes sense. You’ll find out what people think of you (but which doesn’t come out in the questions you ask on a customer survey), you’ll find out about problems you need to address, and you’ll probably find some evangelists and advocates you didn’t even know about.

Just as important, though, is getting to know the environment before you jump in with your own blog, network, Facebook group, or whatever you might choose later. Starting your social media by talking to your audience doesn’t work; you need to know what that audience is already talking about and think about how you can fit in.

Mack mentions some good tools (like Google Blog Search and TweetScan) but there’s another I’d like to mention, because I’ve been trying it out: SM2, from a company called Techrigy in Rochester, NY. It’s kind of a Google Analytics for the social media universe. Instead of one-off searches and alerts, you get a great overall view of what’s being said about you, based on keywords you select (such as product names, executive names, competitors, and so on).

I’ve seen these sorts of tools with very high price tags, but this is one that many more of us can afford. Best of all, they have a free level of service - it’s limited (five search terms), but that’s enough to give you a really good idea of what it can do.

Check it out - I’ve been exploring it for a week or so, and I’m impressed.

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