A few years ago Internet pendants used to wax eloquent about the coming next generation of ecommerce and web tools we called Web 2.0  Web 2.0. was supposed to be the smart, socially savvy, game changing revolution to Internet technology that would change the way we did business.

Today, we do not hear a lot of new talk about Web 2.0, because that terms, which was once the domain of internet marketers and technologists, has become a reality.  Today, we refer to the collection of all of those Web 2.0 technologies collectively as the social network.

Social networking has offered everything that the technology marketers said it would way back in 2005, and it continues to surprise us with new insights into the way people use the internet, how they discover new ways to connect with their friends and family, and how they make purchasing decisions online.

These advances to the internet in the form of the social network are changing the way we do business today.  In order to stay relevant business leaders must be a part of the conversation taking place on the social network.  It is extremely easy to set up a web site that can sell your product or services these days.  Sites like Google Apps make it not only extremely easy, even for mostly non-technical folks, but the pay as you go structure introduced with cloud computing makes it extremely cheap to set up a web site presence.  This ease of use however has made the presence of a web site table stakes in order to compete as a legitimate business.  Even companies that do not plan to do a lot of business over the web in the form of online sales will usually have a web site to show that they are relevant.

While technically it is just as easy, even easier in many respects, to set up a social media presence for your business on the web, the ability to do this gracefully and successfully is much harder.  Once you set your company up with a Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn account, Foursquare account or any number of other social media portal presences, you will have a direct link to your customers.  If you are not prepared for this, it can become quite a shock,

Customer service on the social network is of utmost importance for businesses.  Customers are not shy about approaching you directly, and most of the time publicly, about their dissatisfaction with a recent experience with your company.  A product that did not arrive on time or arrived defective, a rude sales representative, a perceived misrepresentation of your product or service: these are all issues that customers approach companies about on a daily basis on the social network.  The great thing about this is that you are made aware of the issues immediately and have an unprecedented amount of access to your customer to help them resolve their issue with outstanding customer service.  On the flip side, if you do not take these complaints seriously, you will quickly find yourself at the messy end of a viral campaign against your product or service.

Social networking could be a great source of PR for your company, and not just through online complaint resolution.  Once you are part of the conversation with your customers about issues and fun topics that you can each relate with, customers will not hesitate to treat you as an equal member of the community.  High accolades and recommendations will come from unexpected places as social network users see the human side of your business and want to share their positive experiences.


Author Bio:
Jason Phillips is the person to write this post. Basically he is a businessman but loves writing blogs and posts. He has written several posts on social media and marketing. In his free time he enjoys web cam chat with his fiancée.