Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization

10. Listening Before Talking

One of the most common questions asked at the inception of a social media strategy is, “What are we supposed to talk about on blogs and Facebook and Twitter?” Because marketing communications professionals are used to producing and pushing out content, they tend to approach the social web with the same frame of mind. It isn’t that the question is wrong. It is actually valid. It just isn’t the question organizations need to focus on when beginning the management phase of their social media program. Let me explain.

Everything about human biology leans toward aiding in our survival, from the millions of nerve endings inside our nose to smell when danger is close to our ability to feel pain when we are injured. The human ...