Photo Credit: Addicted Eyes on Flickr.

Lately we’ve been seeing that social media brings about a lot of questions for those not familiar with the channels.

• Why would we want to create a platform for people to complain?
• What if people attack us publicly on the site?
• If they say something negative, others can see it and escalate it to higher sources. That’s not good for us and why should we promote this?
• How can we control the content?

All very good questions. Many revolving around whether it is worth jumping into this space and all of the “fires” that will start due to beginning engagement. The thing is, whether your create a platform to begin engagement or not—people are still going to talk about your brand. So, do you use social media as a place to start the fire OR as a place to save it before the fire gets bigger?

When we make recommendations, we encourage companies to jump in and set up a space specifically for their brand/company. Then, if people bring up comments, question—they are doing it in a space that we are already monitoring. YES, people may say bad things. But as we’ve learned, bad things are usually not backed up and can be discussed further to clarify. Would you rather know about a problem right away or learn about it from somewhere else where it has already escalated?

So, take our recommendation. Don’t worry about the fires. They’re easy to put out and if you strategically plan for it, you’ll be able to do so with ease.