The power of listening

I'd highly recommend reading this post from Marcel Lebrun about the value of not only listening, but engaging in what he calls "conversational listening." As he notes, it is important for companies to listen to what is being said about their brands, but that isn't enough. They have to be willing to engage in the conversation. He outlines some great benefits to "engaging" customers/key stakeholders. We all know it's difficult to get our clients to take a step back and "know the landscape," but I think in social media it is EASILY the most critical step of the process. Without knowing, the client is likely going to try and "control" the message or take it in a direction that isn't of value to the folks they care about most. It isn't about issues control in social media, it's more about issues management, and knowing what your customers are saying makes it easier to manage those issues.