“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Some people don’t want to dive into social media such as Facebook, a blog or Twitter. It’s the fear, the fear of coming face to face with people bashing your business. Here’s the thing. People are talking about you whether you listen or not.

“What we’ve got here is… failure to communicate.” Choosing to avoid social media is like choosing not to communicate with your customers. Plus, social media provides instant customer recovery opportunities. It gives you a way to respond, a chance to address concerns and to be part of the conversation.

Even if someone starts off mad, someone on your staff must have the skills to use social media to send them off with a smile. A duck and cover approach only gives your competitors an advantage to step in and start conversations with your customers.

“If you build it, they will come.” Social media is a great way to bring your customers to you. By providing useful, interesting, entertaining information sprinkled with occasional promotional offers through social media outlets, you’re likely to attract and engage customers who are interested in what you have to say. They’re choosing to interact with you.

Social media also helps your customers find you because social media postings show up in search engines results. Plus, research shows that at least 90 percent of consumers start with search engines when they want to purchase something.

“Just do it.” Do it how you want or put in place a social media strategy. It’s also a good idea to start small with one social media tool like Twitter or Facebook. You don’t have to tackle several tools at once. Check out other companies to see how they’re using social media and what’s working or not. Join in conversations.

And, even better, many social media tools don’t cost you anything to use. Why let people talk behind your virtual back when you have the tools to give yourself a second chance?

Do you have social media success stories to share? We’d love to hear them!