Listening In on the San Diego Social Media Symposium

On Friday, Jan. 30, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the second annual San Diego Social Media Symposium held at the SDSU Alumni Center. I juggled the registration table and listening in on insightful conversations on how companies and public relations firms can use social media as more than just a listening tool.

The majority of what I learned was that organizations are using what they see on Twitter and Facebook to improve the experience of their customers and other stakeholders. For example, a healthcare representative talked about how she would see a tweet from a patient who had been waiting in the emergency room for a few hours. She said she would call the center, let them know there was someone who had been waiting and ask them to check on the patient.

Social media is also helping brands recognize which consumers use which forms of media. An employee at a brewing company explained that they found a lot of positive feedback on Twitter and Facebook, usually from people who weren’t experts on beer; while those who knew a lot on the subject posted more passionately and a little more negatively on beverage-rating sites like ratebeer.com.

The main lesson I learned was that if organizations get creative and really think about how they can use social media to help communicate with their public, it can be a very effective tool in increasing positive experiences and attitudes.

Do you know any companies that could benefit from this type of listening?