Yesterday, a few members of our marketing team and myself conducted a conference call with one of our resellers, brainstorming ideas to help them improve their use of social media. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock lately, you’ve probably been hearing a lot about this “social media” thing and why your business should be using it. For a quick intro, check out the clever video above.

Simply put, the web has evolved to the point where our web sites are no longer one-way broadcasts to an unseen, unheard audience. Tools like blogs, podcasts, photo- and video-sharing sites and forums have democratized the web forever, allowing customers to talk back to the companies whose products they use. This can feel a bit scary for companies just venturing in. We’ve been doing this for a while, and although we still learn something new every day, I thought it might be useful to share a few general principles we’ve found to be useful:

• Communicate in a human voice, not a corporate voice: Your customers are human beings and they like dealing with other human beings. The truth is that every company is run by real people. Don’t be afraid to show a little of your unique personality online.
• Your customers are talking about you online. Make sure you know what they’re saying: Brand monitoring is essential, and can be as simple as setting up some free Google alerts that email you when your company name shows up on a web page. Sometimes customers don’t tell us things directly, but they always want to be heard and listened to.
• Own your brand: Social media tools are springing up all the time, and it’s important to check them out early, even if it’s just to register your company name as a username. If you don’t, you leave yourself vulnerable to a disgruntled customer doing it for you. Not every celebrity on Twitter is the actual person, and it’s the same for companies.

In true social media style, we’d like to hear from you. Are you using social media tools yet at your business? What’s been most effective for you? Have any pointers for us and our resellers?

P.S. While we’re at it, why not follow us on Twitter? I’m @JamesMOpenSRS, and you can follow our main account by clicking on the nifty icon in the sidebar. You can also receive status page updates by following @OpenSRSstatus.