One of the biggest concerns I hear from people considering the use of social media in their organization is fear of losing control of their message. Well, the truth is, you don’t have control of it anyway. People can, and will, say anything they want about your company or nonprofit.
The key with social media is your ability to influence what is being said. It gives you the power to put your message out there and respond to what people are saying about you. For example, if a complaint is made over twitter about your customer service, you can respond publicly to acknowledge that you heard their complaint and are addressing it. This also shows other people watching this conversation that you are attentive to customer concerns.
So, with social media, although you can’t use it to control what people say, you can effectively use it to correct any complaints, learn from customers, and find new ways to met their needs.