For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, whilst all the Web 2.0 stuff is great for consumer comments, those comments can be both good and bad. When you look at Tripadvisor, it is highly unlikely that all the comments are 100% positive … if there is a negative comment though, how have the hotel dealt with it – did they just ignore it, or comment back and explain the issues?

How did you react in that scenario – personally, if the hotel ignores the bad comment I would consider that a bad comment on the hotel itself – if it can’t be bothered to reply then how will they be at looking after me?!!

These days of course, there are multiple routes available for people to praise your service, or slag you off too. Either way you should be checking what people are saying about you.

This all came to the fore yesterday when a client of mine showed me his own experience. I think it would be safe to say that when this chap became a client he was less than convinced by my evangelism on the benefits of social media! How he has changed! Not only is he now blogging and tweeting away like a good un, he is now going to add Facebook, Linkedin and YouTube to the mix too … and part of the sources for his articles etc will come from what he reads via the alerts he has set up in Google Reader (personally I use Feedly as I think it is more user friendly).

One of his alerts is his company name of course, so when a particular client started something of a rant in a forum, he was alerted to the comments and was able to go back and respond. He may not be able to stop her saying things, but at least he can balance the view.

I would therefore suggest you go do three things right now if you have not done so already.

• Set up Google Reader
• Set up Google Alerts
• Set up Feedly

Of course you may want to add your competitors to your alert list so you can see what they are up to aswell!!

If you have had any experiences yourself, please let me know, or if you use any other tools I’d like to hear about them too please.

So what I hear you say – what is he on about today? There is a point actually. When Radio 5 kicks off in the morning you get the usual “Welcome to … blah … blah …” stuff that you get on all radio shows, but they then proceed to list their blog address, facebook page, twitter address and remind you that broadcasts are available though both the BBC I Player and podcasts … given that the BBC website is probably one of the best , and most expensive if reports are true, websites in the world I would suggest they know a little bit when it comes to using online media … if they told me to stick my head in a gas oven I doubt I would but their heavy promotion of online channels surely suggests there is some mileage in these channels.

As things stand I think that Twitter is probably the most useful – first job gained through it last week! – but that is simply because it feels more immediate in my opinion. Looking at my stats I can see that there are more people visiting our blog regularly which in turn is leading to increased traffic to the website, which over time will lead to enquiries I am sure.

If you want any help in setting these channels up and learning how to use them for your own business please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here at Severn internet!

We are often asked if Twitter, Facebook etc are worthwhile. We believe they are, but have spent the last few weeks refining how we think it should all work, hence the paucity of our own posts. That will all change from today, but ….

We are a business. We are here to make money and help you to make money too. Are you really interested in whether I just enjoyed my cup of tea? I know that I don’t really care if you have enjoyed yours …. BUT …. if you have something that I can use, be it a service, advice or a product that is useful to me then I am more than happy to hear about it because I have learnt something that is of VALUE to me.

We’ll therefore be posting links and expressing opinions that we think will help you, rather than the latest thing we’ve had to eat … some people will think this is not the way to use these tools, but ask yourself how much of the twoddle you have time to read?

Of course we will also be throwing in the odd bit of self promotion too such as latest site launches etc.

We may be wrong, but as we say to clients, you need defined objectives and a strategy to meet them if Social Media is a channel that will work for you.

Feel free to disagree!