All of our experts agree that it's imperative for brands to know what's being said about them before it's too late, which means not only monitoring social media sites but also having a strong presence on them and participating in the conversations taking place.
   
"By the time you're having a problem with social media, if you're responding to a specific incident that's growing within social media, it's already too late," says Ty Braswell, a creative digital strategist who runs the appropriately named consulting firm Creative Digital Strategies. Braswell believes that merely responding to social media enemies is "incredibly myopic" because it means brands have lost sight of the bigger issue: They haven't made the necessary long-term investment to integrate an ongoing conversation with their customers.

"We advise people to have 'embassies' in all the different communities that are relevant to you," says Rubel, who believes this provides brands with two big advantages. "One: You'll obviously get wind of these things sooner. Two: You'll be heard because you're there already and you have an audience."

"You've got to have the pipes laid before there's a problem," advises Red Door Interactive's President Reid Carr. "If there's a problem, and then you try to jump into social media, it comes off as very inauthentic." Carr adds that having an established presence may also help keep the conversation at a one-on-one level and prevent escalation. "If you create this vehicle for people to have a dialogue with you and are responsive to it, those people, rather than go out and tell everyone they know, may actually just go directly to you."

Kevin Barenblat, CEO/cofounder of Context Optional, a firm that helps brands build an engaging presence on social networking sites, believes it's also a good idea for a company's social media presence to include more than just a single department. "Brands tend to view these channels for marketing, sales, customer support, or product development -- but not all of the above." He argues that the conversations taking place hold value for virtually every division of an organization, therefore, they should all be involved at some level.