Having established some of the opportunities and challenges social media presents for brand management, and having looked at some case studies of the good, the bad and the ugly, the important question to ask next is, "What is it that allows some companies to use social media effectively to boost their brand, while others see the same platforms seriously damage it?" I think we can identify four key areas that organisations have to get right.

First, they must have a clear social media strategy. It's not enough to simply say "We need a Twitter account" or "We need a Facebook page". There have to be clear ties between brand strategy and social media activity, and organisations' social presences must be managed with a real purpose. Similarly, this strategy cannot simply be a repetition of broader business aims and goals. A social media strategy must explicitly take into account the specific nature of social media as well as the demographics and values of its users.

Second, there must be effective implementation of this strategy. It is not enough to wait for the customer to come to you. Organisations need to produce exciting, engaging content, using consistent messaging and 'brand voice' across all platforms. When this is done well, as we have seen
with Starbucks, it makes social media a very powerful tool for engaging with customers. When mismanaged or lackadaisically implemented, social media accounts risk achieving very little. Given the abundance of company accounts on Facebook, and given that most users 'Like' fewer than 10 pages, there is a pressing need to grab users' attention and make them want to keep coming back
to your page and actively engage with your brand.

Third, there must be strong governance structures in place, to react to problems quickly and deal with them effectively. The case study of Bing shows the rapid and comprehensive damage that can be caused to a brand through mismanagement of social media. There is no use 'burying your head in the sand' when things go wrong. Instead, organisations must have clearly thought-out strategies for responding to negative social media activity and an effective set of processes in place to do so quickly.

Finally, organisations must clearly understand how they are performing in this social space.  Although social media produces vast quantities of 'big data', there is often poor use of social media metrics and a tendency to confuse volume of activity with depth of engagement. Recent stories in the press about the increasing quantity of fake Twitter and Facebook accounts, and the growth in companies offering pay-per-Like or pay-per-follower services highlights the pitfalls of relying too much on the numbers when analysing social media: are all Likes alike?, we could ask ourselves. Developing an effective way to interpret social media data and, more importantly, turn it into actionable insights for the business is of vital importance.

In sum, then, these are exciting times for brand managers. Social media has opened up a host of new ways to engage with customers, and to build and strengthen brands. Success in this space, however, is by no means guaranteed and brand managers will have to think carefully about how to realise the potential that social media can offer.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.