A new survey put out by the CMO Council has shed some new light on how brands are utilizing social media as part of their marketing mix. Most shockingly, the survey found that only 16% of brands routinely monitor what is being said about them online. Furthermore, 59% don’t compensate anyone based on customer loyalty scores and only 30% feel confident in their company’s ability to deal with customer complaints.

We here at MGH WOM are firm believers in starting from the bottom up. It’s never too late to jump into the social media game, but if you aren’t already playing you may have a bit of catching up to do. Here are a few ways to get (back) on the right track.

LISTEN! LISTEN! LISTEN!

Your customers are talking, and with social networks growing by the thousands on a daily basis, their voices are being heard even more. You can’t be a social brand without listening.

You can do a Google search for “social media monitoring” and find a plethora of great tools to help you listen, or you can get started right away with a few of our favorites.

ENGAGE

Join the conversation - being a social brand doesn’t allow for you to be a wall-flower. Bridge the disconnect between your brand and your customers. Sites like Twitter can be a brand’s best friend (or worst enemy, if used incorrectly).

The most important part of this step is to be transparent. Lay your intentions out there, and for the record, your intentions should be to build quality relationships with your customers. Believe it or not, your customers are smart, and will find the truth out eventually. Belkin recently found this out the hard way.

REACT

Without this last step, listening and engaging become irrelevant. Your customers are your customers for a reason - they see value in your product. So, when they tell you they don’t like something, react. Your customers are what make your brand, and social media allows you to keep your fingers on their racing pulse.

Never before have brands been able to react so rapidly to negative press. The great thing about social media is that you’re able to affect individuals, just as you can affect the masses.

If you’re not one of the lucky 240,000 ticket holders, or you’re just not up for the huge crowds on January 20, 2009 for President-elect, Barack Obama’s, inaugural ceremony, fear not! Plenty of people will be blogging, tweeting and uploading pictures live from the event allowing you to be a part of the action. Below are the top ways we found to get minute by minute updates online:

1. Twitter: search #inauguration, #inaug09, or #dctrip09 on search.twitter.com to follow inaugural conversations happening in real time. Additionally, the following people will be tweeting live from the event:

@obamainaugural

@inauguration

@dannythedemon

2. Facebook: CNN has teamed up with Facebook to provide Facebook users with a live stream of the inauguration on the CNN Facebook page. Users will also be able to comment.

3. Twinauguration.com: a site that will capture buzz from various social media sites such as Digg, Flickr, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube etc.

4. Blogs: several bloggers are heading to the capitol to blog live throughout the event. Check out Donald Miller’s blog, Mom 2 Mom- a mom blogger, and various blogs at the Baltimore Sun, for constant inaugural updates.

5. PointAbout: If you have an iPhone and you are headed to D.C. on the 20^th be sure to use PointAbout for directions to the National Mall, restaurant recommendations, Starbucks locations and much more. All of the recommendations are based on your location.

And just remember, there will be a mere 5,000 portable bathrooms on the National Mall the day of the inauguration to “accommodate” the estimated millions that are predicted to attend - you do the math. So, it may not be such a bad idea to take it all in from your computer!

Feel free to add to our list in the comment section below.