Though most major airlines have a robust social media monitoring and response program, a story written today by one of my favorite Wall Street Journal reporters/bloggers shows the significant diversity in the approaches they take.

For most airlines, the approach seems to be an extension of regular customer service. Tweet a complaint, and you’ll get a response that is consistent with the airline’s standard policy in that situation.

At least one airline, Delta, takes a different approach. According to this story, Delta’s social media strategy is like customer service on steroids. The folks who monitor social media chatter about the airline are empowered to bend rules and go beyond standard customer service protocols to make things right for customers.

This raises an interesting dilemma. On one hand, I am big fan of empowering front-line employees to use their discretion and immediately address customer service issues – a model made famous by the Ritz Carlton. And I’m an equally big fan of using social media for helping customers.

On the other, Delta’s approach creates a shameless double standard. Essentially, the message they’re sending is “if you have the power to make us look bad and cause a public relations nightmare, we’ll do something. Otherwise, tough noogies.”

The magic of the Ritz Carlton model is that it applies to all employees interacting with customers in all situations…not just those causing a scene in the hotel lobby.

Coincidentally, another report published today named Delta the meanest airline in America.

Look. I am not some naïve fool who thinks the world is filled with unicorns, rainbows and kittens. I know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and that people who have the power to influence the opinions of others get preferred treatment. I get it. I am, after all, a PR guy.

What I’m suggesting is that maybe Delta doesn’t “get it.” Social media is a feedback loop. If your customer service policies are so bad that the only way a person can seek redress of their grievance is through public shaming, it might be time to look at the rest of your operation.

I know it’s impossible for every front-line employee of a major corporation to flawlessly serve as a brand ambassador. I know you need scripts and policy manuals to ensure CSRs deliver consistent service and control costs.

But at the same time, you need to have a better escalation procedure for solving problems…and more important, that policy should be the same for all your customers, whether they are standing at a counter, talking on the phone, or tweeting to the world. Remember that integrity is doing the right thing even when nobody is looking.

Airlines, including Delta, should be commended for being innovators in embracing social media as a way to interact with their customers and solving problems. It’s a fantastic tool for building relationships and engaging in meaningful conversations. But that’s just the first step in the process.

Next, they need to take the information they gather through social media, and use it to improve the rest of their operation.

Then, then need to apply those same standards to all points of customer contact, not just the embarrassing ones, because any good PR person will tell you that double standards, hypocrisy and arbitrary policies look just as bad as (if not worse than) bad customer service.

In a world of social media, don’t you think somebody might notice that double standard? The Wall Street Journal did.

The gist of the argument is “how am I supposed to take you seriously as a professional when you’re using an email address straight out of 1997, especially if you’re a PR or technology consultant?”

They noted how simple and inexpensive it is for even the smallest of businesses to purchase a personalized domain name for email and web purposes.

Other participants raised security concerns about using those services, and how common it is for those accounts to be hacked, spoofed and otherwise compromised, all of which are party fouls when dealing with confidential information and serious business matters.

One person said an AOL email address was like a digital mullet. I love that term, and have committed myself to using it at least once a week.

While I found the debate mildly entertaining, it did get me thinking about the image we project to clients and customers based on the technology choices we make.

I turned 30 earlier this year, and I believe people my age (give or take a couple years) have an interesting perspective on the internet and the digital revolution, because we were growing up while it was growing up.

When I started kindergarten, I think our entire school had one computer, my worksheets were reproduced on a ditto machine, and my teachers showed educational films that were made out of actual film. When I graduated from high school, my entire school was wired with high-speed internet, we had rooms filled with computers, and overheads were giving way to PowerPoint.

Now folks in my generation are buying houses, starting families, moving up the corporate ladder, and doing all those other things grownups do.

We are decision makers, and we judge the professionalism of your brand based (at least in part) on the technology you use. We don’t view technology as a cool value-add. We view it as a minimum standard you must meet before we will take you seriously.

I think the utility industry provides a fine illustration of why it’s important to put your best digital foot forward.

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with several rural electric cooperatives on various public relations and community outreach programs. Electric cooperatives are well-run professional utilities providing outstanding customer service and reliable electricity to millions of homes and businesses across the United States.

Unfortunately, because they primarily serve rural areas, some people wrongly perceive these organizations as less capable or sophisticated than their urban counterparts. This perception is simply not true. In fact, electric co-ops are often early adopters of new technology (like smart meters), because the rural areas they serve present unique challenges these innovations can help solve.

Of course, the average customer isn’t going to know all that information when they move to a new town and want to turn on the electricity at their home. All they’ll know is what they see on the co-op’s website, and for the growing number of people who grew up in the internet age, they have high expectations for that site.

To me and the people in my generation, your website is your front door (and one could make a compelling argument that Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are vying for that distinction). If it’s clean, well organized and professionally written, then we assume the company behind it must be too. It it’s not…well, you get the idea.

In the case of electric co-ops, the deck has already been stacked against them by an unfair and bogus stereotype. But whether a stereotype is right or wrong doesn’t change the fact that it exists. It just means you have to work twice as hard to overcome it.

Another challenge co-ops face is a lack of high-speed broadband access in many of the areas they serve. Some might think this lack of broadband means an up-to-date website is a bad idea. In reality, slow internet access is just another reason why it’s incredibly important that these organizations provide clean, simple, professional-looking pages. An old website that is poorly designed and has gotten cluttered with information over its life is more likely to load slowly and cause problems for end users. A skilled web programmer can work within those constraints to optimize the site – dial up will always be painfully slow, but steps can be taken to ease burden.

I singled out electric co-ops in this post because I’ve worked with so many of them, respect and enjoy the industry, and understand some of the unique challenges they face, but these principles apply to any industry (Remember we started out talking about a LinkedIn discussion among a bunch of PR people).

Most companies I know expect their employees to be neatly dressed so customers and clients will view them as serious and competent professionals. The same is true for your presence on the web and various social media channels. Don’t let your clients or customers see you sporting a digital mullet.

I don’t know about you, but one of my biggest fears is making a mistake, letting somebody down, and never knowing it happened. How can I learn from my mistake, grow as a professional, and make amends for something I don’t even know happened?

For years, when a company messed up, most of the time they’d never know about it. Most people just don’t have the time or inclination to complain about bad outcomes, unless it involves a really important topic. Instead, most folks just stop patronizing the business and tell friends about the bad experience. The business never knows it happened, never has a chance to apologize and fix it, and can’t take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Social media has transformed the way people share experiences – both good and bad. Word of mouth that used to percolate slowly through a group can now be broadcast to the world instantly. Whether that is good news or bad news depends on what actions you’re willing to take.

If you’re eager to engage in a conversation with your customers, build deeper relationships, and seek opportunities to improve your product or service, then the social media revolution should be a blessing to your business.

Unless you’re perfect, your company is perfect, and all of your customers are perfect, the day will come when somebody makes a mistake or a customer is confused. When that day comes, you should be crossing your fingers that somebody brings it to your attention.

When a customer chooses Facebook, Twitter or another social media outlet as the channel for asking question or voicing complaint, you’ve just been handed a golden opportunity to improve your business, show the world that you care about your customers, listen to what they say, and do everything you can to take care of them.

Also keep in mind that if one person asks a question, odds are pretty good that lots of other people are wondering the same thing. By providing the answer in a public forum, you’re building a living FAQ document – an archive other customers can easily access to find answers to common questions. It also helps a company identify areas where it might need to improve its systems and processes.

Of course, there are some industries where confidentiality considerations preclude a company from providing a complete answer in a public forum. For example, we have worked with a handful rural electric cooperatives around the country, and it would be inappropriate for them to discuss a specific customer’s account information in public. But the co-op could give general information about common reasons something might happen in the public forum, and follow up by phone or email to discuss the specific concern directly.

Companies that operate in heavily regulated industries should consult legal counsel for guidance on the rules governing what can and can’t be said through social media channels. Most of the time, the communications team and the legal team should be able to work out a solution that makes everybody happy.

People are remarkably forgiving. It’s amazing how far a simple statement like, “I’m sorry. Here’s what I’m going to do to make it right,” will go toward resolving an issue. If you want to create a satisfied customer, deliver great service. If you want to create a loyal customer for life, act with integrity when you make a mistake.

Of course this final message is nothing like the original message, and a good time is had by all.

I was reminded of this game while reading one of the many news stories and blog posts regarding Jason Whitlock. For our friends and clients outside of Kansas City, Jason Whitlock was a longtime sports columnist at The Kansas City Star known for taking controversial stands on issues. He recently parted ways with the paper.

His departure has been the subject of more media reports, blog posts and water cooler discussions than I care to think about. There was even a three-hour special interview (dubbed “The Explanation”) simulcast on radio and TV in which he shared his side of the story. Plenty of accusations have been made about who’s at fault, and what the real story is.

I’ll let others handle that debate, but there is one part of this soap opera that folks in my business should notice.

Many reports claim that Whitlock is now working as an online columnist for Fox Sports with a contract worth approximately $2 million over three years. There’s no question about whether or not he’s writing for Fox. You can go online and read his columns for yourself. What is being debated is the size of the contract.

To many folks, that number seems awfully high for an online-only deal, and some reports say Whitlock himself has never confirmed it. Despite this uncertainty, the $2 million number has been repeated time and again. It even made its way into a New York Times article on the issue…The gray lady. Our national newspaper of record. All the news that’s fit to print.

Hearne Christopher, another former Star reporter and current blogger, wrote an interesting post yesterday about how this rumor evolved into fact and made its way into America’s finest newspaper.

Do I know how much Jason Whitlock is making at Fox Sports? No, I don’t. I have no idea, and I really don’t care…but that’s not the point.

The point is how quickly the truth can get lost in a social media world. Maybe that number is true. Maybe it’s not. I don’t know who to believe, and (as far as I know) nobody with direct knowledge is doing anything to address the confusion. In this situation, the fact in question is of little consequence to our daily lives, so the confusion just makes for one more wrinkle in an entertaining side show.

But when the issue is more substantial, confusion and ambiguity are often just as bad as (and sometimes worse than) misinformation. How would you feel if it was your brand, your company, or your reputation at stake? What if the number in question was your stock price? Or the amount you were going to raise your customers’ electric rates? Or the number of people your firm had to lay off?

A misplaced decimal point in one social media outlet could quickly spiral out of control if left unchecked.

Would you even notice if that happened? Are you listening to the conversation? Do you have a plan in place to quickly correct erroneous information?

I know that lots of businesses look at social media and say “that’s not the right strategy for us.” In almost all of these cases, I suspect social media engagement deserves a seat at the marketing strategy table, but I’m willing to set that argument aside for the sake of this discussion. Fair enough. Maybe social media isn’t the highest and best use of your resources, but you still need to be listening and have a plan for response. Most buildings will never burn down, but we don’t think twice about investing in sprinklers, fire alarms, smoke detectors and insurance. It would foolish not to.

Your organization’s reputation deserves the same level of protection.

A distorted message makes for a great game when you’re five. When you’re a grown up running an organization and the message gets distorted, a good time is rarely had by anyone…except your competitors.

However, only 20 percent of companies worldwide have a social media policy in place, according to an article in Public Relations Tactics. It is very important to have such a policy to protect the company’s brand and have a consistent voice across all channels.

When building your company’s social media plan, there are six key elements that need to be incorporated.

- Leverage the positive.
- Focus on what employees can do rather than what they can’t do.
- Be responsible.
- Be authentic.
- Bring value
- Respect copyrights and fair use.

These elements will give employers and their employees guiding principals about what is and is not okay to post on the worldwide web. In addition, it will ensure that your company’s messaging is unified and on target.

However, the article made several valid points about our culture’s addiction to instant information and people’s inability to deal with the constant stream. It mentioned that email volume is growing by 66 percent a year and more people are using Facebook and Twitter for work, making social media and e-communication “the way” to do business.

How are we supposed to manage this increasing volume of emails and find time for social media without it becoming a day drainer?

Simple, make it part of your daily routine.

For me, every morning I come into work and drink my coffee while checking email and social media outlets. I do this again over lunch. I keep my email open all day, but have it minimized so that I am not constantly checking it. In total, I would say I spend around an hour a day answering emails and managing my social media usage.

If I have a project with a tight deadline or a guest column that needs to be written, I put my phone on ‘do not disturb,’ close my email and block that time off on my calendar. These methods allow me to still have plenty of time to allow my creative juices to flow.

Some of the people the author interviewed checked email only four times during the day, or had their email open for part of the day. This helped them get their work done efficiently, but still allowed them to converse with coworkers and business prospects.

For those of you thinking “but none of these solutions will work for me,” think back to how you managed your time before social media or email existed. The ultimate solution is different for everyone, but it generally involves finding a way to manage the additional noise and making it part of your routine.

The endless barrage of real-time updates, emails and social media lifestreams is here to stay, so if you haven’t started thinking about how to handle it all, you should. If you have, I’d love to know what works for you.

I did all of my marketing through word-of-mouth and direct mail. Right before the start of school each year, I’d design a brochure on my computer, have copies made at Kinkos, stuff them in envelopes with a couple of business cards, and drop them in the mail. I’d repeat that process around the first of the year, when prom committees would be making their final plans for spring events.

I built my mailing list by going to the public library and looking through phone books from across the region to get the street addresses of all the middle and high schools.

This was tedious work…and fairly expensive by the standards of an 18 year old. But I paid for a good chunk of my undergraduate education that way.

When I think about the social media revolution, and all the tools that are available today, I often wonder what my business would have been like if I could easily build my own Web site, connect with clients and fans via Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, and show off my really cool light show on YouTube.

I don’t have to look very far to find the answer, because one of my brothers, Tim, followed in my footsteps. He started his own DJ business and plays at many of the same schools and events I used to do.

He’s a freshman in college, and makes full use of social media to market his business. He has hundreds of Facebook and MySpace fans, and takes requests through Facebook and text message. He can send e-blasts with the click of a mouse, and will never know the pain of paper cuts on your tongue from licking 500 envelopes.

Of course, social media is just a tool. Effective marketing still requires strategic thinking, compelling messages, thoughtful engagement with your audiences, and a solid product/service.

It’s still hard work, and it isn’t free. It requires regular attention and deeper engagement with audiences. But it levels the playing field and gives smaller companies access to tools and tactics that were once available to only the largest of brands.

Despite all of these opportunities, many small businesses are reluctant to embrace social media. I know it can be overwhelming…but with a little bit of guidance, patience, and perseverance, it can deliver significant ROI for your business.

On occasions such as this, it is customary to look back and contemplate all that has changed in the past 15 years.

On a personal level, it’s pretty easy to see the difference.

Back in 1995, while Melissa and Linda were hard at work developing business plans and laying the foundation of our company, I was focused on passing driver’s ed, surviving Mr. Charboneau’s honors chemistry class, and cheering the South Portland Red Riots football team to their first of two consecutive state championships.

Of course, our industry has changed a bit, too.

Fifteen years ago, the internet was just starting to grow in popularity. News releases were faxed and snail mailed. A Rolodex was an actual thing on your desk, not another term for your contact list in Outlook (though I must admit that I still have a Rolodex, too).

Today, social media is a staple of any integrated strategic communication program.

A great many folks in our industry like to say that everything is different in today’s electronic environment. That the rules have changed, and we have to fundamentally shift the way we communicate with our key audiences.

I disagree. Sure, the tools have changed. So has the speed at which (and the ease with which) information can be shared.

But you know what hasn’t changed? The way you build strong, lasting relationships.

Whether it’s a face to face lunch meeting, a letter in the mail, a voice on the phone, a message on your iPhone, or a post on Facebook, good relationships have always required work at the individual level.

I suppose that the new media environment has made it harder to take shortcuts like speed pitching, one-size-fits-all news releases, marketing that focuses on companies instead of their customers, and other top-down communication strategies. But I’ve been blessed with a several great mentors in my career…and none of them believed in shortcuts.

From my days as a student at USM, to my time as an intern at HNTB, to my first day as an account executive at SWC, I’ve always been taught that great communications campaigns are hard work built upon a foundation of research, planning, individual outreach, listening, problem solving, and doing what you said you would do. Anything less than that is a shortcut…and shortcuts don’t yield long term results.

I am excited to see what our industry will look like 15 years from now. I’m sure we’ll have nifty new media that makes today’s technology look quaint.

I’m also willing to bet that we’ll be building relationships the same way. It might look different and feel different, but at its core, we’ll still be researching, listening, understanding, communicating, problem solving, and doing what we said we would do.

What do you think?

Erik Qualman, an online education, marketing and e-business thought leader, is author of “Socialnomics,” a book exploring how social media transforms our lives and the way we do business. He’s produced several YouTube videos to promote his book and share some impressive statistics about the undeniable importance of social media.

The first of those videos has been wildly popular, and focused on the rapid growth of various social media challenges. That’s all well and good, but most organizations care more about ROI and growing business than they do simply following the crowd. Those unconvinced by his first video, might be persuaded by his latest work (shown above) in which he shares some impressive bottom-line results.

His point, which he has gone to great pains to validate: social media represents a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. If you are not a believer, open your eyes.

Nearly everyone fogging a mirror is doing something in social media. If you would like to give yourself a few chest pains, just ask your attorney what your liability exposure is in this area. It is not pretty.

A social media policy sets out the rules of how you expect those employed by your company to conduct themselves. It protects them by giving clear guidelines. It protects the company as the employee is less likely to make some ill-informed mistake.

Key elements of the social media policy:
• Definition of social media, examples of the tools (you could update this daily and not keep up)
• Social media’s formal / informal role in the business
• Basic etiquette and standards that apply to all social media outlets involving:
o Material that could be considered harassment or discriminatory
o Unauthorized use of confidential client or company information
o Difficulties with opinion, humor, definition of suitable material
o Wanted / unwanted requests to join, friend, link
o Personal v professional information
o Vulnerability to the criminal element
o Transparency and credibility
o Approval in posting client or company information
o Site monitoring
o Handling disagreements
o Timeliness
o Value of shared information
• Facts about specific social media outlets, particularly Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace

Social media has come alongside more traditional means in how businesses communicate internally and externally. Understanding and effectively directing your organization as to its role in the business, how employees may, and may not participate, and what they should look out for will not only spare your business costly trouble, it can accelerate your business goals.