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With big technological changes comes big responsibility.  And with the way technology has been leaping ahead lately, there also comes a big opportunity to mess up royally, especially when it comes to managing a brand using social media.   To understand these potential sticky points, article author Jolie O'Dell consulted six media pros with extensive backgrounds in marketing, PR and branding to learn about the unique challenges marketers now face and how to over come them.  Here are what the experts revealed about brands and social media and the challenges out there.

1.  The transparency challenge.  You need to be everything to everyone, and the way to do this is to not hold back on your branding and marketing. Communicate clearly to your employees what the message is, and then be straight about it to the outside world.  If your company screws up, be the first to acknowledge it, likewise if you rock, toot your own horn.  Just communicate in an honest, diligent way, and be prepared to devote a lot of time to the effort - it's an ongoing, ever evolving process. 

2.  The challenge of scale.  When you're working on managing a successful, popular brand, there will always be more conversations and users than employees to manage and follow those conversations.  Prioritization and starting with a small number of services and platforms are keys to effectively handling a large number of users.  Figure out which social networks are most relevant to achieving your business goals, and then be consistent in your efforts to grow your reach over time.

3.  The toolbelt challenge.  With so many different apps and tools available to brand managers, figuring out which ones will best suit their needs is tough.  Investing some quality time and effort in finding the exact tools that will meet all of your needs is a worthwhile idea - in the long run, the right tools can save a lot of time, money, and hassle.

4.   The revenue challenge.  Ah yes, a little thing called "money" is usually needed to sustain a brand.  Brand managers must remember and convince the people actually doing the social web managing that the bottom line is what matters most - not how cool the ads look on-line or how interactive the website is.  What you're doing must increase revenue or the people funding you won't be for long.

5.  The relationship challenge.  No, this isn't about your personal relationships but rather about the relationships your brand can form with your customers.  Brands must go from selling themselves hard at every opportunity to taking a second to listen to customers and engage them in a give and take dialogue.  Efforts to develop ongoing relationships will almost always be more profitable and fruitful in the long run.

6.  The challenge of the future.  Brands need to become authorities within their relevant social media networks, and this requires feedback and responses from both sides.  The community supporting the brands should help guide the brand manager toward what they want more and less of to create something everyone is pleased with.  It's not about competing for the moment, but competing for the long run.

After reading about these opportunities to succeed with flying colors or fail just as much, you might be a little anxious about launching your own brand online.  Never fear though - this is where Twist can help you!  Check out our website at www.twiststl.com to see how we've helped other brands succeed online, and contact us to find out what we can do for your brand at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .