The best way for people with this situation to participate is to start before they need it. Meaning, build your network now, with no product and no expectations. Then it will be there when you need it, and the people will already find you (the company) trustworthy. Be an “early adopter” for your own brand.

If they can’t start that early, I still recommend spending time cultivating a network before trying to tap it for sales.

I got here from @ariherzog.

I agree with the spirit of what you’re saying: I can’t argue against any of the points you make, especially re: customer interaction and embracing negative feedback. I’ve written about this in the past.

Still, I don’t think that there’s really a new ROI: investors still need a return. Social ROI is a good “intuition pump” or analogy. It’s just a matter of explaining the difference between tangible and intangible ROI.

A good stab at the central problem of Social ROI.

Phil Baumanns last blog post..Daily Diigo Discoveries 11/09/2008

I have a question, though: How can markets with short turnaround, that don’t have time to listen because they need to sell a product or service with fast deadlines, participate?

Ari Herzogs last blog post..3 Tips to Keep Me Commenting on Your Blog