It is mind boggling how much social networking data has evolved in the past few years. People are interacting with brands driven by social-media patterns. Brands now can be found within tweets, through “likes” on Facebook, people can check-in, and with other platforms growing, like Pinterest, it can be hard to understand how to act on it.

Imagine social media as an orchestra and in order for things to flow in one fluid motion there needs to be a conductor. The conductor needs to know how to make sense of tweets, the likes and the pins, because social media is word of mouth on steroids.

As a conductor, you must make sense of what your “hearing”, and the only way you can do this is by “listening.” Once you do this, you can share it with the community and build a relationship.

There is no such thing as too much information anymore because people share everything. Social networks are a place where consumers are given the opportunity to be heard, and they feel this with real-time responses. Responses could be a direct reply to a comment or a tweet; however, they have the most impact when a consumer knows they have influenced their brand. That means acknowledge the consumer so they can then spread your brand through these social networks like a virus. This should be integrated as a part of your day-to-day habits, not as an interruption to it. Don’t view this “babble” as useless because it actually has meaning, relationships, patterns and trends.

The main thing to remember is social media is interacting with customers to expand product and brand recognition, drive sales and profitability and develop loyalty. Engage with social media, do not be consumed by it, and once it is understood it can be used as a very successful tool.