Did you know that Starbucks is the only business-related page on facebook’s Top 10 Liked Pages list? We all love Starbucks coffee, but this praiseworthy status really is fitting to their interactive social media campaigns and outreach as a consumer business.

Starbucks utilizes social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, the Starbucks blog and even their website to interact with their customers. For instance, asking customers to post “My Starbucks Idea” on their blog is an interactive way to learn how to improve customer service and experience; or posting daily coffee buzz on Twitter and facebook allows Starbucks to develop a fan-base that can be useful for future outreach and programs.

While attending and participating in the annual eMarketing Associations’s Power of eMarketing Conference in San Francisco, it became evident that Starbucks is an ideal example of how to use social media to your company’s advantage. Social media is a constant two-way communication between a company and its customers, so it will take time and effort to keep up with it. One of the digital and social media panelists at the conference suggested that a company just starting out on the social media trend should choose three of four social media platforms to launch into and actively manage them by using employee voices, interactive contests and customer participation.

Keep in mind, it is not just about how many facebook “likes” or Twitter followers that a company can collect, but it is what you do with this customer base through social media platforms now and in the future that creates the ROI a company needs.

So how do advertisers reach the 71 million “Millennials” in GenY that spend over 200 billion dollars annually and will soon replace the baby boomer generation as the largest percentage of the workforce?  The answer: Advertising can no longer be a group of old men deciding what is best for consumers.

According to the book, Trust Us, We’re Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future, Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber attack the 20^th Century model of marketing and public relations for misusing their power as “experts” in the eyes of the consumer.

Products and services used to be validated using this “third-party technique”, where an industry would purchase the services of so-called independent experts (a.k.a. advertising agencies) to promote a message that would monetarily benefit a specific industry.  The advertising spin-doctors would then shape a message to flatter the product or service, while simultaneously discrediting or attacking the competition.  Sometimes they would even go so far as to suppress or manipulate problematic data about the product or service to make it “sell-able”.

But advertising has taken a turn – consumers no longer rely on the experts.  Not only do they not want to be told what to buy, they don’t want to be pushed into what to think, who to vote for and how to raise their children.

Today’s advertising is about the consumer deciding what they want to see and buy.  For example, according to a national survey from Arbitron and Edison Research, 48 percent of Americans 12 years and older have a profile on one or more social networking sites.  On Facebook, the most visited website, consumers can “like” a note or post a page. Advertisers code the site to recognize those favorites and use this information to target the needs of consumers.  All of the sudden on your Facebook page there is an ad for your favorite band on tour in your area or a new restaurant to try on your street. No more pop-up ads flashing shiny letters and “experts” selling you catchy phrases and manipulated data.

Advertisers finally realize that it’s not about how much spin they can put on a product or service to increase sales – it’s now all about YOU.

British Petroleum’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an example of how a strong company brand can be destroyed instantly. It’s costing the company a heap in terms of human resources and dollars to salvage their brand. We can all learn from BP’s misfortune by not losing control of our company brand.

It’s a good idea to periodically refresh employees as to what your mission is and how your brand is defined. Is service or price number one?  How about integrity or quality? There are no “right answers” but everyone needs to understand and effectively communicate the company’s differentiators and core strengths. Those key messages have to be consistent in all forms of communication, marketing and social media.

The brand’s content needs to be consistent with how it visually appeals to its customers. West End is a good example of how a brand can totally remake the image of a company by fine tuning it’s product line.  But this can not be done on a whim. You need to understand the needs of  your current and potential customers. The trick is not alienating current customers in the process of trying to expand. Check out Fuel Your Branding for more on the visual aspects of branding.

Brands can emulate a rollercoaster ride. Take Apple as an example. They release the new iPhone 4; brand value goes way up. But the phones are difficult to order due to technical glitches; brand value goes down.  Then they are unable to fulfill the large quantity of orders; brand value goes down further.  Unfortunately, these setbacks happen, but how you handle these situations can positively or adversely affect your brand. Apple addressed the iPhone 4 delays head on with an apology and explanation (they were totally unprepared for the volume because it was way more than previous iPhones); brand value goes back up. Then there is the problem with the antenna; brand goes back down. The goal is to not have these types of hiccups, but life is unpredictable and therefore all companies need to be prepared to handle these bumps in the road effectively.

Maintaining a brand is more than having a pretty new logo every year. It’s about knowing what your brand is and communicating that both internally and externally. It’s vital to avoid actions which degrade your brand and when necessary, doing damage control. Remember, it takes years to create a positive brand, but one wrong move and it can be destroyed overnight.

The champion crusader of the event was keynote speaker David Spark of Spark Media Solutions, whose presentation on the 14 Successful Techniques for Building Your Industry Voice with Social Media provided clear insight into social media’s prowess.

Some favorite tips:

Ride current hot news and cultural memes.
As sure as Crystal Bowersox is going to sweep American Idol, connecting your industry topic with buzzworthy news is sure to drive visits to your blog.

Own a phrase.
David Spark did an experiment here to see what it took to be the number one return on a google search of the phrase “making money with podcasting”. Over the course of a few months, he posted a series of 15 interviews with successful podcasters on the topic and tracked his google progress. Each part of the series included links between the blogs, a technique to drive traffic.  The result? By the end of the series his articles were returning the top hits in google when users typed in “making” “money” and “podcasting”. The trick is title your articles with a phrase that is common enough to be searched but not too common to reign in.

Take advantage of contests by using a social media layer.
Your company’s active online community is a resource. Boxee, an open source social media center, created a contest to staff their convention booths. The contest entrants submitted a video demonstrating their presenter ability. The 4 winners were flown to Las Vegas where they successfully represented the Boxee company. The best part is that the people who take the time to enter your contests are passionate enough to be stellar advocates for your product or service.

These are just the tips of the social media iceberg. Cleverly working known SEO triggers, engaging your company’s online community, and being active and consistent will ensure your social media plan packs a superhero punch.