An awareness of social media is especially important in the case of managing negative PR online. We have seen high profile cases of businesses who have ignored negative feedback on social media only to find significant damage to their reputation.

Social media means different things to different businesses (and indeed individuals). Some businesses with existing database of customers may find social media to be a very convenient way of communicating latest news, offers, etc with them. Others may want to use it to generate buzz about a new product or service.

As you say, the community ethos of social media leads even competitors to collaborate on ideas. I find this fascinating… Connections are made which often transcend business.

I think it is very much evident that the modern day business model is inherently social. Yes there are business competitors (this includes freelancers too) who work in the same circles-be that online or geographically-but the collective knowledge and experience base helps everyone to do better business.

My favourite example of competitors using their collective innovation to combat big business competition can be found amongst a handful of baristas in Shoreditch. They recently introduced a dis-loyalty card scheme to reward customers for visiting different competing independent coffee shops, as opposed to the chain coffee shops that occupy the high street. If you visit all

I’d just add that when it comes to competitors, it’s not a matter of analysing their behaviour once and then only concentrating on (potential and current) clients. I think it’s important to engage with competitors on an ongoing basis, if you can.

A good 40-50% of the people I follow on Twitter are ‘competitors’. As well as learning from how we see each other do things, we also share ideas and work together and support each other in a way you probably wouldn’t expect to see among competitors in the ‘real world’. Beneficial all round!