Social media has exploded, and the potential for brands to thrive in this conversation-based space is increasing with every passing day.

By their nature, Challenger Brands are brands in a hurry and on a limited budget. Social media, with its immediacy and low cost-of-entry, is a perfect fit for Challenger Brands - with a little guidance.

Social media consists of people talking and sharing life experiences with each other in real-time social networking sites, blogs, microblogs, forums, video and picture sharing sites. All have common interactive elements. Like other mediums, it’s a space where awareness can be built for a brand. But the true beauty of this expanding medium is its ability to build consumer advocacy and allow marketers to monitor consumer attitudes toward their brand in real-time.

Having your brand or product engage in social media is the ultimate litmus test of its relevancy. And because it allows for a two-way channel of communication, the marketer has the opportunity to enter the conversation and potentially redirect it if their brand or product is not being embraced.

To effectively use social media, brands need to be patient. They must listen before speaking, or they risk harm. Would you walk up to a group at a cocktail party and interrupt the conversation with marketing speak, then turn and run? Most likely, you’d listen from across the room and determine the right time (if any) to interject and become part of the conversation. The same discipline is required for a brand trying to get its message across in social media.

To get consumers to listen in these digital forums, we apply our 28 years of marketing experience and inject our core disciplines into Social Media strategies: paid placement via our Media group, public relations (PR) messaging and outreach through our PR team, consumer trends and demographic modeling from our Research arm, and technology evaluation from our Interactive staff.

As part of an overall communication strategy, social media can be a very effective tool in creating greater brand awareness, altering brand perception or even correcting bad brand experiences.

Check out GKV blog for more insider perspectives from GKV’s very own thought leaders.