I'm into the third week of my Certified Social Media Strategist class and am relishing in the potential out there to stand ahead of the crowd. What I'm finding is that there is a lot of work to be done to get it right on the social web. Most of us just have the tip of our big toe in the water.

This week, we did a Four Quadrant Assessment assignment examining a company's brand, competition, customers and partners. My classmate and I tackled the customer assessment, and what we found is although Company X had a well-rounded social presence, they weren't very sociable—there was very little interaction going on between them and their followers.

Most of us don't like to be criticized, but if you look at criticism as constructive, you will find many opportunities to not only improve your products and services but also your relationship with your customers. Don't be one of those companies who ignore customer complaints on the social web; use this golden opportunity to listen to what your users want and engage with them. That's what social networking is about!!

Read Jay Baer's blog post: 70% of Companies Ignore Customer Complaints on Twitter.