G-mail, IM, SMS, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Skype are not only proliferating on the Web, they are playing a large role in building a culture where we are connected 24/7. Add increasing data speeds, smart phones and electronic tablets, and it’s easy to see how our society has a constant craving for connectivity.

As consumers, we find ourselves overwhelmed and frustrated by the mountains of information sent to us. To survive, we manage and control the information by becoming more selective. Effectively managing the mountains of incoming data will be the difference between successful and not–so-successful social media strategies in the upcoming year.

As this trend continues to manifest itself, it will not only take more effort to convince someone to follow your brand, it will also be more difficult to build awareness and trust. “Old school” tools, such as coupons, sales and promotions, used to be enough for someone to follow your brand. Now, however, you will need to be more focused with your efforts by providing important, compelling content that will generate comments, get “liked” and be re-tweeted or shared.

In the upcoming year, organizations will need to put the “social” back into social media. You will need to show customers that you’re listening and responding by participating in two-way communication.

Here are a few ideas and tools to help with the communications loop:

Set Up Listening Devices
The best way to gather a consumer’s online sentiment (i.e., opinions, comparisons, complaints, etc.) is to set up listening devices. These tend to fall into two categories: social media dashboards, such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck, and keyword alert services, such as Google Alerts. Setting up these tools allows you to monitor the Web, so that you know in real time what your consumers are saying about your organization and your brand.

Use an Effective Web Site Platform
In today’s social environment, it’s important that your Web site platform also be social. That’s why you are seeing growth in Wordpress sites. These sites typically combine a powerful—and searchable—blog platform, with the information customers need to know about your company, people and services.

Wordpress sites are typically easy for non-HTML programmers to build and evolve. More frequent updates not only help your search engine rankings, but also help you converse more with your clients.

Develop Effective Customer Service Protocols
Consumers are increasingly recommending products and services simply by promoting their own habits online. Think about it: when a consumer uses Facebook Places or Foursquare to check in at the local coffee shop, or buys a product through Facebook commerce, they are sharing their individual purchases or intent to purchase with their circle of friends. In essence they are recommending the products.

Additionally, we continue to see more and more sites dedicated to customer reviews. These sites typically aggregate both good and bad comments, and help consumers to be heard and, more importantly, get the solutions they want now.

As this trend increases, it will be even more important to listen to the social universe as a part of your customer service program. Happy customers will often just mention that they were at your location or tried your product, whereas unhappy customers will trumpet it far and wide.

A typical online conversation has a relatively short life span of about one to two days. That is why it’s imperative for companies to respond to conversations almost immediately. Do you have protocols in place? Do you know who will respond to consumers? What will they say? How often will they monitor online conversations?

It’s important to develop effective protocols (and continually update them) so your organization is always consistent with its online brands and online customer service policy.

As a reminder, if your organization does not have a social media policy, this is a good time to develop one.

Amy Hoppenrath is principal of AccelerAction, the only agency in Kansas City dedicated to fueling successful professional services firms by creating powerful branding messages, developing strategic lead generation campaigns and driving business development programs. www.AccelerAction.com