• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 7, 2011

At the MediaPost Email Insider Summit, StrongMail's Kara Trivunovic said that it is critical for marketers to jump in and respond to commentary on a Facebook or Twitter feed. “In the social space, silence is deafening,” she said.

She cited an example of a retailer having a negative comment posted, and that sentiment was echoed for 11 days before a company representative responded and that response was weak. Who knows? A quicker response could have slowed the backlash.

“You have to be watching, you have to be listiening and you have to be responding," she said. "It's not really a choice anymore, it's kind of a necessity."