• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 23, 2012

American Express social chief Shari Forman just gave an amazing insight at MediaPost’s Social Media Insider Summit in Key Largo this morning, and if she’s right, it could really transform the way a lot of consumer marketers approach social media.

One of the best things you can do when someone slams your brand in social media, she says, is do “nothing.” Well, at least not initially. Instead, she recommends just “laying back,” and seeing how the rest of your social media fans deal with the situation.

“If there’s a complaint, nine times out of ten, the community will respond on our behalf, even before the brand jumps in,” she says, making me think that social media may, in fact, be that apocryphal Holy Grail everyone on Madison Avenue keeps talking about.