One global bank executive was left with an unusual decision. A customer who normally qualifies for the lowest level of service had nearly 100,000 followers on Twitter. With that kind of PR, should the bank reconsider their level of service to the particular customer?

According to one article, this particular bank is not the only company who has been left to make this kind of decision. More than 1,100 companies involved with several different industries on several different continents were surveyed and 70 executives were interviewed to find out what their social media strategy actually was.

There were three basic social media strategies in place and they were based on each company’s procedures for uncertain outcomes and how they sought results.

The Predictive Practitioner
This approach to things means that you are confining usage to one specific area such as customer service. Companies who want to avoid the uncertainty use this method to establish tools to use ahead of time and before things happen. One example of this is to create a website where people can give input on products your company is currently working on.

The Creative Experimenter
Companies who use this method thrive off of the uncertainty of things. They will run tests to find ways to improve on their current practices and they learn by listening to what their customers have to say on social media sites.

The Social Media Champ
This method will mean that you must have large plans in place for predictable results. A great example is when Ford campaigned for their 2009 Fiesta Movement. They loaned 100 of the cars for six months to people who agreed to Tweet or Blog about the vehicle. They based their decision on who got to test the cars by who had the most followers on social sites. Within six months there had been more than 60,000 posts. This generated more than 4.3 million views on YouTube and millions of clicks.