Is social media in danger of becoming the next form of low-level customer service? I got thinking about this recently thanks to a LinkedIn group discussion on social media. As Carl Hartman, CEO of Green Cheese Media Group, put it:  “I can write books about branding or develop a brand strategy for a $300 million company and I can’t get one of those $20k (social media jobs.”

Of course, there is nothing wrong with outsourcing some of the grunt work of social media — posting replies, monitoring the social networking landscape to less experienced people. It probably makes good business sense. But just like those companies today that put on the customer service front lines people who barely know the name of the company, businesses need to insure that the people who represent them on social networks present the best face of the company.

Meanwhile, it seems like a lot of companies are viewing their social media as a jazzed-up version of customer service. Hartman shared results from a recent Craig’s List search of advertising agencies hiring and came up with these titles and salaries:

Social Media Alchemist

Social Media Influencer

Community Manager

Average pay? $10 to $15 an hour.

A comic artist I’m sure could have great fun with all of this. The artist certainly wouldn’t lack for material. I can’t help but picture someone with vials of chemicals whipping up a social media magical brew that will increase a firm’s social media influence.

So what’s a firm to do?

In another LinkedIn discussion, Julian Bradder , of Customer Communications Community, talked about how “social media enables influence and engagement earlier in the decision making process….There are many questions that a buyer considers. Are you answering them?”

For a B2B company, this involves understanding what your customers need to know early in the decision process. The best way to discover this is to begin listening more – and earlier —  to your prospects. What are they concerned about? What are they eager to fix? To expand? To improve? What is keeping them up at night? What is their biggest frustration? What do they truly believe they need to do? Do they even know? And ultimately, how can they save money or make more?

We make so many assumptions about what customers need and want. And I’m certainly as guilty as the next. But now thanks to social media we can have our own world-wide focus group.

So, what can you do to address any of these concerns? Are you listening to your prospects and what have you learned? I’d love to hear from you.