Every business has an inkling that social media is important, but many are still dabbling in the space, unsure of how to proceed.

Brian Solis is a principal of FutureWorks, a new media agency in Silicon Valley, and the author of “Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web“. He says every department in your business that has external interactions will need to use social media to communicate with their respective communities.

To help you get started down the track in the right direction he has five best practises for companies to follow. He talks through them in today’s edition of BTalk:

• 1. Take enough time
• 2. Conquer your fears
• 3. Listen and learn
• 4. Establish an attractive and expansive presence
• 5. Use engagement as the new customer service and marketing

As you’ll hear, there’s a lot of science behind a successful strategy. Statistics are available to measure the impact of what you are doing, so it is possible to build the business case to deploy more company resources on social media.

First published on CBS News