The role of social media in influencing corporate brand and reputation management took the centre stage recently during a Customer Engagement Forum organised by General Electric at the Southern Sun hotel, Ikoyi Lagos.

The event had lawyer, author and internet entrepreneur, Chude Jideonwo alongside award winning Journalist, poet and social media influencer, Tolu Ogunlesi as panelists with award winning writer and PR informal but intellectually stimulating environment.

Present at the occasion were clients and partners drawn from the power, health, hospitality and financial services sectors like Heirs Holdings, Clarke Energy, Reddington Hospital, Transcorp, Discovery Energy, Century Power, Dangote, Phillips, Zenith and Fidelity. The media was also well represented.

Chude Jideonwo who is founder and publisher of ynaija.com called on communications practitioners to develop a social media strategy that aligns with their business needs. “There is no one-size–fits-all strategy for respective organisations as every organisation has got peculiarities with respect to how to engage in social media”. Chude however advised against completely ignoring social media even when it appears that the organisation can do without social media.

On his part Tolu Ogunlesi, who is a two time winner of the CNN African journalist prize, said while social media aids and simplifies the work of the communicator and public Relations practitioner, it also demands humility because the rules have changed with the balance of power now tilted in favour of bloggers and online publishers.