Hello. Kyle here. I wanted to tell you about an experience I had with social media and the lesson learned from the experience.

Recently, I had an appointment with Vanderbilt Dermatology in Franklin, TN. After I had sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes past my scheduled appointment time, I decided I would Tweet out ?I don?t know why I try to be on time to the doctor?s office. The Vanderbilt Dermatology Clinic in Franklin never runs on time.? As fate would have it, I was called back 5 minutes later. The very nice nurse practitioner explained she running late because she was working with a patient. Simple enough.

A couple weeks later, I got a voicemail from the office manager Meg saying she wanted to speak to me about my appointment. When I called Meg back, she said she had heard it was a little rough. I was curious how she had heard, and she explained that she saw my post on Twitter.

Let?s stop for a second and discuss that. Here is a big organization like Vanderbilt paying attention to social media and more importantly to what their patients are saying. They don?t have to do that. Let?s be honest, if my story influences someone to NOT go there, big deal. New patients will still walk in the doors and visit their clinic. Instead, they are taking to social media to be a part of the conversation.

Back to the story. I told Meg all that needed to happen was the front desk staff tell me they are running 30-45 minutes late, and she agreed. Amazing! Actually listening to their customers!!

By the way, Meg asked how a follow up visit that happened was, and I told her it was the exact opposite. I owed her a positive Tweet, which I did later that day.

This leads me to a couple of questions. What are you doing to pay attention to what?s being said about your brand, or band, on social media? Better yet, how are you engaging your fan, or customer, and listening to their needs?