When we're advising a social media strategy for our clients, our first step is to ensure they have a customer service strategy. Consumers and businesses don't care who is in charge of your Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn presence... if they have a complaint, they want to voice it and have it handled professionally and efficiently. Lacking a strategy to deal with those complaints will destroy any social media marketing strategy you may have hoped for.
Zendesk's infographic, Complaining Ain't Easy, illustrates how your customers feel about your responsiveness (or lack thereof) to their complaints on social media. 86% of the people who complained about a brand via social media that did not get a response would have appreciated one, and 50% of people said they would be deterred from being a customer if their questions and complaints were ignored on social media.