As a person who used to do a lot of cold calling as a professional salesperson; I believe a company, brand or person should approach social media in the same way a professional salesperson would approach clients and prospects. If you use social media as a way to build up your company's "likeability", build trust with communities of people, and help lead people to the right solutions wether it is your product or not, you will increase awareness, trust and ultimately a recommendation and purchase from those same individuals.

While there is no social media kit (http://altitudebranding.com/2009/05/there-is-no-social-media-kit/), each and every company does have people, or outside agency help, that like a professional salesperson, can build strong relationships with people and ultimately lead those who are approriate to a purchase decision, or the trust of a recommendation to someone who is in the market for the things your company sells. It bears repeating that social media tools/platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, del.icio.us, etc are just communication tools. How you use social media to benefit your company, brand or persons can be game changing, but you need to approach it in the right way or you are simply wasting time and money. Find a smart agency and the right stakeholders in your organization and get moving. Your competition, whether you are a company, brand or person, already has.