SOCIAL communications  should be integrated into every  part of a company, a conference  in Exeter was told.

Brand strategist Olivier Blanchard, of US-based Brandbuilder Marketing, described a business model for a three-step process to change the fundamental  culture of how firms work.

The result would be a culture  where every employee understood how websites like Facebook and twitter could be used  to engage with customers.

 And they would need a co-ordinated approach to deal with  problems and issues across departments including PR, marketing, customer support and  community management.

Mr Blanchard highlighted  how the approach would have allowed much better crisis management for companies like  Eurostar, which came in for criticism when passengers were  left stranded in a broken down  train in the Channel Tunnel, or  Toyota with its global car recall.

Mr Blanchard was one of the  keynote speakers at the Like  Minds 2010 People to People conference, attended by 350 delegates at Exeter Conference  Centre in Northernhay Street,  on Friday.

The conference aimed  to explore the change in business  towards greater levels of personalisation for customers, and  the role that being ‘social’ plays  in enterprises and charities as  the world becomes more connected through social networking and mobile devices.

Like Minds was co-founded by  Exeter-based entrepreneurs  Andrew W Ellis and Scott  Gould. Its aim was to inspirepeople through innovative conferences and brought together  world class experts, leading  thinkers and local businesses to  discuss new trends and opportunities in the emerging   people-to-people and social media industries.

 Mr Gould said: “Right now  the eyes of the world are on  Exeter in terms of social media.  The support of the local community has been fantastic, and  we are thrilled everything has  gone so well. People have  praised the smooth organisation of the conference. I was  particularly pleased with the  welcome by the Lord Mayor of  Exeter.”

Delegate Adam Stone, managing director of Exeter-based  Rokk Group, said: “For us having these superheroes of our  trade coming here and discussing their latest discoveries and  thoughts is fantastic. It puts Exeter right up there at the cutting  edge of our movement.”

Keynote speaker Chris  Brogan, president of US-based  New Marketing Labs, told the  conference the excitement  around social media as a communications tool was similar to  what happened when the telephone emerged in the 1930s and  then email at the end of the last  century.

He said: “All social media has  nothing to do with technology,  but with remembering to be human. It is not about the buzz, it  is what you do with it.”

Over the weekend speakers  from the conference and local  business figures took part in the  Like Minds summit based at  Bovey Castle, near Moretonhampstead, for in-depth group  sessions exploring the latest  thoughts and developments in  social media.

In a panel session on ‘How are  we changing the way we communicate?’, Helena Holt, chief  executive of  Devon Air  Ambulance Trust, explained how using social media had allowed  the charity to reach people and  source help and advice which it  otherwise would not have been  able to.

 She said: “We use social media to reach people, it gives us  an opportunity to engage with  people.”

Exeter City Centre Manager  John Harvey said the public sector faced the danger of being  distant from the people it  served.

 Using social media allowed  him to communicate more effectively with the public.