Jeff Allain, foreground, and Stephen G. Noyes, of the accounting firm Batchelor, Frechette, McCrory Michael & Co., listen to John Speck, a consultant with New Commons, talk about the use of social networking in business.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

PROVIDENCE — Business professionals gathered in the city Thursday morning to get advice about using social networking to grow their companies.

Adaptability, collaboration and openness seemed to be the key themes for John Speck, a Pawtucket business consultant leading a session for about 30 people at the state Economic Development Corporation’s headquarters off Valley Street.

Speck compressed two decades of computing history into a two-hour discussion leading up to the role of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter for businesses trying to stand out in a crowded Internet.

Small-business professionals, no matter how crowded their schedules, must devote the time needed to stand out in that crowd, he said. “It’s a question of the way you prioritize in the fringes of your schedule.”

They must develop an expertise in some business area and then begin to comment and engage in discussions in Web forums and on blogs related to that specialty as a way to establish their credibility, Speck said.

Inviting and fostering commentary from both customers and critics on a company’s own blog is one way to develop that trust, he said.

“It’s really, really important to learn how to deal with critics,” Speck said, even as he acknowledged that the tactic “makes your knees shake.”

But not dealing with critics online is far worse, giving them the upper hand in a forum that can destroy customer loyalty and sales, he added. Handling criticism adroitly can engender loyalty, as will finding ways to incorporate commentators’ suggestions into business practices.

A case in point, Speck said, is Southwest Airlines’ willingness to change its flight scheduling after complaints about it poured in online in 2007.

Honesty, as well, is a good policy, he said, as Wal-Mart found out after using the well-oiled anecdotes of a pair of ersatz RV travelers as a front for an online promotional campaign. The campaign blew up in Wal-Mart’s face after a blogger uncovered the connections between the couple, a marketing company and the Wal-Mart executive who signed off on the promotion.

A business must develop a unique sales proposition to be successful on the Web, and then develop an adaptable marketing strategy to promote it in the appropriate format, he said.

“Don’t tie your strategy to any one media” format, Speck said.

pgrimald@projo.com