Social Engagement

Larry Weber, at Syndicate. Weber (as quoted by Doc):

“The stronger the dialog, the stronger the brand; the weaker the dialog, the weaker the brand. Also The best (future) writers for the New York Times… are writing blogs. Not quite verbatim, but you get the point. More… It’s pandemonium and it always will be… We’ll be talking about no nightly news. Because there’ll be no sponsors. To marketers, about “enterprise-generated media”, which he says Microsoft and Sun do very well: Why do you need marketing collateral when you’ve got blogs? Why do you need interviews when you’ve got podcasts. Hey, throw a party in your digital space. Opinions shape marketing now. Marketing doesn’t shape opinions. This guy is on the cluetrain, huge time. His bet: On the superbowl this year, 18 ads will be about getting you to a digital destination. Last year there were 12. Stop focusing on clicks and start focusing on time of engagement. He’s knocking the “transaction interface.” Click! Buy! Some things you want to keep there, but… If your sites don’t have a social interface, you’re going to lose the leadership position in what you do. Something that wants to look, teach, and learn from you. And it’s going to be hard because in this marketing world, people are used to looking through one-way media. Success measure: Share of conversation. Whoa: Whenever a business category gets messed up, we get a C title. Now marketing is so messed up, we’ve got CMOs. Perspective: How many of you had that evolution poster at school? I think we’re still at the slimy animal stage.” (emphasis added)

(via Doc)