Markets Are Conversations.

The Chicago Tribune on social networking and corporate marketing:

"What corporate marketers are discovering is that many of the strategies they've used for decades don't apply in the new social realm. For one thing, the companies have had to learn to let go of control. They can't be unnerved by an audience that talks back, often with brutal candor.

"Such dialogue is occurring anyway, said market researcher Josh Bernoff.

"You can ignore it or you can try to fix it," said Bernoff, co-author of "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies."'

The key point there is that the dialogue is occurring anyway, with you or without you. Better to be part of the conversation.

And yes, it's difficult to predict what will work in social media, but the same thing could be said for most branding and advertising (who would have predicted a lizard could sell insurance?)

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Health Care Strategist

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