One of my old workmates Clay Shirky recently released his book Here Comes Everybody. Clay has long been a prognosticator of social behavior in the on-line space and his book is a good read for those interested in the the social media space (and all other's who realize that the social media space is pretty much the entire civilized world these days). His blog sums up a bunch of his thinking and I found his primer on What Business Need To Know About Social Media particularly informative and relevant to marketing in today's consumer centric world.
This nugget was especially interesting as this is what we have been saying to clients for a few years and finally it is starting to take hold.
The old model of engaging with your customers involved two modes -- en masse and personal. Messages were sent out over mass media, in hopes of affecting the behavior of individuals.
Now, thanks to social media, customers are part of active groups, groups that form and dissolve quickly in response to people's interests or needs -- most messages in this media flow within social groups, rather than from businesses to individuals.
So creating experiences that can give fodder for this message flow is the new black in the current marketing behavior and must be central in current planning and design.
Read Clay's blog here.
