Guest Post written by Ahuvah Berger

Everywhere you turn you hear the words social media, user generated content, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, etc but the real question remains – what is the purpose of social media? How can companies leverage these tools to engage and monitor their brands online?

We have watched an evolution occur on the internet- from a period of time when there was a distinctive line between the content creators and the content consumers. Now almost everyone who uses the internet is considered a content creator and can harness the power of user generated content.

Content creators wield significant influence over their individual communities i.e. blog readers, Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc. Each platform enables a community or sub community to emerge from the interaction between the publisher and the readers and readers can republish the relevant information on their own communities. Both positive and negative viral marketing takes place when individuals within communities add their personal perspective on a message and republish it within their communities.

Companies no longer have the luxury of publishing their content on the internet and ignoring the reaction and feedback from the content consumers. Internet users wield incredible viral power when sharing their opinion with their respective online communities. It is no longer sharing one message to the collective mass but the mass sharing individual messages to their masses.

Engaging the Masses

There is a huge shift now from the company deciding on its brand and the consumer market re-defining the brand message within their communities. Corporations need to expand their marketing and branding teams to include someone who is responsible for listening and engaging the masses using the tools of social media. Not all tools are applicable for every company but at the same time the company cannot stand on its soapbox screaming its message without letting the market respond.

Start with listening to what others are saying about your company. Listen and hear what your customers say about you – for if you do not listen, you cannot change the customer’s opinion. There are many different internet platforms enabling corporations to keep a finger on the pulse of their brand.

Gather feedback from the market – from the large web influencers to the smaller influencers, as both groups are part of the collective viral force. Once armed with market feedback corporations can then engage online with its fans and detractors.

Bottom line, corporations must pay attention to the power of the masses in order to tap into the viral aspect of the web and maintain better control over the brand’s online image.

Tags: Blogging, Blogs, brand, Branding, communities, content-consumers, content-creators, conversation, dialogue, engage, evolution, facebook, feedback, image, influencers, internet, Marketing, twitter, viral

This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 8:47 am and is filed under Branding, Community, Internet TV, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.