Alain,

You're not crazy, at least based on this post. You may be crazy but who can really say except those closest to you.

I argue that Web 2.0 hasn't changed anything for us marketers except added some new and useful tools.

Brands are built by creating great experiences and meeting audience's wants, needs and desires. That's always been true. And Web 2.0 doesn't change that. And if businesses do brand building badly, all the Web 2.0 in the world won't help.

It's the message and the experience that matters, not the medium, as long as that medium reaches the right audience at the right time, and that, too, has always been true about marketing.

Great post, Alain.

I think it's important to point out that we're talking about word of mouth MARKETING...not just word of mouth.

You're right, joining the conversation is becoming non-optional. And we've seen how powerful it can be when companies do join in. But it's not only delighting. It's engaging the dissenters. You don't have to try and turn them into evangelists or even fans, but you do need to acknowledge them and let them know that they have been heard. That's what most of them want anyway.

Alain,

What I liked about your presentation was that it integrated certain truths how the "2.0" movement is influencing bahavior (even if it's on a smaller scale than widely reported)

We've always known it's about us—about people. Now a good experience can include things such as feeling like "you've been heard" or feeling like you are part of the brand.

I thought these ideas came across in your deck.

I like what Spike has to say.
His line of thinking came across last night in my first reading of "Creating Customer Evangelists". Engaging with all commentators is important nowadays, because of the impression left on casual observers (80-90% of viewers) that so-and-so company is interacting and/or cares. In the words of Ali G: "Respect".

Thanks for the kind words, Mario. We're big fans of Ben and Jackie over here at Brains on Fire! That's a great book. I hope you enjoyed it.

"Brands are built by creating great experiences and meeting audience's wants, needs and desires. That's always been true. And Web 2.0 doesn't change that. And if businesses do brand building badly, all the Web 2.0 in the world won't help."

Hi Lewis,

Agreed. I just think that 2.0 helps make it easier for customers to talk about these things & makes it easier to connect to a brand/company.

Alain and all: if social media isn't optional, why are so few companies actually doing it? And of those few who do, why are so many so bad at it?

I think high involvement brands have a need for deeper conversations; impulse driven brands (many in CPG, perhaps) come off as a bit odd when trying to deeply engage when we consumers simply don't care. My favorite gum company doesn't need to talk to me.

I haven't done my homework on this, so forgive my ignorance -- is blogging still growing at the same rate it was six months ago? If it is, I wonder if it's corporate or personal.

Stephen - The rate is not the same (that was bound to change), but as of the last Technorati report (put out last month), there are 130,000 new blogs being created every day.

IIRC, 3,000 - 5,000 of them are splogs.

Cam: yep, I just looked it up, as well on Sifry's blog. While he says the rate has dropped to 'doubling every 320 days', I'd still say this is a healthy clip, wouldn't you?

Questions from my side would be:
. If Japanese has become language #1 on blogs, is the growth being driven by Japanese individuals who are doing today what the US was doing six months to a year ago?
. Is there a shift from 'personal' to 'corporate'... and is there any way to actually tell?

No need to answer any of this, but I'm curious...

Hi Alain,

You're not crazy at all. What still amazes me is how, at this point, one can still be in denial mode.
Web 2.0 is a reality because many businesses are already demonstrating revenue can flow their way with it and they get stock market value out of it.
More importantly to us, marketers, empowered consumers and customers changed the way we are doing our job forever.
Social media, user generated content, and WOM are clearly impacting B2C and B2B businesses. How can this be denied? I'm still puzzled.
I'm sure we are expanding the "believers" gang rapidly. Keep pushing it as we all do.

Nope, you aren't crazy at all. I will admit that I am a little off the back of the pack when it comes to Web 2.0, but I am learning a lot, real fast.

In the past,the only way consumers could get someone to listen to their problems and complaints about a product they purchased was to be successful at weeding through the neverending maze of "Press 2 if you purchased this" and "Press 1 if you purchased that". Now, consumers are conditioned to being able to have a ready and willing Internet audience with just a few keystrokes.

As many companies have found out, social media can make you or break you. It's the devil we know. However, I'm learning that Web 2.0 is a lot like the lottery...you can't win if you don't play.

Hi Alain,

It's a great post! The fact remains that at the end of the day, web2.0 is here and hads empowered customer/prospects in a big way!

Creating a positive WOM is definitely a step in that area and for companies which have product offering, this is indeed most important!

And what happens when one needs to create a concept (Business) for B2B.. something like - People Ready Business from Microsoft, Human Network from Cisco and Search for Better Search from Hakia. Its interesting to see the approach to involve bloggers to create buzz.