I work for a Global Brand – with a hardcore fan base and equally hardcore set of detractors.  So how does that company embrace the hardcore following while putting up the proper protection to shield themselves from the detractors?  In Naked Conversations, Robert Scoble and Shel Isreal present the answer pretty simply:  open up communications.  Creating avenues for two-way communication (ie – blogs, Twitter, etc al.) is integral to harnessing the power of those supporters while learning/converting/silencing the detractors.  Now, that’s not always an easy proposition.  After all, from a corporate standpoint – do you want to host a venue where those negative opinions can be vocalized?  After all, it’s often the malcontents that make far more noise than those satisfied…

And that is the Catch-22 that every corporation faces.  While Scoble and Isreal make valid points in their book, it still is a tremendous leap of faith for companies not comfortable in this realm.   Most companies are fostered by PR campaigns, controlled marketing, and one-way streets of communication that, while not perfect, give a sense of security and control.

The thing that these companies have to realize is that these conversations are happening anyway.   If you’re a moderately successful company, there are people talking good and bad about your company anyway.  They always have – it’s just in today’s society so much communication is now on the Internet that the good and bad can find each other and have their voices be heard.  Word of Mouth + Power of the Masses is a beautiful – but potentially dangerous thing.  And this is the evolution of marketing, PR, and human interaction and those that begin to understand these changes will succeed.

I can’t help but think of the first season of Mad Men when all those Madison Ave Ad Executives are sitting in a room discussing the “Think Small” advertising campaign of Volkswagon.  They dismissed it – and then ultimately Madison Avenue started copying it.  These smart successful Ad Men could not see the changing dynamics of advertising.  The “Think Small” campaign is often sited as one of the top advertising campaigns of all time.  Hindsight makes it seem so organic, such an easy thing to predict success.  Yet at the time, as fictionalized in Mad Men, people scoffed at it because it was completely against the prevailing principals of the time.  From there, they simply played catch up…

Social Media is just like that.  The world of yesterday was about creating a brand – inorganic of the consumer.  It was about crafting a message to persuade, to trick, to convince the masses that your consumer product stood for something: frugality, sexiness, comfort.  The new world, however, is about the people.  The new world is about people and their relationships with brands.  It’s about those two-way conversations that Scoble and Isreal preach about.  What corporate entities need to understand is that in this fashion, they regain some of that control that they have lost.   The successful ones will see this opportunity to control and grow their brand.  It’s no longer about what you want to be known as, what image you want to project – instead it’s about cultivating the prevailing image out there.  Embracing these networks of fans and enemies and everyone in between to create an organic understanding of what your company really stands for.  Those with great products, great people, and the ability to listen will flourish.

The wave of Social Media is cresting – and the tsunami will forever change the landscape of modern marketing and PR.  More and more corporate companies are following the lead of the torchbearers and investing into the concepts behind all of this.  This isn’t a passing phase or a fad.  It’s a concept that has already changed politics and will ultimately change how companies do business.  Without acting soon, those left behind will simply be trying to play catch up in a new world.