In the age of consumer generated media, corporations can no longer hope to control 100% their brand message. Rather, they need to learn to listen. >Mediapost reports on the BlogOn conference quoting experts like Jeff Jarvis who said:

I used to think the power of blogs was slightly overestimated, but I'm not sure the situation is still like this. I agree with Jarvis, when it comes to blogging, listening is priority number one. Of course brands can also start their own blog but it's not easy to stay simple, direct and sincere when you run a corporate blog.

Since my first marketing lesson, my teachers said to me "brands have to listen to their community". It was obvious previously, but not an obligation, now it is that all :)

And even if they can't control all the conversation, they can control the main leaders if they play well.

Posted by: Nenelle at October 20, 2005 01:56 PM

Talk about mastery of the obvious... Brands have never owned the conversation. It's only now that marketers' arrogance / ignorance is wearing down, and blogs are only one reason this is happening.

Posted by: pylbug at October 20, 2005 03:13 PM