Conversational media
All markets are conversations.
In 1999, the authors of the book Cluetrain Manifesto used that phrase to capture the essence of a revolution taking place because customers now have the ability to create instantaneous networks of communication. Once a new product is introduced, customers become the experts -- and with forums, blogs, social-networks, and a wide array of similar means to connect with one-another and with individuals within institutions, the geometry of marketing is undergoing a radical transformation.
Actually, it's a return to a distant past -- a past before mass communications and mass marketing, when selling items was carried out exclusively through conversations in the bazaar, the general store or around the campfire.
Today, marketers and communicators within associations and corporations of all types must understand the conversational patterns of the audience they serve. Marketing today means listening, as well as speaking.
Today, all of these different means individuals have to join in conversations (blogs, social networks, forums, reviews, content-sharing) are now being recognized as separate streams that are joining together to form one powerful river, something we and others call, "Conversational Media."
At Hammock, we've been developers -- and evangelists -- of conversational media strategies and platforms for nearly two decades. Starting with our management of CompuServe forums for clients, we've developed and managed new forms of conversational media as they've evolved online. We helped our clients incorporate online forums into their websites during the mid- and late- 1990s. Rex Hammock is noted as one of the first corporate CEOs to maintain a weblog, something he has done consistently since the year, 2000. In 2000, we developed the innovative knowledge-management, social-networking, "user-generated-content" platform that powered the first version of SmallBusiness.com. In 2006, Hammock re-launched SmallBusiness.com on the open-source platform used by Wikipedia and it has become one of the leading benchmark examples of business-oriented wiki-model knowledge-sharing resources.
In 2007 and 2008, we are developing and introducing new services and strategies that will help association and corporate marketers and communicators appropriately engage in the conversations taking place within the markets and communities they serve.
Our team of content and community developers are ready to assist you in benefiting from the opportunities conversational media provides.