I can't get an idea out of my mind that I think is profound for this social media age. Recently I blogged about giving your customers and prospects the opportunity and the permission to start a dialog with your brand. Here's the important follow-up to that idea .... don't do it with banner ads or other roadblocks!


Create content that doesn't interrupt users as they explore what they're interested in. Instead, create the very content that is what they're interested in so, by definition, they are interacting with your brand.
You will see this more and more as marketers create better and better content rivaling that of traditional media houses. A great example of this is Greg the Architect, which is both a blog series and a video series. It is so in tune with TIBCO's SOA product that it has become a rallying cry within the organization. It also has the side benefit of positioning the company's brand perfectly against the competition.
This is a great example of pull content rather than push content, let's say. And that's really the goal of new media .... create the nexus for your brand and the media it takes to make that brand experiential.