Think about it: None of these cool new social media tools were developed with "us" (marketers) in mind. Blogs, social networks, YouTube, etc. were created for people to keep in touch with their family and friends. So it shouldn't be a big surprise that the majority of people who first embraced widgets, Twitter and Facebook were not "us" (marketers), but our customers and a few savvy politicians.


Slowly the business community realized that those online conversations frequently impacted the perception of the brand and in turn the ring of the cash register. So up went branded MySpace pages and marketing VIPs began to Twitter and brand managers built groups on Facebook. So much of what has been created using the toys of our customers simple adds to the Marketing Noise and not to what might be important to our customers or to building relationships.
The good news is that some marketers began to recognize that social media was more than a new channel to send old messages but a powerful way to engage with our customers. Some marketers realized that through building digital relationships with our customers we could authentically influence purchase behavior, brand loyalty and WOM. They also began to understand that playing with our customers new toys meant actively listening and involvement with them in "street" conversations.
Some marketers are going a step beyond and recognizing that social media influences more than marketing. Social media impacts how business is conducted. These are the people, that will I believe, who will walk tall and ultimately change the way marketing is conducted.