Agility Key to Brands' Success in Social Media

In an examination of how social media is dramatically changing the way people consume media and how marketers use (or should) use it, iCrossing Social Media Director Alisa Leonard writes, "the rise of social media is more than simply the rise of a new 'channel' opportunity. It has signaled the rise of a new, complex consumer modality, generating altogether new behaviors and communicative norms in general.

Continuing, she writes, "We, as consumers, seem to be on the brink of a kind of techno-cognitive nomadism, a world in which communication output is evermore ubiquitous, ambient and continuous --where conversation and activity, from tweets to Likes and Shares, are not only visible pieces of meta-data, but forms of content in their own right. The link between content, identity and activity is tightening, fast. We continue to witness the evolution of content and its consumption as a direct corollary to the evolution of the social web itself."

Arguing that the changing media landscape requires brands to develop a new kind of brand awareness, she writes, "Being Aware means pulling real-time insights from multiple data inputs--from conversation data and search intelligence to a variety of market research tactics-to deliver actionable insights into customer needs, preferences, behaviors and technographics."

And in terms of insights, it's no longer about doing some research, writing a presentation and then resting on that information which, by the time it's presented, is six months old. It's about the real-time collection of data: "it's about knowing who your customer is right now, in real-time, all the time. It's about real-time awareness rather than historical trends."

Which, of course, requires that a brand be agile. Agile in how it examines what its customers need. Agile in adapting processes and manufacturing capabilities to deliver on those needs, Agile in how it communicates with its customer base so that it can, in turn, continue to deliver agility in all aspects of its business process.

Give her entire article a read. It's worth it.