Join the Influence 2.0 Wiki

We created this wiki to discuss the implications of Web 2.0 for business professionals in market-facing functions.

Market-facing functions – marketing, public relations, corporate communications, customer service, etc. – all have the same goal: to influence their audience’s perception of and preference for their company’s products.

These days they all face the same problem: the waning effectiveness of decades-old practices, resulting from a technology-spurred cavalcade of new media types, communication channels, and consumer behaviors. To respond successfully, companies must adapt to this larger trend, not just adopt each individual manifestation.

The ascendance of a more complicated, intertwined, and fluid environment will make this change tremendously challenging. Since this trend is already blurring the boundaries between market-facing functions and disciplines we’ve opted not to call this “Marketing 2.0” or “Media 2.0”. but “Influence 2.0”.

Join the discussion, please read About This Wiki

Comments

From BJ Cook [72.1.185.205] - 6/21/06 5:09 PM

Hello fellow digital marketers and Cymfony team --

After sifting through all of my emails from various media outlets, who in their best days won't touch upon the issues inherent to this type of movement. I'm all aboard for this mindset and it's nice to see a group of professionals who like myself torture themselves with these questions on a daily basis and desired a proper forum for posting ideas, research or feedback and helping the growth of a great resource.

I'm very interested in the skillset topic that was mentioned in the first PDF. If anyone else is and would like to tag team that area, I'm very available to maintain the ongoing progression of a digital marketer's continual advancement of their skillset.

Keep me posted!

BJ Cook

Digital Marketing Director

e: bj@digitaltelepathy.com

From Frederic Gilbert [74.56.104.172] - 6/20/06 10:43 PM

Hi Cymfony people,

I just came across your site following an information scent trail. It looks like the right place and the right time. I will read everything, come back for more in the next days and try to comment when appropriate.

Many thanks for your initiative and the efforts you put in it.

frederic.gilbert@www.relevancy.org

From cymfony - 6/20/06 9:18 PM

Thanks for your comments -- I hope you'll keep 'em coming and maybe even consider adding a chapter or at least examples to what's here.

Pete: I like your cautionary tales. I've been thinking of structuring Chapter 4 around (working title) "How to know if your Influence 2.0 initiatives are really still Influence 1.0." I think all of your questions come from a thought process that is really about bending what we all believe to be the true rules of consumer empowerment and honest dialogs to the marketer's will.

Want to co-author the chapter with me?

From Deborah Eastman [24.6.155.199] - 6/20/06 12:50 AM

This looks like a great initiative. It will be interesting to participate and listen to the conversation. The new world of CGM offers great promise in listening to market needs and communicating WITH your customers/prospects. It's important to share experiences & best practices to help everyone benefit from the opportunities. This initiative will help others better understand what this new world is all about.

Best of luck to you Cymfony. It's good for all of us to move the market forward.

Deborah Eastman, CMO, Biz360 (www.debeastman.blogspot.com)

From Pete Blackshaw [71.146.152.245] - 6/20/06 12:26 AM

Looks very promising -- good for the industry, good for educating others about the space -- and I'll try to contribute where I can. A couple important watchouts as you set out to define/shape the thesis that we're truly moving from 1.0 to 2.0 in the context of consumer "influence.

1. Marketers and businesses are quickly learning from and borrowing from the new consumer empowerment tools to enhance their own "influence." Most major newspapers are moving to the blog publishing format, for instance. Marketers are using blogs as de facto advertising vehicles. Some of the most popular podcasts on iTunes are "credentialed" radio programs. Key question: who's really gaining influence: "new school" or reconfigured "old school?"

2. Marketers (all of us) are rapidly entering the so-called "conversation." Word of mouth marketing is going mainstream. Many of the programs being pushed are looking to regain or restablish control without saying so explicitly. Many of our tactics are a bit sneaky...even a bit disingenous in the eyes of consumer. Increasingly, the viral techniques pushed by many of the top agencies are cloaked in mystery and "mystique." Key question: are we co-opting, eroding, or --- in some cases -- mocking "influence?"

3. The internet is abundantly rewarding first movers. A-list bloggers are accruing disproportionate shelf-space on search results, and there are some who argue that even in an open-source/open-expression world, the late-to-market little guy will never leapfrog the "A-listers." Key question: who's influence?

I'm framing key building blocks of the "anti-thesis" because I sometimes worry that all of us -- myself included, as an early proponent of "Consumer Generated Media" (www.consumergeneratedmedia.com) -- are sometimes at risk of over-stating the case...or giving short shrift to how marketers continue to erecting barriers, detours, and interference to true influence. We also frequently mix-and-match "consumer" influence with "our" influence. If you 2.0 initiative succeeds in reconciling such discontinuities, you are on to something truly powerful. - Pete Blackshaw

www.consumergeneratedmedia.com

www.nielsenbuzzmetrics.com

From Laurent Flores - crmmetrix [82.255.84.108] - 6/18/06 3:57 AM

Great initiative! as posted on your blog, collaborative models will drive the future of marketing influence, and am glad to see that Cymfony is taking a shot at shaping this future...through collaborative efforts... I hope that many will join and support. So, lets' Listen, Learn and Lead together for the better...

Laurent Flores - crmmetrix - www.CustomerListening.typepad.com

Site
Changes Index Search	�
User	�
Log In Register	�
�

Last Modified 4/26/07 8:40 AM