Upon entering the store it was clear that the interior had been completely overhauled since my last visit. They did a really nice job. It was as if Firestone decided to tap the modern marketing ethos – facilitate conversation and establish authenticity – as their design inspiration.

Most notably, the counter has been removed. Instead of constructing a three-foot-tall barrier between customers and employees, the new design includes a handful of high tables or stations where interaction and dialogue is intended to take place. This improvement immediately changes the purchasing dynamic for me. I no longer expect the I place order/you tell me what to buy/I buy because I don’t know any better/I leave dynamic. By simply removing the counter and adding the “conversation stations,” the employees feel more like advisors or guides; like they are there to actually help consumers, not simply take their money.

There is a computer at each station but, instead of shielding me from the screen, the employee turns the screen my way so that we share in its viewing as we scroll through product options. It provides a sense of transparency. I don’t feel as though this guy is going to try and sell me the most expensive set of wiper blades, but the wiper blades that best suit my needs.

So in addition to picking up some new wiper blades, my jaunt to Firestone helped to reinforce – through a surprisingly pleasant retail experience – the principles of conversation-centric marketing:

• Offer the consumer more control
• Engage in a conversation
• Be authentic and transparent

The popularity of the app gave rise to last week’s first annual Foursquare Day, the first globally recognized grass-roots celebration of the power of social media. Indeed, it was the power of social media that took Foursquare Day from being a simple idea to an actual live event: One day, an ordinary Foursquare user named Nate Bonilla-Warford had an interesting thought – why not celebrate the app on April 16 (reason being that four-squared equals 16), and have everyone “check in” to it on that day? He floated the idea around online, and it took off through the social web. It eventually caught the eye of Foursquare employees, who liked it, created an official 4sqDay badge, and set up their own party to join in the celebration with their users.

I was lucky enough to have received an invitation to join in the festivities. While I was there, I got to meet co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley (who had time to snap a quick picture with me). The party drew quite the crowd, and featured Hollywood A-listers like Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, as well as big names in media and tech, like Digg CEO Kevin Rose. But the best part about Foursquare Day was that among the hundreds of party attendees were many normal, everyday Foursquare users – just like me.

And that’s the beauty of Foursquare – it knows what makes its brand tick. It recognizes that its success rests in the hands of its users, without whom there would have never been a Foursquare Day. The truth is that conversations are taking place every day through Foursquare, and the company has chosen to join in, have fun, and celebrate not with a VIP-only who’s who list, but with the people who check in at their local Starbucks on their way to work every morning.

Blackshaw does a wonderful job highlighting the dualities and absurdities (not to mention clichés) that emerge in any discussion of social ownership. I think these dualities emerge because what we have in social is one of those “duck/rabbit” or “vase/face” optical illusions which delight and frustrate us because, although we can see both things easily, our brains won’t allow us to see both at the same time. “It’s a duck! It’s a rabbit! It’s a duck!”

It’s the same with social.

Looked at one way, the “duck” way, social is the sum of social promotions – the games, viral videos and contests designed to trigger sharing. Ownership of the “duck” is a pretty easy call … it’s the marketing department plus the marketing department’s professional service partners (its “digital agencies” or whatever).

Looked at another way, the “rabbit” way, social is something entirely different. It is not a set of channels or promotions. It is a toolset, completely under individual user control, that allows us to connect selectively with the people, news and information sources and assistive technologies (like search) that we trust. We – both individuals and businesses – customize and use this toolset to make sense of, and fully exploit, the fire hose of information that pours into our lives and our businesses.

Questions of ownership of the “rabbit” generally spiral into infinities. It’s everyone. It’s no one.

But maybe it is not about ownership, exactly, but more the path of least resistance, or better yet: path of greatest value.

Blackshaw writes, “In my experience, the leader who gets the best (and most inclusive) listening dashboard or radar in place quickly accrues the most organizational legitimacy. Listening pipes, after all, feed many mouths and can drive unity around a common purpose.”

Our experience with Zeitgeist & Coffee shows us that while the marketing department cannot “own” the social “rabbit” (any more than it can own the telephone or people’s private conversations); it can rather quickly become kind of a super-smart “switchboard operator.” Using Z&C, marketing departments, in partnership with us, can confidently and productively connect all the departments within their organization to their respective “networks of trust” – key stakeholders, influencers, customers, and, of course friends and fans (both current and future).

And it gets better yet.

We have found that deploying Z&C toward the goal of creating content for social channels quickly leads to the development of “silo-piercing” circles of collaboration. These circles of collaboration then become entities of independent value, that empower marketing departments to become central to corporate strategy through the process of rationalizing, managing and extracting full value from the direct daily conversations that now take place between organizations and their customers.

In a recent Smashing Magazine article, contributor Cameron Chapman talked about mapping real-world community planning principles to online communities. And when you think about it, this concept makes a lot of sense. By finding ways to convey the qualities of thriving real-world communities to the digital world, we can begin to enhance experiences in the social web.

Let’s consider this real-world analogy: you’re at a bar, and you want to strike up a conversation with the person next to you. You might begin by introducing yourself with your name… but you’re probably not going to announce your email address, mailing address, phone number, etc. If you were required to do that, chances are you wouldn’t bother starting the conversation at all. Now translate this logic to blogs: why would you ask a casual visitor to fill out a lengthy registration form just to leave a comment? Same as in the bar scene, the more conversation barriers you put up, the fewer social interactions you’ll have.

In most real-world communities, people instinctively know where to find social interaction. That’s because communities are built around common areas like parks, promenades, “Main Streets” and city centers – areas to congregate and circulate.  The same blueprint can (and should) be applied to online communities: if you want people to be able to locate and participate in conversations with your company, start by making sure it’s easily findable and accessible. Next, expose user-contributed content in prominent areas throughout the site. For example, the Media Logic web site features our latest blog posts right on the home page, as well as topical articles on every page of the site. This practice of featuring tweets, forum posts, and other user-generated content in highly-visible web destinations can greatly improve participation. In addition, making community resources available throughout your web site reinforces the value of conversation as a core component to your business.

Placing social media at the core of a business can be a daunting proposition – “What will people say?” “How do I encourage participation?” “How will I manage the conversations?” Granted, there are some risks associated with opening up to your prospects and customers. But tapping the power of social media for collaboration and conversation will reap rewards far greater than the risks. By applying lessons from real-world community planning to conversation-centric marketing strategy, companies can make great strides in earning trust, building brand communities and unlocking the potential of social business.

Have you put conversation at the core?

Who’s Ted McConnell? He’s the “general manager-interactive marketing and innovation” for one of the world’s top consumer goods companies — makers of everything from potato crisps to detergents to personal care products. And in a talk at a digital media forum back in November 2008, he was quoted as saying:

I have a reaction to [Facebook] as a consumer advocate and an advertiser: What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?

Ted also reportedly said:

Who said this is media? Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory. Media contains blank spaces. Consumers weren’t trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it.

Ah, monetizing. That’s old-school advertising thinking. Fourteen months later (an eternity from a technological and consumer adoption standpoint), we know that conversation-centric marketing is not about buying ads around the conversation… it’s about spurring and participating in the conversation.

But back then, Ted’s sentiments were greeted by some as refreshingly honest and true, as in this blogger’s reaction. Finally, someone would expose social media as the marketing fad du jour.

Well, things have changed.

In fact, P&G just announced that it will be making a major push in social media in 2010. You may also want to check out P&G’s Pringles fan page on Facebook, home to nearly 3 million fans!

Now, to be clear, this is not about mocking Ted’s certainty about the frivolousness of social media as a marketing channel. It’s to point out one simple truth — a lot of people felt that way. Just like they did when “this internet thing” was getting started. And it’s less important to dwell on the past, and more important to see the opportunity now.

I think we should offer kudos to P&G for joining the party, in a very big way. Heck, you may even want to send a congrats message to Ted.

On his Facebook page.

Related articles:

• Mike Fruchter: P&G Embraces Facebook as Big Part of Its Marketing Plan (adage.com)
• Proctor and Gamble embraces Facebook (nevillehobson.com)
• Facebook, Twitter and P&G (ventureblog.com)

Harness the power of social media. Register for your free presentation today and find out how you can use social media to build your brand and business.

Then, the second wave came.

Thanks to generous word of mouth, retweets from our Twitter stream and significant press coverage (including a pick-up by USA Today’s PopCandy blog), we saw our little bit of holiday buzz become quite a stir. Thousands viewed the card itself, and many moved on to check out the behind the scenes video and our Logical Juice blog.

Anecdotal response was also resoundingly positive, with comments coming from old friends, existing clients and new-found prospects. All in all, the project was a huge success. More than that, it’s another great example of how a Social Juice Promotion can go a long way toward building momentum, amplifying interest and supporting a brand.

If we as buyers do not have a personal experience with a brand, or know someone who has, we generally defer to (and trust) the “wisdom of crowds” and their conversations about a particular brand or product to inform our purchasing decisions.  In the modern marketing world, in which social media and social CRM are moving at break-neck pace, the crowd-sourcing mechanism will be a primary influencer of how, when and where B2B consumers decide to make a purchase. The once-isolated customer is now an active consumer of expert opinions, product comparisons and peer reviews, using the Internet and massive social networking to gather the necessary information for making an informed purchase decision.

The new participatory role of the consumer has fundamentally changed B2B marketing by presenting companies with the opportunity to excite and engage prospective customers in their prevailing platform for conversation. Now that the consumer has control (as discussed in our recent whitepaper, Forget the Funnel – a New Look at the Stealth Buyer), companies who wish to have a voice in the conversation must develop integrated marketing strategies that deliver consumers offers and experiences in an authentic and relevant way.

So how do you generate inbound leads with a social media strategy?  Develop an integrated marketing communications program that strengthens your brand within the conversation, builds referrals, communities and influencers and makes sense of your social footprint – a strategy that will pave the way for attracting highly qualified inbound leads.  Miller rightfully asserts that companies thinking strategically about demand generation must commit a significant portion of their efforts to using social media as a means for tapping the wisdom of crowds and conversations and building trust for their brands and products.  Just as it was in the traditional sales cycle, trust is a critical component to building a customer relationship, and companies can leverage social media to grow their consumer relationships, enhance B2B lead generation efforts and ultimately, convert qualified prospects into revenue for their brand.

Many companies in today’s market might be struggling with the costs of increasing their physical footprint. But with the right strategic approach, companies can afford to increase their digital footprint to reach more prospects, increase engagement and generate highly qualified inbound leads.

Learn how to integrate, manage and maximize your company’s total social marketing universe. Request your Zeitgeist & Coffee demo now.

“Love this Media Logic! So fun and so festive… Great idea.”

“Fantastic!…Happy Holidays and thank you for another great year of partnership.”

“Priceless! Brought a real smile during my humdrum work day. Please extend my best wishes to the team. (PS – some of you should probably keep your day jobs!)”

“Oh my goodness… Talk about raising the bar. Fabulous job team ML. Happy Holidays.”

“Kudos! This is amazingly, wonderfully creative and fun!”

“You’ve outdone yourselves this year. What a great e-card! Thanks for sending and happy holidays to all at Media Logic.”

“To the musical cast of Media Logic: This card is SO fantastic!! What joy, what fun! It’s been wonderful working with such creative partners this past year.”

“…Wanted to let you know we loved your Season’s Greeting Message that we watched on YouTube. You are definitely a creative bunch of people. It makes me wistful that I don’t have that gene in my DNA. Watching it was the perfect way to start our Friday.”

We’ve also seen our Twitter followers and Facebook fans sharing the noise through tweets, retweets and posts. We even got a shout out on the USA Today’s “Pop Candy” blog’s holiday hit list… A list that also includes SNL’s holiday special, Snoop Dogg’s appearance on the Martha Stewart Show and Jack Bauer’s interrogation of Santa.

This is just the kind of magic and catchy conversation that can be generated when Media Logic’s creative staff gets together to create a timely, lively Social Juice Promotion.

(Serious fans of Glee call themselves “Gleeks.” As far as I’m concerned, Gleek is a Superfriends space monkey. But that’s a debate for another day.)

As Ad Age opines, “There is no other show on TV right now that gets as much free, voluntary social media marketing courtesy of fans.”

So how can your business hit the right notes and bust the right moves to engender this kind of enthusiasm? Short of hiring the glorious Jane Lynch, the lesson to take away from this viral success is that you need to make an emotional connection with your audience – in your stores, in your marketing, at every possible touchpoint.

It all comes back to your brand. Is it conversation-worthy? Frame it right and customers and prospects will happily help sing your praises.

Harness the power of social media. Register for your free presentation today and find out how you can use social media to build your brand and business.

The first path is a conservative one, on which larger entrenched institutions create barriers to protect their position and power. The second path is a bit more comforting to both the old and new guard, as it is the path of change. We accept change, we compromise, we embrace the delicate uncertainties, etc. About the most painful aspect of this path is the idea that agencies, and the businesses they look to serve, will be forced to learn new practices. In doing so, disciplines will be forced to share more significant budget lines with areas of emerging opportunity.

The third and final path he describes – “digital dreaming” – is terrifying because you can’t control it, define it, predict it or balance a budget on it at the moment. It is a path that mandates we leave behind the old rules and realities that have defined marketing to completely embrace the promise of technological possibility. It is the path that forces you to let go completely of any lingering hesitation caused by fear of change. (Sound pretty familiar? This third path is akin to the year we have just experienced.)

I’ll take the third path, though – not because I am excessively driven by unmanaged risk, but because it speaks more to the idea of creative thinking. Critical problem solving deployed to deliver practical solutions, as opposed to the stale waffling of bartering that often plagues marketing – especially in the media planning realm.

Now, keep in mind, Dr. Fredericks’ book was published way back in 2007. At that time Twitter was only recently conceived, Facebook was potty training, and Apple was preparing to unleash the first iPhone on gadget junkies. Fredericks clearly states that his basis of affection for the third path is its being based on search. Yes, search, as in algorithms, Google and Bing. The content that we crave, know, seek and love will no longer be defined by its house but instead by what he terms its “essence” – whether it is text, video or audio. How will we get this essence? He proposes it will be based on voluntarily engagement in a new stream of content distribution, via both pay-for and ad-supported delivery methods.

It is a great hypothesis and, to some extent, one that has already begun to emerge as not only possibility but reality. We see it both in paid keyword search and behavioral ad delivery models via online ad networks. You type “social media marketing” into Google search and you get a stream of data that the engine tries to quantify as valuable to you. In the process, without any breakdown of the organic information that is returned, I or any number of media planning wonks will beg your indulgence to consider clicking on our paid sponsor link.

We also see it in direct content purchase via iTunes or in accessing data on Hulu. It is built on the notion that advertising is no longer dependent on the content alone to reach vaguely identifiable large packs of humans. Instead, the consumer’s intent, actions and behavior can correlate to drive relevancy of messages. It strips away the notion of the nightly news reaching adults age 35 – 54 who might have some propensity to be in the market for various things like detergent or a car. It strips it completely bare. Then it attempts to identify the consumer’s needs and potential interests based on his most immediate intentions or request for information queries.

Imagine it outside of a search engine for a moment. What if you turned on your entertainment hard drive to tap into the latest episode of Breaking Bad. You can either choose to pay $2.99 for an ad-free viewing or a free view with content support. Say you already drop $45 a month for broadband access; you might be inclined to choose content support. A menu pops up and you are given a set of category options based on your preset interests and businesses willing to pay $2.99 for that interest.

Where the wheels on this bus go “squeak, squeak, SCREECH” is that while Fredericks talks of empowered consumers with fervor, he misses the opportunity of what can only be defined at the moment as audience search. Essentially, do not wait for your customers to stumble over to you based on the intent algorithm. Tap directly into the power of the conversations that technology is emboldening your customers to have with or about your product or service. Find out where your customers are and create environments in which they will engage your brand, product or service. (I’m not creating a new mode of thought here – Seth Godin talks about similar ideas in Tribes, and Everett Rogers explained how communications or idea paths disseminate in similar ways in Diffusion of Innovations.

To me, “digital dreaming” is not only about understanding intentions and actions, but also uncovering the things that both excite and dismay established and potential customers – and perhaps the not-so-satisfied ones to boot. It really boils down to this: You simultaneously need to find better ways to reach out to potential customers with more meaningful messages, while also engaging your existing customers who have great passion for what you do. Some of you are rolling your eyes thinking, “How will I get people passionate about my product? I am not a ‘social’ brand!” I’d say, don’t look for what you mistake to be existing fruit; it is probably past its peak anyhow. Look for the seed to plant new ideas or uncover hidden aspects about your business that are inherently interesting and possibly social. Start with accepting the fact that the technology is here and it is changing how people’s communication is sparked. If you still don’t have an idea that works for you, support another entity that does. A lot of what social media marketing is about is reciprocal relationships. Support what others are passionate about and they will be more likely to consider your brand in return for that support.

Recently, we watched some digital dreaming unfold when an item pinged up in a Zeitgeist & Coffee^SM weekly landscape survey for our client MVP Health Care. What we found was a Twitter posting regarding MVP. The individual had noted the presence of community relations and brand signage at a bicycle race in which he had participated. Not long after the event, the individual was delivered an ad impression via our online video display campaign. He literally grabbed the core “TriVantage” product message from the ads’ closing graphic and proceeded to share it on Twitter through TwitPic to all his followers. The conversation became the medium, the technology, the process and the message. It gets rebroadcast and maybe “re-tweeted” and “liked,” so on and down the line.

This isn’t planned. We didn’t sit plotting in the viral war room. What we did do a few years ago with our client was come to a smart and sound conclusion that the marketplace had significantly changed. Being just a logo is not the recipe for being noticed. Your logo is the mark by which you are easily identified; your brand position is what you actually deliver to your customers. We presented a prospect with a strong message and brand experience, in multiple venues that matter to them. The message and the choice of venues were impactful enough to catalyze a positive, unsolicited response. We could keep doing it the silly old “reach and frequency” way. Continuing to put faith in saying nothing often may get us some unaided brand awareness points on a compromised survey. Or we could focus on the notion that people are willing to engage our brands and have an open mind to the possibilities.

This does not mean these efforts happen at the expense of existing media channels in favor of social media efforts. What it really means is start making the messages better and more tangible wherever they are going to be broadcast. Plug and play options will be best in Dr. Fredericks’ future world of advertising… and the future is now. Is your marketing digital dream ready?