Case Insights

Hey both. I agree that the perception of power and control is one of the biggest barriers facing organisations with their engagement of the social web. As Tom has indicated, we (organisations) don't actually have total control any more - we just think we still do!

This is inherently grounded in how we have been socialised or conditioned by the functionality of past technologies (e.g., TV) which gave little control to audiences and the notion of marketing as a one-way linear process (founded on sales and advertising) where we can control how our brand is displayed to our audiences. However, we have never been able to control word of mouth communication - one of the most effective forms of marketing for decades. But this was often limited to smaller strong-tie social networks.

Now with the developing social web the level and type of pacing (be it external or internal) - or controlled by the user/audience or the marketer/organisation is inherently evolving. At a micro level, organisations (designers) do still have some control over what users/audience can do given how they design a system/interface, but given the growing number of tools, technologies and channels that are enabling the community to engage, connect, communicate and share content independent of the organisation (marketers), the concept of control is most certainly in many contexts, a historical illusion.

I wrote a blog post about User Generated Content and Control, you might also find it of interest!
http://caseinsights.com/index.php/2009/05/27/th...

Smiles
Kelly

Interesting comment Phil. I think you're right that companies often fear sharing/losing control of the definition of their brand values and so shy away from online conversations.

The trouble with this approach is that there are almost certainly conversations about those companies already happening online. There is very little barrier to anyone wanting to talk about anything online. The challenge is not to give up control but to give up the illusion of control - and discover the opportunities to be found by joining the conversation rather than seeking to be in charge of it.

Thanks for the talk, I was lucky enough to attend. It covered a great cross-section of social media marketing and some fantastic examples of it working for companies.

The comments you made on sharing control (or losing control!) of your company's brand is very pertinent and I believe still remains one of the biggest barriers to compaines taking up social media marketing more readily for their business.