Marcus: What do some people think of as conversational marketing that you don't think really counts?
Naples: When an industry luminary says good things about a product or service, and their strong views become buzz-worthy, I don't think of that as conversational marketing; I think of it as strong influencer marketing. This is not something new, you know?
Huba: I think some people might consider these "consumer-generated video" contests as conversational marketing, such as The Coke Show contest and the Wal-Mart School Your Way site. These contests are not about engaging people in a conversation, but instead, an attempt to jump on the buzz bandwagon.
Battelle: Anything talking at an audience without the ability for the audience to participate, I'd reckon.
Hespos: There are a ton of these.
- Fake MySpace pages and fake blogs
- The "seeding" of advertising messages on discussion lists, blogs and message boards
- Online or offline shills, whether they're disclosed or undisclosed
- Posting video to YouTube and praying to the viral gods that it spreads
There's also conversational marketing's bastard stepchild-- what many people call "consumer-generated content." There seem to be a lot of marketers out there who believe that they can ask people to express the brand in their own terms, gather up the results and pick the shiny, happy ones that are closest to what the marketer wants people to feel about its brand.
It's good to listen to the market, and that's a great first step, but you have to take the bad with the good. I admire GM for resisting the urge to censor the commercial someone made that labels the Hummer H2 a gas guzzler. If I were GM, I'd set up a blog or a message board about environmental issues, and start identifying engineers and folks on project teams that can speak directly to the market about the things they're doing to increase the efficiency of their motors. I'd get someone who could talk intelligently on a blog about Displacement on Demand, alternative fuels and other things that could, if discussed with the market, show people that GM does care about environmental responsibility. That would go a long way, and it would get people to change their minds about buying a car from GM.