One Man Band

I was misled by the title of this article by Diane Hessan. I thought it was about how to effectively pitch an idea at a cocktail party, or in the proverbial elevator.

Not.

“Conversational marketing” is bizspeak for marketing through social media. Ms. Hessan identifies five “next practices” to avoid irrelevance. (These marketing folks sure like their lingo.)

• “Conversational marketing” means two-way
  Me: blogs are an example, but so are customer forums and call-in lines — if the company actually listens and does something about what it hears

• Listening is underrated
  Me: listening has always been underrated

• Think small when it comes to social networks and online communities
  Me: your RSS feeds and Twitter friend list need active pruning, for instance

• Use the “lurk factor” to measure engagement
  Me: how many people actively participate as a percentage of the community?

• It’s about the social glue, and not necessarily your products
  Me: get over yourself — most people don’t care

Click through to read the entire article.