Been to two conferences in the last few weeks (AMA Strategic Marketing and Liquid Brand Summit) and at both, was surprised by the degree of fear in marketeers about the advent of social media. Really surprised. Especially at yesterday's conference where the best brand marketers in Silicon Valley were gathered. The typical response to "opening" the brand up to social media was "If I do that, I will let go of control of my brand." and "What if someone says something bad about my brand?" I expect more moxie from folks who market emerging and new technology for a living!

All I could think was "Hey, you have already lost control of your brand!" Especially for the big companies in the audience yesterday, it's an absolute guarantee that someone, somewhere is talking about their brand in the blogosphere, on the streets, in their offices. Doesn't it make more sense to know WHAT they're saying -- whether it's good or bad??? I would rather know than not know.

The bigger question and one that was glossed over yesterday was "How do we know when to respond to the feedback?" That's a question I think all marketeers will grapple with more and more. What and when is the appropriate level of response? You can go into five-alarm mode every time a negative comment is posted, but you can't ignore it either. Derek Gordon of Technorati was a sage advisor on this topic. He cautioned that the blogging community, like any community, was self-policing, and that flamers are very quickly corrected by others who know what's right about a company.

Lots to consider, lots of opportunity, lots of change. More coming in a later blog.