“The days of sitting in our rooms as marketers — defining our message — pushing it out there — are over.  Now your brand is the sum conversations about it….  This changes entirely the rules of engagement.” — Marcel Lebrun, Radian6 CEO 

While going over a Fulbright Forum PDF Presentation called “MySpace Is Everyone’s Space“, I saw a mention of Radian6, which was defined as a “platform to help companies listen to the social web to know what is being said about [their] company.”  I jumped over to Radian6 website and started looking around (and watching videos) to see what they, and their motto of “The Engaged Brand” were all about.

Radian6 makes its money through a social web monitoring software with their pricing starting “at $500 per month, per profile for up to 10,000 new monthly results… and $100 per month, per user ID.”  There is a great write-up on Radian6 and their new console over at TechCrunch— pay particular attention to the comments after the review and notice how Radian6’s customers rave about the product.  Even if you’re not interested in the software, there is tons of information resources available at Radian6’s website.  If you scroll down to the bottom of the Radian6 home page, there is a list of resources that would help those trying to understand the social media impact on their business… all the way up to Case Studies of how companies like Pepsi, UPS, and even Cirque du Soleil are monitoring, listening and engaging in the ‘sum conversations’ about their brand.  So, even if you’re not ready to plunk down the cash for the Radian6 product, there is still a lot that they are offering to help educate a marketer understand, plan, engage, and evaluate how the company brand is being discussed in the social network community.

One example that I liked was the PDF presentation called “The Why and How of Social Media Participation” where they laid out the reasons that social media participation matters and the need to have a plan for building a listening strategy and engaging the social community.  I especially enjoyed the section on building awareness of who your company is, and what you do.  On the social web, the factors that help build that lasting awareness are:

  • Relevance: How what you’re doing aligns with what someone needs or is interested in
  • Context: Whether you’re present and engaged when and where your audience needs you to be
  • Resonance: How much your presence and solution endures and stays relevant over time
  • Accessibility: How well you provide your community access to the people behind your brand
No longer will the “one-size-fits-all marketing” approach work.  With the social web there is an expectation of “a more shared, human approach.” 

For a marketer, or anyone that is looking for information on how to get started in social media, monitor social media, or show others the importance of engaging in social media, then I suggest going to Radian6’s website… scroll down to the bottom of the screen, and read the case studies, presentations, white papers, and blogs that are Radian6 has put out there for you.  You’ll learn a lot, even if you don’t spend a penny.