The Experience Economy is becoming the Conversation Economy
The Experience Economy is becoming the Conversation Economy. A recent article in BusinessWeek suggests that markets are now conversations and thus, we are in the conversation economy. The article suggests that social networking - connecting people of like minds - facilitates conversations. Conversations lead to relationships which lead to affinity - and affinity is what helps communities form around a brand. The article goes on to suggest that companies and marketing directors need to understand this phenomenon and begin to participate in it.
WELCOME TO THE CONVERSATION ECONOMY
Marketers today find themselves in a frantic race to get people talking about their brands. Everyone wants to produce something "viral." Call it the conversation economy. One of the engines driving online growth is the fact that communities are forming around popular social platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Ning, Twitter and the rest. These platforms facilitate conversation, and markets are now conversations, as the Cluetrain Manifesto pointed out years ago. Conversation leads to relationships, which lead to affinity. Brand affinity, as companies like Harley-Davidson show, can cause communities to form around them. Thus, anyone who plays a role in branding needs to become a "conversation architect." Marketers, businesses and designers need an intimate understanding of how these platforms are evolving and influencing human behavior. Marketers need an in-depth understanding of why so many people love to incorporate these services in their digital lives. Just as YouTube changed how we watch and share videos, some emerging media applications are changing how we interact with each other and with brands. That's viral marketing. Today, we market to each other. Actually, we always have, but now we're doing it in a more digitally connected way. When we find friends on a social network, we swap stories about products and services we like or dislike. We share knowledge and expertise. We define a new kind of currency, fueled by conversation and founded in meaningful relationships. (Business Week 9 April 2007)
Along similar lines, a recent article in IndustryWeek suggests that communication leads to innovation. In this article they are specifically referring to leaders communicating with employees to help stimulate creative problem solving. I would add to this idea the notion that leaders that do communicate like this have a philosophical approach to business that includes continual and never ending improvement.
COMMUNICATION CREATES INNOVATION
It's a cliché, but it's true: Problems really are opportunities in disguise. So tell your employees about problems and see if they can help devise an innovative solution. For example, when a paper mill worker saw all the wasted paper scraps littering the mill, he thought of binding them into pads, thus inventing what we now call legal pads. Effective leaders see problems as opportunities to improve, then communicate that message to the rest of the organization. This kind of leadership is the single most important factor in developing an innovative culture, says consultant Jim Garrick, a Lean Process Improvement professional. Observe someone who supervises people or manages an enterprise. You'll see they spend most of their time communicating. They talk with people -- one-on-one, in meetings, on the phone. They write letters, e-mails and reports. One result of all this communication is that employees are made aware of problems. What you do with these opportunities-in-disguise can then become the path to increased profits. "Incorporating ordinary staff in the generation of ideas is actually the real secret behind the amazing productivity of the greatest manufacturing companies in the world," Garrick says. Many companies pay lip service to the notion that employees are their most important resource, but too often they're seen merely as a cost, making it difficult to tap into their creative ideas or invest in their development. (Industry Week 4 Apr 2007)
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