The ever-expanding presence of the social web is changing how we communication folks are thinking about engaging and enrolling audiences. No matter how much time, effort, and money we put into crafting our campaigns and refining our messages, our audiences are having a bigger say in what our messages really are - or what they should be.  For internal-external marketing alignment, this puts even more pressure on the service experience you’re delivering to your customers. You’d better deliver what you promise or the messages generated by your audiences about your brand could get really out of control.

Here’s a few things I’ve run across this week that expand upon this notion.

The New Social Value Scale
An emerging site called the GoodGuide is creating an online resource for consumers to find information related to the health, environmental, and social impact of popular products. This powerful information will allow consumers to make informed choices about the everyday products they use.  If this site gains enough momentum, marketers may need to refine messages or even alter products to get a better score on the social value scale.

Every Web Page Will Become a Social Experience
The buzz from social web experts continues to imply that eventually every web page could be a social experience - whether it’s intended to be or not.  Jeremiah Owyang recently compiled a list of developing technologies and trends that are shifting us toward this reality.  His conclusion is that this shift will give customers the power to rely on friends, colleagues, and trusted social networks to make countless buying and brand-preference decisions.  As we move closer to this reality, the work of communicators becomes one of engaging, enrolling, and conversing rather than forcing messages that will be ignored.

Leveraging Customer Passion to Maximize Your Message
Finally, from Harvard Business Publishing, an article on leveraging your best customers as natural (and cheap!) spokespeople. Your customers have numerous opportunities through popular sites like YouTube and Facebook to express their passions for products and services. Why not leverage this passion and use it to your best advantage? You could even hire some of these people to sell for you!

In what ways are you changing your message in response to what your audiences are saying about your brand?  Tell us some of the new and unique ways you’re communicating with your audiences – and how you’re supporting those messages with service.

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