With your average person spending nigh on a day per month searching, blogging or using social network sites, the ability of your brand to engage them depends on how well you provide them with the choices they want, in the way they want to see them.
In the same way, customer online activities now impinge on brands in ways previously unheard of. A good example is the magazine NME, which stopped just being a music newspaper and transformed itself into a cross-media hub for everything to do with music (using print, online, radio, mobile, TV), delivering a compelling experience wherever its audience is at. It does this so well that people see it as a vital part of their lifestyle requirements.
NME is doing what all good brands should do - combining awareness and reach with engagement through providing a valued user experience. So forget about Ben Hur scale TV commercials (for most of us anyway) and focus more on giving customers a real reason to engage with your brand via their daily interactions with social media.
How your brand works in the constant expansion and segmentation of digital media is opening up whole new ways for customers to find, learn and engage. Technology is the enabler (whether it be the i-player; seesaw; YouTube; mobile; i-Phone; PSP; the latest i-Phone app; your i-Google page or sharing on Twitter or Facebook) empowering customers to do whatever they like, whenever they like, so it makes sense to ensure your brand embraces the change, in all its forms.
Source: Article by Peter James, Always On. iMedia Connection. 18th Jan 2011.