We tend to assume that because masses of people are flocking to the Internet, it is, therefore, a mass medium.  It is not.  In a mass medium, you have an audience that is assembled either because you control air-time (like TV) or because you control space (like a magazine or an amphitheatre).  On the Internet you control neither.  

Like a crowded street in Times Square, lots of people are spinning through the Internet from different places for different reasons and they control their own time and space.  Make no mistake, brands do not control the conversation online: consumers do.
 
Just weeks ago at digiday:TARGET, brands, technologists, and agencies converged to discuss the technology behind online conversations—and how the resulting data emerging from those conversations can help agencies and brands learn more about their customers’ needs, enhance their ads’ relevance, and ultimately help them better serve their customers.  Of the many things overheard at digiday:TARGET, one key theme emerged: while brands advertise online, their online presence is no longer just about advertising.  Instead, brands are present not just as advertisers, but as participants in one large, organically evolving online conversation.

In a session called “The Brand Protectors,” moderated by David Mechlin of FOCi Group, brands, technologists and agency execs debated how, in the words of one panelist, “brands are showing up online.”  It became clear despite disparate backgrounds, each of five experts assembled onstage agreed on one thing: brand owners are definitely looking for new and unique ways to connect on the Internet.  In part, that unique approach is rooted in the reality that the Internet is not a mass medium like TV or magazines.  It is a holistic, organically growing environment where consumers are in control and smart brands should also show up, and listen closely to what is being said.  And like Grandma wisely advised, when they are there “they should speak up when they’re spoken to, and always, always remember their please and thank you’s.”  

Griffin Long, Senior Director of Global Carsharing for Connect by Hertz proved that point about engaging in the conversation. Long stated that he is not looking for CPM, he is looking for partners: “We’re trying to engage these people and just advertising is not getting to people.” Long  took it one step further revealing he won’t pay for impressions but, “I’ll pay thousands if you can put a new customer in a car.” Louis Giagrande, Senior Manager, Online Marketing, Samsung Electronics America, echoed Long’s sentiments.

So does this spell the demise of the almighty CPM?  Does this change the way we should be measuring online success?  Is good old fashioned advertising losing its relevance online?  Not necessarily, hinted the panelists.  It’s just that it doesn’t have the same power it has in a mass medium like TV or print.

However from what they were saying, it did feel like a new way of thinking about online strategy has emerged.  And if there is indeed a new order, as the panelists seemed to suggest, what are the rules? If brand strategy online does not equal advertising alone, what else should smart brands be doing online?  

RAPP SVP Andrew Marc Goldman focused on the theme of conversation, over monologue, recommending that brands “create a tribe” online, not merely an audience.  In Goldman’s book, a “tribe” is derived of loyalists with whom a brand can connect, converse, and ultimately learn volumes.  In return for honest conversation and delivering customers’ value, those loyalists will adopt a brand.  When brands invest time and deliver loyalists value (information, special offers, community, and more), the brand can reap rewards not once but twice.  The brand will have created not just one loyal customer, but also an engaged future influencer, someone who will share their good experience with their network, and ultimately could become one of the brand’s key online influencers.

The theme makes sense to me.  My company, FOCi Group consults brands to manage their digital profiles intelligently and sensitively.  We work to help them find the right  blend of advertising and conversation, using technology and good old-fashioned listening skills.  Sitting and hearing the Brand Protectors at digiday:TARGET, I realized I heard these brands and agencies were articulating a case for smart, cohesive digital brand management.  

Instead of sinking money into CPMs, these experts from brands, technology firms, and agencies were choosing to invest their time in building relationships through online conversation.  It was refreshing to hear.  

Their advice is not a quick and easy approach, but from where I sit it has a higher “Internet IQ.” It’s a digital approach that grasps that the Internet is not a one-way monologue: it’s a conversation that requires ongoing listening and conversation skills.  Like any good conversation, it’s not a one-way street: brands can’t do all the talking if they want a fruitful discussion with their customers online.  But if they listen, rather than just broadcast ads; if they invest time in genuine digital conversations with their customers, the reward is a long-term relationship, and a customer that will become a disciple to many.

Brandon Gutman is a Founding Partner of FOCi Group, a Digital Brand Management Consultancy specialized in building Digital Excellence for the Fortune 500 community.