We already know it – everything communicates. But, it is great to see that businesses probably soon will start realizing this for real. One step towards this might be the “death of the brand manager“, leaving room for a “conversation manager”. Just like Tim writes, I don’t think job titles mean much either. But, I think the focus is shifting now, and changing titles might be one of the signs of this. Businesses start to realize that they have to know what conversations are going on, follow them and take part.

And I believe a next step in this would be looking after what conversations the company is actually creating. It is not only the press officer or CEO who “communicates”. Businesses need to think about what their “welcome letters” to new customers communicate? What does the returns policy communicate? What do their contact page on the site communicate?

Everything communicates, and there are so many different touch points to work with. Touch points that can be made into conversations, customer satisfaction and positive word of mouth. And one of the most important touch points is every person that is in contact with customers. So, there is a very good reason to make sure they all have authority and can take own actions which communicate what you want the company to communicate. In addition, it gives the company a conscience.

This is a translation of one of my previous posts in Swedish – Sociala medier är dött om fem år!

Working with social media, and letting go of the (imagined) control over the message, is something businesses still have a really hard time doing.

Being used to one-way communication, deciding on that to say, how to say it and when to say it, it is really hard to let go and let consumers and others on the Internet participate in the conversation and jointly create the message or brand.

However, as many before me have realized, it is not really a choice anymore. Businesses are already discussed on blogs, in forums and communities, not to mention instant messaging services or face to face. It is better to join in.

Actually, that is the only chance to be able to influence the conversation taking place, answer questions, get feedback and “put out fires” before they take hold and spread.

It is pretty interesting that the question of whether to start communicating in social media or not is even taking place. Besides the fact that businesses are already being discussed, more traditional digital media, like newspapers online, are becoming more and more social. Readers can comment on articles, blogs referring to articles are linked to from the article, communities are created and so on. Soon we will not talk about “social media”. What I now call more “traditional digital media” will become more and more social, and we will not have a need to separate them anymore. Media becomes increasingly more digital, and digital media becomes increasingly more social. In five years, “social media” is dead, and we will only have “media” again, just like we don’t call it a “digital camera” anymore, but just a camera. What company doesn’t want to be featured in media?

Businesses that choose not to engage in social media, and stick to that choice, can close down their communications departments in five years, and agencies that don’t know how to deal with social media might just as well throw in the towel. It is time to learn! =)