Social Media river also flows beneath the surface.

Social media has unquestioned linkages with user generated content, customers speaking with each other & buzz; each of these form an important part of the campaign for any brand engaging in social media marketing.
Many of us, however, make the mistake of judging/ reviewing a brand programme merely on the ‘visible’ elements. Buzz is just one of the desired outcomes. Insights drawn from analysing consumer behaviour/ perception towards our brands/ competition on blogs, social networks could be another.
We often seem to miss out on a critical part of why brands adopted/ or needed to adopt social media. Remember, it was to create direct channels of communication with consumers/ prospects and other key stakeholders for feedback, redressal and insights.
As a programme moves into a sustained two-way relationship between the consumer and brand, towards identifying consumer evangelists and towards co-creation of products, a lot of conversations do move below the surface – emails, telecons and face-to-face. The world doesn’t see them, doesn’t mean they are not there.Instead, to me, they are signs of a matured programme.
An association has been established; new conversations will continue to get seeded, but many have now reached a new depth.
Your thoughts?