With 55 million plus visitors a day,  destinations such as Facebook go beyond website and emerge as entire civilizations complete with their own code of ethics, languages and culture.

So with such a mass appeal, what is the impact for marketing managers,  and what is the opportunity for those marketers capable of harnessing it?

While the budgets and metrics of media may be slow to adapt,  there’s no doubt the consumer coalface is changing,  and the impact for marketing and brand managers must not be underestimated.

The very seasons of media have vanished. Youtube 2004. Facebook 2005. Digital places take seed bud and flower in such ever decreasing timelines it’s no wonder brand managers feel overwelmed. The only guarantee we have is that more such destinations will continue to emerge, driven by consumers hungry for the connection and community.

So how do we define which digital place best suits my objectives?

Each new place places advances both the digital opportunity and digital anxiety for brand managers -
does this new place suit my brand, and should I be trying to advance my Brand story within it?

 It’s easy to be seduced by the velocity new digital places create. There’s much to be said for being prominent in new social sites as they reach critical mass. Where else is their an opportunity to reach 55 million people in day?

However unless  “leading edge, innovative, risk taker” are integral parts of your brand values,  you may be risking much for little obvious gain by chasing every new social phenomena.  It takes significant resource to be everything to everyone. Suddenly you’re acting like a consumer instead of brand navigator.

Unless you have a digital strategy every digital decision is going to be arkward. The reality is following the Virgin campaign where photo’s posted on Flikr were incorporated into an advertiising campaign, the stakes for getting it wrong are higher.

So what is the best plan for success in such a changing environment? It’s simple.

1. Define exactly what you need to get from your digital places this year.
2. Deploy a process for determining which places best suit those objectives
3. Define how you must act and behave in each to advance a credible customer story
4. Visioneer how you want to present yourself in 9mths
5. Involve the customer in your planning and idea