How do you reconcile the power of consumers - people like you and me, the guys across town, your mom - to share, participate in and talk about what matters to them (us) with the needs of marketing?

The explosion of social media - social networks, blogs, Web 2.0 applications, co creation, virtual communities - redefines what media is today. Conversation has become the new "earned media." Consumer-generated media (CGM) sits alongside Forbes.com and PopSugar. It reveals our hunger for trust in some type of authenticity, something personal. The best of social media amplifies the voices of regular people to cut through the bullshit of marketing and traditional media. It lets people connect with other people. How does a brand, a company, participate in a meaningful way without just trying to game the new world of social media? Is it by reaching out to the new influencers with the same brand creative and PR messages? Or something else?

This explosion has caused an evolution in word-of-mouth marketing. Our digital lives amplify our personal WOM, making it reach more people and have more impact. And technology allows us to measure this WOM in ways that weren't possible before. WOM marketing (WOMM) is powerful. WOMM defies direct comparison to advertising. It is not even quite the same as the broadest definition of public relations. If someone recommends an airline, a political candidate, or a skin moisturizer, it means so much more than the ubiquitous advertising for those products. It means more than Fox New's or NPR's exhortations about the issue.

The real power of WOMM is at the end of the funnel. WOMM can invite people in to participate with the real people working within brands. It can give customers a sense of ownership by including their voice during product development. It can invite them (us) to become advocates and loyalists.

360° Digital Influence is Ogilvy's global WOMM discipline. We are expert at identifying influencers and engaging them in conversations at a time when anyone can be an influencer. But we engage more than just the popular voices online, we also activate networks of people - communities -to share, participate in and talk about brands, products and issues.

The influencer model (Ed Keller) and the network model, (Duncan Watts) are not two opposing theories, despite what their proponents say. One says there are influencers that can spread the word. The other says influencers are inconsequential to the power of the crowd or the network. But really, they're two possibilities that can work together. We can engage identifiable influencers to participate in and talk about topics. We can activate networks of people who do not wield traditional-media-like power as individuals, but who collectively can surpass it. The element common between the influencer and network model is our willingness and ability as marketers to offer influencers something of real value, which may not simply be the brand message of the day, but something that makes their life better in some way.