Brian Haven From Forrester Talks Brand Engagement

Brian Haven, a Senior Analyst at Forrester, had a short (4 minutes), but enlightening interview about brand engagement with Marketing Voices at the Forrester Marketing Forum in Los Angeles this week. Brian says Forrester defines brand engagement as the level of involvement, interaction, intimacy and influence that a person has with a brand over time.

Brian maintains that for many brands, social networking now enabled by the Web has fundamentally changed the balance of power from marketers to consumers. Consequently, companies need to listen to what their most engaged customers are saying via these social networks, and use that information to foster insights for improvement.

A much more in-depth discussion of this subject can be found in a new book by some of Brian’s colleagues at Forrester. It’s called Groundswell: Winning A World Transformed By Social Technologies. It should be on the required reading list for marketing leaders. Authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernhoff do an excellent job of explaining why and how the social Web can be transformed from what many in business see as a threat into game-changing new opportunities.