Every now and again, clients ask what the value of a Facebook Like, Foursquare check-in, or Twitter follower is. Digital strategists (myself included) have tried to quantify these interactions into dollars and cents, with varying levels of degrees of success. In my mind, the thinking needs to evolve beyond the transactions and towards relationships. When a consumer likes your brand, think of it as an ice-breaker of a conversation — it’s the start of a dialog, the beginning of any relationship. Dialog requires back and forth, give and take, listening and speaking. Before you can expect any consumer to become an advocate, brands need to set themselves up to establish and more importantly maintain conversations on an ongoing basis.

For marketers, after an initial campaign launch, sustaining momentum and buzz is a challenge. There is usually a flurry of activity at the start but after a couple of weeks, scores of new followers and participants, the question becomes, “now what?”

The ice has been broken and now it’s time to maintain the relationship. It requires regular conversation about things that matter. It’s similar to exercising regularly; you can’t expect to remain fit if you only go once a year. To keep things interesting, you need to mix things up and have different conversations that are contextually relevant, otherwise you get stuck in a boring rut, like having the same gym routine day in day out. It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Conversations are no different, in that they need variety in purpose, tone and topic in order to keep interest up. If not, you run the risk of sounding like that relative at Thanksgiving dinner who talks about the same drivel year after year. No one said the art of conversation was easy, but isn’t that half the fun?

I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Adams at a marketing conference earlier this year, where he gave a stirring lecture on the social web. Within a few minutes, the crowd was mesmerized and his talk was the highlight of the day. He delivered a clear message that there was promise for marketers in social, and to be successful, there were some key principles to adhere to. Ever since then, I’ve been thinking about how to create content and experience that really means something to the people we’re trying to reach.

Adams expands on his thinking in Grouped. His approach is thoughtful and purposeful leaving the reader with a framework of how to approach social marketing. Unlike a lot of other self-styled experts in the field, Adams grounds his ideas in research, not 140 character sound bites or meaningless industry jargon. The content gets to the point quickly — beginning with how the internet itself is shifting from content to relationships to the basis of relationships. Adams then builds his case for how how only close friends truly have an impact on our decision making process, while weaker relationships can broaden our horizons of information. He goes on to debunk a number of myths about influencers, instead suggests ideas get spread through a combination of “innovative” and “follower” hubs. This is an important distinction to make because spreading of ideas isn’t merely a one-step process. It is a combination of art and science that requires more than people with large followings. The last parts of the book go deep on the impacts our own physiology and environment have with respect to our information-processing and thus decision making abilities. (hint: we do a lot of unconscious processing). At the end, he wraps up permission marketing and how it is the gateway to creating trust, credibility and ultimately loyalty.

Some books are quick reads if they’re well-written and make you want to keep flipping pages. Grouped had a slightly different effect on me. I anticipated reading each chapter, but the more I read, the more I found myself pausing and thinking about what relationships I had, why I had them and how my own network influences my decisions. I would say I got as much out of reading the book as I did with the self-reflection one goes through when applying the thinking. And that’s where the beauty lies in Adams’ writing; by creating content that is compelling and relevant to the reader, he’s practicing what he preaches. His writing is clear and concise — just as he is in person —  making concepts easy to digest. He also couples theory with quick tips from his work at Facebook, making his points are more credible and practical. At the end of each chapter, he includes a summary and a further reading section that act as informal footnotes that encourage the reader to dive deeper.

Whenever I’m reading a book I really like, I often slow down towards the end, to savor each page before reaching the end. Grouped was no different, with one exception — It made me want to go out and apply his thinking at work. It’s at a level where most practioners of social media can grasp conceptually and has relevance for strategists looking to make social the core of their company’s offerings. Highly recommended.

Here’s to the Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world – are the ones who do.

I believe the next big API target is music. With services like Pandora, Last.fm, Rdio and Spotify, there are no shortages of companies who see the potential in social music. The beauty is that sharing music is something people have been doing for decades, through mix tapes, going to concerts and loaning CDs to each other. The behavior doesn’t need to change in order for it to work; rather, the technology needs to catch up with how consumers expect to discover new tracks.Spotify and Rdio are on the right path realizing that the way to grow is by enabling API access to their music. This allows 3rd party developers to take music from them and use it in a completely different application, one that uses music to enhance another experience. Because music is often a background activity not requiring our full attention, this opens up a number of new avenues such as adding music to a whole slew of apps that are complementary.

I’m pretty excited to see some mobile apps that integrate these APIs in a smart way. Mobile music is a very natural behavior and seeing how this develops using SoLoMo (social location mobile) principles will change the way music is experienced. Imagine walking through a city and getting playlists based on where you are or listening to music from your nearby network. Or checking into a bar on Foursquare and instantly knowing what music is playing and seeing what their patrons’ favorite music is. I’m confident that the next great music experience is yet to be created. But I bet it’ll be an elegant combination of 2-3 key features that strike a chord.

With the introduction of Google+ and its asymmetric follow philosophy, some think Twitter may suffer some loss of users. The ability to follow anyone and have public/circle-based posts with threaded conversations makes the interactions more compelling without the Twitter’s 140 character restrictions. My view is Google+ is best at content sharing, while Twitter still rules for content discovery. While Google+ has yet to develop a monetization plan, Twitter is firing on all cylinders. For more insight, check out this video featuring Twitter CEO Dick Costolo who remains clearly bullish on the platform.