With the uprise of social networks, and brands jumping at the chance to launch their own communities - are brands getting the most of the conversations that are happening all around them?

During my daily reading, I came across an article about the Unilever and Sprint site, In the Motherhood . In the Motherhood is a community catering specifically to moms, which has been a hit (over 15 million video views) since its launch last spring.

The website is in its second season and one can assume Sprint and Unilever are gaining more than their fair share of consumer insight. The question is….

Is Unilever paying attention to the conversations happening in the forum? Better yet, are you?

Companies like the Container Store could benefit from listening to the rants and raves of women in the Unilever mommy community.

For example, market researchers at the Container Store could find out mommy tips for staying organized.

Wendy Piersall (of eMoms at Home) posted a list featuring moms who Twitter. This is an amazing little gem for companies (and moms or future moms) looking to reach and build relationships with a strong community of women who want to share tips, ideas and their personal updates with one another.

Brands (ehem.. marketers…) aren’t actually supposed to bombard members of this Twitter group with questions (who ever liked a nosey reporter?). Brands should listen, learn, and if you (the person looking) ACTUALLY have something in common with them and want to chat with them become friends with them- by all means join the conversation. These Twitter-ers are not focus groups and they may or may not be your future brand ambassadors, but they certainly are real people having real conversations.

Friendly advice- be a friend or be a fly on the wall and gain as much knowledge about your target demographic as you can.

You’re seeing it everywhere … everyone is jumping on the “green” bandwagon. And it means something entirely different than when Kermit the Frog sang about it. I know that I feel a twinge of guilt when I throw something out that could possibly be recycled. So what do consumers think at this point?

The Center for Media Resarch has found that consumers are not fully embracing the concept as of yet. The messaging is definitely out there in the marketplace, and 37.1% of consumers admitted to frequently recalling what is now becoming known as “green messaging.” So rising awareness is good news, right?

Not so fast. Although the consumer awareness is there, the consumer’s trust is not. Only 12.1% claim to always believe green advertising claims. A whopping 65.3% say they sometimes believe the green claims. However, the consumer is definitely taking the green movement and incorporating it into their own life — 81.9% say they are doing something to make their life more green. Only 12.9% say they are “not green at all.” As far as going completely green, only 5.2% of respondents consider themselves in that bucket.

Not surprising, the number one reason for going green is because it’s good for the environment, and that’s the number one reason specified in this survey. What appeals most to these green groups? The top two are recycling information and healthy recipes. Also popular are alternative energy sources, natural remedies, eco-friendly cleaning products, outdoor recreation, tips for simple living and organic foods.

The majority of people who are trying to live green find their information on the Internet (79.6%). But they seem to be disappointed in what they’re finding. Only 41.6% of people said they would rate the information that they found as average, 20.8% rated the info found as fair, and 17.2% rated info found as poor.

This represents a huge opportunity for marketers if you’re wanting to reach a green or a green aspiring audience. It’s obvious that people are hungry for information and want to do the right thing. Consumers are looking for ways to incorporate “green” into their daily lives, so it is a perfect opportunity for companies to not just offer “green” information about their products/services, but go beyond to educate them.

Let’s face it, if your company is venturing into “greening” your products, you have done research that consumers might not have access to? Share it, with no “sales or marketing” expectations, then consumers will develop a relationship with your company, build trust and eventually will become loyal customers of your company.

Everything in the media, ads lately is about “green” and I believe there is going to be a backlash on “green” marketing. So be smart, educate, provide real information about how to instill a green living, don’t just use “green” as a marketing gimmick - you will be called out, and ignored. That will hurt your bottom line.

While at Ad:Tech, we got some video footage from attendees and vendors to get a feel for what participants were looking for at San Francisco event hosted at the Moscone

For this series entitled “The Vibe” we engaged participants with a few questions about their background and their intentions at Ad:Tech to assess the current pulse of our industry. Videos include footage from both seasoned players as well as newcomers such as Gevirtz Media.

Here are some folks we interviewed:

- Megan Ross Farrell & Clay Moore - Jive Software
- Blair Swedeen & Jessica Jurva - Placecast
- Yael Yekutiel - TraffIQ
- Brad Thompson - Advertising.com
- Carnet Williams - SproutBuilder.com
- Michael Bender - Prospectiv
- Shane Graper - CPA Empire
- Harrison Gevirtz - Gevirtz Media
- Gen McGlothlin - Internet Old Timers Foundation
- Ad-o-Tube
- Graham Gochneaur - Clickbooth
- Nadja Blagojevic - PageOne PR
- Chris Graham - Syntryx

Here’s a sample of for your enjoyment:

For the rest please visit our channel here.

I’m sure most of you know what a blogger does, but do you really know who they are? Do you have visions of someone hunched over a PC 24/7? In our industry, we know who they are, and The Center for Media Research has also confirmed facts about bloggers. You may be surprised at what has been revealed.

Here are some top-line findings, in case anyone asks you about who’s blogging these days:

• Over 53% are male
• 44.7% are married
• Average age is 37.6 years old
• 69.7% are Caucasian
• HHI $55.8K

Bloggers are very tuned in to technology and use it regularly, which is not surprising. They own and use the following:

• 93% have cellphones
• 75.3% use some sort of IM
• 72.2% download video or TV content
• 66.9% are into video games
• 65.5% text message

The logical conclusion: another diverse group not to be placed in one bucket. Marketers who approach bloggers need to know that one size does not fit all, and each blogger needs to have his or her own personalized introduction to what you and your company do.