BoingBoing, Digg, Fark, MetaFilter, Protrade, Wikia, YTMND. Aside from being some of the biggest powerhouses on the web, what else do these media giants have in common? Over the past few years, these websites have risen up to attain rather influential positions in the hierarchy of internet traffic and information distribution. That sort of thing doesn’t happen overnight. Each had to start small, with only a few connections to the rest of the internet. As time passed, these websites forged more and more connections with other sites, blogs, newsrings, etc, all the while accumulating a growing audience. As they increased in popularity, other media outlets began to reference and link to them, bolstering the numbers of their followers even more. However, the question still stands; how did the authors of these sites get this chain reaction started?

“Conversational marketing” is a term coined by Federated Media Publishing- a leading supporter of independent media. Essentially, conversational marketing “[brings] marketers into an active dialogue with their customers.” As explained in their mission statement, Federated Media’s goal is to connect independent website authors and audiences to marketers. The ramifications of these connections are quite significant. Additional revenue earned through advertising obviously brings direct benefits to the website’s authors, but the long-term network patched together through Federated Media provides long lasting benefits.

Consider the situation where author A and author B both go to Federated Media Publishing for support. Applying triadic closure to FM’s clients, we see that if two websites are strongly linked to Federated Media, a new “edge” (in this case, a hyperlink or a reference) will most likely be created between the two authors. If the link between these authors becomes stronger, then A’s contacts will most likely “meet” B, just as B’s contacts will most likely “meet” A. This kind of cross-networking multiplies the number of both A’s and B’s contacts drastically. The additional traffic generated by hotlinks leads to more exposure to any advertising present on that website, thus generating even more revenue.

We see that through an intermediary such as Federated Media Publishing, burgeoning independent authors have the opportunity to create vital network connections. By creating a community of similar minded authors, marketers can better delineate the needs of the target audience. Chas Edwards of Federated Media aptly summarizes this point,

The expanded sales organization enables FM to do what it does best:
service brand advertisers. Bringing marketers into an active dialogue with
their customers -- what we call 'conversational marketing' -- requires
listening, creative thinking and, above all, human insight...

Reaching millions of anonymous eyeballs is one thing. Ensuring that a
marketer's message lands in a high-quality, relevant, and safe environment
is another thing entirely.