In the old days, marketers would brief ad agencies on their latest product innovation. Ad agency execs in turn would then churn the creative mills they managed to create campaigns that would wow their customers by showcasing the bigger, brighter product packaging, the extra crunchiness or the ability of a regular dry vacuum to suck up your child’s latest juice spill!

This story line played out for some time, and managed to work well, building the Coca Cola Empire globally, crowning retail kings here and there and making Nike a household name. Then one day, back in 2004, Mark Zuckerberg opened a door called Facebook and allowed tons of folks in (1,310,000,000 to be exact!). They found a place where they could easily communicate how they felt about the products they were consuming and the services they accessed. In 2006 Twitter gave them even more reason to talk, and now the micro-blogging platform plays to an audience of 645,750,000 active followers who send out over 9,100 tweets per second. The brand plot that centers around how my single channel campaign worked with just my catchy tag line and awesome graphic work no longer resonates with the hyper connected customers of today. Here’s the problem…   Consumers of today are revolting against the age old marketing tactics and demanding more interaction, more engagement and more fulfilling customer experiences at the hands of brands. Their loyalties are on the line and with it, your share of wallet. Are you willing to risk losing the battle for the customer kingdom? If you’re not ready to throw in the towel and you’re willing to do what it takes to win at the game of customer engagement, then it’s time to start investing in the skills that will help you survive in the new age of digital connectivity.  *Infographic – GIGYA Blog (Rachel Serpa)