FrOM eyebaLLs tO cOnversatiOns After 2007, everything began to change, with the rapid growth of Facebook and other social network sites, the explosive growth of smartphones beginning with Apple iPhone in 2007, and the growing interest in local marketing. What’s different about the new world of social-mobile-local marketing and advertising are the related concepts of “conversations” and “engagement.” Marketing today is based on businesses market- ing themselves as partners in multiple online conversations with their customers, potential customers, and even critics. Your brand is being talked about on the Web and social media (that’s the conversation part). Marketing your firm and building and, sometimes, restoring your brands requires you to locate, identify, and participate in these conversations. Social marketing means all things social: listening, discussing, interacting, empathizing, and engaging. Rather than bombarding your audience with fancier, louder ads, instead have a conversation with them and engage them in your brand. The emphasis in online marketing has shifted from a focus on eyeballs to a focus on participating in customer-oriented conversations. In this sense, social market- ing and advertising is not simply a “new ad channel,” but a collection of technology- based tools for communicating with shoppers. In the past, businesses could tightly control their brand messaging and lead con- sumers down a funnel of cues that ended in a purchase. That is not true of social marketing. Consumer purchase decisions are increasingly driven by the conversations, choices, tastes, and opinions of the consumer’s social network. Social marketing is all about businesses participating in and shaping this social process.