For those diving into unfamiliar waters, the prospect of marketing in an age of networked customer communities can be daunting. But with the right planning and preparation, companies can join the conversation without drowning.

The force that is driving social media is as old as business itself: word of mouth. Buyers have always shared advice on purchasing decisions, and consider word of mouth among the most trustworthy of information sources. But advancing Internet technologies have dramatically amplified word of mouth, making consumer conversations one of the most rapidly expanding sources of content on the Web. Business and retail buyers alike are leveraging social media as a critical step in the process of making purchase decisions, elevating online word of mouth far above advertising and marketing as a trusted source of information. As a result, marketers are rapidly losing control over their own positioning and messaging as consumers begin to control the market conversation.