By curating the long-tail of content focused on unique offerings, brands can become part of blog and/or Twitter discussions, create unity and build affinity with consumers, according to Dan Buczaczer, SVP, director, Denuo. "Brands have resources, money and the ability to make it happen," he said. Buczaczer said reaching consumers through user-generated content requires brands to take a realistic role, including doing it themselves, sponsoring something, and curating the long tail of content. Curating solves two problems. For the brand, it associates them with real content. For consumers, it brings them closer to the brand. Buccaneer said there …

The days of sending letters during the holidays to update friends and family about things that happen during the year has transformed into portals in social media platforms, according Angela Courtin, SVP marketing, entertainment and content at MySpace. Good morning. Welcome to MediaPost's OMMA Social. I'm here Monday morning in San Francisco with a room (standing-room only) full of your colleagues listening to Courtin talk about the convergence of social media during the keynote "How We Learned to Listen & What We Do With What We’ve Heard." As use shifts to social media it's no longer a race …

I'm glad to be huddled over a continental breakfast with what looks like a few hundred marketers all intent on being and learning "social." I'm flashing back to the first few meetings of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, when a bunch of renegades set out to start a new marketing industry around something so familiar as the concept of word of mouth. We all, but for a few shut ins, are social in our real lives. Most are now social online, with identities, profiles and passwords flung around the web. So is there an "industry" here? Will it …