Not long ago, e-mail marketing was considered cutting edge. Today, every teenager knows how to filter your company’s e-mail into their spam folder.

So what happened? Online media (social media) became the go-to source for information. With a quick search, anyone can find out about your company, and more importantly, how your company is perceived online.

Your web site is no longer the end all be all of your online presence. Blogs, web videos, Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, Wikipedia pages, and a myriad of other content created by consumers, journalists, competitors and anyone with an Internet connection now inform people as to what your company is all about.

The democratization of the web means that your company has to take part in the ongoing conversation happening all over the web. And that conversation is going to happen with or without your participation.

So what can you do to adapt to this new way of looking at the web? The answer is: you have to monitor, converse and create. Monitor what is being said; converse with the people talking about your brand; and create engaging content in order to spread your message in a way that is meaningful to your target audience.