Who really owns your brand?

A collection of wisdom (that is to say, a brain dump) from today's Twebinar on branding and social media, hosted by the Energizer Bunny of social media, Chris Brogan:

• Companies share control of their brands with their customers
• Think of PR/social media as starting a conversation with customers about your brand
• Customers react to and shape your brand
• No one owns your brand
• Your company brand is a co-creation with your consumers
• Sean Bohan: Tell a story with your customers
• Sally Falkow: What you say doesn't matter if my experience is different
• Sally Falkow: your brand is collaborative with your consumers
• Richard Binhammer on some companies not engaging in social media: "Someone explain to me why we shouldn't interact with customers"
• Richard Binhammer: "What we own is our actions based on what we hear from [consumers]"
• Joe Jaffe: we partner with consumers, not cede control; create a balance between us and them

One of the things I was looking for by participating in this Twebinar was something to replace the negative message "you can't control your brand/message" when I speak with clients. I'm happy to disavow them of this notion, but I've been seeking a more positive way to promote the idea of social media. I'm a fan of C.C. Chapman's phrase "no-control PR," but that can sound a bit negative and scary to some. You know, kind of like the "anti-federalists" of yore. What, we can't come up with a more positive nomenclature than to say what social media doesn't do for your brand?

So as I digest, I'm hovering around the words "collaborative," "partner" and "balance." And I'm a big fan of Binhammer's statement for PR and personal responsibility:

What we own is our actions based on what we hear from [consumers].

Brilliant. True whether we believe in and participate in social media or not.