Advertisers have leveraged both experimentation and the creation of content over ads as a means of adapting to the increasingly digital nature of our world and our lives, but the changes haven’t stopped there. Advertisers and marketers have not only needed to change the way they come up with, present and create content, but also the very nature of their roles and communities.

It’s all about collectives. Collectives are online groups that are all about passion—a passion for a specific topic that can drive the members of the collective to generate content and buzz. A lot of the power of content-creation lies in the hands of these collectives, giving them an incentive to build something that is theirs while remaining linked to your product or brand. User-generated content is an important aspect of earned media and creating a platform for the collective is the primary factor in earning that media.

It’s all about creative technology. Everyone wants to get one step ahead and this requires innovation, invention and creativity. This requires an ambitious, proactive advertising team and creative developers. Big companies and their agencies may be able to create proprietary tools and launch expensive campaigns that are unrealistic in comparison to what a smaller company can afford to do, but the great thing about creativity is that it can exist independently of a big budget. Create unique projects and find new ways to utilize existing technology.

Combining any and all of these methods can yield fantastic results today and help keep you well-positioned for the continuing digitization of marketing and the world as a whole. A creative campaign that engages your target community and makes the best possible use of the available technology will always be a strong campaign.