For many marketers, getting down off the broadcast podium and into the clamour of mortal conversation is hard enough. But then having to comprehend the ebb and flow of tribal loyalties - well, what sort of parallel universe have we arrived at? And yet, that is the great opportunity that we face.

It also underscores an interesting debate about the role of the brand in so-called tribal marketing.

Evolutionary psychology reminds us that our forebears needed to learn from each other in order to survive - to find food and to understand risks in their environment. Compelling reasons to be social.

With the explosion of data and knowledge facilitated by the internet, today's consumer uses social media to to filter this information via their self-defined "tribe(s)" - to make the world understandable through the prism of their tribe(s) or trusted others.

Seth Godin has taken this a step further by suggesting that "tribes" are looking for people to lead them and connect with one another. Tribes, in this case, being groups of people with a pre-disposition to believe in something ("the market for 'something to believe in' being infinite...").

A more fundamental point of view is that brands must become the facilitators of conversation - the provider of a platform. Particularly for strong brands, online conversations about the brand are already occuring and just providing a common platform for this interaction can provide valuable insight.

However, establishing a platform should just be the start. Today's customers don't want you (the brand) blustering in on customer conversations - but they certainly don't expect you to be passive or lurking either.

The clue for marketers, once they have established a platform, is the power of story telling and the ever increasing importance of the customer's sense of identity in a connected world. Have you attended to your Facebook bio recently?

Neil Davey cites the work of sociologist Lord Anthony Giddens, specifically his book ‘Modernity and Self Identity’ – which pre-dated the internet – in which he wrote how globalisation and the increasing reach of the media would impact people’s sense of identity to the extent that in the future a large amount of social activity would be devoted to validating and refining one’s sense of self.

In our work with online communities, tribal marketing is most definitely a force to be reckoned with - particularly in identifying your most passionate and embedded customers. It may not always be a tribe as definitive as Harley Davidson customers but passionate, empowered and self-aware customer segments can still be tribal - given a brand story to believe in.