When will social media be profitable?

In many boardrooms, top exec's are struggling with questions around social media and Web 2.0, at least that's what I'm being told...if, and if so, how, why and what to implement are questions of the day.

The tendency to jump in with both feet as part of being a forward thinking organization (or at least to have the appearance as such) is great and why not? After all, there is potential value everywhere. Research, ability to respond to, and engage with, customers, innovate regarding products and services, shift markets with new strategies, the opportunities for value generation are immense.

Unfortunately, quite often the wrong questions are being asked. In the context of a large organization that can be really scary and expensive. For example: When trying to justify the investment of a social media strategy, its development and implementation, a CEO might ask.

"When will this social media initiative be profitable?"

Not an entirely unreasonable question in many cases, however, CEO's and their executive teams need to understand something fundamental about this entire space, culture and community. This isn't a new marketing event. Social media success is a long-term immersing of cultures. The corporate culture with that of the Web 2.0 or social media culture. Clearly most are starting at an obvious disconnect if you consider the question stated above. This will eventually permeate throughout the organization if it's not addressed early.

Social media and Web 2.0 IS innovation. It's innovation related to how we communicate with our customers, innovation in how we engage in commerce related activities with our customers, how we build and grow business models, in this case highly focused on our customers.

For example, micro-hacking sessions are going on as we speak and will be done in an hour or two from now, and as a result, large amounts of caffeine and/or pizza will be consumed. I'm also willing to bet innovation has taken place and a new micro-app will have been launched. The Internet is the raw and real "focus group" of today, if the app is cool...it spreads, if it isn't cool the team will know quickly. No discussion about profitability or break-even points, no business plan constructed or spreadsheets compiled. Talk about innovation on the fly. Now do you have to take into consider the legal ramifications of these moves, in some cases, more than others the answer is yes.

So, how does a slow moving oil tanker of an organization react to that mentality? Should they? Ahh, YES! Large industries are being impacted one micro-app at a time and many of them have no idea at this point. For example, micro-financing. The rumor is that Twitter will soon integrate a micro-finance application called Tipit.to. Is the banking industry aware of the potential impact here? Maybe. We'll see.

The overwhelming majority of CEOs and execs have yet to experience this and still these situations are producing new opportunities for business (it certainly has for my company). Social media is changing the way people are living, growing, engaging and yes "profiting" within the social media and general business spaces.

So where am I going with this? Simple. CEO's and their exec's need to answer their own question regarding the potential profitability of a social media strategy. They need to better understand what the experience is like at least from an observation perspective and when they've done that, their question most likely won't be...

"When will this be profitable?" Rather, "how can we continue to effectively immerse our divisions in this new customer centric philosophy and continue to have more 'meaningful' customer conversations and engagements from which to learn from?"


Technorati Tags: social media, Web 2.0, Canada, branding, strategy

When big brands miss, they miss big...

More and more large brands are taking on the social net and more and more brands are missing their targets...and some are winning and exceeding expectations, (low or cautious expectations I suspect).

When a large brand spends cash in the online world it's typically enough to buy a small country with a two-bit dictator. So missing the point in this arena hurts. Central to the problem is strategy or lack thereof and approach.

Complex organization + Old Marketing Attitude + New Social Media = Complex Expensive Failure

Understanding the social animals and online society or "creative class," "digital generation," "generation now" can be daunting. So seek first to listen, learn and participate by adding value...not ad dollars...

Using analytics to target demographics and audiences is fine to a point, but typically it doesn't tell the whole story. I think it's important to analyze online behaviors, living breathing trends, attitudes, needs...and combine that with understanding who's influencing the discussion. Having the proper strategy is absolutely key.

Just ask GM about whether they like Youtube or not...I talk about this in my presentations all the time...it's the core to everything else...

Does your brand actually matter?

So...does anyone actually care about your brand? What is the relevance of your brand? Could your brand change the world? If so, are you?

Is your brand growing in terms of reach? Sure you're spending all this time and money, how are you measuring your reach and success. Do you have a methodology for measuring this success? If so how accurate is it? How does your brand currently affect the hiring of top talent? In this age of the "creative class," is your brand communicating in the right language?

This is a common story today...these questions although common also are often overlooked...

That said, I mostly just wanted to ask brand questions today...

Why not hold a "listening lab" and go find out what your customers think of your brand...

Customizable World...

As I watch my daughter Sydney watch Elmo sing with Andrea Bocelli their own counting version of "Time to say goodbye"...she's mesmerized by his signing...(Andrea's singing)...well OK maybe Elmo's too and really who can blame her. I refresh my thoughts about her generation that only knows the world as an always on, always connected, all digital, all the time world.

A customizable, changeable world has always existed. The difference has only been the pace and the amount of those contributing in a meaningful way. So, as I use this world changing technology to communicate to you now as an example, clearly the pace has not always been as fast as in the last few years. The pace has definitely quickened.

And so, I'm asking to what end and are you as a company prepared for what's next?

Sure, most of us view technology advancement as cool, but my head space is all about results and so like the late nineties where designers designed websites that were "cool" with mystery nav and flash intros that did little more than waste our time with all business fundamentals going right out the door. I'm wondering how many are really changing the world for the better.

We know that a rare idea properly cultivated can change the world. However, I used the word "rare" for a reason. Are our kids going to be more a capable of "rare" ideas? I say yes, under the right definition of what "rare" is. There is still much to be discovered, that said, I think that our kids are more likely to vastly improve upon some of the things that generations past have created, identified or thought up. Of course the "World is Flat" and so there provides many opportunities for collaboration that have not existed before. My company leverages this every day, that said, it's not that common place outside of the Internet world of business.

Does COOL TECHNOLOGY + AVERAGE COMPANY = CHANGE THE WORLD CAPABILITIES or just recognition that they're using cool technology? I would argue no. For me this is obvious, it's based on human beings rather than the technology and how the people behind the company process, adapt and leverage that technology based on their philosophy of doing business that really determines results. Still companies don't get it and expect technology to be the holy grail answer to why they're sales numbers are down. Technology is still simply an enabler and for really cool people it's more than that it's massive power. This generation is and will be evidence of that.

My point, in part, is that, this generation's philosophy and outlook is vastly different than my grandparents, parents and in many ways possibly even me. This is both a blessing and a curse simultaneously. This generation is also said to be much much larger than the Baby Boomers, and with way more wealth and buying power to go around. So how are businesses preparing for this? It will take more than hoping into the fast paced stream of technology just to prepare. This is mental more than anything else. This transition between the Baby Boomers still working old school business methods and fearful closed door management styles will continue to end up just like the dinosaurs (Sears). You might be able to save yourselves now if you open your mind to what's happening or simply step aside, it's inevitable as none of us lives forever and these kids are coming quickly and they're highly capable.

This disjointed rambling of thoughts brought to you by a lack of coffee and emotional reflection while watching the most beautiful daughter in the world and simply worrying about providing the very best for her and her friends.

Edmonton Linkedin Business Event

I was invited to speak yesterday evening to a local group of Edmonton area business people who primarily belong to the same online network. The Edmonton Linkedin Business Network, a group started by Stephen Lau, a self-described workaholic professional in the commercial real estate industry, specifically with "Barclay Street Real Estate Ltd. | ONCOR International" Stephen is also a director with the Hong Kong - Canada Business Association, and if that wasn't enough, he's also an Executive Recruiter with Summit Placement Services.

Anyway, the primary rule to the group is that in order to join you must have a Linkedin profile so that others can connect with you online, thereby growing our networks. I was part of a three speaker event with the others being Evita McConnell, owner of Evita McConnell Graphics and Joe MacKay of Revo Video.

Each of my co-presenters provided a unique perspective and human touch to their message which I really appreciated.

Almost all of the meetings take place at Lau's family restaurant, the Golden Rice Bowl and the food is ridiculously amazing. I had a wonderful sesame lemon chicken last night that I'm still dreaming of. Getting something with sesame seeds on it these days due to allergies is rare so for me it brought me back to sesame seed bunwiches as a kid...

Anyway, if you want to grow you network offline as a result of your online activities this is a great model to follow. You need to have the energy to commit to organizing it, which Stephen has shown a clear talent for as it's hard work to be sure...

By the way if you look "right", you'll see a button to my linkedin profile, feel free to look me up...

Also here are some pictures from the event...notice the great gift the speakers received from Mari-lyn Hudson of Heart @ Work, a local artist and marketer.