I often share my thoughts to help global brands and enterprise organizations. But with this article, I would like to talk to the broader group of business professionals without reference to the size and shape of your company. Here and in many other media outlets, networks, and blogs around the web, social media is one of the most prevalent subjects in business today. While advice is everywhere, advice is becoming a commodity. Insight however, is precious. Letâs take this time…
Announcing my next book: What’s the Future of Business?
It is with great pleasure that I share with you the details of my next book published again by Wiley, What’s the Future of Business: Changing the way businesses create experiences. The book debut at SXSW on March 8th and will be officially available in stores on March 11th. What’s the Future of Business is not a question. It’s an answer. This new book continues where my last book, The End of Business as Usual, left off.  What’s the Future of…
The diffusion of brand, ownership, and experience
Guest post by Ian Greenleigh, author of The Social Media Side Door (Fall 2013) and social strategist with Bazaarvoice. Follow him on Twitter @be3d Products were once contained by physical ownership and access. To experience a product, you had to buy it or try it. Brands extended beyond the idea of physical products into other types of consumer exposure to companies. Non-customers have always had access to brands outside of the ownership capacity, through advertising, word of mouth, and any…
Forget about Social Media for a moment. Whatâs your mobile strategy?
Facebook hit a billion users! Twitter is the new digital water cooler! Youtube is the future of TV! Ok, you get it right? Social media is transformative. So what? Every business that thinks about customer engagement through a technological lens will miss the very thing that will keep them in business for the long-termâthe impact of technology on society and behavior and how it opens up new touch points and changes expectations as a result. Depending on your business, you…
Transitional Marketing and the Connected Interface
Guest post by Scott Forshay, creator and editor of mobi.luxe. Follow him on Twitter @scottforshay There is no first, second, or third screen; there are only screens. Regardless of their uniqueness in form factor or function, these connected screens are simply humanized interfaces allowing us to communicate with and experience a digitally optimized world. While much has been made of defining the distinctions between the various connected interfaces, be they mobile devices, tablets, connected television, etc., whatâs been lost in…
Exploring the Fifth and Sixth P of Marketing
For years Iâve written about how the 4 Ps of Marketing, Product, Place, Pricing, and Promotion represented a dated perspective of customers and markets. In an era of connected consumerism, one could argue the merits of any of âPsâ and whether or not theyâre still relevant. I suppose thatâs a debate for another time. Instead, Iâd like to introduce of two additional Ps that will propel a decades old concept and modernize it for a social economy. Truth be told,…
Social media is not your saving grace: Experiences should first be defined and supported
Social media experts will tell you, and theyâll make a pretty good case too, that it is the golden key to unlocking meaningful customer relationships and the gateway to surprising and delighting them over time. So how does social media do this? Well all it takes is to listen, be part of the conversation, curate great content, run native advertisements, and oh yeah, be transparent and authentic. Done and done. Well, wrong and wrong. Social media isnât going to save…
Facebook: Can It Keep Growing?
Guest post by Ekaterina Walter (@ekaterina), a social innovator at Intel and the author of âThink Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerbergâ This question has been of great interest to investors since the 2012 IPO that saw the company valued at $100 billion. Facebook already has 1 billion users worldwide and 44% of all internet users have a profile. Facebook pages make up one in five page views on the internet. So is…
From the Big Screen to the Little Screen: The evolving relationship between TV and search
As a digital analyst, itâs my job to study how technology disrupts business markets and models. As an aspiring social scientist, I also study technologyâs impact on culture and behavior. These two worlds are colliding with increasing velocity as each day passes. One of the trends Iâve been following over the last several years is the relationship between TV, smartphones, tablets and PCs. Thereâs no longer a doubt that we are becoming a society of multiscreeners. The reality is that…
Mitigating Risk in Social Media Engagement
Guest post by Danna Vetter, VP, Consumer Strategies, ARAMARK – Part 4 in a series There are a lot of articles out there about what to do for your companyâs social media strategy. However, there is limited information about how to train the employees that are actually representing your company on social channels. And because social media is such an open and public place, your company is potentially at risk every time your employees engage in social campaigns. At ARAMARK, a multi-billion…
