In the last few days, “thought leadership and innovation” has been a discussion topic between myself and several different business people. It was first brought to my attention a few days ago by someone who passed on the assessment (from another business associate) that, after reviewing my blog posts, they felt I was not showcasing our business skills, expertise and brand offering because I was including full articles written by others below my daily thoughts. The reason I began this blog was to use the premise of our business name, SHARE, to share with people what I read.
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I was attending a new client meeting last Thursday. And as it happens, they have a leg up on many of our customers as they are already trying their hand at social media. Bravo to any business that is taking the leap to engage with their customers in new ways.
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In my last several posts I have provided case studies and all sorts of information about why your company needs to engage in social media. I would be remiss if I didn’t show some results. I wrote about the Ford Fiesta campaign where they gave 100 people Ford Fiesta cars for 6 months and asked them to blog, tweet, participate on Facebook and Youtube about their experiences. Ford—at the onset of the fall of the American Auto industry—dove right in and took the lead in terms of their use of social media. They are living proof (virtually speaking) that by integrating social media tools into your marketing strategy, you not only can successfully build a brand but also extend your reach. Letting the customer own the relationship and share that with others, leverages the credibility of a product or service in a way that the company itself just cannot do.
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I talk about and post many of Seth Godin’s blog posts quite regularly as he is truly one of my marketing gurus and teachers. He is very clear and concise about his explanations of how you can maximize technology for marketing success and always has a plethora of case studies of companies who have found success using the tactics of which he speaks.
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In a world of technology, creating a safe environment for all children is paramount. Protecting people from those that choose to create opportunities that can lead to danger or cyber bullying, especially in the case of girls, must be prevented. The Girl Scouts are putting their money where their mouths are; this article provides a great outline of what they and Microsoft have in store as they work together to represent values that will help young girls and their parents engage one-to-one online. Safely.
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