This concept began a few years ago with one of my favorite books on the digital world and social media – Groundswell. The concept of social computing behavior is understanding who your target market is and then how they like to communicate. For example -there are the early adapters or influencers who are the leaders – using the newest technology – then there are those – that are spectators – who might like to read blogs  -but don’t comment yet they too are engaged. Creating platforms that focus on the variety of people and they way they like to connect – is how you are going to – connect.create.cultivate – a relationship with your customers. Read the rest of this entry »

When is the last time that you left your house or office without your cell phone? Or went throughout the entire day leaving your cell phone behind on purpose? For me, my cell is my personal and business lifeline all wrapped up into one. It houses my contact list—the days of remembering a phone number are long gone. My calendar, my email, texts and the internet are all at my finger tips should I need to search something. My social media feeds are there too so I can Tweet and update Facebook as I move throughout my day. My alarm for the morning resides on the phone as well, and yes—it stays by my bed at night when I am asleep!
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I was at lunch last week with a new friend and he asked me what is social media? I said to him it is a form of networking that is leveraged using social media tools online such at Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Linkedin and so on. Yes—all things that most of us know!
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It’s a new year and I want to know how you plan to do things differently in 2010. As I write this, I am sure many of you are now well educated on the benefits of social media in your marketing efforts and are using some of the tools to further engage, connect or begin to connect with your customer. Have you thought about how you are going to start that conversation?
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In this new economy, online retailers have been able to hold their own and are out performing other business sectors. And now that women are seen as a clear target for marketing, understanding their economic power and the fact that they are key shoppers in the web world has opened up opportunities for bricks and mortor businesses to get on board. I wrote a few posts back that Zara, the successful fashion retailer, is now adding an online ecommerce piece to their business and so has Lulu Lemon Athletics.
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This is such a great story from the Associated Press. It definitely demonstrates the power of being resourceful, creative and tenacious no matter what the circumstances. I love the fact that we all have a story and using social media as an outlet to let that story be heard can lead to the most magnificent things. Bravo to Brianna Karp who, when she wound up in a situation where she had lost a good paying job and eventually found herself homeless, used the time during her job search to blog about being homeless. http://girlsguidetohomelessness.com
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I sign up for many ezines, blogs, rss feeds and newsletters. After a time, you find that some of them no longer provide you the info you need or want. Maybe you don’t have the time to read the mountains of information you thought you could and sometimes you decide you just want to opt out.
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I think one of the most important things we tell our customers is that the online initiatives that everyone must now participate in, must be integrated with offline and in-store marketing channels where applicable. Integrated is the key here.

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If you’ve been following my posts, you may have begun to recognize a familiar pattern. One that involves me wading daily through all sorts of trend reports, ezines, e-mails and blogs from every industry you can imagine. In my world, meetings never begin before noon (that’s if I have anything to say about it) and my morning kicks off with a potent cup of joe and a mountain of mail overflowing in my inbox.
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