As a Blogger and Social Media addict, I decided to get my team to meet with Brian Solis. He is very well-known in Marketing, less so in the Decision Management space so let me paste his bio here just in case:
Brian Solis is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has influenced the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing, communications, and publishing. He is principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning New Media and business strategy consultancy in Silicon Valley, and has led interactive and social programs for Fortune 500 companies, notable celebrities, and Web 2.0 startups. BrianSolis.com is among the world’s leading business and marketing online resources.
I will not get much into the Art of Marketing and Engaging with customers in the new digital era, which is the topic of his latest book — I might actually in my Product Management blog.
I would like to share a few thoughts that are very applicable to our ecosystem though.
In the same vein as the Encounter with Kare Anderson last month, Brian talked about the value of collaboration. Collaboration does require to break the silos inside the organization. If you are looking for a greater collaboration outside the boundaries of the organization, you must first establish a culture of collaboration and engagement within your organization – then you can engage with customers, partners and/or others.
I love how Brian phrased the importance of Social Media:
ROI – Return On Ignorance!
Social Media is not a discipline or function within the enterprise, and it cannot simply be managed as something for which an explicit ROI must be established. It is rather an additional channel that is taking a dominant place and that enterprises can simply not afford to ignore, and cannot ignore in any case – it will be present and play a role whether or not the enterprise embraces it or not. Although some companies still restrict access to social sites like YouTube or Facebook, studies have consistently demonstrated that employees are more productive when they can use freely those tools. Brian pointed out rightfully that the same debate on whether technology “toys” might distract employees such as, in reverse chronological order, the Internet, emails, computers, or much earlier… phones!
Yes, I am addicted to those — and they take time — but they also provide tremendous potential. It is incredible how much information you can have access to. If you are reading that blog, you are likely already convinced that real nuggets of information are hanging here and there, awaiting to be uncovered. Sentiment analysis, competitive / market research are certainly important tools for the Marketer… but think about the domain expertise and real-life experience sharing you can find in blogs and communities…
If you are not so shy, you can engage others like you that are passionate about Decision Management, and get some conversations or brainstorming going. We do love that too so do not hesitate to engage us on any terrain:
We love comments too 😉
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