This year’s Business Marketing Association Conference was focused on social media and a group of great speakers from Social Media Today, LinkedIn, Google, Salesforce, SAP, IBM and others graced the conference. Much to my surprise and amazement, some comments from my panel discussion (Business Uses of Social Media: Who Knew This Stuff Could Make Money) at the BMA conference were tweeted. It was a reminder that now, more than ever, you must use great judgment in what you say in public speaking.  Fortunately, the stuff that was tweeted was harmless to me but a strong message to the companies in attendance:  endorse, accept and leverage social media as a new weapon today’s communications war.  

Make no mistake about it, business is war and social media is a new front line in the communications war for many companies in almost every industry. I view marketing as the air force in the war, and our job is to protect the Marines (the sales force) hitting the beach with brand influence, content, success stores and anything else that makes it easier for them to be successful.  My prediction that companies that don’t leverage the power of social media will be laggards and eventually be road kill in the communications war ahead made the rounds on Twitter.  

After asking the panel attendees several questions related to social media initiatives, not only did I learn that most of them had no idea what social media was, they also indicated that their company’s culture would not support it. And the majority of those at the conference had no plans in place to leverage social media platforms into their business. In speaking over the last twenty years I learned that its always a good idea to get some market research done while interacting with attendees. While the majority of attendees at this conference were from the Chicago area because of the current economic state, the response suggested that Second City is  behind the curve when it comes to social media.

Highlights from the Conference
Google Research Findings: C suite research fielded in NA only 500 CEOs surveyed.
  • Research was focused on C levels and where they go to get information and do research related to business decisions.
  • YouTube is now the second largest search engine on earth and is where you need to be: 1.5M searches for business information on YouTube. Go to YouTube search and type in “self-cleaning toilet” for a good laugh!
  • How the C Suite researches business decisions.
  • 73% use search and Google
  • 55% do the research themselves
  • 92% use the Internet
  • 87% rely on at work contacts and peers for information
  • 73% belong to personal networks and peer groups
  • Confluence of word of mouth, 70%=print= 64%t-TV=53% is occurring
  • 64% of C levels conduct 6 or more searches daily
  • SMB research how they make decisions: Survey Size 500 Respondents
  • 93% of SMB C levels online every day and they are finding business value with Social Media.
  • 53% now visit online forums.
  • SMBs are seeking value and consistency in business offerings.

Key Comments across the Conference

  • Jack Mason, Chief of Social Media, IBM. “Check out Tumblr now.”
  • David Meerman Scott, Author, “Cindy Gordon launched the Harry Potter Theme park with seven bloggers in a secret midnight webcast, and in one week 350 million people knew about it without any additional advertising. Management did not get it.”
  • Bob Pearson, President Blog Council: “1.2 Million people blogging now every day.”
  • Bob Pearson, President Blog Council: “Build a state of the art blog resolution team ASAP.”
  • Rick Short Director of MARCOM: Indium Corporation: “In our social network it’s like having a trade show every day!”
  • Tom Tierney, Alliance Manager NAVTEQ, “Blogs and social networks are a key part of your ecosystem.”
  • Bill Furlong, President Search Channel, “Knowledge is power shared.”
In summary, this was a great event and its focus on social media was admirable, I normally get bored at conferences because of so many rear view mirror types, but this was not the case at BMA. Also be careful with self serving research as in the case of Google. Take it with a grain of salt and a good margarita.  Social networking is indeed a new front line in the communications war, leverage it to gain competitive advantage in your market and don’t let your company become a laggard and road kill in the millennium. As a rogue marketing my motto is “break all the rules and beg for forgiveness later.” How many of you out there today consider yourselves laggards? Please comment!

The Personality of Fish: Entering the Doldrums

The worst place in the world for the early explorers was the Sargasso Sea, often referred to as the doldrums.  In my mind, the conquistadors and the eunuchs of the Chinese fleets were the real first movers; they risked everything for the ultimate reward by sailing into the unknown.  Many of the early explorers capitalized on the westerly and easterly winds that blow down the continents and into the various currents and streams of the ocean, like the Gulf Stream which brought Columbus then to what is now called Cuba. If you were a Chinese explorer before Columbus you often followed Capricorn and the easterlies.

The Sargasso Sea exists between the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean and it is largely devoid of wind. It is famous for Sargasso weed, a brown, bulbous algae that floats freely throughout the ocean but is most often found in the Atlantic.  Sargassum floats often form min- ecosystems of their own harboring shrimp, krill and many other organisms that live within the weed. Tossing live bait fish into a weed clump at sea is often rewarded with a nice Yellow fin tuna, at least in the Pacific.

Aside from Sargasso weed, one of the most unique characteristics of the Sargasso sea is it heavy salty smell and of course lack of wind. Its saltiness overwhelms you, much like the fear that mariners sense near the graveyard of the Atlantic, Cape Hatteras off of North Carolina. As always, I do my best to provide you with actionable information, so stay out of the doldrums and lead your company back into the wind by participating in social media today.