“The Power of Leadership”

I am a lover of Technology and an active user of on-line tools and resources.  I was just featured by our local newspaper this past weekend for my use of “Social Media” for Marketing and Communication of our businesses:  http://www.hollandsentinel.com/topstories/x1110536436/Social-media-One-guy-and-his-14-654-followers

The most interesting thing to me about “Social Media” is that these tools allow for a new form of communication for the first time in human history, Mass Two-Way Communication.  All previous advancements in communication such as the printing press and beyond have simply allowed for more efficient communication of one message to many people.  Today we have efficient mass communication of many people with many people.  It’s easy, simple, cheap or free (for the user), it’s real time, and it’s global!  It’s a Communication Revolution!

From my experience, many business leaders are confused and generally annoyed by “Social Media” they seem to see it simply and collectively as on-line “games” and/or “gossiping” for people with too much free time or as a distraction for people on their payroll who should have better things to do and they have a point for sure!  But, they are also missing some things and over the next couple of days I would like to point out a few interesting on-line trends and opportunities that I think you should be aware of:

The first point is that the really smart people and companies involved in “Social Media” aren’t simply “blah, blahing” about their products and services, they are listening! Remember this is mass two-way communication and every smart marketer needs to know what’s being said about their stuff.  For example, you probably speak about your products in technical jargon that your customers may not understand, so what do they call your product?  What do they say about your competition?  Who are the thought leaders in your industry?  What do they say about you?

How can you listen in on their conversations?  Twitter.  Specifically: http://search.twitter.com/

Try it out!  Twitter Search allows you to easily search the millions of conversations going on right now all over the world with whatever Keywords you’re interested in.  Hit the “Advanced” Search button and see how you can dial in your Search to meet your specific needs.  You’ll need to play with it a bit, but you can do it and you can learn a lot from it!  More “tips” to come, tomorrow…

“Just as you can spot eagles high in the air, you can spot champions according to their habits.” – John DiLemme

Have a technology embracing day!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

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