Speaking at the MDMA Conference in April

I will be speaking on a social media panel in April at the Midwest Direct Marketing Association’s conference, Influence Marketing a Movement. The overall conference, which occurs on April 20, 2009, is about sustainability. I think it’s very interesting to think about tying social media to sustainability. One of the biggest differences between traditional advertising and marketing and the tools that social media provides for ongoing customer relationships is that traditional tools tend to support short term efforts such as campaigns and big ideas.

In contrast, social media provides room to develop ongoing relationships. It allows a brand to sustain a relationship with a consumer if it is done with authenticity and value. Depending on your brand, your customers may be building these expectations about how your brand interacts with them as an individual.

I am excited to be on the panel with Nancy Lyons and Meghan Wilker Minneapolis’ own Geek Girls from the interactive agency Clockwork Active Media Systems. Also, many thanks to our moderator Jen Kane of Kane Consulting for bringing us all together for what we hope to be a rousing and informative panel for the conference attendees.

We are hoping to present some ideas and tools to get people moving in the right direction, essentially a ‘teach them to fish model‘.  Social media is really a set of tools, the usage of which is contextual for each individual, brand or business. The tools need to be part of supporting an overall business goal. Even though the mechanisms are new, the basics of business haven’t changed. The business objectives need to be defined and understood. It is only then that you will be able to chase down the right tactic or set of tactics to accomplish those objectives.