Disruption in Marketing

My relation with social media:

In IBM I always had the chance to work or to market new products, solutions, technologies and projects that were always on the edge of the more traditional business. When I worked in emerging business opportunities division, we focused on new technologies, new customer sets, new solutions or maybe better disruptive technologies. As European marketing manager in 2003 I was responsible for the marketing program for Online Games and here it was that I identified that gamers used virtual platforms, chat programs and they worked in Clans and Guilds...virtual organizations. A few years later IBM together with Stanford University did research on these online games, the business and leadership aspects of new leaders in virtual worlds which you can read  Virtual World Real Leaders . A quote out this documents “Instant messaging, online chats, web site forums, and voice over IP (VoIP) are just a few of the different communications mediums that are utilized over the course of a game". 

My interest in something “NEW”  is high from a character point of view. Always interested in things that change or are different than traditional.  Being at the edge is a lifestyle. This started when I read about Miles Davis and how he changed music styles about  5 times during his life. Besides all the genius parts described as musician, composer, artist and business man I think he also was a great marketer who listened carefully to his environment and adopted new elements in his compositions. I see myself as an “early adaptor”, “influencer” and in some cases as an “innovator” if you take the book from Geoffrey A More - "Crossing the Chasm" as reference description. The book helped me to better understand the target group when in I was responsible for introducing new technologies with the Emerging Business Opportunity movement in IBM   Also I have a personal strong interest in new and disruptive technologies and their effects in business. (Book IBM Disruptive technologies). The more I saw and read about the effects of social media the more I wanted to change my own approach to it and I started to subscribe and enroll in all kinds of social platforms. My first new media I worked with, Linkedin and after that many others followed but also disappeared. Today I mainly use Twitter @B2C2D, Face book, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, BlogSpot http://b2c2d.blogspot.com/, YouTube, Spotify, Slide share, Google+ and Foursquare and inside IBM we use Lotus Live chat, Lotus Communities, Lotus Blogs and Cattail. It made it all easier to communicate about my interest, ask or find information, share ideas, find people with similar interest and feeds my curiosity.

Why I am inspired and disrupted by social media

When I positioned IBM in the online game industry I found out that my target customer set was so used to online that I wanted to have an online virtual event no physical location. I strongly believed that it was much closer to their behavior. Logical but missed the warm body social contacts people need. I planned something with a virtual event, a kind of Second Life that came later. There was a restriction that only maxes. 50 attendees could enter the life event..That meant limited discussions or questions possible from the audience towards the speakers. Than I moved towards

The reason why I got so interested in social media was my investigation around larger and complex deals in IBM. In the analysis of these deals I found out we did not target the key influencers around the decision making unit. Further research helped me to build a model around the key parameters that would identify a key influencer. To automate I worked with the IBM  in Haifa Israel with  SanD (Social Analysis and Network Discovery) solution, the Brand reputation tool Cobra, Blog analysis tools like Toro these days all integrated in IBM Cognos Consumer Insights. I have learned that social network platforms Facebook, online publishing tools like blogs, discussion platforms, share sites like SlideShare, Game sites, and Location Based services sites like Foursquare can help me identifying key influencers which are still a target group within IBM and other companies that are not well addressed. Although for sales leaders a "no brainer" as they are used to get informed through an informal circuit but for marketers something new and difficult to justify in their activities to get informed and also are able to influence brand preference. This type of marketing is these days known as Influencer Marketing.

My best social media practice according my expertise and why..

A social media experience I found very positive was the questions and online questions I had with two telco's Vodafone and KPN, when I asked a question regarding my mobile phone and the internet calling package I was able to quickly get a good and helpful answer through their online help desk. Another good social media expertise I experienced is the CMO community linked with CMO study. And a new tool added to it are webcast and video's all integrated with eachother ...you can read in leading through connections.

The most influencial area's of social media are in my view those where you have links with people you trust, have a proven authority on a topic. Although when I read reviews of books, movies or other products I catch myself that I easily accept their remarks...which is trange I do not even know those people...but I have high trust. 

What is more interesting is that you can have maybe many followers but is there a ranking in who can be influenced most. Those in the kernel and agree with you anyway or those at the edges who are maybe less vocal about their position but read and adjust their position. That would of interest what research have identified amongst those groups. 

Another area of influence is the area of Influence around large and complex deals where the decision making unit(DMU) is know but the interest is who will they listen to and accept and take advise...a new area of marketing which I describe as Influencer Relationship Management (IRM)...you can read about this in the socially synergistic enterprise presentation

I visualize the future of social media in my line as marketing consultant as a key element to show your expertise on you subjects. Share thoughts, ideas and insights.