Social

Wikipedia discusses the term “social” by saying… “It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.”

No matter what you or your company are doing (not doing) in the social media environment, you are still social. “Whether you are aware of it or not…”

The question becomes, Are you aware of it?

Wise Words from “The Ace of Cakes”

So my girlfriend has started a new venture in her life. She has made the decision to go back to school to get her culinary degree. I love food, so I am behind her decision 100%. It’s been a crazy first couple of weeks, but seem like the extra time and energy will prove to be an amazing investment for both happiness and excitement. One thing that comes with a significant other immersing themselves in the Food World, comes hours and hours of the Food Network…

As I mentioned before, I love food and the science behind it so I don’t mind too much. The other night, however, I heard something from the “Ace of Cakes” himself say that all of us marketers should keep in mind while engaging our customers every day. Duff said,

Give people something personally special, and they will be overly satisfied…

Think about it… If we can engage our customers on a personal level and provide them content that they find personally special, we will continue to overly satisfy their needs. Now that is something to talk about.

Brand Passion

As continue to talk about social strategies and how to integrate our brands further into the lifestyle of our customers, we talk routinely about improving brand loyalty and advocacy. Why don’t we take it a step further?

With the levels of loyalty and advocacy we can create with these social personal conversations, shouldn’t we be discussing brand passion instead?

After all, a passionate person is a force to be reckoned with. Imagine if we had handfuls of extremely passionate individuals leading our cause and communicating our message through vast social networks.

Just imagine…

Through social media we have an opportunity to have conversations with real people, in real time, on a personal level. These conversations increase trust. This trust builds loyalty. That loyalty turns to advocacy. Finally advocacy turns into passion.

eReader + Social Media = The Copia

Imagine having a Internet-enabled, digital book platform that allows you to not only buy books from the unit, but also talk about, share, and recommend books to your social network… What could happen:

• Digital Study Groups for Students
• Viral Book Clubs
• Personalized Recommendations from Others in Your Network
• Real-Time News at your fingertips
• And More…

I’ve been watching The Copia unfold over the past day or so and am completely enthusiastic about its capabilities and what the integration with mobile, social, and human behavior. With our fast paced, mainly-digital world in which we live in, this amazing revolution allows us to stay connected with, not only our favorite authors or writers, but also with friends (no matter where they are) who share the same passions and excitements.  The Copia is a brilliant step in the right direction with the combination of technologies available today. I’m excited to see what will come from this level of thinking…

Here are some articles to get you up to speed on the revolution:

The Copia eBook Platform and Hardware Get Social With eReading

Copia sets sights on Kindle’s collaboration dream

Copia promises to blend e-books and social networking into set of new readers

What are your thoughts?

2010: The Social Challenge

Well 2010 is now here… Lot’s of changes, lots of excitement, with many opportunities in front of us all. I wanted to challenge, not only myself, but all of you to make 2010 The Year of The Social.

With this, I challenge all of us to push what is possible with communications… Take marketing from a pushing, intrusive act to a meaningful relationship between trusted friends. Create brands that are malleable to allow consumers to take only the information they want a need and provide real-time branding through relevant, targeted conversations. Interact with our consumers in a way that was never thought possible. Use technologies and content to reach our customers where they are…

Take time everyday to push the social envelope.

Victories.

With every challenge, there will be victories… I want to shout these victories from the mountain tops. If you or someone you knows creates a social phenomenon, please send it my way so I can publish it’s results. Let’s all work together to make 2010 The Year of The Social.

Enjoy!