Category: neck deep in the zeitgeist

Proof that the C-suite uses social media

Dave

I think we’ll look back on 2009 as the year when social media had the greatest hype, and 2010 as the year we started to really figure out how to make it work. One of the questions that I often heard asked amid the hype this year was, “Are decision makers actually using social media?” For the answer, check out a great blog post by Chris Koch of the IT Services Marketing Association called “Want proof that the C-suite is into social media? Here it is.”

The post is based on ITSMA’s recent survey, “How Customers Choose Solution Providers, 2009: The Importance of Personalization, Epiphanies, and Social Media.” Here’s a quote from Chris’ post:

We found that usage of social media among IT and business buyers of technology rose 50% over last year and finally pushed to majority status—55% said they use social media as part of the technology buying process in 2009 versus just 37% in 2008. More importantly, we found that executives in large organizations use social media more than in smaller organizations, and that C-suite executives actually use social media more than their lower-level buying peers. Just 15% of CEOs and directors said they did not use any form of social media at all, while 34% of manager/directors and 26% of VPs/Assistant vice presidents said they ignore the stuff.

Chris sums up the rationale behind all of this in a way that’s hard to argue with:

This makes sense when you consider what our IT buyers have been telling us for years: that their peers are by far their most preferred and trusted choice for information during the buying process.

We all understand how this principle works one-to-one. Social media provides the tools for corporations to expand their existing relationships and build their influence, one-to-many.

Originally published on Conversations & Connections, my SAS social media blog

Here’s a long way of saying, “Times sure have changed.”

Dave

When I was around 10, Revell came out with a model Goodyear blimp that was advertised on TV and sold through Goodyear stores. The coolest thing about it was you could create your own messages to be displayed on the blimp’s screen. I was very, very excited. When I got the blimp for my birthday, I was disappointed to find that you created the messages not with some cool keyboard or electronic interface, but by filling in dots on specially-sized paper with a magic marker. I think I also expected to be able to fly it around the room, and that didn’t happen either.

I was thinking about the blimp model because, 30+ years ago, it was about the coolest thing I could imagine. Just now I bought an iPhone app for $1.99 that is advertised as an alarm clock, but also allows you the ability to play radio feeds from 14,000 radio stations from around the world, just as a bonus.

That’s the world my son is going to grow up in. I might still buy him the blimp, though. I found one on eBay for 40 bucks.

Posted via web from David B. Thomas