Social Influence Marketing - Defined

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After a great business coaching session yesterday with Laura Allen of 15secondpitch fame, I had a new assigment - get that first audio book wrapped up by next month. As a result I was up at 4:00 am this Saturday morning working away on the project - Secrets to Adopting Social Media To Build Your Fitness Business.

As I was preparing the content I started with this simple question in mind, "what is the purpose of a business?" Why should people care to adopt social media marketing and how does it pertain to the purpose of their businesses? If I could answer that simple question for clients I think I could set up the information to be more valuable for listeners.

As a result of digging around for the answer I came across this great presentation on the very topic (thanks Allen). Shiv Singh (pictured on the left) delivered a presentation in January of this year about “social influence marketing” and how brands will utilize this form of marketing.

One slide from the presentation stood out. Shiv provided his definition of “a business” from Drucker. The quote reads, “The Purpose of a Business is to Create a Customer”. Shiv added to the quote to create his version of the definition for social influence marketing:

“The Purpose of a Business is to Create a Customer…who creates customers”

Good answer Shiv. See his PPT below to learn more.

 

Social Influence Marketing Trends for 2010
View more presentations from shivsingh.

 

Cloud Computing Surge Expected to Continue

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Larry Dignan of ZDNet shared stats from a recent IDC report that global revenue from public cloud computing services is expected to grow at five times the rate of traditional IT.

Public IT cloud services revenue is expected to hit $55.5 billion in 2014, up from $16 billion in 2009. That adds up to a compound annual growth rate of 27.4 percent. Traditional IT product growth is expected to be 5 percent over the same period. That's right; growth rates in the cloud will be 5 times the rate of traditional IT.

 

IDC is projecting the following (statement):

  • The cloud computing model will dominate growth for the next 20 years;
  • There will be a next-generation of killer apps;
  • Small and medium-sized business will lead the public cloud computing charge;
  • Leading IT vendors will change as cloud computing gains market share.

All of that said cloud computing will still only represent 12 percent of total IT product spending by 2014. However, cloud computing will account for more than a quarter of the net new IT growth.

For now, the U.S. leads in revenue from cloud computing with 70 percent of the global sales pie. By 2014, the U.S. will account for 51.4 percent of global cloud computing revenue. Europe and Asia Pacific are regions expected to grow quickly.

Is your business setup to take advantage of the cloud ?

Cloudforce 2010 - San Jose

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You know I'm a big fan of the cloud and it just keeps getting more and more interesting. Now the next generation of cloud computing is upon us. It’s mobile, collaborative, and social and available today with Cloud 2. It’s changing everything! A big salesforce.com event in San Jose on June 22, 2010 will address the Cloud 2 trend.

Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff and industry luminaries from CA, VMware, and BMC, and thousands of others will see how the next generation of cloud computing will transform entire businesses. Watch !

Ad Revenues From Internet to Overtake Newspapers

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The WSJ reported today that the Internet is poised to overtake newspapers as the second-largest U.S. advertising medium by revenue behind television, according to the recent PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Entertainment and Media Outlook for 2010 to 2014.

As the PricewaterhouseCoopers report says, "The pace of consumers' migration to new digital platforms is running well ahead of the industry’s expectations and yet non-digital revenue streams will still account for two thirds of total global spending in 2014. Changing consumer behaviour is impacting on all segments of the entertainment and media industry, as companies search for the right role and positioning in the digital value chain that is now taking shape."

Indeed, many businesses and organizations have not adequately prepared for the sea change ahead as the "digital value chain" unfolds. With Ad revenues and customer interactions increasingly shifting from old platforms to new ones, there needs to be a realignment by companies in their distribution and promotional paradigms. Since many organizations are failing to figure it all out there will be a rise in competition across many industries as those who do understand the implications and opportunities bring their insights to bare on the market.

Get ready for the revolution. Its going to be a rough ride full of painful change and great opportunities.

 

Innovation Corruption - Why Our Government Isn't Working

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For those of you who follow my writing, you know of my admiration for Professor Lawrence Lessig. He is one of the most relevant thinkers of our time. His recent speech “Innovation Corruption” was delivered May 20th at the Yahoo! campus in Santa Clara, CA (video below). The message was clear: government and business are corrupted by money. This corruption blocks innovation because regulation is designed not for everyone's good but to maximize money paid to Congress. The system Lessig referrs to is the “economy of influence.” Our government is completely corrupted, that it is why it doesn't work and people better wake up and pay attention.

From the Obama presidency, to the food business, to the broadband deployment problem in the U.S. and EU, Lessig cites examples of money's influence from a number of sources. His plea to the audience was to do something: the public is very much a part of the problem when clearly there are corruptive patterns that no one does anything about.

Did you know almost half of all senator and house members become lobbyist when they retire or lose their office ? This is just the beginning. Watch to learn more about just how corrupt the system is.