Found Religion

Last week, I attended a one-day conference on the 10th anniversary of the Cluetrain Manefesto called There’s a New Conversation sponsored by The Conversation Group.

It was an early 8:30 am start. Normal for some, for me–not so much. And it was about a 75-90 minute commute provided I didn’t get lost. (For those who don’t know me, I was born without a sense of direction. I’ve been known to get lost even with a GPS device…Hopeless.) Thankfully, traffic was good, the traffic gods were watching over my every directional turn and I got there on time, unscathed. Even after finding a nearby Peet’s and stopping in for quick cup to go.

But I digress.

The event was really well done. Great speakers, content and interaction with the other attendees. When I was back at the office the next day giving Jen Pahlka, GM of Web 2.0 Expo, my quick review, she was so excited that I had finally “found religion” on the whole social media, conversation is the new marketing movement.

It wasn’t like I didn’t get it before. I understood it. I knew I had to embrace it. I just hadn’t been totally bitten by the bug. But now I am. Here’s a quick look at the tidbits of info I gleaned from the conference:

• The customer is the new platform
• Markets are relationships
• The medium is the relationship
• The era of the grand gesture is dead
• Connect on your similarities, profit on your diversities
• Often those with the most customer contact are the ones considered least strategic
• Break down silos, roles that traditional constituencies once played are collapsing
• What’s being said about your brands? Figure it out and join the conversation
• Old world: Messaging used to be given to a few to speak to the market.
• New world: Anyone is a spokesperson
• Customer Network Value: how much one customer can influence others
• Future outlook: people being able to reach companies as quickly and easily as they reach their friends
• Approach to social media should be equal to a product development program
• Have a crisis strategy in advance
• Measurement has changed. It’s not about page views anymore
• Evangelists often don’t have followers. Leaders have followers. Be a leader
• Act like the host of a party, not a cop
• Things that seem inconceivable today are the things you later do to thrive
• Social media is no longer about marketing, it’s how you do business

These are just the thoughts that resonated with me and got me thinking. The organizers did a full blown review of every speaker here.