A Lot of Information

My meetings here in Rosemont have been very good. I am learning a lot that I can take back to my company. I have met a few customers that are great contacts to get us in the door of a few target companies. It has been a very productive trip.

This year the meeting have focused a lot of time on marketing, in particular internet marketing and social media. I know there is a lot more that I can do in both of these areas, it is just hard to carve out the time and to justify it. I have learned some things this week that should help me with both of these.

Last week I had a conversation with my advertising agency and was about to throw in the towel with regards to social media. I had a bad attitude about it and I think my account manager felt that and just went along with it. Our meeting turned into a trash talking session about what social media cannot do for my company. I admit that I was not seeing any potential. I came to my meeting this week all ready to dismiss social media as a waste of time.

Two sessions really changed my mind. One session was led by a marketing person from a company in my industry. He focused more on web site analytics, but he started to change my perspective. The second session was led by a consultant who works with companies to establish their social media presence. I think that he convinced me that I am not wasting my time and need to actually spend some more time on social media. I really need to get other people in the company involved with blogging, Facebook and Twitter. He told us that we cannot do it alone. It needs to be a company focus. I agree.

I am planning to get started with the implementation of a social media strategy when I get back into the office. I am already thinking about who in the company will buy into the strategy and really work to make it successful. At this point I only have about two people who I have identified.