I attended AdTech in NYC last week. (Disclosure: I am a former AdTech Advisory Board member.) Apart from all of the things that I have always like about AdTech I was really impressed by the degree to which "social media" is being embraced, at least by savvy marketers. Sure, lots of people are talking about social media, and even more marketers and advertisers alike refer to engagement, control, participation...and the like. But for the most part, it's just that: Talk.
Pete Blackshaw's "Master Class" panel was a standout. Kraft, Intuit, and Zappos all provided solid evidence that they "get it" -- not so much by what the panelists from these firms talked about but instead by the way that they talked and the measures they'd already put into practice. Zappos' Brian Kalma (aka krian_balma on Twitter) made a particularly compelling case when he talked about why Zappos doesn't measure CSR productivity, but instead focuses on satisfaction as it arises from CSR-customer interactions. Simply put, Zappos rewards their front line for delivering an experience that gets favorably talked about. That approach to measurement (and assuming that they hire great people, which they do) gives the firm a solid footing in a socially driven marketplace rather than an interruptive battleground. When your entire organization is simultaneously well-run and focused on customer happiness...hitting business goals in a downturn is just so much easier. For Zappos, breaking the billion dollar (sales) mark (which they are very close to now) and hence achieving record sales will very likely occur in this "down" cycle. Down market, record sales. Think about that for minute.
In the end, talking with people on the floor, at lunch, and after-hours events it was pretty easy to separate the talkers from the doers by simply asking what they thought of the current market conditions. Those with solid social media practices in place now tended to smile; those on the fence, or still shirking in fear of the thought of their own customers carrying the banner for them...were, let's just say, less optimistic as a group.
You know, looked it from your customer's perspective...it's really no surprise.
