@Kim It was my pleasure to meet you too, and look forward to more fun with SMC.

@George I love your point about owning up when you screw up. It happens to everyone, but the transparency of saying “yep, we should have done that differently” can go a long way to building trust. After all, who do you respect more? The guy who tries to make it look like he never screws up, or the guy who screws up and owns it? I know my answer. Thanks for your great perspective!

@Eric You, my friend, are indeed unique, though I love what you’re doing. Social media can work hand in hand with traditional marketing – and for many companies it should – but it is indeed a commitment that requires as much of a culture shift sometimes as an operational one.

To me, the trick in finding ROI is by not trying to measure the relationships themselves, but by meausring the *effects* of those relationships. Customer loyalty, brand affinity, enthusiasm, and retention are all good ways to know if the relationships you’re forging have staying power.

@Jack You got it! Boy I remember a few ill advised direct mail campaigns for sure. But it seems to me that social media isn’t treated with the same sense of acceptance that traditional techiniques are when they fail. Direct mail as an accepted form of traditional marketing gets a “break” when a campaign bombs sometimes. But social media in many circles is still seen as some kind of adolescent internet junk, and it doesn’t have the same credibility to withstand a flop or two. In my experience, companies are much quicker to throw the baby out with the bathwater in social media then they are in advertising or direct mail, since those media have credibility on their side – regardless of whether or not they deserve all of it.

Amber Naslunds last blog post..Failure As A Teacher: Why Social Media Doesn’t Always Have To Work.

Jack Hadleys last blog post..What’s in a name?