Tech for Tomorrow

Now that we are two months into 2010 it's time to come to grips with what the next year really has in store for us. Not projections, forecasts or pontification on what will be a reality. It's time to deal with the reality itself. 2009 was a year of considerable uncertainty for many reasons. Aside from the highly publicized global financial meltdown, there was a lot of speculation about the need to engage social media in an integrated marketing approach. In January of 2009, Twitter and Facebook's role in the enterprise marketing portfolio was unclear. In January of 2010 they are an asset to be leveraged. And, there is no going back. Their valuation will be a topic of debate, their features may evolve, but their ability to make a significant contribution to branding and marketing campaigns is undeniable. Vendors will continue to create new, enhanced feature sets. Practitioners must make them work. As I have commented on this site previously, 2010 is the year to embrace and engage. Pepsi has made a huge statement by redirecting their Super Bowl ad budget to online social media. Dell commented on revenue that they attribute directly to Twitter and social media. Best Buy used Twitter to help with customer service during the holiday season. These trends are going to accelerate this year. In anticipation of this trend my team spent 2009 building our social media platform. We used what we knew, what we felt comfortable with and what we felt would stick around. As new technologies pop up offering new features and access to new markets we will have to assess them quickly and integrate them rapidly. ebizQ.net will be a source of information for us as we evaluate new tools. It will be interesting to hear your feedback on trends and new technologies.