Why is finding direction (or strategy) so rare, so difficult? One reason is that creating the strategy is different from execution.

You have to stop and take time to find the direction. You can’t run while you’re reading the map.

And this is the potential problem with popular methods such as:

• iterative design
• rapid prototyping
• agile development

…which are great and all, except when there’s no well-thought-out direction to go in.

So be forewarned – it’s hard to be a strategist. People prefer action. “Ready-fire-aim” sounds so much more exciting and appealing. “Do something!” they say – and it can be hard to sit down and say hey, let’s take at least a couple of days to think about who our customers are and talk to them about what they need.

Speaking with the customers refines and narrows the direction. After all you are fulfilling their needs.

Do you see a shift at some point in the future where corporate websites will become arenas for that amount of dialog? Couldn’t it only be beneficial if that interaction was done on the corporate website? For example, rather than fans dialoguing on Facebook and commenting on the Wall there, do you see a point where a corporate website will have fan profiles and a corporate Wall? If so, do you think that would be detrimental to the company’s overall reach for exposure? It is interesting to see how social media forces the evolution of corporate behavior.

I personally love learning more about a company by hearing from its “fans” and consumers through social media rather than having a company website tell me who they are. On facebook, there are many ways to tell that story about your brand or company.

I noticed that VW ran a commercial with their facebook.com/vw website on the bottom right of that commercial. That was awesome!

The new marketing reality is all about relationships and according to the new marketing reality article, it’s impossible to create relationships from outside the circle.

Shouting your message to your audience in the traditional advertising way is still relevant but declining. Now it’s about getting involved in the conversation that your audience is having. Shouting is a one way conversation, talking is two-way and provides so much more value to your customers.

Your brand needs to join the party: be part of the conversation, listen, learn, contribute. Maybe even inspire and mobilize. But only if you’re there.

Is your brand in the new circle?

It’s amazing that so many CEO’s still don’t get this couple of other thoughts and support points to the article in the link above:

• One of the key reasons CEO’s and companies stay out of this space is time commitment, no excuse, but it does take time
• Social media takes ROI from return on investment, to return on involvement to return on information — use social as an insight engine
• Everything should be social — social TV, social banners,….
• Leverage “Transmission Effect” — persons spreading your brand
• Consumers do not adhere to a convenient linear path — they create their own personal path to the brand.

A new whitepaper called “How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses” by Michael A. Stelzner, has been written and distributed (one of the top retweeted updates on Twitter right now) that looks at how SMM is being used and what results are coming from social networking.

The whitepaper addresses:

• The top social media marketing questions marketers want answered
• How much time marketers are investing in social media
• The benefits of social media
• How time invested impacts results
• The top social media tools

If you’re pondering starting social media marketing, these findings will help push you over the edge.