We are very proud to be a Sponsor for this year’s FutureMidwest 2011 conference.
If you are not familiar, FutureMidwest is a two day digital and technological education conference now in it’s 3rd year of existence. The first event took place in 2009 and helped kick start a movement that continues to draw attention throughout Michigan and the Midwest.
Not focused on just social media, the FutureMidwest program is built on helping educate business professionals, business owners, students, entrepreneurs, and companies on new business practices that compliment the current digital and technological changes.
But what does it really mean to be Midwest?
Is being Midwest limited to geographic location? Is it a state of mind? Is it a code of ethics? Maybe it’s determined by the sports team you root for?
I’ve been fortunate to travel across most of the county, and I have spent a lot of time in the Midwest States like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and more. Throughout all of these states I have noticed a common theme:
That regardless of the city, town, state, or geographic location, the people who make up the Midwest have an insatiable appetite to want to reinvent themselves.
They are not ones to rest on their laurels, or be tied down by the status quo or perceived limitations set by economic restrictions. This is in conflict to the general perception many have of the people who live in this region. However, I’ve seen how communities in this so called rust belt are gathering together, and redefining not only themselves, but the communities they serve.
More and more the states that make up the Midwest recognize the need to connect and share ideas.
Being Midwest isn’t about location. It is a state of mind. It’s the will and determination handed down by generations to roll up the sleeves and get to work. It is a work ethic and mentality that is not limited to just physical or industrial labor. One can work with their hands in many ways. Innovation is only limited by the imagination, and if history has taught us anything, it is that the Midwest always looking beyond the horizon.
Get an idea of this innovation in action at FutureMidwest 2011. We’ll be there along with many other great minds.
We’ve been wondering about the fate of the coupon industry for the last couple of months.
After the success of Groupon, a lot of local retailers have launched similar product offers. AnnArbor.com has the “real deal”, ValPak recently launched a daily deal, and even some of the local media sites like CBS Detroit are getting involved. Then there’s DealGator, a similar deal engine like Groupon that searches all deal sites, and filters them based on your location and the kind of deals you want.
Since all of these local media guys have existing relationships with the businesses in the market, what does this mean for relevance of Groupon?
This raises the question if multiple coupon companies can survive in today’smarket with the same product offering?
This remains to be seen as Groupon competitors continue to pop up. Though Groupon still remains the leader of this space, the above pricing example leads one to wonder if Groupon will regret rejecting Google’s multi-billion offer. Another interesting insight is that businesses that sign up for these deals give away 35-45% of their profit to the site. Depending on the industry clients usually spend 5-10% of their profits on marketing or advertising.
If a competitor offered more favorable margins to a retailor, what’s to keep them from leaving Groupon? Would smaller niche businesses want to give up that large of a percentage? Could they even entertain that option?
This could be an advantage for local online deal-of-the-day competitors like Ann Arbor’s The Real Deal – focusing on the community aspect while offering niche retailers the opportunity to reach a larger audience.
It is probably still too early to tell. The digital coupon space could be the new retailer battleground, and it will be interesting to see how this space unfolds.
I had the pleasure of speaking at the very first WordCamp Detroit over the weekend.
My friends Todd J. List, Anthony Montalbano and their team put together a sold out program full of informative speakers, and a wealth of helpful information. Topics included picking an appropriate theme for your blog, SEO, PHP/CSS basics, video blogging, and more.
I was asked to present on a subject that we are very passionate about here at re:group – building helpful and effective content. This is something we absolutely strive for when working with our clients, and in my talk I stressed the importance of:
Having a human voice through your content
Becoming a trusted resource
Leaning on your passion
Building content people will want to share
Being present if you are going to be online
Listening
Click the bubble below to see our presentation. I also added additional helpful resources at the end:
I’d also recommend checking out the following presentations as well:
Recently I came across this presentation by my friend and social media/marketing professional, Scott Stratten.
Scott has a style all his own when it comes to talking about the social web and how we all need to start thinking differently when it comes to communicating online. Check out his presentation as he talks about:
Getting people to your door
Making it easy for them to open that door
Using social media only if you are going to be there too
How social media is an extension of customer service and communication of your brand
How too many companies are faking passion and authenticity
Selling Social Media as Influence
Why social media doesn’t cure sucking (think BP)
Why emotion is the new vehicle
The three pillars of the social web: Know – Like – Trust
How ROI is not the point
Building relationships and creating life long value
However, I learned that inventors, entrepreneurs, and visionaries are at the core of this event.
The speakers stressed the importance of trying new things. Of experimenting and tinkering to find solutions and discoveries. In this day and age this is more important than ever, and when it comes to the social web, this is equally important.
Social Media doesn’t fit into a box. It is an organic medium that constantly evolves.
This requires us, the handlers, to tinker and experiment with it.
There are many pieces that make up the social web and it requires a bit of discovery to find the best solutions for your clients. Now this may go against the grain and it is fair to say that clients may not want to pay you to experiment, but there really is no other way for it to work.
Social Media is not the silver bullet solution. It is but one component of the overall branding and marketing strategy. And though it may seem like a waste of time to experiment, the social web pays back those who take the time to discover its strengths. Like the inventors at Maker Faire, their value is in finding what works through trail and error. By taking the time to discover solutions, they invent and create things that couldn’t have happened without going through that process.
Throw it against the wall. Pay attention to what sticks and build off that.
That is not to say that you shouldn’t discount the importance of strategy. Social Media will eat you alive if you play with it blind. You do need to outline objectives and goals of what you want to accomplish using social media.
Just don’t forget that within that well defined and outlined strategy you leave room to tinker.
Our discussion revolved around the use of social media and communities, how brands need to leverage this space, how they can do this, and which companies are doing this well.
