Comments on: Rick Short of Indium Corp. gets social

By: rmiller

rmiller — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:25:13 +0000

John,

Great comments. Rick is someone whom I think has been on the cutting edge of integrating new tech into business – whether it was blogging before that was popular, or recognizing that businesses need to put a premium on contact and relationships. And like both you and Rick have pointed out, it’s about the conversation, not necessarily the tool, and having a presence across platformhttp://romanelli.com/1stdraft/wp-admin/#comments-forms/networks allows you to connect with your user on their terms.

Thanks again for leaving a comment.

By: john favalo

john favalo — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:55:09 +0000

One of my favorite points of view: “Meaningless statistics went up 2% last month.” Meaning: there are barrels full of talk about what our marketing and communications should produce. Leads, visits, clicks, calls, awards, conversions, dollars, euros, etc. All nice…but not always the point.

Rick’s statistics are meaningful because he has identified the metric that matters most…contact. Not single, individual contacts, but contact. I interpret this as a connection…a dialog…a conversation that endures for some period of time. And, ultimately yields a business opportunity. Fundamentally, it’s conversations that I think are important. The conversations that can be had over a website, email, blog, print ad, tweet (short as that is). A few years ago, in a board meeting, I said that we were all in the business of delivering conversations. To paraphrase Ralphie in Christmas Story, they looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears. I can say now that they’re believers. Good things take time.

Rick is doing good things and they took time to set in. I applaud Rick. And, to paraphrase again, it took Rick years of doing good things to become an overnight success.

By: RIck Short

RIck Short — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 03:04:24 +0000

@Kevin: I agree with you regarding technologist’s feelings toward their work. In fact several groups feel this way. I’ve experienced it many times myself. Ars gratia artis! Right?

Interestingly, when I ask these people about the source of the funding for their passions (in the B2B arena) it all comes back to SALES. As they say in the Chinese laundry, “No tickee, no shirtee”. No money, no R&D funding. Don’t forget, even government funding IS corporate sales, after taxes.

When technologists get adamant about working, “for the science”, watch the “uproar” that occurs when sales stop and the funding dries up. You know, the uproar that occurs on the unemployment line.

This whole discussion proves my point. People don’t like saying that a (the) prime enabler (not necessarily the prime motivator … and THAT just might be the key to this whole discussion) is SALES … money. But it is.

By: rmiller

rmiller — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:52:03 +0000

Kevin,
Great comment and I agree with your point about the biologists. I think that really applies to all different types of customers and businesses. We’re constantly in search of and strive for genuine interactions with people. We don’t always want to be marketed to. And that’s one of the big advantages of social media I think – it’s a medium that is still very much about personal interactions and hasn’t been flooded by traditional marketing. But, companies that allow their employees, scientists, and staff to interact online with customers & others in the industry WILL have an impact on the bottom line over time.

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!

By: rmiller

rmiller — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:45:33 +0000

Sarah,

Thanks for you comment and for checking out the videos. I’ll certainly check out your post as well. Do you know him from the industry or through the online space? I agree with your point about Rick being able to simplify things and make them digestible when it comes to Social Media and its role at Indium. He really is a great asset to have in our area. Thanks for stopping by the blog!