This month, we turn our attention towards the powerful combination of trends from each category that are converging to bring revolutionary change to your business environment. In this article, we cover how social media, interactive marketing and the innovation economy are converging and how you can use the opportunity to your advantage ...Read the Transcript

Dean Holmes Partner Bodera http://deanholmes.me

Dean is a frequent Guest and Keynote Speaker, Radio Show Guest and Webcast Host as a thought leader within the Social Influence Marketing subject. His focus today is on helping companies with Business Model Innovation leveraging both on and offline strategies with clients such as, Bacardi, Citi, NFL players in the states and abroad. Dean is fluent in New Media, Technology and Applications that drive involvement within Affinity audiences. Driving creative business solutions to complex problems using measurement is the process, as all things are trending toward payoff. Today, Dean runs his Consulting Firm and is a hired gun to companies looking to drive Interactive Strategy, Consumer Engagements and Social Marketing.

This month, we turn our attention towards the powerful combination of trends from each category that are converging to bring revolutionary change to your business environment. In this article, we cover how social media, interactive marketing and the innovation economy are converging and how you can use the opportunity to your advantage. The next step in a long line of economic evolution has been innovation...in other words, they who can turn knowledge into ideas are rare and therefore valuable. Enter the innovation economy. Meanwhile, by filling the need for human connection, social media also filled a need for the secret sauce of innovation - people.  With the rise of social media and its native multi-media and interactive formats, came the emergence of interactive marketing.  In the world of social media that means meeting them online in their networks in an interactive way.  No one puts it quite so well as Ralph A. Oliva, Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets at Penn State University who had the following advice for our readers: “Recognize that you don't own your brands -- your customers do...you co-create your brand -- and profitable businesses -- together with your customer.”  It is an overarching mantra for the modern business and one that is at the heart of these converging trends. The evolution of the innovation economy contributed to rise of social media and both in turn encourage the rise of interactive marketing for business purposes. These developments have brewed a powerful convergence of these three trends wherein each encourages the evolution of the others. Trend soup; swimming in it can feel overwhelming. To create competitive advantage, place your organization at the center of these converging trends. That will mean different things for different organizations. Decide what it means for you. Develop measures for innovative capacity and brand management within your organization that will guide you towards an optimized use of social media and interactive marketing for your focused purpose. Above all, don’t be afraid to dive in.