The Engaged Consumer

Although I’ve been blogging for nearly three years, this post is particularly near and dear to my heart. The reason is that it’s my first post on my new company, Powered’s, website. One of my many responsibilities as the new chief marketing officer here at Powered is to contribute regularly to our corporate blog.
 

What I can promise you is that I will talk about things that are important to you as a fellow marketer, social media expert or online community manager. What I don’t plan to do is be an informercial for my company. You don’t want that and my colleagues here at Powered don’t want that either. You want value and insights, just like your customers/clients do. If I don’t keep my word on that front, feel free to call bullsh#t on me.
 
Oh yeah, I’m not afraid to be open and honest in the way I communicate. That doesn’t mean I swear a lot (although you will see an occasional ephithet from me) but it does mean I’ll tell you things you might not want to hear. From time to time, I’ll also say things my boss, Ken Nicolson, doesn’t want to hear either but I can promise you that my posts will always be constructive.

So what are the things that I plan to blog about here. Here are a few of the overaching topics I will cover:

• Macro trends: There are number of exciting trends starting to surface in the world of social marketing/social media that fundamentally impact companies and how they interact with their clients. For instance, did you know according to the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, almost 60% of Americans interact with companies on a social media Web site?
• Case studies: This will include Powered customers like Atkins, Sony and Motorolla along with non-powered customers. These case studies will talk about specific results these companies are experiencing from their social marketing programs.
• Timely topics/tools: From items like the importance of engaging content and the adoption of microblogging in the enterprise to the use of social marketing programs to increase customers propensity to buy, these posts will provide a guide to important themes in the world of social marketing/social media.
• Event updates: One of the things I always try to do when attending physical events like Community 2.0, South by Southwest or DMA09 is provide key highlights (and often podcasts) from the event. If I’m not live blogging, I’m often Twittering so I will be sure to include a quick post with a link to the updates from the event.
• Company wins/platform updates: Okay, I have to talk a little about what our company is up to. But again, this won’t be infomercial-esque crap. It will be updates on items that will help give you a better grasp of who we are as a company and what we’re thinking about.

 
I will continue to keep my own professional (and sometimes personal) blog, Citizen Marketer 2.1, where I’ll cross-post some of the items from the Powered blog. I will also work hard to keep contributing to my group sports blog, Big Papelbon, especially now that I’m now 1,900 miles away from my home town of Boston (I’m always looking for new contributors).
 
Am I missing anything my list of topics I plan to cover? If so, please feel free to add your suggestion in the comments below.