My Tribe

Seth Godin started a new language (well, slightly re-positioned an old).
In his most recent blog he says:

Brand management is so 1999.

Brand management was top down, internally focused, political and money based. It involved an MBA managing the brand, the ads, the shelf space, etc. The MBA argued with product development and manufacturing to get decent stuff, and with the CFO to get more cash to spend on ads.

Tribe management is a whole different way of looking at the world.

Deloitte recently released the results of their 2009 study: Tribalization of business (picking up on Godin's insights).
I was fascinated by some of their insights. Here's a few:
1. "Organizations are continuing to struggle with harnessing social media's full potential".... they actually know what its full potential is? Facebook launched in 2004. How much will it be used in 2012? Twitter was all aflutter in 2009. What will it look like in December 2010? "Full potential" is such an interesting phrase. I'm still grappling with what it means.
2. The study suggested that the obstacles from high performing social media can be "easily remedied through partnering and new management practises." The concept is a little reductive, I think. Social Media is the digital equivalent to great customer service, word of mouth and customer satisfaction. Sound business practise and customer service strategies are the real foundation of social media success.
3. They claim this study evaluates the "true potential of online communities." I love the word "true potential" -- as if online communities have the same potential for all products, services and organizations.
4. The final recommendation is to: "Think tribe -- not market segment; think network -- not channel; Think customer-centricity -- not company-centricity."
To those of you who are my tribe... may we re-position our marketing strategies around social media.