Join The Conversation

Before we share with you how to join the conversation, we first need to discuss why you should join the conversation.

When you join the conversation in the social media world having something interesting to say is crucial to having success. But please take warning...don't start talking until you've listened to and learned from the influencers in your industry. To gain a competitive advantage for your business or organization, you'll need to be a student again...absorbing new information on a daily basis which you can passionately influence and utilize to your advantage once careful listening graduates to ethical and responsible participation.

We don't have to tell you that every business—no matter how large or small—has a competitive advantage, and every business and organization can enhance it's market position through social media. It's not "what makes your message special",  it's whether or not that "specialness" can be successfully communicated to a global audience through social media.

Let's look at this more closely...

Take for instance your sense of social conscience and social responsibility. How can you enhance the way clients, customers, investors, employees, and all stakeholders view your company's sense of corporate responsibility? Brand recognition and loyalty are built on those emotional and personal connections to ethical business practices, cradle to cradle awareness, sustainability, and creating shared value for people, planet, and industry.

It's not that you just join the conversation, it's more like why you've joined the conversation. Is it for authenticity? Legitimacy? Reputation? Is it for your bottom line, to gain more followers, influence your industry? All of the above?

Remember, consumers are the ones building brands today. Gone is the day when money, advertising, cleverness, timing, designer labels, cost cutting or cost controls could grow a brand.  If the heart, mind, conscience, belief system, and core values aren't shaping your business, you could be in for a long, hard road ahead. These are not things that you just put in place one day or write into your mission statement. If you're greenwashing, it won't be long before someone will expose it to the world and turn your social media experiment into a chemistry lab explosion.  

We'd love to hear what you have to say about this...whether you agree, disagree, love, hate, or otherwise think we've totally lost it! This is just the first of many topics we're going to delve into on our wiki. We welcome your participation. You can even edit away at what we've written.  Try it, it's fun!

Team Souza