And now what? Social networks among hype, business failure and “secret weapons”. With no knowledge and culture of relationships, direct and interactive marketing, there is no 2.0 marketing.

That is the title of the lecture I will be presenting at the next OMExpo Madrid, on February 24th. I would like to share the summary with you and get your feedback.

“When even shoeshine boys are giving you stock tips, it’s time to sell”
Joseph P. Kennedy

Current times remind me of Kennedy’s famous quote, quoted above; a man who sold his stocks some days before the 1929 crash. When the President of a large Spanish company asks me to teach him how to “twitter”, it is time to stop and evaluate. I recognize a bubble when I see it. I remember the hype of the CRM (“I have just bought a CRM”), and of the “virtual communities” and the “brand co-creation” (“We have opened a community. We no longer need to take care of the content”).

In CRM, Virtual Communities and now Social Networks, most of the companies are moving from total ignorance to a relentless search to ride the trendy train, in just a year. And then fail miserable. Only a few companies have been able to turn these basic concepts in their “secret weapons” to obtain a lasting competitive advantage. They are the exceptions in the current markets that are infatuated with the latest technologies and trends, and ignorant of the most basic strategies to take advantage of them.

Only companies and professionals with knowledge and culture of relationship, direct and interactive marketing are saved from this debacle. Those who understand the delicate balance between listening to the customer in an structured way, adapting to his or her needs on a one-on-one basis, and maintaining the capacity to positively surprise the customer when it is least expected.

In my presentation, we will kill some sacred cows and will play the midwife in the birth of some calves with great potential to become pure breed bulls.

Yesterday afternoon we went for a walk near the Barcelona office and asked people what they thought íncipy was. These were some of the answers. We hope that you enjoy watching this as much as we enjoyed preparing it. Merry Christmas and Happy 2010! The same to those who know what íncipy is and to those who don’t :)

Communities have existed as long as mankind has and virtual communities have existed as long as the Internet. We all know that as human beings we have in our DNA an instinct to search and form groups with other human beings. The sense of belonging and social acceptance is a basic human need and has not changed in thousands of years.

So, why do communities and social webs lately seem such a modern invention? Why is the concept of web 2.0 so trendy and everyone is talking about it? Are social network and community the same thing? What are the differences?

Some of the most important differences are that social networks are open by nature given that their basic objective is to add “nodes” (people) to the network and thereby increase the number of opportunities for interconnection. Their conceptual approach is very clear: «a virtual place to broaden our contact network».

Therefore, although some social networks can accommodate groups or “communities” as capsules, they are open and generic by nature, they tend to expand and do not have tools for group identification. A social network is very useful to connect people in an structured way but not to get the empathy among members and to influence their preferences.

The communities are something substantially different. Although it is true that they have in common the social interaction and the networking, they are useful for something more than simply connecting people. They can win their affection and preference and they are a powerful marketing tool.

The success of virtual communities depends on whether they have the ability to develop a strong “sense of community”. This is a well-know concept in social psychology (not so much in marketing) that prioritizes the experience of the community over its structure or formal characteristics.

For a community to work and add value to the organization, it must make a sense to its members. It must help connect people with the same expectations and ways to understand their identity.

That way, the interaction of the members generates a sense of belonging and mutual loyalty. That way, a “community with sense” becomes a very important strategically asset to link a brand to its consumers and to have a positive influence on them in order to be chosen by them.

If you have read up to here, I hope that from here on, whenever you hear or read something about social networks, virtual communities, you will get the gist of it. Otherwise, I am here for you.