Why 2013 IS the Year of Marketing Integration

Marketers have more tools at their disposal than ever before. From marketing automation tools like Marketo and Eloqua to email marketing tools like Exact Target and hybrid tools like HubSpot, the opportunities for marketers to enhance their current campaigns are endless. Please check out the video below to see why I believe that 2013 is the year of marketing integration.

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My Goal for 2013: Slow Down

If you're like me, and I assume if we're connected via any of the social channels in which you're accessing this that you are, I'd like to provide a suggestion for 2013: slow down.

We keep getting faster at everything we do. Our cars go faster. Our phones and computers provide information faster. Heck, even our news is delivered as it's happening. And I'm not saying that it's a bad thing.

But I think we're missing out on a lot by trying to go so fast. For everytime I see a parent checking their email instead of watching their kids participate in something or everyone checking email at a red light instead of enjoying the scenery, I just wonder if we're not all missing the point of life and community.

Life is about experiencing things both through our own eyes and those of others. It's great to be happy for others when they have great experiences or when they find success, but isn't it even more important to stop taking for granted all that we have and to start appreciating the things we've been afforded?

My daughters have all sorts of toys in the car -- without them it'd be tough to remain sane. However, with all the lights up for the holidays, I've encouraged them to stop and look around instead of remaining focused on their various games. When they did, they noticed the excitement and beauty of the different decorations and it made me realize how much we were missing. I'm still going to let them play with the toys on long trips, but on short trips, I'm going to work harder to get them to look around and see what's happening around us because they're missing some pretty cool things.

If you want to talk about the politics of how our country has changed in the last 30 years that's fine, I'm no Obama supporter, but I do think technology has played a large role when it comes to family values, responsibility, and overall goodwill towards each other. Twenty years ago, we had to be decent to each other because we couldn't hide behind devices. We couldn't post bad things about people via Facebook because it didn't exist. We couldn't miss out on our children growing up because there were way fewer distractions.

I'm as guilty as anyone else of always being in a hurry to get to whatever is next on my plate, but I've realized, that I need to slow down and enjoy the moment. Things are really good right now and if we don't take time to enjoy it, we won't have anything to look back on in the future. Rushing to get to the next thing means giving less attention to what's happening right now -- and that's not right.

So go ahead with your diets and exercises and quitting things and any other new year's resolutions you might have for 2013, but also step back and try to slow down life as much you can. Put down your phones and tablets. Look out the window. Take more deep breaths. See what the sunset looks like with your own eyes (and not thru someone's post on Facebook). Enjoy what it is we have, because you never know when it'll be over.

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A Look Back at 2012

2012 has been a really interesting year for me both personally and professionally. Some ups, some downs, but more ups than downs, which is how you want it to be, so you won’t see many complaints here.

 

On a professional level, Ektron continues to be an innovative thought leader in the WCM space, so I’ve got job security and I work with good people. On the personal side, my family is doing well and looking forward to another Christmas, which to many is the best time of the year to spend with family, so that’s good too.

 

But let’s take a look back at how we got here:

Let’s Talk Business

2012 has been a year of change at Ektron. I’ve seen good friends move on to take on new opportunities and had the pleasure of meeting new faces that are as excited about the vision Ektron has as I am. These changes were highlighted by the naming of Ektron’s new President (Tim McKinnon) and the release of Ektron version 8.6, a major release in many aspects.

I've had the opportunity to develop new, long-term partnerships with clients like Apartments.com, GFT Forex, the Illinois State Medical Society, Morley Companies, the Credit Union National Association, and others, while working diligently to continue to strengthen relationships with existing customers like Indianapolis Power & Light, Culligan, Wolters Kluwer, and others. It's these relationships that I truly enjoy the most because I love watching clients succeed and knowing that I played a role in that success (big or small) is something that means a lot to me.

Aside from the Ektron WCM specifically, the digital market has seen a major shift in several areas such as mobile, where we’ve grown from simple “mobile-friendly” websites to responsive web design and true multi-channel support. We can thank Apple and Android devices for driving this as much as anybody, but it’s caused anyone that manages web properties to rethink what they’re doing and ensure that the platform driving their website is going to be nimble enough to adapt to the ever changing market.

We’ve also seen changes in the level of personalization that users now expect from their web experience. That “one-size-fits-all” site you ran out there in 2009 is no longer capable of producing quality leads and delivering the customer experience that users now expect. Tools like HubSpot, Marketo, and Eloqua are opening up the Marketing Automation market that’s really been somewhat limited in the past.

It’s been really fascinating to watch, but what it all really comes down to is how to give the user what they want, where and when they want it. Talk about a society of instant gratification…

In The Middle

Transitioning a bit between both professional and personal worlds, I’ve gotten really involved in social media and networking this year. I’ve been active on social media for a long time online via Facebook, Twitter, and whatnot, but really spent a lot of time participating in offline events with the Social Media Club of Chicago and others. I’ve met some really amazing people that are even better in person than they are online! I’m grateful for all the new friendships that I’ve made in 2012 and many of them started at SMC events.

Let’s Talk About Me

Like most of us (I imagine), I find myself turning around and wondering where did the time go? It seems like summer just ended and now we’re less than a week from Christmas – it just doesn’t seem possible.

I’ve seen Payton perform her first dance recital, turn 5, yes 5, at Disney World, and head off to kindergarten. And I’ve watched Keira grow from this curly haired ball of energy into this really sweet, affectionate little person. We’re so blessed to have them and they constantly amaze Tess and I with the things they do (and say!).

There were no really big life changes (no new babies, we didn’t move, etc.), but we lost people that were close to us, which is always the hardest thing to reflect on. I've found that the best way to cope is to try to maintain a positive outlook and stay focused on the things that I can control. If you don’t, you’re really going to miss a lot.

Wrap It Up

The end of each year gives us an opportunity to look back and take stock of everything we've experienced. The new year though, gives us an opportunity to look forward.

It's great to learn from the past, but it's the things you have to look forward to that mean the most. Thank you to everyone that made 2012 a successful year and I look forward to seeing what 2013 has in store. From our family to yours, I wish you the warmest holiday wishes and the best in 2013.

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Five Ektron Enhancements That You Should Be Thinking About for 2013

As we wind down another wonderful year, I've come to find that a lot of our customers haven't had an opportunity to see the latest and greatest functionality that an Ektron-powered website has to offer. Therefore, I wanted to share my list of Five Ektron Enhancements That You Should Be Thinking About for 2013:

1. Bringing Everything Together with The Digital Experience Hub -- Ektron's biggest product enhancement in version 8.6 was the introduction of the Digital Experience Hub (DxH). The DxH provides a middleware layer that makes integrating Ektron with other technologies, and other technologies with each other, infinitely easier. Plus, out-of-the-box integrations with SalesForce.com, Microsoft SharePoint, HubSpot, and others provides a huge development cost savings. Beyond the backend integration, the DxH allows Business Users to access information from these systems via the Ektron Workarea and even perform tasks like tying HTML Web Forms to third party databases like SalesForce.com.
2. Maximize ROI with Marketing Automation Technologies -- One of the most prominent integration selections with the DxH is in the area of Marketing Automation technologies such as HubSpot, Marketo, and Eloqua. By providing a tightly integrated solution between these technologies and Ektron, Marketers have more power, and information, then ever before.
3. Reach More Prospects and Customers with Social Media -- Ektron's Social suite has continued to evolve with the growth of the social media channel and now includes the ability to publish content out to social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In, as well as pre-built integrations with many social media technologies.
4. Float In The Cloud -- We've all heard the buzz about The Cloud, but many of us aren't sure if it's the right fit for our business. Obviously, that's not something I can decide for you, but it's good to know that in addition to Ektron's support for the Microsoft Azure Cloud via our Cloud Manager technology, support for additional Cloud infrastructures such as Amazon EC2 are due out in early 2013.
5. Do More With Mobile -- We are becoming more and more of a mobile society wanting information faster whenever (and whenever) we are. Ektron's enhancements in this area have been well documented, but continued enhancements to provide more mobile preview options, additional support for responsive design, and more are coming in 2013.

In addition to these elements, for those interested in seeing what else is coming in 2013, I encourage you to visit the Synergy 2012 section to view the presentation titled Flight of the Phoenix (Phoenix is the code name for the next Ektron release). It provides a lot of great information about Ektron's roadmap. Happy Holidays!

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How to Avoid Becoming a Social Media Disaster

Mashable recently posted an article on the 11 Biggest Social Media Disasters of 2012 (thanks @suzannecohen01 for sharing) featuring major brands like McDonalds, Gap, Kitchen Aid and Stub Hub. This begs the question – if major brands like these can slip up, what does a smaller organization need to do to effectively govern their social media messaging?

Here are four tips to help ensure your organization doesn’t make this list next year:

1.      Leverage Available Workflow Controls

On many of these posts, it’s clear that the author had a quick thought and posted it immediately in hopes of achieving the maximum engagement. However, “striking while the iron’s hot” isn’t nearly as important as ensuring that the message is appropriate before posting. I get that the post about Obama’s grandmother was time sensitive (being that it happened during a debate, right after he made a comment about it), but in almost any other context (whether you like him or not), that type of comment wouldn’t be well received. And while many social media tools don’t have integrated workflow capabilities, many web content management systems like (and including) Ektron do, which can really help here.

2.      Test Humor Before Posting

We’re all super funny on Twitter and Facebook – we’re like a universe full of Jerry Seinfeld’s and Louis CK’s. Not quite. In fact, we’ve all probably posted a thing or two that we found really humorous only to find that no one else found it nearly as enjoyable. Humor is something that definitely needs to be used on social media outlets to make your messaging more human, and while more crude posts might be ok on Facebook (where you’re likely more surrounded by friends than customers/partners/potential consumers), you still need to exercise caution. Think before you post.

3.      Remember Driver’s Ed

Maybe your Driver’s Ed teacher didn’t tell you this, but mine did, and it’s stuck with me. He said, “Would you do X if there was a police officer next to you?” It could have been turning on a No Turn on Red or doing a funky U Turn in an area where they’re not allowed, but the exercise was meant to get you thinking about whether or not you’d do something if the person able to punish you for doing it was right there. There isn’t really a social media police to speak of, but think of your boss, a customer, or a social media person you look up to and ask yourself the same question – it should help keep you out of trouble…

4.      Use Common Sense

The one element that carries true in these examples is that if a little common sense had been applied, many (if not all) of them could have been avoided. Take McDonalds for example – if you ask people to share stories about their experiences with McDonalds and only expect positive responses – that’s simply naïve. In fact, research shows that users are much more likely to share a negative experience via social channels than a positive one. Same goes for the retailers that tried to use the shooting in Aurora, Colorado or Hurricane Sandy as an opportunity to move merchandise – common sense definitely would have prevailed in those instances.

To err is human. We all make mistakes and for better or worse, social channels like Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Instagram, Foursquare and others allow those mistakes to be magnified. But, if you apply a little common sense, you’ll be that much better off.

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A Look Back at Ektron’s Synergy 2012 Conference

Wow. I have to admit -- I was a bit of a skeptic when I learned we were hosting our annual conference in Washington, D.C., the day after the election. I thought people would be distracted, flights would be too expensive, or maybe people just wouldn’t want to travel this close to Thanksgiving. And with sessions running until almost 5 pm on Friday, I expected it to be a ghost town on Friday after lunch (indeed it was quite the opposite).

But wow, that was a great experience for the Ektron community.

I have the privilege of being one of the few folks that have had the opportunity to attend every Ektron Synergy conference over the past six years. This includes two trips to Boston, two to Orlando, last year’s craziness in Las Vegas, and this year’s patriotic version in the capital. This means that I’m more than capable to share what made this year’s conference one of the best (at least in the top 5!).

The Keynotes

Synergy has always featured excellent keynote presentations from industry leaders and experts like Lisa Welchman, Microsoft, and others. However, this year’s group was pretty ridiculous. Not only were they talking about hot topics like Responsive Web Design and Mobile First, they focused on the most important takeaways from Synergy and were engaging, energetic speakers. I highly encourage you to check out the webcasts of them if you have the time (available here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/26846449).

More Networking Focused After Hours Events

While most conference attendee’s primary focus is to learn about the latest technology enhancements and industry trends, I can make an argument that the most valuable part of attending the Ektron Synergy conference is the opportunity to network with other users, partners, and the Ektron team. For me, it’s a chance to connect old friends, long-time customers, and colleagues with new friends, prospective users, and new customers. The community that Ektron fosters is really a strong advantage that allows us to engage our community members at a much more personal level than the standard vendor/client relationship. If you don’t believe me, join the Ektron Inner Circle (http://www.ektron.com/community/nominate/) to see for yourself.

More Customer and Partner Led Sessions

In many of the conferences that I attend, the majority of the sessions (outside of the keynotes) are led by the technology vendor or primary sponsor. With Ektron Synergy, that’s not the case. While there are Ektron-led sessions around new functionality and complex technical elements, many of this year’s sessions were led by Ektron clients and partners. The story changes dramatically when that’s the case because they’re not up there just telling you only about all the positives of their experience with Ektron – they’re up there relating their honest experience. This is very powerful, and one reason that I think we’ll see even more client and partner presentations at the next Synergy conference.

True Social Participation, Online and Offline

I come back to my point earlier about Ektron’s community, but go back and check the tweet stream for the hash tags #ektron, #EktronSynergy, and my personal favorite, #ektronbacon. Not only will they be wildly entertaining, but it will help paint a picture as to what the event really brought to the table. The connections people made; the key information pulled from each session; really, the true value that attending an Ektron event has to offer. I've embedded some of the best for you throughout this post.

More Access to the Roadmap

Every conference aims to leave you with one or two things to look for in the near future. In year’s past, Synergy has focused on the big Version 8 release or the Digital Experience Hub. However, this year, more sessions included information not just about how Ektron got here, but where Ektron’s going.

Highlights from the forthcoming Phoenix release talk about the Awesomizer and other user experience enhancements that are sure to make any content author or business user jump out of their seat. And it’s not that Ektron has ever lacked innovation, it's just that we’ve always held it a tad closer to our chest. We’re proud of how we got here and even more excited about where we’re heading.

It was a fun event and if you had the opportunity to attend, I want to extend a sincere Thank You. We love to get our customers and partners together as much as possible and that’s why you’ll see even more events including regional user groups, developer meet-ups, and more in 2013. We hope that you had a great time, I know I did.

Special thanks to Brian Browning for taking so many great photos and for allowing me to use them here.

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Do You Really WANT To Be Social?

The other evening, I attended the most recent Social Media Club of Chicago event. It featured a great panel, was well run, and very well attended. During the course of the evening, one of the founders made a comment to the effect of ‘have fun with social media’ and it occurred to me – it is indeed that simple.

We always do things better when we enjoy what we’re doing and are passionate about it. And the other evening, there were a lot of people passionate about social media in one place. However, I strongly believe that there is a huge segment of social media users that feel like they’re forced to participate or are doing it for the wrong reasons.

As human beings, we are inherently social. But some people are indeed more social than others.

Some like to go out and do things every weekend. Others enjoy sitting on the couch and catching up on the backlog of TV shows on the DVR. So it absolutely makes sense that some people are going to be more attracted and by proxy, more passionate, about socializing via technology since they are indeed, more social “offline”.

Here are some ways to figure out if you’re really passionate about social media:

·        What does your content look like? If you’re only posting press releases, broadcast messages, and not “humanizing” your online efforts at all, it probably comes across that way. People don’t want to interact with robots, they want to interact with other people that have emotions and stories and whatnot. Take a look at your Facebook wall, Twitter feed, etc. and see what kind of content you’re posting – does it interest you? If not, it probably doesn’t interest others either.

·        What’s your avatar? Is it a generic Twitter-issued graphic? Is it your professional head shot? Is it a cartoon character? While all of those can be used, I think it’s important to use a picture of you, and really to change it from time to time. Your avatar is how you’re identified online, so again, in an effort to humanize your online efforts, it should reflect you, and how you look/feel today. The head shot from 15 years ago, while it might make you look good, isn’t really helping…

·        Are you excited to post things or is it just another “to-do” item? If social media is really work to you in the sense that you classify it as something you have to do like filling out expense reports or cleaning off your desk, you should probably stop. Now for all you yelling at your computers, hear me out – I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – the best part of social media is the people you meet. If social media is just another item on the to do list that you mark off and move on, without seeking to engage with other users at any level, you’re probably not going to see much of an impact. It’s just the truth.

·        How often do you really participate? We all post and re-post others things regularly, but how often are you really participating in the conversation? Whether it’s interacting in a tweet chat like @foodiechats, commenting on blog posts or status updates, or simply conversing with other users via these channels, these are all forms of participation, and the folks that are most successful in this realm (outside of celebrities/athletes/etc..) are ones that sincerely engage with their connections. It’s called social media, not broadcast media, which implies that there is interaction, and give and take, not just one way communications.

The cool thing about social media is that you can present yourself however you want to be presented, so if you’re into muscle cars and bug collecting, you can talk about those things and connect with others that share those hobbies much more easily than you can “offline.” The information is there, the people that WANT to connect with you are there, the only thing missing is the effort.

If you want to grow your network, meet new people, or establish yourself as an expert in a specific area, the opportunity is there. All I'm saying is that you need to have fun doing so, and you'll make stronger connections and have a better experience. And if you're not one of the more social people out there and social media isn't for you, that's ok. Maybe one day you will be as passionate about it as I am.

And if you are interested in learning more about social media, I hope to see you at my session at Ektron's Synergy Conference next month where I'll be talking about social media.

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