What’s your story? I am looking forward to hear it!

I believe that this kind of initiatives are very important and even more so in the Baden-Württemberg region. I was born here and I had the opportunity to grow up in this stable environment with a strong economy and lots of well-paid jobs.

My father moved here in the 60ies coming from Greece to create a better future for himself and his family. At the age of 17 he arrived here from Rhodes, Greece, where back then there was nothing to do for a youngster like him. All he brought with him was an extra shirt and a pair of pants. Thats’all. He literally started from zero. Growing up in 8-person house hold with just a mother who lost her husband far too early and struggling to feed her children in the rural area of the island – he had no other option than to leave his home and to look for a better alternative somewhere else. Later on, he went back to fulfill his military service duties in Greece, married my mom, whom he knew from school, and they returned together for just a few more years abroad. Fast forward 50 years – my parents are retired now and look back at a “rich” life, 4 sons and hopefully a few more decades to live. I wish that we will have many more years together.

You can imagine that my upbringing was based on certain values: get a safe job, work hard, save money and make sure to stay in this comfortable environment for the rest of your life. My parents wanted all of us to succeed and build our lives based on maximum security – something they did not have when they were young. They enabled us to get well educated and find decent jobs with great perspectives. They were right from their perspective.

However, this was not exactly what at least I had in mind for myself. I always played around with business ideas, always pondering how customer experiences I had could be better, I also invested in internet stocks in my teens side-by-side with my older brother, but I could not understand exactly what I was doing and chasing. It took some time to understand what my purpose  is and to “free” myself and create clarity about what I wanted. Today I know that I was trying to be an entrepreneur. I did not have a role model around me who could open my eyes sooner. Certainly, the values of my family were a good place to start from, but not what I wanted to be for the rest of my life. Family, society, friends, etc. have a huge impact on us – especially in our youth when we are still trying to find out who we really are and what we want to accomplish. In the retrospective it all makes more sense.

After completing my bachelor degree in Business at the university of cooperative education (BA) and working at Daimler AG/ smart GmbH for several years – I finally decided to move on and do my own thing in late 2010. Both my studies and my work experience would be useful for everything that followed. But leaving my job was obviously a big drama for my environment and especially my family who didn’t want me to take risks and leave the secure path I started on. Fast forward a few years I am still self employed, doing consulting work for several clients and I have founded my second startup 2,5 years ago. I have also made some investments startups in last couple of years. It was not easy for me to break free and actually follow this path. I know that there are lot of other young people out there who struggle to make the leap. I feel obliged to show them that there are different ways to succeed in life and that everyone can decide herself which way to go. We do have options!

Looking back at my experience as a young person growing up in Baden Württemberg in a house hold of immigrant workers I know that entrepreneurship is a concept which has been neglected in this region. There are simply not many entrepreneurs around here. Most youngsters do not know that it is possible to do your own thing because all they see around them is people working in pseudo-secure jobs at one of the big companies: Daimler, Porsche, Bosch, Stihl, etc. are all located in the greater Stuttgart area. Don’t get me wrong – these corporates are in many cases great workplaces with good working conditions and they have come a long way. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. But as much value as this companies create in terms of jobs and economic power, they also lead to a lack of entrepreneurial acitivity in our region. I coined it as the “graveyard of entrepreneurs” during an recent interview. They have created a massive comfort zone for our society. There is no pressure to “do” something new, youngsters are brought up chasing a career opportunity within one of these corporations. The number of young people who are willing to found or actually founded a startup is decreasing every year and although the big coporations have been a startup one day – most youngsters do not see that tackling their own ideas, founding a startup and living their dream is an actual option. All because of a lack of real role models around them and because all they see is people being employed and playing it safe.

I know that not everyone will and can be an entrepreneur, but we have to show young people that there are alternatives to being employed, that there are opportunities they can tackle and that some of them can found their own startup today or one day. We need talent that dares to follow their passion and unique gifts. For some of them this will mean that they should choose to become entrepreneurs.

I do believe that this region has the best preconditions to create its own startup culture and eco-systems. We don’t need to be a better Berlin or a second Silicon Valley, but we can be the Neckar Valley with its very own identity, strengths and initiatives. Imagine if we could combine the established powers with innovation and impulses coming from hungry and fresh minds. If we started investing in new ideas and opened the doors for collaboration between the old and the new economony to happen. In order to achieve that we need to grow the next generation of entrepreneurs who are willing to chase their dreams and see self-employment as a valid alternative to a secure job at a big corporation. But this means that we have to do something about it. We should stop educating the next generation of disciplined workers and consider growing an army of entrepreneurial talent instead. I think that it is the more experienced entrepreneurs themselves who can make the biggest difference in this matter by encouraging more people to dare more and by sharing their experiences with new entrepreneurial talents like I did last Saturday. We are role models these youngsters urgently need to understand that there is more than a paycheck to work for.

In the last 5-7 years alone I have seen a lot of movement and some first steps into the right direction have been made. Some really promising initiatives have been started, e.g. Startup Stuttgart, Accelerate Stuttgart or Startup Campus Stuttgart. But this is certainly not enough. We need to do more. It is our repsonsibility to ignite more fires within the younger generations. Therefore I hope to see more initiatives like the one manage here which will inspire entrepreneurial activity and drive the change required to allow more people to walk this path.

Part of this is also that we start to accept failure as necessary step towards growth. One has to willing to make mistakes in order to succeed. Every failure brings us one step closer to knowing how to do it right. It takes several attempts to become “lucky” as we’ve seen in so many autobiographies of sucessful people. I believe that this region has a bright future ahead – if we claim it and start combining the best of both worlds: experience with curious minds.

Let’s give ourselves the chance to be lucky again like the founders and innovators who build the foundation for the prosperity we live in today.

But let’s get to the core of this post which is to present to you Lefti’s list of the hottest stuff at this year’s event: 

Topics/Trends to keep on your list in the upcoming months and years:

• From Second Screen to Mobile First to Mobile-only: According to the experts at SXSW mobile is not only here to stay, but will play a even more important role in the upcoming years. Some predictions state that there will be consumers who will experience the web from their mobile device only. In this case go mobile or die!
• Big Data: We all have heard this over and over again. That’s why you probably have already established tools (e.g. monitoring. alerts, etc. ) to listen to what’s going on in the web when it comes to terms and discussions which affect your market. However, it becomes even more clear this year that the successful players are those who know how to use data to improve their services and products and event content. You need to become a data-driven company – at least if you want to lead the game! See below the example of Buzzfeed.
• Internet of things: Another term which has been around for quite some time. Everything will be connected: Your car, fridge, heating, even your fitness activities. Get ready for some a data explosion and more and more players who will offer services/products around this interesting phenomenon. Which role can IoI play in your specific industry?
• New ways of collaboration: What we are also seeing is that even the way we collaborate is changing fast. Why shouldn’t the way we communicate privately not spill over into the business environment? There have been a lot of startups at SXSW who are trying to change the way we work together. A lot of them are more or less copy cats of the huge success: slack. It became the fastest growing software company ever and reached a billion dollar evaluation in the speed of light. Obviously, they are not alone. There are other players in this game, too.

3 hottest players right now according to Lefti: 

1. Yik Yak: This app allows hyper local and yet anonymous communication by combining geo-fencing, messaging and other functionalities within their app. They started in schools and spread all over the US. This could be a game-changer and danger to other players, e.g. Twitter, when it comes to breaking the news
2. Meerkat (vs. Periscope): Meerkat is a personal live streaming service and was THE most discussed new startup during this year’s event. The buzz had its effect. Not only did they receive a significant funding, but they also have a very prominent competitor now. Twitter bought Periscope to do the exact same thing. Another proof of how Twitter operates. Remember twitpic and alikes? I think Twitter does not get that by doing this they are slowly isolating themselves from the developer and startup community which could build products around their platform.
3. Buzzfeed: Buzzfeed is around for a couple of years. However, it is impressive to see how they slowly become a media empire generating a lot of buzz with millions, pardon, BILLIONS of impressions with their content. What is highly interesting is that they follow a decentralised strategy distributing their content on other platforms, e.g. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.  and analysing very carefully what works and what not. They have built their own secret sauce about how great and viral content looks and works. Definitely a company and example to f0llow when it comes to content marketing.

Did Lefti miss something important? What did you like most at SXSW 2015. Please comment!

What I want to share with you today are some exciting news about my future plans and what comes next for me. In order to do this, I have to look back and share some of the milestones which led me to where I am today. Reflecting on this I am filled with gratitude for the opportunities I have been given, the lessons I have learned and last, but not least the relationships I was able to build around the globe in the past few years. WOW and THANK YOU to every single fellow change agent, business partner, client, supplier and also to my family and friends for their love and support! It’s been an fulfilling journey so far and it’s time for the next chapter. The best is yet to come – let’s take it step by step.

Most of you should know that the kickstart of my career in the digital/social media world was when I worked at Daimler on the iconic Mercedes-Benz brand. After working in different roles such as Sports Marketing, Global Advertising and thereby learning the “old school” way of marketing, I had the honor to lead the brand into the world of social media as the first Global Social Media Manager of Mercedes-Benz globally. When we started on Facebook there was only one other major brand (Adidas) active on Facebook in Germany – just to put things into perspective. Those were the very early days of the corporates in social media.

I learned a lot during this time. As there was no real job description I had to become a “change agent”. My role was to translate the trends and changes into something the organization would understand,  to inspire, to bring leadership and colleagues on board, to spread the word, to fight for more resources and attention over time, to train teams and individuals, to set up new processes and tools based on a long-term vision and strategy which we developed… After two years (or 3 million Facebook fans later) I felt that I was ready for the next step. What I was doing for Daimler needed to be done in many more organizations. I wanted to bring this “change” to other companies and help them get started. More and more people turned to me for advice, so I decided to leave the safe haven and do my own thing (again). I founded my consulting business: Peopleizers. I guess the name speaks for itself.

I saw a huge opportunity to make business more human again by embracing social media and everything that comes with it. Businesses/brands opening and showing up, making connections, entering conversations and seeing themselves as part of a bigger community instead of throwing marketing dollars at people in all new ad formats. I dreamed of putting the focus back on what matters most in business: PEOPLE, their relationships to each other and serving customers in the best way possible. For me it was about trying to bring one-on-one back to life like in the good old days at the counter of each shop. I was wrong!

Yes, social media has gone MAINSTREAM. The (business) world is more open and connected and it’s easier than ever to share experiences and interact with each other. Consumers have a voice again, smart brands can listen, etc… That’s all great news, but it’s not enough!

During a conference a few years ago an attendee said to me “give marketers a new channel and they will fuck it up”. This statement pretty much sums up what I think about the latest developments in social media. Greedy marketers completely missing the point and applying the old school marketing approach to new media and looking at it as yet another marketing channel. It’s not about huge numbers, followers and likes, not about using every new ad format available and about automated publishing of content and data collection for the sake of boosting conversion rates, impressions and visits or whatever. Social Media was and is not a marketing channel in the first place. It can become one when happy customers spread the word about great experiences. You get my point, right!? I am disappointed that we (the marketer) have failed in making more out this great opportunity.

Today I want to share with you that I am entering the next chapter. I’m taking everything I’ve learned and combine it with the reality, tech and tools which are available to us today. I have a new dream. It has to do with the “mobile consumer” and everything we can learn about him/her, if we listen carefully. We have never known more about our customers, now it’ s time to build the best customer experience possible.

smoope HQ

Back in October 2013, I’ve incorporated a new business in Germany together with my co-founder Halil Mandal. Our vision was to build a platform which would allow every business owner to give great service to his customers beyond the POS. We looked around us and analyzed how people communicate today, which devices they use and how this could be used to create a more meaningful and value adding platform. Obviously mobile devices play a significant role in our lives, but even more interesting is to see that instant messaging started replacing phone calls and emails. We decided to place it in a completely new context: B2C.

We believe that this is an opportunity to really bring one-on-one back to life in a sophisticated way which takes into consideration individual needs, context, location as well as other data about the customer not to spam, but to serve him/her in the best possible way.

I am proud to announce smoope “Service To Go” – an instant messaging platform for B2C communication. A new direct, safe and asynchronous channel between businesses and their customers which works as a versatile web app on the businesses side and as a free mobile app for their customers. ONE app for ALL business requests. How does that sound to you?

In the past few months we have already learned a lot during public beta testing phase in Germany. More than 100 companies took part and this is just the beginning. The feedback from first movers and pilot partners reassured us that we are on the right track. We are also extremely happy and proud that we’re not alone anymore, because we have found partners who share our vision. Early this week we’ve been able to sign a partnership with the High- Tech Gruenderfonds – one of Europe’s biggest VCs – who invested in our dream. We found a partner who is willing to walk side by side with us.

This means that my focus will be shifting on this new challenge in order to recruit a world-class team and developing the business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland first and later also in the rest of the world.

I invite you all to join the “Service To Go” movement and help us shape the future of customer service. The time is ripe to re-distribute marketing dollars to customer satisfaction, because great products and customer experiences are the best marketing you can get. Let the people tell the story of your product and service on social media – not your ads!

If you want to learn more about the vision and team behind smoope Service To Go – read an interview I gave to Entrepreneur Handbook and also the latest press release related to the seed funding we managed to close a few days ago. 

Exciting times ahead. Stay tuned. I am happy to discuss what this means for your business, clients and partners.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Marketers:

1. Thinking and acting “One Way”: In the past decades marketing was about spreading messages and pushing people into the sales funnel by spending media dollars to interrupt people as often as possible. Social Media has changed this playground forever. Brands are communities. Marketing has become a conversation. Brands and products are shaped by everyone who talks about them publicly, e.g. customers, industry experts, influencers, bloggers, competitors, etc… Marketers are part of a bigger community around their brands and products.
2. Hard Selling: Too many times brands try to sell too hard where sales are not the issue – at least not as a first step. Marketers need to create value first which can happen by being part of the conversations happening, sharing interesting and/or entertaining content and “giving” first and “asking” later. It’s about the right mix between acting as a servant and a salesman. A great book covering this is “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” by Gary Vaynerchuck. 
3. It’s not about Facebook only: Facebook is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other relevant platforms to consider and link to your social media engagement. Sometimes it’s wiser to start somewhere else first depending on where your customers spend their time. Never forget to link all social media platforms and thereby create cross-linking effects. It’s also about fueling every platform individually, because they can be very different (user base, culture, content formats, etc.). One “size” does not fit all!
4. Acting like machines: The biggest opportunity offered by social media is that brands can act more human. Marketers can add a human touch to their marketing efforts and connect with customers and prospects in a way that was never possible before, unless you were talking to a customer at the counter of your shop. Lazy marketers try to “scale” their marketing by using too much automation which leads to the lack of the magic human touch: organic growth of likes vs. paid likes is one example. It’s better to have a highly engaged community of thousand people than 1 million “zombie” likes on your page.
5. Not listening enough: Marketers did spend a lot of money to buy market data and insights about their target groups in the past. A huge industry evolved around this making billions. Today everybody shares information online hoping that it will be seen and used by brands to make a better offer (more relevant and personal). However, too many brands still don’t listen enough by using the available technology (e.g. web monitoring tools) to gather those data and turn them into insights which help them make more intelligent decisions. Money for such tools is well invested – just cut down your spendings on studies and market research data a bit and pump it into software that can show you where the gold is. Don’t forget: communication is 50% talking and 50% listening after all.
6. Fear of failure: The social media world is fast paced and ever changing. Everyday there’s something new to figure out and to try. The best brands dare to be the first mover and walk where no one else has walked before. It’s about becoming the “Best Practice Example” yourself by innovating and daring more. Don’t wait until everything is safe and proven because someone else has done it. Take the first step instead and let everyone else follow you. Sometimes you loose, sometimes you win – the rewards will be great for the innovators!
7. Forgetting about Mobile: The smartphone and tablet boom has brought up new challenges. Marketing campaigns and content have just been optimized to work great for general web use and now more and more people spend more and more time consuming content on the go. This means that marketers need to adapt their messages to new screens and formats and also get their message across within a very short attention span. No need to invest a lot of resources on a shiny product configurator tab on your Facebook page when no one actually goes there. People read your posts in their timeline sitting in a train – if you’re lucky. If you can’t put Mobile first – than at least consider it when you start working on your next campaign. 

You can watch the full keynote here (Lefti’s parts starts at min 4:40): 

We’re looking forward to read your comments! Did Lefti miss anything?

PS: A huge THANK YOU to the awesome crowd who made my day with this selfie on stage

For me this is just a big bunch of crap being told to the masses and it actually makes me wanna vomit! I assume that we’re experiencing yet another campaign from someone who actually benefits from such “bad news” for Facebook. Propaganda is probably the better word to explain what is going on. It could be Wall Street trying to move stock prices. It could be the competition trying to damage FB’s leadership position – who knows. But I’m sure that if someone would dig a little bit deeper into this case – we would find some hints. If you ask me – this is clearly some evil PR machinery working against Facebook. There are enough players in the market who’d love to see Facebook going down – at least they wish it would. Think of Google struggling to get Google Plus going or Yahoo falling far behind in the last decade – who knows.

5 reasons why I think that Facebook will not die anytime soon:

1. Facebook is the leading social network in today’s world and it’s part of 1,3 billion lives – not sure what the exact number is, but it’s probably quite accurate. The average person is too “lazy” to leave Facebook and it’s friends and family behind to go somewhere else and start new. Humans don’t like to change often. This doesn’t mean that they are too big to fail (ask Kodak!). But they are in a very good position to keep leading this game.
2. Facebook is more than a social network – they are an internet giant. They’ve built a great team and hired lots of talent which is able to take wise decisions. The social network is their core offering right now, but we will see much more things happening. Think of a social layer within the internet which allows people to use their data across all of the internet to make better decision and “surf” more conveniently, etc.
3. Their bank account is full of money to be strategically invested into partnerships and acquisitions as it happens already. Instagram being one of the best moves in this case, but there are many more in their portfolio already.
4. Facebook is well prepared for the mobile era and they have build the foundation to keep playing a major role in this space. They optimized their mobile offering and moved into the mobile advertising space with their own ad network recently.
5. Teens might partially leave Facebook and jump to other platforms, but we will also see more growth in emerging markets which will compensate this “loss”. Facebook already owns some of the new destinations of teens, e.g. Instagram. They will also be able to learn and apply some of the lessons they learn from the new platforms for their core social network.

My advice to Mark Zuckerberg and his team to remain where they are – on top:

• Don’t be greedy and don’t allow Wall Street to dictate your business model. What happened in the past few years was turning Facebook into an advertising space which already pissed off users. Don’t spam their feed! Think about alternative business models because with all of the data you have and the reach you’ve build, there is smarter stuff you can do. Advertising dollars and media space is old school. People are sick of it. Seth Godin made a great point about permission based marketing in 2008 already and we’ve never been more prepared to actually make it happen. Data, tech, infrastructure and consumers are ready for it.
• Be closer to your user base, be transparent and don’t fuck around with data and privacy. Stand next to your users and far away from governments, NSA and co… People are willing to give you information and data, if you use them wisely and add value to their lives. Don’t betray them (again).
• Keep the “Hackathon” spirit alive and innovate everyday. With all the great startups who joined your team and all the great minds on board you should push innovation ahead. Think big. Be bold.
• Focus on becoming the “internet within the internet” – a social layer which allows people to move around in the web and always have their data with them. Allow them to make better decisions based on their social graph and enrich their lives with everything you know.
• The biggest opportunity Facebook has is to make technology more human. Think of the “human algorithm” Brian Solis mentioned at Le Web 2013. There’s a lot of meaningful stuff you can do for humanity with the data and tech you own. Do it!

As someone who’s working in and with social media for several years I can claim to have a deeper understanding about what’s going on, however I might not have all the details right. I try to make sense from the insights and experience I have. I encourage all of you to form your own opinions and not just follow what the media pass around.

Please, feel free to add your points and share your opinion in the comments. I am curious to hear what your take on this is.  Thank you!

Best,

Lefti

Image credits: http://www.ebusinessjournals.com

Update: Brilliant Facebook response to the Princeton study. You have to read this article!

Brian made some great points during the session which you can watch in the video accompanying this post. However, one of his statements particularly sticked with me:

“If in doubt, begin!”. What does it mean?

This is a statement he makes in one of the graphics of his book (created by Hugh McLeod by the way).

What it says is that in today’s fast moving marketplace it is important not to wait until you have a template and some best practices to copy and follow. We all have to move forward – even when we don’t have all the answers yet. We need to strive to become the shining examples ourselves. Change is happening everywhere and in a faster pace than ever before. There’s no time to play safe and those who dare to “begin” can reap the sweet fruits of success.

I truly believe that this is exactly what change agents do. They lead the way – even when they don’t know which way to go.  Why don’t you try be one within your team and/or organization in 2014? My personal motto for this fresh year is: “Talk less. Do more.” It comes from the same angle. I don’t want to wait until I am perfectly prepared and I don’t need to discuss everything to the last detail. I want to do more instead trusting in my own instincts and capabilities and the people around me. It’s about feeling confident that no matter what will happen I will figure it out or I will learn a valuable lesson.

Too many times great ideas get stuck or die, because the first step was never made. I’ve had a few million dollar ideas in the past – ask my friends and network about them, but I never started working on them. Don’t let this happen to you and your dreams. Try more, dare more and yes, fail more this year- it’s what live (and business) is all about anyway. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger – they say. It’s true – I’ve never felt stronger than today!

All the best for 2014. 

Lefti

This was many years before the rise of social media and today it’s more valid than ever. Deming understood that customer focus is THE key aspect of any successful business. No businesses can succeed without serving its customers with products/services which either solve a problem or at least add value to their lives. It’s about them – not you as a business. They are the reason why your business exists. 

This may sound like common sense, right? But unfortunately it’s not! Just look around you and you will see that many companies still don’t get it. Most of them don’t even know their customers. They don’t spend time on getting to know them. They ignore that we’re living in a world powered by social media which can bring us closer to our customers and unlock new opportunities. Don’t be one of them!

4 things which will bring you back on the customer focus track:

1. Listen and never stop listening: There have never been more relevant data available publicly ready to be used for your business. You should use these data to understand your market, customer needs and the competitive landscape. If you cannot afford monitoring tools or business intelligence services to provide you with these data and insights, the least you can do is to spend some time yourself doing the “listening”: Browse the web and check out forums and reviews that are relevant to your business. A google search will allow you to tap into interesting stories within your industry. With Facebook graph search you can connect the dots between people. With Twitter hashtags and trending topics you can see what’s happening in your market right now. No excuses, please!
2. Selling is actually doing good: When you really start having a customer focus in everything you do and once you made your customer your priority number one, selling becomes a pleasure – not a burden. You don’t need to feel bad. You don’t just chase your customers money, you’re offering a great solution, solving a problem, adding value to their lives. You’re here to help. You’re doing something good. What are you waiting for? It’s time to move from cold calls to warm selling. Your customers will love it!
3. From product to customer development: It’s about moving from product development to “customer development”. This concept is applied within the startup scene for leaner and bootstrapped market entries. Although it mainly helps startup survive longer by cutting costs and winning valuable time in the pursuit of a sustainable business model, it also proves the power of seeing your customers as part of your team. The customer should be head of product, marketing and sales today. By inviting your customers to work closely with you, you create an ally and supporter who will do some pretty important work for you: To buy your product/service and to spread the word for you.
4. Your customer – the new Head of Marketing and Sales: Business is based on relationships. It’s people’s business. It’s about trust and credibility which you cannot influence by spending media dollars alone. People care more about what their peers say than what your ad is shouting at them. In today’s world people can choose whom they follow and listen to and whom not. Here’s what you should do: As a customer focussed business you should open the stage for your happy customers. Let them tell the world how great you are. Make it easy to for them share their stories related to your product/service. Give them the tools they need to bring their friends and business partners. Reward them for doing so. Don’t be afraid of loosing control – you’re not in control anyway;)

Summing it all up – it’s all about serving your customers the best way you can by knowing them, serving them and making them part of your team. It’s about walking the extra mile and over delivering whenever you can. Why don’t you stop hunting more new customers and focus on serving your existing customers better instead. We’re happy to hear how you delight your customers and how you have been delighted as a customer – tell us your stories in the comments, please!

PS: One thing you should Ttell your CFO: The magic is to stop thinking in quarter results and start thinking in “customer lifetime value”.  Do you see the difference?

(Credits for the image go to @gapingvoid!)

Eleftherios Hatziioannou interviewed Mitch about his career path, passions and the main conclusions in his book. It was a very enlightening session. Watch this video summary to get a taste of the (digital) future and how to get ready for it. Learn why you should have “sex with data” and why you better “kill your content”.

 PS: Make sure to never miss a session again by signing up for Gurcles (Wiser. Together.). We will notify you about upcoming events.

Lefti’s statement after being part of the jury and attending the award ceremony in Athens: 

“In 2011 I spoke for the first time in Greece about Social Media and the impact it has on marketing. During my speech at the Online Marketing Conference 2011 I had to prove the relevance and the reasons why brands and agencies should embrace the change. I still had to convince the audience that they should move forward in this space dedicating resources to their social media engagement. Only 2,5 years later I had the honor to be part of the jury which evaluated the best efforts in this space. I am impressed by the work I have seen and the results that have been achieved. This is even more impressive to me – if you look at the context: The Greek economy has gone through hell in the past few years and a lot of businesses struggled to stay alive. Agencies and service providers had to work hard and with limited budgets. I want to congratulate all brands and agencies who didn’t stop, but took this opportunity. Every single award is well deserved.” 

We’ve asked Lefti to also give a few comments on the state of social media marketing in Greece and what he believes the next logical step should be:

“Change takes time. Although we’ve seen some progress and more and more engagement in social media, there’s still a long way to go. Most of the work that has been done in the past years had to do with building a presence and the respective communities which is the ground work. A lot of the projects still had a very strong “media” focus applying the typical old school approach of measuring success. It was more about how to reach more people, how to grow the number of likes, subscribers and views, etc. This is a good first step, of course, but there is a reason why it’s called SOCIAL media. Looking into the future – I hope that everyone goes back to work now and goes deeper in what it means add more “social” into social media.”

Some questions to ask yourselves when working on your social media engagement of the future:

• Who is our target customer and what are his/her needs?
• How can we listen more carefully? Yes, listening is as important as talking!
• How can we serve this customer better by using the social technologies available?
• How can we be closer to our customers and build stronger relationships?
• Which content adds value to their timelines/lives and how can we co-create it?
• Which tools/services can we offer that are useful to our communities?
• How can we make our communities part of our R&D team?
• How can we turn satisfied customers into brand ambassadors?
• etc.

After all, it’s not about us (the brands), it’s about them!

So next year we hope to see even more great efforts who take the logical next step and focus more on the “humans” behind each account again. Another contest and game might be fun, but we’re missing a much larger opportunity here:

To build customer relationships that last and increase the customer lifetime value by providing exactly what people need and ask for.

It’s not about going broader, it’s about digging deeper!

Congratulations also to the Boussias team for organizing such a great event and also taking this bold step to initiate this award. It’s not a given that all of this happened in the midst of a financial crisis. Keep it up! You can find some impression of the event here. By the way: find a list of all winners on the official #smagr website.