Steve Jobs had a talent for identifying what was important and what was not, and having the courage to toss what he felt was the nonessential. We see this reflected in the Apple line of products and in the Apple retail stores, and we also see it in Apple’s branding and all aspects of their marketing communications. But there was a time when Apple had gotten away from its roots and away from simplicity and clarity, not only in terms of its marketing but in terms of its products too. It took Steve Jobs coming back in 1997 to get the Apple brand back on track after years of neglect. This seven-minute clip below is from an internal presentation that Steve gave in Cupertino to his employees not long after he returned to Apple in 1997. If you are even remotely interested in business or in marketing an organization or cause of any kind in which you truly believe, you need to see this short talk.

Steve says that marketing is not about touting features and speeds and megabytes or comparing yourself to the other guys, it’s about identifying your own story, your own core, and being very, very clear about what you are all about and what you stand for…and then being able to communicate that clearly, simply, and consistently!

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Today everyone is talking about social media, from our parents, teachers to even our grand parents! The reality is everyone is on social media and companies are battling it out to get their share of the consumer voice.

While I have read several posts on social media engagement and how you as an entrepreneur or even a company can engage with potential customers or even existing customers – remembering the golden rules it costs much less to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones.

I must admit Jesse Stanchak post on “The power of touch: How we misunderstand social media engagement” is one the most insightful posts I have seen on building and nurturing engagement on social media.

According to him the holy grail of social media marketing is an act that replicates the psychological effects of a great handshake: familiarity, engagement and trust.

I picked up some key lessons:-

- Do something with what’s been said to you. When you show people you can really listen to them, they’re more likely to talk with you again in the future.

- You have get specific in your language for people to feel like you’re actually speaking to them, not the crowd they’re standing in.

- Customers are bombarded by ads all day, and it makes them defensive. If you want them to let you in, you might have to make the first move.

- If you have a good budding relationship with someone on one network, moving up a level is a good way to strengthen it.

- Get the conversation offline. This can be especially useful if you’re trying to engage someone who enters the conversation with a chip on their shoulder.

For the complete post check out http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2011/01/07/the-power-of-touch-how-we-misunderstand-social-media-engagement/

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I’ll be doing a series of posts on online networking and how technology is helping folks like you and me to continue the conversations!!!

For starters check out this presentation by Digital Vidya on “How to use LinkedIn for Business Promotion & Personal Branding”.

http://www.slideshare.net/digitalvidya/linked-in-tips-guidelines

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