Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Top 5 Social Media Tips for C-Suite Execs

As I read this educational post on Mashable this morning I couldn't help but think back to a dinner conversation I had with my client and friend Walter a couple weeks ago when we were both in NYC for a Trade Show. Walter is in the pump business, double diaphragm pumps to be specific. He brought along a colleague from his office, Eric, who handles the social media responsibilities for the organization. It was fascinating listening to these two 30 somethings talk about where they saw things going on the social media front and how important it was going to be for their business. Now keep in mind .Walter is not in the most glamorous of businesses --in fact his business is rather old school when it comes to embracing digital marketing, let alone Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc. One of the things Walter said really stuck with me as he talked about how ubiquitous social media will be in our sales and marketing lives over the next couple years. He said, "Remember 15 years ago, almost nobody used e-mail. When e-mail first came out, all I heard was why do we need it."


No question the younger crowd is totally engrossed in the digital world. As the Mashable post points out, for upper level management in today's business world social media is an unpracticed art. That is going to change, I think pretty quickly. The business environment is changing in dramatic fashion and these changes are coming at us warp speed. Those in the executive suite who don't adapt to this changing world will find themselves ex-management in the not too distant future.

Top 5 Social Media Tips by Jennifer Van Grove

  • Go where the people are
  • Invest in people
  • Be a subject matter expert
  • Make it personal
  • Don't neglect internal social media

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Where Are We In The Housing Correction?


If you believe what T2 Partners has to say in this recent report the sane approach might be to continue to rent for the time being ---if you have that option. I realize it is human nature to always look for the silver lining and that we have suffered through almost two years of housing price devastation, but a study of the chart at the top of this post surely indicates more pain coming as ALT-A Option ARMS are re-set later this year and into next.


A couple amazing stats for the above mentioned T2-- Whitney Tilson research piece:


  • 14%+ of all mortgages on 1-4 family homes were delinquent or in foreclosure in Q4 2009

  • Of homeowners who haven't made a payment in a FULL YEAR- 23% haven't been foreclosed upon

  • If home prices were to drop another 10%, the percentage of underwater homeowners would increase by 50%+

  • HELOC delinquencies are soaring

I still believe a double-dip recession is in the works. Be careful out there.