Building an Eco-System – Risk of Taking it Too Far

Business around the world has moved in rapid force towards building eco-systems to effectively compete in today’s markets. The smartest of these businesses have conducted serious reviews to identify what their core competencies are, and focus on developing those, while solving everything else in creative manners.

Think about the ‘buzzword bingo’ lingo that references this:

· Asset light business (AMD and Dell with factories, Rackspace and The Planet for IT Hosting)

· API (I know generic, but linking 2 disparate applications and having them play well together so can focus on building only 1)

· Outsourcing (near anything and everything- from call centers to back office support)

· Services Firms (consulting, accounting, finance, advertising, etc)

· Aggregators (E-Bay, Amazon anyone?)

· Wiki/Blog/Communities (social media on the Web is a fundamental way to build an creation and distribution system for information)

Oddly enough when we take a step back, we see how this had affected our personal lives.

We already see such things as:

· Concierge services (your errand runners)

· Pick-up/take-out/delivery (of near anything now from food to clothing)

· Services (accounting, brokerage, cleaning, lawn service)

It is already happening. How much farther will it go? If my core competency is not working out, will someday I be able to contract with someone who is, and get the benefit for myself? Could I contract out my sleep, and still feel rested when someone else much better at sleeping does it for me?

Is this what we mean by building out our personal ecosystem? Or will we take it too far?

Think Beyond 'Outside the Box' with Social Media

Too many times recently I have seen companies embrace social media through their lenses. All too obvious is the company that creates some sort of portal/blog/community/other that is only relevant to their marketing team or IT department.

This is a recipe for disaster. When will we learn.

True success is still in the hands of the customer. Give them the social media they want, on their terms. Monitor it, measure it, follow it, and most of all let the customer ‘own’ it.

It may not be obvious. A ‘soccer mom’ might not want the latest community on keeping a tidy house community from P&G, but she might be interested in how other moms are helping their Girl Scouts sell more cookies. There is potential there. How to bring it to fruition is not easy…. But essential.

A social media concept must bring value to the customer. When it delivers on that value proposition, the community builds, and you have your audience to work with. Key here, audience to ‘work with’.

One final thought, DO NOT just build the audience and then start dumping ads on them. That will work against the ultimate goal.