Next week The Customer Collective will be integrated into our flagship site, Social Media Today (SMT). We consider this an exciting move and one that should excite our contributors and our reading community as well.
The Customer Collective (TCC) and sister site The Social Customer (TSC)blazed the trail of a new media model, one in which individual thought leaders become their own brands and where expertise and reputation are the currency upon which business relationships are built. Did this model work? You bet. In the last couple of years some of the biggest media companies in the world have followed suit.
(Note: the integration took place May 30)
Now it makes sense to leverage the increased scale and efficiency of SMT. Without intending a cliche, I do see this as a win-win-win: contributors to TSC and TCC will have a much larger audience, we can concentrate our internal resources to bolster SMT's already rapid growth, and our SMT community will benefit from a greater and more diverse array of best thinking.
I've enjoyed curating TSC and TCC these past 11 months while helping Cliff Figallo manage content on SMT. Integrating sales, marketing and customer experience articles into Social Media Today is a natural progression that reflects the ever-evolving role of social media in the sales and customer service professions. Now Cliff and I will be working together even more closely.
SMT's popular Best Thinker webinar series already encompasses key topics of The Customer Collective and The Social Customer. In the last two months alone this free weekly series has featured such subjects as "How to Build and Leverage Great Content Online, "The Total Life Cycle of the Social Customer," and "Are You Listening to Your Customers? How to Build an Effective, Customer-Focused Enterprise." Over the coming months you can expect to see more topics offering the latest thinking that ties together social media with sales, marketing, and customer service.
If you like what you see and read on Social Media Today, spread the word. If you wish to offer your own contributions to the site or know others that do, follow the steps from the Post Here tab at the top of this page. Questions about the impending integration? Reach out to us with your thoughts.