Embrace the Replacements

“Social Media is Changing the World of Investing” was the topic of a panel discussion held last week at the Milken Institute Global Conference. Moderated by Dennis Kneale, Senior Correspondent with the Fox Business Network (@denniskneale), the panel included Chris Albinson, Managing Director, Panorama Capital (@chrisalbinson), Scott Burns, Director of ETF, Closed-End Fund and Alternatives Research, Morningstar and Jon Najarian, Co-Founder, OptionMonster.com (@OptionMonster), among others. To watch the video in full, click here.

It was fascinating to hear how professional investors are using social media – monitoring LinkedIn for job changes as a clue to upcoming M&A activity, gauging sentiment towards companies through Facebook “likes” and Twitter chatter, following farmers on Twitter to see how their crops are faring, and the list goes on.

But what stuck in my head following the discussion was something that Scott Burns said that wasn’t related to investing at all – instead it was advice on how to approach social media. For those of us nudging traditional, conservative financial and professional services companies along in social media, it’s a good advice to heed.

Scott said that in a world where social media-based businesses are replacing traditional models, business leaders should first acknowledge that paradigm. Then, they should ask what these new technologies are replacing and build their strategy from there. For example, Chris Albinson discussed how Groupon is replacing YellowPages – so, if you were not the type of business that did used YellowPages to drive business, then Groupon probably doesn’t make sense for you. Don’t reinvent your entire strategy just because new tools and mediums are available.

So what are some common traditional marketing tools being replaced (or at least augmented) with? Below is our list:

What else would you add to this list?

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