Day: April 13, 2011

What You Should Know About the EU’s New “Internet of Things” Privacy Framework

To many, “The Internet of Things,” a predicted, transformative moment in time when nearly all “things” in the physical world will be interconnected, wirelessly, with communication capabilities linking the physical and virtual worlds for a variety of cooperative applications, is a distant point in the future.  To others, the internet of things is now.

RFID “Smart Tags” Connecting

Physical Things to Virtual Things


Radio-frequency identification technology (RFID), a technology that uses “smart tags”, tags with microchips, to provide information to a virtual network, is considered to be a primary technology in advancing “the internet of things.”  In 2011, RFID revenue is expected to exceed $6 billion, with more than 750 million so-called “item-level” RFID tags used in global apparel markets alone.  In Europe, about one billion “smart tags” are expected to be used in 2011, linking many “things” to the virtual world.

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No more mixed messages: Integrate Social Media Marketing!

Social media marketing to most in the C-suite is still a campaign-based tactic, viewed and managed separately, but it really should be integrated.  Social media marketing needs to be woven into the fabric of all marketing channels and strategically managed from a 360-degree perspective.

This integration is especially important around Customer Service, where the disparity between the customer experience in the social media channel and the customer experience in the traditional channel is a dangerous chasm.   The result is a mixed message around Customer Service – an area where none of us can afford to be unclear or inconsistent!

Think of it from the customer perspective (as you always should):  they get a quick response and dedicated attention in the social media channel, and then are subjected to the “same-old, same-old” via traditional customer service channel.  Long waits (phone or in person) and inattention in one channel will immediately cancel out any gains from your social media marketing channel.

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