Back in my MIT days I saw E-Ink at a MITERS club event. Back then it was wires, leads, vellum and batteries (as I recall). It has tickled my head with possibilites ever since—looks like it may be en route finally.

Check out this article at BoingBoing

While attending the SAP Sapphire 08 Conference in March, I had the pleasure of listening to Keynote speaker Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Mr. Lencioni’s book is one that I have skipped over in the bookstore hundreds of times. It has one of those covers that says, “self-help this way”. But on stage Mr. Lencioni is a whole different story—or better yet he is the same story but he is more animated and incredibly engaging.

Lencioni’s lecture, and review of his book, provided insight into some of the issues your customers might be facing. When customers aren’t internally on the same page it makes a content manager’s job challenging to say the least. Keep in mind that one of the most difficult things about managing content for companies is navigating the loss of control the company feels. On one hand, organizations know they don’t have the time or bandwidth to manage and create the volume of content that is required to succeed in today’s market. But on the other hand it isn’t like emailing a file to your printer and having a dented Minivan deliver boxes of stationary to the office a few days later. Hiring a content marketing agency to assist with content creation and management is one part execution, one part strategy and two parts teamwork

A content marketing partner should be an integral part of every organizations team. If you are hired to manage a client’s content make sure you understand your clients and their message. If their internal systems are unclear or there are inconsistent messages from client contact to client contact, let them know. You will gain trust by asking the right questions and stopping to ensure you get the nuts and bolts—and in turn they are less likely to micromanage you.

“Teamwork remains the greatest opportunity for competitive advantage, because teamwork is what allows you to leverage your investments in technology strategy and intelligence,” Lencioni said from the big stage.

To effectively use trust and teamwork as tools, content marketers need to listen, advise and listen some more before creating relevant: editorial, how-to’s, videos or case studies. And organizations need to do their part too and come to the table with clear goals, likes/dislikes and understand that a content marketing partner is a part of their team, not a hired gun. Spend the time. Select the Team. Build the trust.

Scenario: It’s the week after you’ve attended a conference. Sitting at your computer you come across a stack of business cards, folks you’d like to keep in contact with—(ideally to create and maintain a relationship). You jot off a series of non-pitchy, follow-up emails—albeit there could be sales potentials but the relationship is what you are focused on. This is what you get back:

Bill

I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

-Anon

No email response. No reference to the conference you both attended, just a simple LinkedIn invitation. You believe there is value in the relationship, so you click “Accept” and realize you are one 500+ people in this persons network. Whoanh Whoanh.

Many of the people using LinkedIn and other social networking/community sites are digitizing the card dispenser/amasser strategy akin to conferences, by trolling for contacts. There are some people/firms who don’t take individuals/companies seriously unless they have a magic number of contacts in their social network. And what originally started out as a global conversation has quickly degraded into a broadcast. “It’s not what you know but who you know” has taken on a life of it’s own, and in some cases not for the best.

When you have 2149 contacts in your social network, how many of those people do you really know? Are you building those relationships or are they notches in your networking belt?

A community usually works together to embrace the well being of the group. A network is a connection, lacking an emphasis on how strong or weak that connection is. A community (virtual or real) is comprised of a coterie you could turn to for advice and assistance. Your network consists of folks who are more apt to wonder what is in it for them. My neighbor Jeff knows a great mechanic—that’s my community. My mechanic—that’s my network. Can they be one in the same, yes, but it takes work.