Tony Effik, chair of the IAB social media council and chief strategy officer at Publicis Modem.
Unfortunately i can’t take credit for the quote in the headline, it’s by Tom Peters.
The social media revolution is thankfully, utterly confusing. That’s what makes it fun, continuously fresh, and intellectually engaging. That is why so many of us are paying attention. It is an ongoing experiment, and we are the guinea pigs. It is too early for any of us to be experts, so we are all learning at the same dizzying speed. Nobody is clear where this is all going to end.
The majority of the other digital disciplines have set definitions, agreed-upon metrics and years’ worth of benchmarking, but with social media we’re still very much at the start of our educational journey. New technologies keep coming, old formats keep dying. Clearly, we will not have all of the answers, but we will certainly have the right questions. In short, this blog aims to make confusion a force for good. Jump in, sit back or lean forward, comment, bookmark, do what you like, but please do participate. It is when things are clear that we will know you have stopped paying attention. Stay curious, stay confused, but above all enjoy!
When I became chair of the Social Media Council last November, I had a very clear idea of what, as a group, we had to achieve in order to move social media forward. This involved devising a 6 point plan for us to execute as a team. In the spirit of transparency, I think it’s important that we share these aims and objectives, to get feedback and to involve people within the wider industry wherever we can. Throughout the next 12 months the council will be busy working on these deliverables, and you’ll be hearing from a lot of the SMC members here as our projects progress. In a nutshell our 6 points are:
1. Empowering ambassadors of specialist topics within the diverse membership of the social media council, thus giving every member a voice.
2. Sharing the council’s knowledge and practical guidance with the wider industry via editorial and video content each month.
3. Promoting the council as a ‘shop window’ for social talent and agencies.
4. To create standards, tools, templates, and systems to help grow the social media business in the UK.
5. To liaise directly with industry influencers on a regular basis with focused presentations and case studies.
6. To lobby and promote social media and the council to the major holding companies and industry bodies to ensure all relevant groups are talking in the same language.
Watch this space for details of our various initiatives that match the 6 point plan, and if you have any case studies, or want a presentation from the social media council just simply get in touch with
