I know it’s a busy week in New York City with several events and conferences happening all over the city …. but  … there is one event, one event you should not miss, and I’ll definately be there as well .. because it’s my own meetup group, DataStories.

BOOK REVIEW: Pre-Commerce: How Co’s & Customers R Transforming Business Together

I’ve been reading a copy of the new Pre-Commerce book by Bob Pearson and it’s hot – not only is it  very hot, but it’s got some of the top business leaders, top corporate leaders who have written exceprts and case studies personally, for the book.

The idea of PreCommerce is that most of the selling of an idea or brand comes way, way before you actually try to buy anything - and I guess, it's another way of saying the relationships you build, or the "pre-commerce" if you want to put it that way, are what determines weather customers are going to buy from your brand, or not.

Anyone who shows up next Wenesday will probably be able to get a free signed copy of the book , and this will be a book you'll want to own, especially if your into marketing, sales or public relations.  And, you get to hear it from the author, Bob Pearson, himself.

I want to say something else - having just finished writing a book I'm much more appreciative of what goes into it creating a living, breathing manuscript.    One other thing - that the idea of pre-commerce could really be extended out to friendship and social networking - though that's not the focus of Bob's book.

When I think of Pre-Commerce, I think of friendship, pure friendship, just liking people, hanging out, having fun - and "being there".   For several years I did just that - go to events in New York, hang out with people I liked and for the most part, asked nothing from them.

Eventually, I needed a job, mine had just ended at Monster and I was talking to a friend who just started at Porter Novelli (at the time, Stephanie Agresta was working for PN, she now works for a different company) ... when I asked for a favor, it was much easier  because I already had a relationship and established my identity and authenticity.

In the same way, when I wrote my book on Social Media Analytics for McGraw Hill, I had many friends in the Analytics Industry to draw up for case studies, interviews and advice.  People like Gary Angel, Dennis Mortensen, Philip Sheldrake, Avinash Kaushik and so on, and the list is long, very long in fact.

But it gets back, I think, to Pre-Commerce.  You can't expect to just cash in on an idea, a campaign, a slogan, a message now, if you haven't build a relationship with your audiences beforehand, the old way of doing business, or friendships, or anything, has more or less changed - or should I say, that it was was about relationships and we just now realize it.

Anyway ... I hope to see you at WCG next Wednesday evening for the next NY DataStories meetup and bring your friend - the first who show up get free books, and you might learn something new - and build relationships ... and who knows where that leads to ... esp in these tough economic times.

When I was in London attending and speaking at Monitoring Social Media Bootcamp two weeks ago, I met Trey Pennington who I had heard a lot about him via LikeMinds, The BrandBuilder and the whole Bovey Castle social media case studies thing (all of which, I missed).

When I met Trey and knew he’d be in New York (to meet with Seth Godin) I asked him if he’d speak out our NY DataStories Meetup and am honored Trey Pennington did – we had a large turn out – about 34 attended – and it wasn’t a large room that we had at Hive 55, in lower Manhattan.

Trey Pennington at NY DataStories Meetup

Except for a 10 minute gap, when I went to get the Pizza that was ordered for the group, everything Trey Pennington said is captured and on YouTube tonight (in one Playlist), below.

There’s well over an hour of footage here if you decide to view all the videos in this playlist – I think Trey has given some gems – he’s not really as much into metrics as listening and learning.   In fact, Social Media Monitoring, which Trey has said is one of the next big things (and now he’s working with Synthesio – he’s deep into representing a monitoring platform) he expressed how we should be using these platforms to listen and gather insights for product development.

Trey mentioned Scott Monty of Ford Motors and said that as much as Ford is utilizing Social Media, they aren’t yet using Social for finding out what features the next cars Ford designs are going to have – and it’s a pity they don’t use SM that way, but they don’t.

That got me thinking of how we’d use Synthesio, or Radian6, or BrandWatch, or Sysomos – or anything else that can monitor online conversations – to better listen and learn what customers really want.  I have to admit that most projects I have worked on have been “directed” and circumscribed by what people asked for.  It’s rare that someone allows the space to monitor conversations with no set objective but to listen and learn – and yet Trey thinks the latter is the most valuable activity in the monitoring space, such as it is, today.

Another person asked how to answer Social Media ROI questions – to which Trey Pennington said there are no baselines for this, as yet.  Trey quoted Richard Edelman – who hired Rick Murray to run Edelman PR back in 2004 – at first Rick traveled to Edelman offices to take a pulse and collect information – but it actually took 4 years to finally get much in the way of results for Edelman’s Social Media work.

In this context, Trey Pennington illustrated how return on investment in Social Media, or Social Media ROI, was usually a waste of time, and businesses that need to see return on investment within the next quarter probably will be frustrated with what can be obtained, today, with Social Media.  Trey mentions a cultural change or shift away from expecting ROI metrics and focusing instead on listening and learning.  Trey mentioned that The BrandBuilder has whole series on his blog exposing the reality of Social Media ROI.

Much as Trey Pennington put it – there’s no real competition, as he sees it, just businesses learning to listen better – if they are helping and spreading the good work – business thrives and grows.  Trey mentioned a business in South Carolina that designs Bandannas  and how it thrived via User Generated photos which ended up becoming a catalog driving much more business.

There was more on the videos I have uploaded than what I’m able to write about from memory – Trey Pennington wrapped up his talk by saying Social Media allowed 3 fundamental messages to go forth to anyone who wanted it:

1. We all need to be heard
2. We all need to be acknowledged
3. We all need to know that our lives matter

…. and the Pizza was good – actually, better than good.

By the way – here’s a video of Trey Pennington being introduced as the new Biz Development person for Synthesio.

While I was in London last week I secured Trey Pennington as our speaker for the next NY DataStories Meetup on April 15th at Hive55 on 55 Broad Street in New York.   My sense of Trey, having heard so much about him but not knowing as much as I do now – is that Trey Pennington is just the the type of influential we want speaking at DataStories.  I urge anyone who reads my blog and is in New York next week to register for this meetup and attend.

Here’s the notes from our NY DataStories Meetup page:

We figured let’s create a meetup on Tax Day. Why not? Also, we are honored to have an out of town social media influencer grace us with his presence and knowledge on social media, Mr. Trey Pennington, now at Synesthio. After Trey speaks, we will open up the room for discussion on metrics and a Q&A session. The event will be held at Hive 55.

Trey’s Bio:
Trey Pennington uses technology, marketing, and stories to connect businesses with the people they seek to serve. Trained in marketing and education (MBA, MS in Education), Trey understands the value of story. He helps companies discover and develop their core story.

Trey leverages social media to connect with audiences around the world. HubSpot ranks his Facebook profile as one of the most influential in the world. They also routinely rank his Twitter profile in the top 0.01% of all profiles ranked. Trey’s uses social media to bring communities together: since January 2009, he’s started or helped start ten Social Media Clubs—eight in the southeastern United States, one in the United Kingdom, and one in Australia. His home club now has nearly 600 members.

Trey routinely speaks to Rotary Clubs, ASTD and PRSA meetings, and at social media and marketing conferences in the United States, United Kingdom, and soon in Australia. When he speaks, he encourages audiences to use timeless marketing principles to engage with and care for real human beings regardless of the media employed—traditional or social. The valuable component is a commitment to meet the needs of people in one’s marketplace through every point of contact.

Trey is a member and former board director of the Rotary Club of Greenville, the 27th largest of Rotary’s 30,000 clubs internationally. He also serves as an executive officer on the South Carolina State Board of Nursing. He’s also Dad to six children aged 7 to 19.

Like I say – you should come to this meetup – even if you have to drop something else to do so – and I hope to see you there.