Robin Bordoli of Headmix invited me to join him in New Orleans early this week for a part of the ACCM 2009 Conference . Headmix was there as a sponsor of the Strategic Advisory Board reception. During this event, Direct Marketing Association (DMA) VP of Catalog & Multi-Channel Merchant Segments, Neil O'Keefe, announced the formation of the DMA's first social media advisory council. Robin, along with Peter Daboll of Bunchball and Sev Maynard of Cooperative Labs are the first council members.

The session held yesterday provided a glimpse into how the DMA members are thinking about social media, and how it may benefit their business (now and future).  It was my observation that the idea of social media (while not being employed regularly) has been on the minds of these business leaders. Reaction from the participants ran the gamut.

One business expressed immediate interest after the morning's presentation. They asked, “How do I get started?”   Many leaders were quiet .

Some fell in the skeptical camp – “how do we monetize our participation on Twitter?” “How do we make money using social media? No one has been able to answer than one.”

To me, these questions that illustrate the underlying problem. The leaders in that room hear news stories, friends and Oprah talking about Twitter and social media and therefore some semblance of importance is established. Importance. Not relevance. These leaders hear the “media” in social media and begin to equate the engagement they have enjoyed through more traditional means with the nature and method of engagement in online social spaces.

Education is desperately needed. This group is missing some key pieces of information before deciding why, if, and how they should be participating in social media.

Several of the businesses represented in the room came from a catalog background. They have built their organizations, and in some cases, rely on catalogs to drive sales. This has been a highly effective business model for them for decades and will likely continue to be so for many years to come.

The “why” these companies should consider is that Millenials and even some young GenXers have come to expect a different kind of relationship with the brands that they engage. Many people have written at length about the difference between Boomers and younger generations. I wrote about it here . (Quick summary: that post describes how Boomers are accustomed to and accepting of advertising and having messages pushed toward them. Younger generations are less tolerant- often times intolerant of advertising pushed to them.  They expect a more personal relationship with brands.  They trust the community ahead of brands and media.)

I think once this idea is understood more broadly with this group, the “if” becomes obvious. “YES.” We need to find a way to engage our current/future customers in a manner they prefer.

The “how” becomes a bit more dicey. Transitioning an organization to be capable of allowing and handling open communication over typical institutional speak will take some work. Smart guys like Steve Bendt would say, start inside your organization first .  It gives your company an opportunity to establish ground rules, make mistakes, and learn how to handle the kind of candid conversation you will get from customers and vendors.  I agree.  I look at what BlueShirt Nation has done and continues to do for Best Buy via the Headmix platform.

Embracing internal social platforms has taught Best Buy legal, employees, HR, and leaders how to be open.  The learnings they have gained there have opened a floodgate of new opportunities for how to engage their customers in ways they could never have imagined a few years ago.

Edit May 13, 2009:  Robin Bordoli posted his plans for the DMA's social media council on the Headmix Blog.