The commercial digital world we live in is always in a state of flux, change is inevitable and based on my experience change (positive/negative) happens as a result of changes in behaviour combined with a business that's lost it's 'WHY'!.

Companies that don't invest time, effort, and resource to keep pace with the dynamics of change tend to be the losers in the world of commerce.

What you were great at yesterday will no longer be a strategy for the future.

Today's generations know nothing other than the free to access, free to use, lo-cost, no-cost digital world that many from previous generations still find somewhat bewildering. Especially in multi-channel retail.

We can evidence that many brands, especially CEO's have a 'passive' not 'active' social footprint. The majority are on platforms like LinkedIn because of FOMO, but should they be using it as an expression of leadership and to build out a like minded community?

With 3.8bn people on one social network or other around the world it's difficult to see how they are going to cut it in today's socially savvy consumer world unless they start to 'up' the social footprint.

It seems it pays to be connected via social media, especially if you're running a multi-billion dollar company (link below).

A study by the Edelman Trust Barometer found that 67% of consumers trust “company technical experts,” while only 43% trust CEOs. Employee generated content is often more authentic than company-produced content. Therefore, consumers are more likely to trust what individuals have to say over any corporate communication.

Matching content with a face helps brands gain consumer trust.

As advertisers bombard consumers across platforms like Twitch, Facebook, television, billboards and more, consumers are trying to get away, signing up for ad blockers and subscription services.

Change is driven by leadership mindset, businesses that cling to a legacy thinking mindset 'we can't change because of' type of excuses, or our 'legacy systems can't just be thrown away', or 'our leaders don't do what they ask us to do' are the most common 'blockers' of any change.

I've found that people generally fall into 2 key areas when it comes to 'change';

1. At a logical level they fully understand and accept that for things to move on change needs to happen - this view is initially is driven by the leadership team.
2. At an emotional level is where most of the resistance to that change occurs - this is also driven by the leadership team, and filters down.

So what you are faced with are the people who are charged with that 'change strategy' understand the logic, but constrain themselves and the company with the emotional elements associated with that change.

We see far too many CEO's who still think that 'social media' is something for the family, or is ran by the girl with the tattoo, or the guy with the beard in marketing.

Sound familiar?