“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious” Albert Einstein

Hi folks,

A lot has been going on since my last post for this blog, one year ago. Changes that have affected the way we engage on social media, changes that are influencing the way we should consider innovation as a way to develop more engaging consumer experiences, online as well as in the real world.

Engaging goes visual, at last!

We have seen a whole new generation of social media platforms appear in the last months. The much acclaimed and praised Google + was launched taking the Google experience to a new level. In the meantime,  Instagram and Pinterest developed in an unprecedented way showing all the potential of picture marketing engaging. Finally, we have also seen the appearance of Facebook’s Timeline as a more visual approach to online engagement.

For those looking for an interesting use of Instagram by a brand, don’t hesitate to check the campaign by Swatch on Facebook.

A year full of learnings, for me too

On a personal level a lot has been going this past year as I’ve been writing posts and managing the social media platforms of Alp ICT, the Lake of Geneva High Tech Cluster, promoting startups such as inZair (next generation mobile messaging), Poken (NFC based social networking) and Ecowizz (energy saving technology) as well as some of Switzerland’s most innovative research institutes such as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, the EPFL.

In the last year, I also had the opportunity to give a few conferences on Community Management & Online Loyalty to Swiss Tourism Professionals and entrepreneurs for Swiss Marketing Association. Speaking at those venues and confronting my ideas to the public was very inspiring and has shown me how important but challenging the development of quality content is.

All this adds to a year full of learnings that I wish to share in my future posts. The situation might have changed in many ways but some vital challenges remain for companies and organizations such as creating engaging customer experiences for the new generations of consumers.

Remember: As the Loyalty Marketer’s Association quoted in a their top 12 Trends for 2012 post: “Customer loyalty , versus acquisition, is critical for driving sustainable growth”. This has never been more true as some markets enter a period of uncertainty.

A new series of posts coming, stay tuned!

In the race to create new experiences and inspire a new generation of loyal consumers, I am convinced that technology and innovation will play a major role and I really look forward to share with you my impressions in my forthcoming posts.

I’d like to thank all my loyal readers and welcome all the new ones discovering this blog. If the subjects of loyalty buidling, customer experience, innovation and new media interest you, don’t hesitate to follow me on Twitter and join the discussion!

See you soon et à bientôt 🙂