Sometimes it seems that when communicators try to help clients understand the importance of utilizing the new digital (social media) channels, we make the arguments much more complicated than needed. An alternative is to look at these communication tools in small parts and examine them separately.

Several months ago, some friends asked us to attend the Lady Gaga Concert at the Tacoma Dome on August 21. I confess - my wife Loma and I didn't really know what we were committing to, but it sounded like fun and a chance to observe a master marketer and communicator. Her two-hour performance, before 20,000 people, provided all that and more.

My spouse and I just extended our membership to David Barton Gym in the Bravern complex in Bellevue. Since a bicycle jersey and spandex shorts are as close as you'll come to seeing me sans clothes, it wasn't their eye-catching tagline "Look Better Naked" that hooked us.

 My seven day cycling adventure in Eastern Washington and Canada is now a memory, and my body has fully recovered from the agony I put it through. I have a real sense of accomplishment for completing this adventure and am equally pleased my brain is now empty of a desire to do anything like this again.

Here's another example of the way you tell your story in the new media world.  The Washington Manufacturing Alert produced by former Seattle Post-Intelligencer business writer Bill Virgin has now added a space for its subscribers to tell their stories. VHPR was one of the first participants.  Great newsletter--great advertisers?

The new gathering places—the water coolers, street corners, and picket fences—of our time are on the Web. Conversations that can influence how the public knows about and evaluates your products and services are taking place in blogs, on FaceBook and through Twitter. Are you there to hear what’s being said? Are you there to engage with current and potential customers in the places they show up to exchange information, seek answers, and make recommendations?

While you wouldn't know it from the Pacific Northwest weather, it feels like the economic climate is definitely warming up. I'll leave it to the research firms to come up with the “proof statements” like consumer confidence, manufacturing data and home sales. My “tennis shoe indicators” (gained by walking around and chatting) point towards an upward trend. Conversations include retailers telling me that the first four months of 2010 were the best in two years, hearing about two out-of-work executives getting jobs, and a gardener telling me several clients were starting projects that had been on hold for two years.

Like so many items that deal with the new world of social media, the idea for this post came from random events. The first was trying to come up with a topic for a forum on social media I'll be moderating in a few weeks. Since I met with the same business group last year, it was a perfect time to ponder "what's changed?" The second came from reading The Seattle Times article on new media that confirmed the explosive power of online media. And the third came from a random comment from the specialist who tested my eyes on a whole array of machines at the ophthalmologist. Hint – he also happens to own a restaurant.

In the last year or so, the banking industry has been under fire from many places.  VHPR works with a range of community banks and also conducts online media monitoring for several financial services clients. To those in other businesses and industries who think they have nothing to learn from the challenges being faced by banks that made bad construction loans or invested in risky financial derivatives, I offer two words – Think Again!

Happy New Year! I'm definitely on the list of folks who was delighted to see 2009 fade into history. Although my personal life was enriched by a new granddaughter, a new son-in-law and some great family and cycling time, let's face it, the business climate was lousy.

I believe we can see better days in 2010, but it's going to take some fresh thinking and accepting that "better days" doesn't mean what it did even back in 2008. This New Year will look and feel very different. That's where behavior styles, social media and a glass half full attitude come in.

Recent conversations with folks representing a wide range of industries tells me the jury is still out on how much of an economic upturn we'll see in 2010. Banks are still slow to lend, construction is at a standstill and excess buildings are still under construction. That being said, there are signs that in some industries companies are ramping up their plans for hiring and spending. I will be more than happy to see 2009 end, so let's talk about what those companies that are ramping up will find.