CwF + RtB = $$$$$

Everywhere you look, everywhere you go, or just about every URL you click on, somebody, somewhere is talking about social media. Social media this...social media that. Which is fine and dandy. But for me, going on and on about social media (which is a tool/tactic) is like holding a seminar on hammering nails into 2 x 4's instead of talking about how to build a house. 

For me a much more interesting conversation is - what are the business models of the new economy?

For years companies have reaped astronomical amounts of profit without giving customers any real value. Commercials for the last (at least) thirty years have pounded the beat of consumption in the marketplace until there was a hole in the drum set. We've been pouring ourselves glasses of shiny new objects, year after year, without really exploring what will really quench our thirst.

Right now we are in a moment of great shift. The business of print media is under assault, manufacturing jobs have been declining for years,  and ever since the birth of Napster, the music industry has been fighting a losing battle in trying keep the old ways alive. Now with what I've just mentioned I've only scratched the surface of the realities of the new economy.  

Business models need to be in alignment with where today's market realities are.  In a way, identifying that may be challenging, but even more difficult, is successfully executing a strategy that will allow your business model to become sustainable. 

In 2008 I posted my first blog discussing Trent Reznor and his wickedly ingenious approach to re-imagining the "NIN experience", and have also discussed him on a number of succeeding posts as well. 

In the presentation below, Michale Mansnick awesomely discusses Trent's experiments with building the NIN brand in the networked economy. It highlights the following equation as the formula for future music business models:

       Connect with Fans (CtF) + Reason to Buy (RtB) = The Business Model ($$$$$)

Now this may be about an artist in the music world but it can be applied to just about any industry.