A little late (but perhaps only fashionably so) AIMS Canada has jumped into the blog fray. Announced in an email to members today, the blog has been up for just over a week. Authored by Kathryn Lagden, the GM of AIMS, the blog is first and foremost a tool to connect members. From her innaugural post:
I'm thinking of it as a combination of blog and discussion forum (a blogum?). A place for members to interact and discuss ideas, challenges, and best practices with other members. (Sound familiar? If you’re a long time member you’re probably remembering the AIMS Discussion List aka ADL right about now).
Since I started working at AIMS a few months ago I've had a lot of people ask me about the ADL. While we don't want to use that technology again the desire for member communication is as strong as ever. Which is great because helping members talk and share with other members is a big part of what AIMS is all about.
We’ve seen dramatic changes in the online landscape and there’s never been a better time to talk about what we’re experiencing. The good, the bad, and what we’ll remember for next time.
There's a lively discussion going on there right now about the impending redesign of the AIMS website.
Something I'm interested in seeing ... how will the use of social media impact the success of Canada's marketing-oriented organizations. Will AIMS Canada's blog take the lead over the CMA's recently launched blog? (In my humble opinion, AIMS is using a better software package, but CMA has some great writers! And content *is* king. I don't know if Kathryn can keep up with the likes of Mitch, Michael, Sulemaan and Bill.) Will the IAB Canada jump into the fray with a blog? And what about the ACA? Do they even *know* about social media? And who will be the first to take up podcasting?
Now, I know that this is not about who has the coolest blog. But, I am interested in seeing how our advertising and marketing organizations can differentiate themselves as well as lead the way by using social media. And I wonder if the role of organizations like AIMS or the CMA will need to radically change.
Media is not only democratized for our clients (if we're agencies) or our customers (if we're clients) but for marketers themselves. If I have a blogroll of great individual marketers and communications experts that I already read, what can an AIMS or CMA blog offer? Will it be purely about the goings on of that organization? The CMA blog is putting up some great content. But then so is One Degree which isn't affiliated with any organization.
In the short term, the more the merrier and I am thrilled that Kathryn and AIMS have launched the AIMS Canada Blog. But at some point, my attention and my reading time are finite. What will
differentiate?
Here's what I think needs to happen. And if I were more of an OPML whiz I'd do it myself. But, I think we need to call up Rob Cottingham. Last winter, during the Canadian election, Rob and his company Social Signal created Confeederation - a site that aggregated postings from all candidate blogs from all parties so that you had a one-stop shop for your political fix. It's great! Check it out .. I'll wait.
OK. So, what I think we need is a one-stop shop for great Canadian marketing info. One Degree started us off. More and more individual Canadian marketers have come on board. CMA, AIMS, etc are on the wagon. Let's aggregate the feeds. I want Confeederation for Marketers. The Mesh Community is doing this. They're talking about Web 2.0 development, but it's aggregating over a half a dozen feeds. It's powered by iUpload, another fine Canadian company.
I don't know enough tech to make this happen. Can somebody help?
Tags: one degree, CMA, AIMS Canada, confeederation