We recently started a series of dinner meetings designed to bring together professionals from various organizations and roles. The goal -- enjoy a good meal and relaxed conversation, some of which centers on what is and is not working as companies try to get their messages out to the market.

We kicked off the series last night at Bobby Van's Steakhouse in NYC and had a great group! One of the interesting discussions centered on how individuals were using social media -- both personally and professionally. There seems to be a correlation between the two -- as those who were more apt to use social media to share personal updates were also the ones more actively looking at how to leverage social media as a means to communicate in the market. Perhaps the goal for marketers unsure of social media's applicability should be to gain as much exposure and experience with social media regardless of the purpose and use that experience to shape more insightful social media tactics in the future.

Also of note was a discussion around global campaigns and the differences between communicating in a local market as compared to that in a different language and culture. Clearly, technology has made the mechanics of marketing easier to centralize and operate, yet there's still a need to be able to communicate at the local level. This is more than just language -- which is where fluency and translation often fall short. To reach a particular audience based on geography or culture, you need to THINK like that audience and have shared experience and culture to draw upon.

Many thanks to all who attended -- and look for the next meetings coming soon to Boston, Washington DC and again here in NYC!