How many sources of marketing data do you have and who manages them? Do those people speak to each other? If you are like most companies the answer will be you have lots of (possibly too much) data managed by various teams and all in isolation. Many companies now use a plethora of tools such as Google adwords, Google analytics, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, marketing campaign systems, sales databases and much more to run their business. These systems generate vast amounts of data, most of which is of use, some of which is superflous – but which bits?

So, how do you and your teams make decisions? And how do you judge the impact? The answer I believe in most cases is with difficulty and you struggle to make sense of the results. Why do I say that? I believe data has to be brought together to “see the bigger picture” so that you can use Facts and not Opinion to aid your decision making process.

For example, how does changing your online customer acquisition strategy affect your CRM lead generation process? If, all of a sudden, you receive a deluge of enquiries, can your systems, processes and people not only cope but delight the customer? What if the website has had numerous changes made to it and the conversion rate dramatically increases – have you got enough product in stock?

What does it take to write a great set of rules? Probably the single biggest item is executive agreement on what data is absolutely required and when it should be captured. Some industries have their sales teams update their data on a daily basis or they face disciplinary action. Others are more relaxed and maybe require some key fields updating on a quarterly basis. The right approach really depends on what is best for your business.

Here are some example business rules:

* The opportunity sale stage should be set to closed won only when the invoice has been raised.
* All of your contacts should have email addresses and telephone numbers.
* Ensure all opt-in areas are completed.

In summary, your business rules should leave no doubt as to what is expeceted and when. They should be clear, concise and relevant.

So, how do you harness the power of this astonishing medium and what are the benefits of doing so?

Firstly, join the conversation. Find groups, creates groups, have something to say. But be relevant and authoritative, don’t speak for the sake of speaking. In fact, the online world is no different to the off line i.e. real world! Are you an expert in a particular topic? Why not become a thought leader? Others are so what can’t you?

Why should you get involved? The power of the network online is literally exponential. You can be networking in your sleep! How? Well, if you have a good LinkedIn page you can be found by anyone around the world at any time. Not only does this increase your chances of building a network it can also diversify your network and put you in touch with people you may otherwise have never met. And, can you honestly say you will never need to know them? What happens you if your company decides to enter a new market overseas, maybe you already have some connections you can turn to for advice?

So, in summary, join the conversation, in fact start the conversation where appropriate and grow your network online.

So, how is Chatter different? It works on the basis that people, content and applications can all “talk”. And all within the context of the security model built and configured within Salesforce, providing private and secure context based collaboration. This is quite a departure from the one dimensional world of pure human interaction. Through Chatter all Salesforce objects and content can now talk as well. For example, say you have an opportunity in the system that has been updated by a colleague; the opportunity will now simply update your Chatter feed to let you know. If you are working on a project you can be associated with a group and all relevant updates will enter your feed.

The potential for chatter is enormous. The trick will be ensuring the information is timely, relevant and does not add to the avalanche of information we already deal with on a daily basis. In fact, it should actually make things easier so I will be following the early adopters closely to see how they adopt this exciting new technology.