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Talk About Community

Caroline Kennedy, Editor-in-Chief -- Gifts and Dec, 3/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Caroline Kennedy

We just celebrated St. Patrick's Day, a day when many honor their Irish heritage and culture. I love St. Patrick's Day and feel a strong bond to my Irish ancestry. However, my heritage is not just Irish; I am the sum of many parts, or cultures, as the case may be.

The gift industry, too, is the sum of many parts: vendors, sales reps, retailers, showroom buildings and trade show managements and trade publications. As a community, we all come together at least twice a year at one trade show or another, but rarely do we take/make the time to sit down together to talk about important issues. However, when that does happen, it can be an illuminating experience for all. Last month, during the Las Vegas Market, the World Market Center Las Vegas and Gifts & Decorative Accessories held a roundtable discussion, which brought together representatives of the diverse segments of our industry. A summary of the three-hour interchange is presented on page 36.

Getting With the Program

One major point that couldn't be stressed enough was that we must all embrace the Internet and all that goes with it. The Internet is changing the way we all do business, and if you don't have a presence there, you are missing out on a lot of potential business. Tied into that is tapping into the different social media for business purposes. OneCoast's Ted Teele advised, "get with the program" and have a presence in places like Facebook and Twitter to help you market your business in a new way to a new audience. By doing so, you become a part of a new type of "community." Skeptical? On page 22, Meredith Schwartz presents the benefits of social media use from the point of view of a retailer, a vendor, a sales rep and a mart.

Some of us may be old dogs, but that doesn't mean that we can't learn new tricks. I started blogging on GiftsandDec.com about two years ago. I wasn't really keen to do it at first, and didn't think that I had much to blog about. But I felt that it was important to reach out in this way and I'm beginning to get the hang of it. I recently started Twittering. Why? To see how it works and what it can do, not just for me, but for the magazine, its website and audience. As I see how I am followed and follow others, I am learning. I'm not quite up to speed yet, but I am getting a sense of its potential. And Facebook? I am there, too ... but just. Follow me at www.Twitter.com/CarolineEIC. It's a brave new world, and these are part of the new culture. I've taken the plunge; how about you?

Speaking of taking the plunge: It's time to enter the RETAILER EXCELLENCE AWARDS competition. Don't be shy. Tooting your own horn is what successful marketing and promotion is all about! Go to www.GiftsandDec.com to enter or Tweet me and I'll send you a link. If you are still old school, request forms via snail mail or email.

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