Karen Katz will take over as CEO of Neiman Marcus in October. Like many new CEOs, she wants to take the company where it's never been.

She's not thinking of global market or brand extensions or new product lines.

She wants this well-known, upscale brand to embrace social media. As Katz said in the most recent issue of Fast Company:

"We have to use the digital domain to reach even more people and be a resource to get educated on fashion and luxury. We're a retailer -- and a really good retailer -- but how can we take this voice we have about fashion and luxury and extend the reach?"

I'm excited to watch how Nieman Marcus executes on this strategy. We believe that most successful companies have good knowledge about their industry. The scale and cost efficienices of social media finally make the task of capturing and sharing that information worthwhile for reputation building and business development.

Now, if Nieman Marcus could just think about opening a store in Nashville...

About the Author

Sue Atkinson, APR, is founder and Chairman of Atkinson Public Relations.

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