The Saturday Social Media Summit has a great Business panel on deck ready to discuss how blogging & social media is used to build your brand.
- Lorraine Ball (roundpeg.biz),
- Kyle Lacy (CEO, BrandSwag)
- Tim Piazza (bzzmatters.com)
- Robby Slaughter (Slaughter Development)
- Scotty Wise (CEO, Scotty’s Brewhouse)
We’d love to hear your ideas for discussion topics – what do you want to hear about?
I’d like to discuss leading by example when applying social media to business. Whether or not a company’s social media efforts are used to drive sales or not, it’s important to have a presence, and I’d like to hear what others are doing and how it’s paying off for them. I read a great quote last week–and I can’t remember where–that said, “Ignoring social media doesn’t make you invisible, it makes you mute.” I think that’s a powerful statement regardless of your social media goals.
There is an interesting debate right now about whether traditional PR firms should be more active on social media:
Should they be invisible, should they be testing new technologies before trying them on unsuspectiving clients? Is this just a fad and will newspapers have a rebirth? ( Doubtful)
Not every business will use social media the same way. Would love to talk about which tools make most sense in which businesses, or maybe just examples of how different businesses have used different tools effectively.
I think we could have a healthy discussion about the “rules for engagement” when you’re a business and how they differ from how one might behave as an individual. Twitter, with its immediacy, provides fertile ground for quickly making horrible mistakes. Individuals blogging on behalf of their employers can get into hot water without realizing it. What sort of processes are in place to prevent major failures, and who needs them?
I’d like to talk about social media and transparency. In particular, I am fascinated by how many organizations perceive being opaque as a competitive and strategic advantage, whereas I find that transparency does a better job of building loyalty, productivity and satisfaction among all stakeholders.
For example, local social media advocate Amy Stark (@starkreality) told me about a conversation with a non-profit. When she was asked how to use social media to help address a funding crisis, she suggested “Reach out to your donors and tell them about your funding crisis.” This advice was shocking to someone who avoided showing weakness at all costs.
I love this story because it demonstrates how social media has forced us to have conversations that we should have had ages ago. Transparency has always been powerful, but today, it’s also inescapable.
I would suppose that we don’t have a strong sense of who the audience will be, but I think we can make 3 assumptions.
If We’re talking to people who are not yet using social media in their business, then they will want to know about how to get started, either from a “how to” perspective or a “how to sell it to management” perspective.
If they are currently using social media, they will want to know strategies for getting noticed and building success, increasing the slope of their trajectory.
If they have been at it for a while, are strategically well positioned and they’re already pushing the envelope, they’ll want to know why they aren’t one of the panelists.
I am the little “nobody” in this group. I’m not an expert, I’m not a consultant, I’m just a techno-junkie that loves marketing and PR. In fact, I know just about enough to be dangerous. I read some of the other comments here and Tim made me think of myself as I “tweet” or Facebook… I often intertwine personal annecdotes with marketing messages, to keep my readers interested and laughing. There is a thin line and I probably cross it occasionally. My sense of humor gets the best of me sometimes and I forget that I’m talking/tweeting to hundreds, not my friends in the backyard.
That being said, I always think of myself as my consumer. So, I try to use things that would keep me engaged and listening/reading. I personally tweet every message and I respond to every complaint, comment or criticism. Which is the 2nd most important use of Social Media for me and my company – instant access to the owner. I like handling and fielding complaints and comments. I use Google to track all blog comments, reviews, Yelp, Urbanspoon and the 100’s of others out there. Sometimes just acknowledging someone’s complaint is all they wanted and you can turn them into a raving fan.
So, I can share my little secrets that I use for all Social Mediums, most of which can apply to all lines of business. I have secrets on using Tweet Later services, analytics and just using @names in tweets to engage replies.
Sorry for the long-windedness…
Scotty, I’m looking forward to sharing a lively discussion with you and the other panelists, and with the people attending. We’ve all got different experiences and I think that’s what makes it interesting. It’s going to be a great discussion, I get to see Lorraine again (whom I first met on Twitter at #sibi) and meet Kyle and Robby.
I’m coming to this fresh from a blog experience that stirred two weeks of interest, conversation, tweets, and more controversy than I really expected between myself and followers of a certain social media expert. Chris Brogan even chimed in on the post titled “Who is the #1 Social Media Expert?”
I am really looking forward to the panel discussion on Saturday! I would love to talk about transparency in the business world. As always… Robby you are right on target. How does a business stay transparent when using social media? This topic in itself could fill an entire hour of discussion. Time productivity is another important topic that could be discussed.
I am really looking forward to the panel discussion on Saturday! I would love to talk about transparency in the business world. As always… Robby you are right on target. How does a business stay transparent when using social media? This topic in itself could fill an entire hour of discussion. Time productivity is another important topic that could be discussed.; I am really looking forward to the panel discussion on Saturday! I would love to talk about transparency in the business world. As always… Robby you are right on target. How does a business stay transparent when using social media? This topic in itself could fill an entire hour of discussion. Time productivity is another important topic that could be discussed.;;