Business is Social, So Now What?

Social media has seen record adoption in businesses both small and large in 2009. Exciting yes - yet there is much to learn. Businesses are seeking ways to equip their teams with strategy and tactics to engage and embrace this new dimension into their current business model, while trying to understand where social media fits into the value of their business.

Big questions still remain: Who owns social media? What's the ROI of engagement? What is the best way to measure the tools? How do you choose the best platform.Is social media for everyone? What does transparency mean? Are metrics important, and how do you seed a community to gain adoption internally? Is social media just getting on Facebook and Twitter? These questions continue to fuel the conversation, yet new discoveries on this journey are made by adopters every day. 

This month's series is a panel discussion and will feature thought leaders in the space, spending the morning with us sharing knowledge on best practices, case studies, design, and wins and losses from the front lines of social engagement. Learn and network with passionate industry professionals who are helping to define and shape the way we engage and adopt these new tools into the existing business landscape.

Please join us for a hearty content packed discussion with a panel of leaders in the Social Business space.

*****Also, this is a crowdsourced, moderated panel. If you have a question for a panel member please submit            it to me by 6 pm Monday evening. 

*****Please note: You must register in advance for this event due to venue capacity codes. 

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Panel speakers:

Rachel Happe, co-Founder, The Community-Roundtable

David Armano, Princial, The Dachis Group

Scott Gulbransen, Sr. Manager of Social Media, Intuit

Mike Lewis, VP of Marketing, Awareness, Inc

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Please use: #SMBNYC if you tweet about the event.

About the Speakers:

Rachel Happe, The Community Roundtable:

@Rhappe

Rachel has over fifteen years of experience working with emerging technologies including enterprise social networking, ecommerce, and enterprise software applications. She has been both a product manager and a management analyst, and brings with her multiple perspectives on technology development and use. As an analyst at IDC, Rachel initiated their enterprise social software practice and wrote groundbreaking research including

• The Power and Passion of Organic Communities: How Technology Can Be Used to Increase Discovery, Engagement, and Productivity
• The Social Enterprise: How Social Networking Changes Everything
• U.S. Social Networking Application 2008–2012 Forecast: Enterprise Social Networking Takes Hold.

Rachel has served as a product executive at both Mzinga and Bitpass where she worked with media and publishing companies such as Disney, MSN, United Media, CanWest, and Ziff Davis. While at Bitpass, Rachel was instrumental in developing Mperia, an social networking site for indie muscians and their fans. Her experience is chronicled in the book, The Future of the Music Business, in an interview that discusses changes in the music business brought about by the internet. Prior to Bitpass, Rachel was the Product Marketing Manager for IDe, an enterprise software company that developed applications to manage the new product development process.

Rachel started her business career at PRTM as a Business Analyst focused on helping technology companies understand and improve their product development operations. She has presented and written about trends in both social media and product development management, both at industry conferences and as a visiting speaker at the Wharton and Kellogg schools of business. She blogs at http://www.thesocialorganization.com

David Armano, Principal, Sr Partner, The Dachis Group:

@Armano

David is both an active practitioner and thinker in the worlds of digital marketing, experience design, and the social web. Author of the popular Logic + Emotion blog, he has been invited to speak at events hosted by organizations such as Google, Microsoft, O’Reilly and Ad Age.

David worked in the digital agency space for over 10 years with clients such as P&G, HP, adidas, WW Grainger, Allstate, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Fifth Third Bank. His work on Grainger helped the company earn the reputation of best commerce site according to BtoB Magazine and his leadership on HP resulted in a WebAward.

He also writes industry perspectives for The Harvard Business Review and BusinessWeek, and is best known for his distinct brand of visual thinking, which can be found both on the web and in presentations all over the world. David studied visual communications/computer graphics and graduated from Pratt Institute, where he was mentored by some of the brightest minds in the industry.

Prior to Dachis, I spent time as a creative & strategic lead at notable firms such as Critical Mass, Digitas and Agency.com—putting in a combined tenure of 8 years in the large digital agency environment. I led multiple initiatives for clients such as HP, Allstate, Fifth Third Bank, Miller Brewing, Grainger, and Bally Total Fitness. Previously, I earned my interactive stripes working with The Chicago Tribune on their site initiatives balancing content with functionality.

Today, David blends strategy with design to look for new opportunities around the social Web to enhance the customer experience, connect individuals and innovate.  I currently live in a near-northern suburb of Chicago, not far from Lake Michigan. When I'm not working, surfing the net, or riding my motorbike—I can be found spending quality time with my family.

Mike Lewis, Awareness, Inc

@bostonmike

Mike is an entrepreneur and marketing executive with a 14-year track record of success as a senior manager at early-stage technology companies.

Mike was most recently the CEO and Co-Founder of Stimulate Solutions, a SaaS software provider focused on leveraging social media to target leads and increase demand. He was responsible for general management and company operations, business development, marketing and sales.

Prior to forming Stimulate, Mike led marketing activities at several early stage technology firms, helping them mature into highly successful organizations. As Vice President of Marketing at PlatformQ, Mike increased demand by 120% and increase strategic partners by 200%. As Vice President of Marketing at Salesnet, he drove all marketing activities, leading up to the company's acquisition by RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW). At StreamServe, Inc., Michael led marketing during a time of rapid growth when the company saw an increase in U.S. license revenue of 166% and a 50% increase in overall revenue.

Mike has been the President of the Business Marketing Association Boston since January of 2005. During his time as President, the BMA saw a 200% increase in demand and a 120% increase in non-dues revenue which is the largest increase in chapter history. Michael also serves as the Chairman of Marketing and Communication in the Bentley University graduate alumni association. You can find Mike on his blog at http://blog.socialepisodes.com

Scott, Gullbransen, Sr. Manager Social Media, Intuit, Consumer Group:

@prgully

Scott Gulbransen, when not listening to Van Halen or AC/DC loudly on his iPhone, is the Senior Manager of Public Relations/Social Media for Intuit’s Consumer Group. In his role at Intuit, he doesn’t get to live out his inner Eddie Van Halen much but he does lead social media and other communications efforts for both the TurboTax and Quicken brands.

As a member of the Intuit communications team, Scott has helped launch and sustain the Consumer Group’s social media platform including interacting with customers and journalists on a daily basis.  He was instrumental in developing and executing the successful “Freeloader Nation” campaign for TurboTax in 2009. The campaign, which was aimed at attracting new and younger customers to TurboTax’s free product via social media, included a series of MySpace Secret Shows with acts like Lily Allen, Fall Out Boy and Metro Station.

Gulbransen has also been instrumental in reinvigorating the Quicken brand almost entirely through the use of social media and, in particular, Twitter.  By engaging with customers and influencers who talk about personal finance on Twitter, he and his team have helped Quicken Online grow from just 200,000 users in October 2008 to over 1.4 Million in just 10 months.  The launch of the Quicken Online Mobile for iPhone was also primarily executed through social media as well.

Scott is a former print journalist, who, after realizing his paychecks from the newspaper industry weren’t going to get much bigger, turned to the Dark Side – public relations. After working in both college athletics and inside mid-size agencies, he joined Intuit in 2000 and has been there ever since. He is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV – Go Runnin’ Rebels!) and is the married father of four kids – all of whom have no choice but to listen to his horrid version of “Eruption” on his 5150 replica.

To hassle Scott, or to send him thoughts on how much you love his writing or opinions, email him at scott@scottgulbransen.com.  Scott is also the co-founder of the hottest new Dad’s blog – EveryOtherThursday.com.  There he writes about the trials and tribulations of child rearing as a cool 21st Century Dad. Scott spends a lot of time wasting time on Twitter at @prgully.

SMB NYC thanks your participation and our sponsor:

Social Media Breakfast also has a LinkedIn page SMBNYC if you would like to join us there!