Engaging with Social Technologies

This week the SpeakerBox team huddled up in our lounge and sat in on a webinar given by Charlene Li, author of Groundswell and the forthcoming Open Leadership. She started the session by stating that social media is no longer the “bright shiny object” and that companies need to get serious about how to use the technology to create relationships. As she said, Social Media is not about technology, it’s about relationships.

In defining strategy, organizations should plan against the following tenants --  Learn, Dialog, Support, and Innovate.

In learning mode, companies monitor what is being said about them online and use that information to make change. Evaluating what information is credible or worth listening to is always a challenge. She suggested that once you do a google search on blog mentions, then look up those posts on del.icio.us to see how many people have bookmarked it, how they’ve tagged it, and what they are saying about it. This gives a sense of how many people are paying attention to the blogger which informs how seriously you should take it. The tagging shows how people categorize the information being written about which can inform your search marketing.

In a dialog, she presented the engagement pyramid which from bottom to top includes watching, sharing, commenting, producing, curating. She said that most organizations want to focus their efforts directly on creating the curators --people who organize and disseminate your information for you. Her advice was to start at the bottom, doing those elements well will naturally build an influential group of curators.

Many companies are using social media, specifically Twitter, as a new vein of customer support. Li advised that you do not need to change your support model to use social media. The Wells Fargo Customer Support Twitter handle states up front that they keep bankers hours and will respond within those defined times.

Organizations that are truly reaping the benefits of social media are those that are able to use it for Innovation. Procter and Gamble solicits comments on products as seemingly mundane as soap and receives incredibly thoughtful and innovative ideas on how to improve the product.

Stay tuned for another post on her recommendations for getting started and making the most out of a social media strategy.

Thank you to the Technology Marketing Alliance for hosting the event!

-Piper Conrad

PR, SEO, ROI: A Discussion on Marketing with Young Entrepreneurs

Left to right: Prof. Jim Wolfe, 
David Andrukonis
 and Prof. Mahesh Joshi

I had the pleasure of being a part of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA) at George Mason University on February 19th.   The day started with a keynote from David Andrukonis, Co-Founder of Alumni Fidelity, who has harnessed the best practices of political fundraising and translated them into a social fundraising tool for educational institutions. The counsel from David that resonated with me, was one of his big lessons learned: investing in solid Website design is critical. 


David's Web discussion was a good segue into the marketing panel discussion. Jim Wolfe,  Entrepreneur in Residence and Assistant Professor of Management at GMU's School of Management, moderated the discussion and I was joined on the panel by Kim Guarino of Evolve Marketing, Bob Gaudian of MediaForce PR and Lisa Martin of LeapFrog.   

Left to right: Prof. Jim Wolfe, 
Kim Guarino, Bob Guadian, 
Lisa Throckmorton and Lisa Martin
Photo credit (both photos): Evan Cantwell

We had a lively, interactive session with the Mason students and used our hour to discuss and debate the merits of various marketing strategies and tactical options for any business trying to get off the ground.  The discussion touched on a range of topics from building an online presence, to SEO and how to focus marketing efforts to see the most ROI. Overall it was a great discussion and further affirmation that the various practices under the marketing umbrella have really fused over the past few years. A big thank you to Jim Wolfe for including me in what was, start to finish, a very impressive event.

- Lisa Throckmorton

MAVA's Seven on Seven: A Recap

I attended MAVA’s “Seven on Seven,” billed as Seven Topics, Seven Speakers, Seven Minutes. Speakers included:

• Dr. Srini Mirmira, Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency, Dept. of Energy
• Jack Davies, Venture Philanthropist, Venture Philanthropy Partners
• Robert Kipps, Managing Director, KippsDeSanto
• George Daly, Dean, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University
• Patrick Coffey, Managing Director, Healthcare Credit Group, CapitalSource
• Geoff Tracy, Owner, Geoff Geoff’s and Lia’s Restaurants
• Kiran Hebbar, Partner, Valhalla Partners

Though all the speakers had an interesting perspective, Chef Geoff brought down the house with his passion as an entrepreneur and his story of starting his first restaurant in a foreclosed space with a kitchen full of rotting food. He aptly described entrepreneurs as, “people who see opportunity where others don’t – and think ‘how hard could it be?’ By the time they realize how hard it is, it’s too late.”

The common denominator, if there was one, was that opportunity exists for entrepreneurs and investors in almost every sector if you look hard enough. In energy, government, healthcare, higher education, technology -- even retail and restaurants, the passionate entrepreneur can see something that others might miss, clean out the proverbial kitchen, and come out smelling like roses – or at least like soup.

-- Katie Hanusik

March's Must-Attend Webinar: Technology Marketing Alliance's Webinar Featuring Charlene Li

If you're only able to attend one webinar next month, I highly recommend checking out the free event hosted by the Technology Marketing Alliance (TMA), which features renowned social media analyst and best selling author Charlene Li. 

In 2008, Charlene co-authored the bestseller "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Tecnologies" with Josh Bernoff - a book that has become required reading for any executive or marketer looking to launch a successful social strategy. Since Groundswell published, Li has continued her role as a thought leader on emerging technologies and evangelist on the impact of social technologies in business, and also founded Altimeter Group, a consulting firm that provides companies with a pragmatic approach to disruptive technologies. Charlene's next book, "Open: How Leaders Win By Letting Go," is set to publish this May.

TMA's webinar is a great opportunity to hear Li's thoughts on social media for the enterprise, and best practices for developing a social strategy. If you want more information on the webinar, TMA has more on their site. You can also register by visiting http://charleneli.eventbrite.com/. 

-Stephanie

@stephstad

2010 Fed 100

About a week ago, Federal Computer Week released the 2010 version of its Federal 100 list. As always, it's an impressive "who's who" list for the federal IT community. In 1990, when the Fed 100 was born, FCW's then-editor Edith Holmes noted that the agency officials, industry leaders and executives on the Fed 100 “have acted as agents for change in the way agencies and companies develop, acquire and manage information technology. ... In many cases, the results of their efforts will be lasting.” Years later, those words still define what the awards represent.

This year, we're excited to see Red Hat's Gunnar Hellekson named as one of the Fed 100 honorees. Gunnar's work furthering open government initiatives and open source adoption in federal agencies is impressive, and he's someone we're proud to work with and know. Congratulations to Gunnar and everyone at Red Hat on the honor!

-Stephanie
@stephstad

How the Federal Workforce Consumes Media

Last week I attended Market Connections’ unveiling of the 2009-2010 Federal Media and Marketing Study. In its second year, this study aims to uncover how Federal decision makers get their news and information. Some interesting findings (from my perspective):

• Respondents named 36 outlets that are key to daily news and information gathering. These broke out to 14 social sites, 28 federally-focused publications, and 12 general business and news outlets.
• Top ranking federal pubs (across the whole respondent base) were Government Executive, Federal Times, Federal Computer Week, Government Computer News, and Defense News.
• Top ranking websites were CNN, Govexec.com, MSNBC, Fox News, and the Washington Post.
• While 45% of respondents said they prefer to read trade news as a combination of print and online, another 34% said they preferred print as compared to only 13% preferring online only.
• Tradeshow attendance is skewing lower with only 46% reporting they attended a show in the past year.
• Social media continues to grow, with the biggest jump from last year’s survey being the usage of LinkedIn (up to 16% from 4%).
• Social media faces hurdles in becoming a business tool for government with 55% of respondents unable to access social sites at work.

-Piper Conrad

Walk the Red Carpet During Awards Season in DC

As we await the announcement on February 2nd of the official nominations for this year's 82nd Academy Awards, we can also look to this regional area, where we are awash with own awards circuit recognizing excellence in business, growth, leadership, employee development and more.

The awards season started out strong last week, with two of the hottest award celebrations in town, which (unfortunately) were on the same night, but both attracted sold out crowds.  SmartCEO held its annual SmartCEO Future 50 Gala, recognizing the fastest growing companies in the Washington, DC region over a three year period, and the Washington Business Journal held its annual Book of Lists party, recognizing all of the businesses, organizations and associations that claimed a spot on the top of each of their respective lists throughout the year.

In case you missed these two "See and Be Seen" galas, here are a few more hot tickets to explore that are right around the corner. It's not too late to nominate and be nominated...you can't win if you don't enter!  I've been to each of these in past years, and they are not to be missed. Here are the ones top of mind, listed in order of when nominations are due:

Apollo Awards 2010 / Produced by Helios HR

Deadline: February 19, 2010

The Apollo Awards has raised the bar in its annual recognition of a company's effort toward employee development and retention. Particularly in these troubled times, taking care of your company's biggest asset--people--never goes out of style. We entered this program last year and were proud to emerge as a finalist. This is a nomination process that enables one to truly your own practices of employee development and its importance in building great companies.  Awards Gala:  June 3, 2010.

Women In Technology - Leadership Awards Banquet

Deadline: February 19, 2010

Women in Technology (WIT) is holding its Annual Leadership Awards Gala in May which recognizes women in leadership in the categories of entrepreneurship, global impact, corporate excellence, government accomplishments and more. Last year, this Awards Gala inspired the book, No One Path, released last year with a special forward from Maureen Bunyan, co-anchor at WJLA-TV. The book highlights previous winners from over the past decade, sharing their leadership stories. Awards Gala: May 20, 2010.

Best Places to Work in Greater Washington 2010

Deadline: February 26, 2010

This award is cool to enter, not only for the accolades and bragging rights for finalists, but also because regardless of how you finish, you will receive a complementary employee survey administered by third-party Quantum Research, which can provide insight into your company's morale, retention, leadership, trust, alignment, etc. You need to apply online, and ask your employees to submit an anonymous online evaluation to augment your nomination. The WBJ is hosting a nominations "how to" webinar on 2/2/10.  Awards Gala: TBD.

SECAF (Small and Emerging Contractor Advisory Forum) 2nd Annual Awards Gala

Deadline: February 28, 2010
SECAF held its Inaugural Awards Gala last year, as a way to recognize the often overlooked marketplace of small, growing and emerging government contractors. Companies will be recognized in the categories of $0-$6M, $6-$12M and $12-$25M, and a special award will be given to a Small Business Partner of the Year (greater than $25M) and a Government Advocate of the Year. Last year's Gala was a sellout, so mark your calendars!  Awards Gala: April 29, 2010.

I am certain there are more out there that aren't on this succinct list, so please share and we'll keep you updated on deadlines!

--Elizabeth Shea