Thursday, December 10, 2009

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Social Media but...

Last Monday was the last Webinar in the four part series on social media that I organized with the Software and Information Industry Association. The goal of the series was explore all the business applications that you can use social media for and show real world examples of how this was being done. We gathered a impressive line up of panelists to share their insight and best practices, including marketing executives from BurrellsLuce, Deloitte Services, Jigsaw and Vocus, among others.

If you are curious about how companies today are integrating social media into their overall marketing programs for applications like:
  • Lead generation
  • Enterprise sales support
  • Competitive intelligence gathering
  • Deal capture
  • Distribution partner identification and cultivation
  • Search engine optimization (SEO)
  • Executive visibility and thought leadership
  • Reputation management
  • Employee recruitment
  • Team, culture and morale building
...then I highly recommend that you listen to the discussions and check out the slides from the Webinars below.

Overview of Business Applications of Social Media (Audio | Slides)
Social media has already begun the transformation of how we interact, and has the potential to transform the way we do business. Understanding and effectively implementing a social media strategy can have a major impact on how businesses are perceived and how they interact with their customers. Nowhere is this more evident than the PR, marketing and sales departments. In this 90-minute webinar, you'll hear how social media tools can be used in lead generation, enterprise sales support, competitive intelligence management, employee recruitment, team culture & morale boosting, and branding & awareness

Moderator:
Karen Leavitt, CEO, Marketing Fusion

Panelists:
Angela Lauria, CMO, AppAssure
Gail Nelson, SVP, Marketing, BurrellesLuce
Jeff Majka, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Strategic Communications Group

Enterprise Sales Support - Using Social Media to Support the Enterprise B2B Sales Cycle (Audio | Slides)
With new service-based models and the rise of "freemium", the sales cycle is getting complicated -- and every advantage counts. Social media has the potential to connect these new models to the customers that want them, but how do you implement it? Where do you start? Hear how social media can transform the way you approach lead generation and sales cycle support.

Moderator:
Ian F. Strain-Seymour, Director of Product Strategy & Development, Apogee Search LLC

Panelists:
Steve Lunceford, Director, Public Sector Strategic Communications, Deloitte Services LLP
Adam Mertz, Product Marketing Manager, Jive Software
Jay Hallberg, Co-founder & VP of Marketing, Spiceworks

Using Social Media to Target the C-Suite and Close Deals (Audio | Slides)
Many of your customers are using social media to communicate with THEIR customers. How can you tap into their social media programs? The first step to closing the deal is to conduct a social media audit of your principal prospects. How can this be completed efficiently and comprehensively for a large number of prospects? How can you facilitate social media for deal capture?

Moderator:
Jeff Majka, Director Marketing & Business Development, Strategic Communications Group, Inc.

Panelists:
Steve Ressler, Founder, GovLoop
Jim Fowler, CEO, Jigsaw

Social Media for Brand Awareness, Thought Leadership and Other Traditional PR Activities (Audio | Slides)
Social media should be an integral part of your PR strategy, not just your sales function. To run a successful campaign Marketing, Sales and PR need to be integrated using today's popular social media tools. How can you effectively integrate your social media strategy across the enterprise?

Moderator:
Robert Carroll, VP Marketing, Clickability

Panelists:
Jeff Majka, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Strategic Communications Group
Kye Strance, Director of Product Management, Vocus
Richard Dym, CMO, OpSource, Inc.