What's in Store for Social Media?
I was at the BDEvent in Palo Alto this week. For those who don’t know, the BDEvent was founded by Vanessa and Greg Duplessie as a no BS forum for doing deals. Really. No users. No booths. No demo dollies. No BS. Actually there was plenty of BSing but of a different kind. At any rate, the way it works is companies address the audience in brief 15 minute segments and it’s all about who you are, what your company does, why its different and what kind of deals you want to make. Interested? Let’s talk. Not interested? That’s fine too.
In addition to the speed dealing there are more in-depth segments and panels. One was a discussion on social media led by Vanessa with @sunshinemug and @SFoskett. Both Sunshine (yes that’s her name) and Stephen are social media practitioners with plenty of experience engaging people through social media. Sunshine is a social media consultant and Foskett is a serious techie and really clear thinker who can translate technobabble into what it means for customers, vendors and industries.
What I liked about the panel was its authenticity. Let’s face it, when it comes applying social media for business or personal reasons there’s a lot of trial and error and no one has all the answers. The session was really about two people sharing what’s worked for them. What struck home to me was both individuals clearly conveyed that success in social media is not just about mastering the tool du jour, rather it’s about how you engage; and in many cases what you do off-line as well as on-line. The fundamental power of social media is, as Foskett remarked, the way in which it “democratizes communications.”
Toward the end of the session I asked the panelists if they would share their thoughts about the future of social media. Turn the volume up as I didn’t use my wireless microphone– sorry for that.
#1 by social media marketing on February 24, 2010 - 3:49 am
The discussion must have been very interesting as you've said on your post you clearly learned from them. They are right about the use of trial and error in social media plus engaging is the real answer to the success of your social media. The works of it is to socialize to other people with the same interest and to engage with the activities within the social network.
#2 by chiropractic social media on March 21, 2010 - 5:25 am
It is a big opportunity to us to join this program because I'm also confused about social media and its advantages to promote a business and also to improve the skill of people using it.