The following nine minutes represent the first part of my keynote speech at this week’s Greater Baltimore Tech Council Social Media 101 event. Topics include the boom, why social media is important, and common corporate mistakes (nine minutes).
Our regular interview series will return next week with Director Tom.
MediaPhyter Jennifer Leggio has the goal of raising $10,000 for Team in Training, the fundraising arm of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Team in Training funds medical research for blood cancer cures and provides patient and family support programs.
To help do this she has secured the time and creativity of some of the smartest folks in the marketing/digital/social media space. This includes two hours of my time donated by the team here at Livingston Communications.
Auction Details: Two-hour phone consulting / brainstorming session valued at $1K. Bidding begins at $100. Full details are available on the Geoff Livingston eBay auction site. This is a great way to get me on the cheap (at least until the auction hits $600 or so), and do good at the same time.
Of course there are other consultants you could buy, if you are really excited…
Other Social Media Players Participating
Chris Brogan uses social media and technology to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. He has merged his experience in technology (enterprise IT and wireless telephony) with his passion for social media, such that he’s showing organizations how to use these tools inside the firewall, as well as to build authentic conversations between coworkers, customers, and even competitors. Brogan is cofounder of the PodCamp unconference series (with Christopher S. Penn), exploring the use of new media community tools to extend relationships and build value.
Auction: Speaking engagement anywhere in the U.S. valued from $5K-$10K. Bidding begins at $700. Full details available on the Chris Brogan eBay auction site.
Joseph Jaffe is one of the most sought after consultants, speakers and thought leaders on new marketing. He is president and “chief interuptor†at crayon, a strategic advisory group that helps companies “join the conversation†through the power of community, dialogue and partnership. He has spoken to audiences in North America, London, the Netherlands, Turkey and South Africa and to companies including Yahoo!, JWT, Modem Media, Conde Nast and iVillage. In 2007, Jaffe authored the book Join the Conversation: How to Engage Marketing-Weary Consumers with the Power of Community, Dialogue and Partnership.
Auction: Dinner and brainstorming session in the New York / Connecticut area valued at $10K. Bidding begins at $1K. Full details available on the Joseph Jaffe eBay auction site.
Aaron Strout is vice president of social media at Mzinga, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based provider of online communities and social networks for businesses. In his role, Aaron focuses on blogging, podcasting, webinars, blogger relations, and evangelizing the benefits of social networks for business. In addition to his knowledge of the interactive and new media landscape, Aaron has more than 15 years of online marketing and advertising experience, with a strong background in integrated and online marketing.
Auction: Two-hour phone consulting / brainstorming session valued at $1K. Bidding begins at $100. Full details available on the Aaron Strout eBay auction site.
Greg Verdino is a recognized expert on business and marketing innovation, emerging technologies and Web 2.0. Equal parts marketer and futurist, Greg has made a career of identifying key trends and helping companies turn disruptive changes into a real, sustainable business and marketing advantages. He works as Chief Strategy Officer at crayon, a strategic advisory group that helps companies ‘join the conversation’ through the power of community, dialogue and partnership. He has been profiled in and quoted by a wide variety of business and news media including Advertising Age, Adweek, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Marketing News, New York Times, Newsday and the Wall Street Journal, as well as on television news outlets including CNBC and Fox News Channel.
Auction: A 60-minute keynote speech or 1/2 day workshop anywhere within the U.S. or Canada valued from $5K-$7.5K. Bidding begins at $700. Full details available on the Greg Verdino eBay auction site.
The DC chapter of Social Media Club will meet at 6:00 pm on Thursday, June 5 at Barnes & Noble in Clarendon to have a book discussion featuring the authors of Now is Gone, Geoff Livingston and Brian Solis. They will share their insights on this wonderful world of social media. If you missed the official book launch party in November, this is a great time to meet with both authors and also get your copy signed!
Books will be available for purchase on-site at Barnes & Noble. There is ample garage parking, some metered street spaces, and the store is metro accessible at the Orange Line’s Clarendon stop.
Light refreshments will be served.
Please feel free to join us for an informal dinner and drinks gathering at Whitlow’s on Wilson from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
Hope to see you there!
BOOK SIGNING & DISCUSSION
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Barnes & Noble – Arlington
Clarendon Market Commons
2800 Clarendon Blvd. Suite 500, Arlington, VA 22201
DRINKS AND DINNER
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Whitlow’s on Wilson (beach bar, to the left in the back)
2854 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
RSVP
Please RSVP to Larissa Fair via larissa@livingstonbuzz.com no later than Tuesday, June 3.
Our next SMC-DC meeting will be May 15 at Viget Labs. We welcome Chris Dorobek, Editor-in-Chief of Federal Computer Week. Chris is no stranger to social media, and he will share his experience with blogging and social networks (visit him on Twitter and Facebook), as well as his opinion of government and military use of Web 2.0.
The federal government strives for collaboration between the different departments and units it holds. The government is still experimenting with social media, with the wiki Intellipedia already in use for the intelligence community, and even the Department of the Navy’s CIO dipping his toes into blogging.
So how else is the government using social media? Are they ready for it, and what’s the value for them? Come discuss the current and future state of Web 2.0 as the government views it.
More details:
Please RSVP by Tuesday, May 13 to Larissa Fair.
Special thanks to Viget Labs for hosting the event.
Date: Thursday, May 15, 2008
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Location:
400 S. Maple Avenue, Suite 200
Falls Church, VA 22046
Today represents the two year anniversary of this blog (image by Matt McGee). The first post was written the night before the launch of Livingston Communications. Here is an excerpt:
This NewCo is an experimental mix of marketing excellence and ethical principles, similar to those that a classically trained journalist would deploy. The foundation is honesty in marketing and public relations, a dignified approach to doing business in the modern world. Mixed with aggressive, intelligent strategies, tactical marketing works better under these conditions.
With the marketplace becoming increasingly skeptical of marketing and PR messaging, honest communications may be the one of the best ways to succeed in the future. It will at least separate many companies from the mediocre marketing that is commonly used today. I believe in this theory because in my past practices it has worked with resounding success. As a sole proprietor, I can offer this kind of strategic and successful marketing all of the time.
After two years, four additional full-time employees (one of which has yet to identify themselves), permanent offices on the way, 679 Buzz Bin posts and one book, I can say we’ve done a lot to prove this vision. Perhaps the best thing about this blog is all of the many like-minded individuals it has introduced me to. It’s been an honor. Thank you for your support.
What better way to celebrate two years than provide access to the powerpoints that Kami Huyse and I developed for NewComm Forum. There is some overlapping content between the two, but the first one is from our three hour session on integrating social media. The second powerpoint is being given today and discusses how to build a brand using social media.
Once in a while I get a client who will let me talk about our work. Tomorrow my client FindWhere starts a beta for a free buddy finder service at Livecontacts (actually the lights are already on). The special thing about this launch is it changes a paradigm, making GPS location information on smart phones available to its users for free, a natural evolution from Web 2.0’s democratization of content.
The successful integration of location data into social applications could have far-reaching implications for the web. Everything we do will have context, suddenly providing real geographic presence to our activities. Tweeting that you are going to Barnes & Noble could result in an informal meet-up. Conferences like SxSW could become veritable geek-meet fests. Finding teenage children? Locating lost phones? Location-based social ads?Etc., etc.
Buddy finders and find-me, follow-me services have been talked about for some time. There have been several barriers to success, which have now been overcome:
1) Freeing GPS location charges. You cannot underestimate how important this is. Because Internet users expect location information for free, pay-for-use plans have dramatically inhibited the growth of location-based applications.
2) Phones did not have GPS chips enabled
3) Social networks were not as predominant a concept. Now social web technologies make networking mobile phones together a real possibility.
Several other companies are trying to do this, too, usually for a small fee (Loopt, Rummble, and Whrrl). All systems have their challenges and limitations based on the technology they use to track and to visualize.
For example, Livecontacts has a global approach using GSM networks (based on more than 200k apps tracked with FindWhere’s main service), but in the U.S.A. that means cdma users (Sprint and Verizon) are out of the picture. You can thank a bad FCC decision in the early 90s for that one. Also, the phones that are actually capable of GPS location tracking are also limited, though expanding all the time.
Livecontacts will evolve over the next few months, making it a much more socially catalized application. Badges for blogs and widgets for social networks plus the ability to see Livecontacts maps from your handset (currently on PC only).
It’s going to be exciting to see how far this location movement can go. To me, mobile and localization represent significant aspects of the true next generation of the Web, and I’m thrilled to be part of it. Anyone who wants to join in can friend me on Livecontacts.
There was a great turnout at last night’s Social Media Club DC event featuring Ann Bernard of Why Go Solo. We had a lively discussion about social media platforms, and Ann shared a bit more of her vision of where Why Go Solo was headed.
Thanks again to Viget Labs for offering their space to host the event, and to Aaron Brazell for streaming the presentation.
If you’re posting about the event or have pictures to share, please comment, message me on Twitter or e-mail me.
Many old and new faces were in attendance, including:
Thanks to all for attending. Some additional photos can be seen on Flickr.
Head crayonista Joe Jaffe pulled the diva move and stood-up 80 brilliant marketing bloggers at Blogger Social. He feigned illlness. In playful vengeance we auctioned his name tag for the rights to be Joe Jaffe (photo by Shashi).
Livingston Communications won at a well priced $500. Ahem:
Did I tell you my podcast receives two million downloads? Want to hang out on my private Second Life island? I’ll give you a free copy of my book “Join the Conversation” (although I didn’t), but only if you review it. Enough about me, what do you think about me?!?
Like that? More on Twitter for the remainder of the day.
Proceeds benefited the Frozen Pea Fund for breast cancer research (See Buzz Bin interview). Frozen Pea Fund members Connie Reece, Cathleen Rittereiser and members of Susan Reynolds‘ family received a $30,000 check last night from crayon and ooVoo, a result of my ooVoo day (in which Livingston Communications also participated, yielding $1500 of the larger sum).
Moving forward, I Am Joe Jaffe won’t end here. Several of us agreed, it’s too priceless for just one. Let the “I Am Joe Jaffe for a Day” meme begin!
Here’s the deal, receivers of the Joe Jaffe name tag agree to donate $25 to Frozen Pea Fund, create a ridiculous photo and blog post in the spirit of “I am Joe Jaffe,” and FedEx the tag to the next blogger who agrees to be I Am Joe Jaffe for a day. Tomorrow I will FedEx the Joe Jaffe name tag to Cam Beck, who has agreed to be the next Joe Jaffe.
Overall, BloggerSocial was a blast. It was really great to meet so many of my heroes who write outstanding thought leadership and fun posts every week. The Blogger Social ‘08 attendees: Susan Bird Tim Brunelle Katie Chatfield Matt Dickman Luc Debaisieux Gianandrea Facchini Mark Goren Gavin Heaton Sean Howard CK Valeria Maltoni Drew McLellan Doug Meacham Marilyn Pratt Steve Roesler Greg Verdino CB Whittemore Steve Woodruff Paul McEnany Ann Handley David Reich Tangerine Toad Kristin Gorski Mack Collier David Armano Ryan Barrett Lori Magno Tim McHale Gene DeWitt Mario Vellandi Arun Rajagopal Rohit Bhargava Anna Farmery Marianne Richmond Thomas Clifford Lewis Green Geoff Livingston Kris Hoet CeCe Lee Toby Bloomberg Seni Thomas Darryl Ohrt Joe Kutchera Paul Dunay Marshall Sponder Chris Kieff Tara Anderson Jason Falls Paul Soldera Roberta Rosenberg Saul Colt Todd Andrlik Nathan Snell Ryan Karpeles Mike Sansone Jennifer Laycock Neil Vineberg Cam Beck Mike Arauz Matthew Bailey Heather Gorringe John Rosen Tamar Weinberg Rita Perea Linda Sherman Matthew McDonald Kaitlyn Wilkins Terry Starbucker Jennifer Berk Jane Quigley John Wall Scott Monty Kevin Horne Virginia Miracle Amanda Gravel David Polinchock Shashi Bellamkonda David Berkowitz Vahe Habeshian
Over the next three weeks, I will attend two events that promise to knock my socks off. Some of the greatest marketing and communications minds in the business will be attending Blogger Social this weekend in NYC and New Communications Forum in Sonoma County, CA on April 22-25.
Whenever you are around this many brilliant minds, it’s hard not to walk away with great new insights. I look forward to meeting many of my peers and teachers, from whom I am sure to learn quite a bit. A quick breakdown of each event…
Blogger Social
Put 80 brilliant marketing bloggers together in three well organized events for fun, and what do you have? A blast? Put them in New York City, and the fund gets exponentially better putting the caps in Blogger Social.
This weekend’s events promise to be outstanding, and I look forward to pow-wowing with many of my colleagues and friends and meeting new ones. The fun starts early as Shashi and I hitch a ride together on Amtrak!
The Blogger Social ‘08 attendees:
Susan Bird Tim Brunelle Katie Chatfield Matt Dickman Luc Debaisieux Gianandrea Facchini Mark Goren Gavin Heaton Sean Howard CK Valeria Maltoni Drew McLellan Doug Meacham Marilyn Pratt Steve Roesler Greg Verdino CB Whittemore Steve Woodruff Paul McEnany Ann Handley David Reich Tangerine Toad Kristin Gorski Mack Collier David Armano Ryan Barrett Lori Magno Tim McHale Gene DeWitt Mario Vellandi Arun Rajagopal Joseph Jaffe Rohit Bhargava Anna Farmery Marianne Richmond Thomas Clifford Lewis Green Geoff Livingston Kris Hoet Connie Reece CeCe Lee Toby Bloomberg Seni Thomas Darryl Ohrt Joe Kutchera Paul Dunay Marshall Sponder Chris Kieff Tara Anderson Jason Falls Paul Soldera Roberta Rosenberg Saul Colt Todd Andrlik Nathan Snell Ryan Karpeles Mike Sansone Jennifer Laycock Neil Vineberg Cam Beck Mike Arauz Matthew Bailey Heather Gorringe John Rosen Cathleen Rittereiser Tamar Weinberg Rita Perea Linda Sherman Matthew McDonald Kaitlyn Wilkins Terry Starbucker Jennifer Berk Jane Quigley John Wall Scott Monty Kevin Horne Virginia Miracle Amanda Gravel Susan Reynolds David Polinchock Shashi Bellamkonda David Berkowitz Vahe Habeshian
NewComm Forum
Many of the industry’s most brilliant members are attending the NewComm Forum this April 22-25th in Sonoma County, CA. There so many great communications speakers, it’s insane.
One of Now Is Gone’s primary sources Communications Overtone’s Kami Huyse has kindly asked me to join here one pre-conference workshop on the 22nd as well as main conference session on the 24th. Here’s what you can expect…
Pre-Conference Session: Tuesday, April 22 - 1:00 - 4:30 pm: Building Integrated Social Media Campaigns: How to Leverage New Media in Existing Communication Plans
This should be interesting because integrating social media into a larger marketing plan only makes sense, yet many folks still struggle with how to engage in social media correctly. We are already modifying several of our past processes to deliver something completely new for NewComm Forum pre-con attendees.
On Thursday morning, April 24 at 10 a.m Kami and I pick up the beat again for, “Building Your Brand with Conversational Media.â€
Hear how other companies have used social media to position themselves as thought leaders in their field. You will:
• Learn about the latest social media tools and techniques
• Take away a three-step process to begin engage right away
• Understand how micro content will help you to position your brand
• Hear about case studies that you can apply to your own business needs
Bonus Miles
Bay Area friends should be aware that a Chris Heuer organized Tweet-up in SF may be in the works on the 21st… More details coming soon.
Please join us for our next Social Media Club DC (SMC-DC) event on Thursday, April 10 at 6:30 pm. We will gather at Viget Labs to hear some insight from Ann Bernard, Founder and CEO of WhyGoSolo.
Ann will show us how a local start-up company has created a social media platform that leverages the web from one click of a button. WhyGoSolo has the solution to bridge our online worlds to offline real world connections but that’s only a small part of the story. The more involved and complex social media becomes, the more critical it is to keep it simple and user-friendly for both businesses and web users to leverage. Ann will explain more about the key factors of creating a platform that is fully integrated in everyone’s online worlds and that works has a hub of information that gathers and delivers information where people want to receive it and view it.
This is a fabulous opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at the perspective of a web start-up CEO and how to develop a platform that is built to meet the social media needs of event promoters, planners and entertainment venues.
More details:
Please RSVP by Tuesday, April 8 to Larissa Fair.
Special thanks to Viget Labs for hosting the event.
Date: Thursday, April 10, 2008
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Location:
Viget Labs headquarters
400 S. Maple Avenue, Suite 200
Falls Church, VA 22046
WhyGoSolo Group: Join the WhyGoSolo Social Media Club DC Group and find someone to attend this event and future events with you!
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=29723725382
Buzz Meter: Cerado Ventana:
Social Governance Won't Come Easy:
Skills to be Successful in Integrating PR and Social Media:
Hitchhiker's Guide to Social Media: Content Creation: