Global perspectives on social media

Posted on February 10, 2012 at 1:11 pm UK

A week-long feast of knowledge opportunity awaits you next week in over 20 cities around the world when Social Media Week kicks off on February 13.

This bi-annual professional development event offers you a series of interconnected activities and conversations around the world on emerging trends in social and mobile media across all major industries. The organizers say it attracts more than 60,000 attendees across thousands of individually organized events, with half a million connecting to the conference online and through mobile.

One of the cities involved is London where over 150 events are taking place during the week, most of them free to attend (thanks to sponsors).

I’m participating as a speaker and presenter in three of those 150+ events, all of which look as though they’ll be fully booked any minute now – if you’d like to be there, this is the moment to check availability and sign up:

Wednesday February 15

08:30 to 12:30: Social Business Immersive by Like Minds
One of seven presenting; my topic: “Brand communications in a social world: the rise of open and transparent dialogue to manage your reputation and drive opportunities publicly to do business.”
15:00 to 17:00: “The Future of Social Business” panel discussion with JP Rangaswami, Euan Semple, Jon Ingham, Neville Hobson and Delphine Remy-Boutang. This will be a moderated open discussion and debate on social business current trends, best practices and how social media is driving change in the way organisations will do business in the future.

Location: Like Minds Club, 8 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5BY.
Details and Register: http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=1135 (morning); http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=1130 (afternoon) (Both events free to attend.)

Thursday February 16

08:30 to 17:00: Making Social Part Of Your DNA by Klaxon Marketing
Presentation (at 11:50) jointly with Kerry Bridge of Dell UK titled “The long haul; top tips learnt over the years on how to really make social work for your business.” Especially useful if you’re a small or medium-size business.

Location: 6-7 Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7JB.
Details and Register: http://www.socialmediadna.co.uk/agenda/ (This is a not-for-profit event so your full ticket price goes directly to the event’s charity partners CRY and Mind.)

These are but three of the London events you can experience. Among the many others available, these five – one from each day – look like standout sessions:

Monday Feb 13: Mind the Gap: Avoiding a Social Media Skills Crisis (13:00-15:00)
Tuesday Feb 14: Ogilvy Keynote: The Insidious Plot to Socialise The Enterprise (11:00-13:00)
Wednesday Feb 15: Me! Me! Me! The Battle for Attention: Brands, Publishers and Social Networks (13:00-15:00)
Thursday Feb 16: Social Media, the Olympics & BBC – Preparing for London 2012 (17:30-19:30)
Friday Feb 17: Google / Google+ What’s going on and how it impacts your business! (09:00-12:00)

And if you can’t physically get to any event, you can enjoy many of them via live video streams by Livestream (who will be streaming events from other SMW cities as well).

There are also hashtags for each city – London’s is #smwldn – so you can join the conversations on Twitter.

Enjoy your week of perspectives!

YouTube: the global TV channel

Posted on January 31, 2012 at 7:22 am UK

I caught a few minutes of President Obama’s Google+ Hangout last night as it was streamed on YouTube.

If you’ve done a Google+ Hangout video chat before, you’ll be familiar with the format and this was no different. Except, of course, it was the President of the United States plus five lucky citizens chosen by +The White House to hang out live with the Pres in a carefully-controlled setting. Plus the millions of people worldwide who tuned in, as it were, to YouTube to watch and add text comments. Plus those doing the same on Google+, Facebook, Twitter… wherever they were online.

‘Tuned in’ is an apt descriptor as the immediate thought I had when I did just that on Google+ was “This is TV.”

If last year’s Royal Wedding that was broadcast live on YouTube was a demo of YouTube as a TV channel – a global one at that – that captures imaginations with a compelling event (content, in a word), then yesterday’s presidential Hangout is surely a clear sign that the channel just changed.

Why watch TV on a TV any more when you can immerse yourself, interact on the net, share your experiences and the recorded content itself, via any capable device that connects online?

Talk about disruption! No wonder the US entertainment industry – and that includes mainstream media like TV – likes things like #SOPA and #PIPA, to which +Clay Shirky‘s call to “pick up the pitchforks” is so compelling.

Reshared post from +The White House

Missed the Hangout with President Obama? Check out the full video here and let us know what you thought.

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

FIR Interview: Walgreens Social Media Director Adam Kmiec

Posted on January 22, 2012 at 9:07 am UK

FIR co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz interview Adam Kmiec, director of social media for Walgreens, the largest drug store chain in the US and a Fortune 50 company.

Walgreens has engaged in the last 10 days or so in a social media-focused effort to build awareness among customers of alternatives to Express Scripts, the prescription benefit manager through which hundreds of thousands of people in the US pay for their prescription medications. Unable to reach an agreement to renew their contract, Walgreens no longer accepts Express Scripts but using mechanisms like Prescription Savings Club membership to retain customers.

The campaign to build awareness and retain customer loyalty has been largely focused on social media, including paid tactics like promoted Twitter trends and sponsored blog posts. In this wide-ranging interview, Kmiec outlines the challenges of the campaign, discusses the importance of statistical insights to drive decision-making, and the use of paid social media, as well as outcomes of the effort to date.

(The Walgreens campaign was covered by Advertising Age and was the subject of a story covered on FIR #634 on January 16. That FIR report was covered by the Best O Pop blog.)

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About our Conversation Partner

For more than 14 years, Walgreens Social Media Director Adam Kmiec has worked for some of the most forward thinking organizations in the world, while helping some of the most dynamic brands find success in the interactive and social space. His career spans both the client and agency sides of the marketing and advertising industry, covering stops at renowned organizations that include Fallon, Leo Burnett, and ConAgra Foods. His focus has always been on solving business problems by leveraging consumer driven insights to fuel creative ideation.

He is a frequent speaker and news contributor. He is currently working on a book titled Yes, It’s Hypocritical due for completion next summer.

Connect with Adam on Twitter @adamkmiec or via other social networks.

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.