Rockstars of Social CRM

On Wednesday night, I attended “The Rockstars of Social CRM” at the Renaissance Waterfront Hotel in Boston. The event hosted by  Chris Brogan and Radian6 had great attendence and an engaging panel of:

• Chris Brogan, President, New Marketing Labs and author of ChrisBrogan.com
• Marcel Lebrun, CEO, Radian6
• Frank Eliason, Director of Digital Care, Comcast
• Paul Greenberg, Author of CRM at the Speed of Light, President of The 56 Group, LLC
• Brent Leary, Co-author of Barack 2.0 and Co-founder of CRM Essentials
• Michael Thomas, National President, CRM Association

The panel discussed how social media is changing CRM. Some important take aways from the event and panel discussion are:

• Engage your audience — know your target audience, let them express themselves
• Our job is to figure out how to turn customers into advocates and part of that is the company listening to the customers
• Another way to benefit from social media and social CRM is that the customers start helping each other out. It will saves the company money  (from @bostonmarketer)
• There were some illuminating examples provided by @comcastcares about how Comcast has used Twitter to save money in their rapid response to problems (i.e. Penguins game that wasn’t being broadcast because of a lighting strike.

Overall, this was a terrific event and my first “social media” event. It was a good chance to meet those who you usually read/tweet with. I saw @justinlevy @DougH @vanhoosear @Bobbiec and the host @chrisbrogan.  The best advice came from @comcastcares who told me to “be yourself… that’s all I ever did.”

I also was very impressed with Radian6 ‘s technology. They had a very good setup and were able to display their product and features for all to see.

This event left a positive impression with me and I look forward to attending more events such as and learning more.

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Technorati Tags: Boston, CRM, Events, Social Media, Twitter

The Social Media Club of Boston is having one of its famed, free events in just a few days, and you are cordially invited to attend.

On Thursday, May 14th at 6:30 p.m., SMC Boston will be discussing creative ways that big consumer brands are using social media across various media channels, and also how brands are facing the loss of control and other challenges created by consumer-generated video and blogs.

The event is hosted and sponsored by Hill Holliday.

The panel is moderated by Mike Proulx, Vice President, Interactive for Hill Holliday. Mike leads Hill Holliday’s Interactive Marketing Strategy Team.

Panelists include:

Some of the campaigns and initiatives that will be discussed include:

There are still a few free seats available. Reserve now!

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Technorati Tags: Boston, Social Media Club

Sitting in traffic on 128 the other day, I saw a bumper sticker that said: “Rapture is coming. Will you be ready?”

It got me thinking – not about Rapture, but about recovery from the current economic conditions. Like Rapture, no one knows for sure when recovery is coming – though they are sure it will. And, like Rapture, some are more prepared than others.

Now, regardless of your views on Rapture, from a communications standpoint, companies need to assess their readiness. If you have slashed your marketing programs, gone “dark” on advertising, scaled back your PR and tradeshow efforts – there is a good chance that the recovery will be much further off for you than others.

Here’s the catch – how do you get ready for recovery without breaking the bank? Here’s two thoughts:

Social Media – have your agency step up activity with blogs, podcasts, tweeting and forums. Start to get back in the swing of things.

Public Relations – Ramp up your outreach activities. Haven’t talked to the press in a while – now’s a good time to do a tour – even if it is by phone.

*Don’t have an agency, give us a call, we’d be glad to help.

If we knew the exact date of recovery (or Rapture for that matter), it would be easy to get ready. But one thing we do know – there are signs in the economy that are pointing in the right direction. Maybe now is the time to get some of your communications activities back in action.

Recovery is, after all, coming. Will you be ready?

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Technorati Tags: Communications, PR, Recovery, Social Media