"Everybody's Doing It" Event Highlights Key Trends & Issues in Social Media

This video clip by MJ Brito highlights panelists discussing the issue of personal and corporate branding, and what happens if and when the two should meet. In this day and age, this coming together is more a matter of "when" and not "if." One topic that came up was Forrester’s recent decision of not allowing their analysts to blog about social media unless it was on the official Forrester blog. Here, LaSandra Brill, Janet Fouts and Erin Robbins take on personal and corporate brands.

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The Social Media Club of San Francisco/Silicon Valley Chapter, #smcsfsv, hosted a very interesting panel recently that really had me on the edge of my seat and thinking about social media in many new ways...which is great! That's what a panel should do. Also of interest was the fact that although there were about 100 people in the room, 780 people were watching on Justin tv, so that pretty much tells you a bit about the power of social media right now. Here's a quick review and summary of panelists' comments:

The Cast:
Moderator: Jennifer Lindsay @jennifered, the A-List podcaster

The Sponsors:
Gold Sponsor: Spigit
Venue Sponsor: Automattic
Wine Sponsor: Stag's Leap (thanks for the wine, it was delicious)

The Panel:
Violet Blue @violetblue
Forbes "Web Celeb," notorious blogger, high-profile tech personality and one of Wired's "Faces of Innovation," regarded as a leading expert in the field of sex and technology

LaSandra Brill @lasandrabrill
Social media enthusiast, avid blogger and marketing innovator, Cisco's Senior Manager, Social Media Marketing Group

Janet Fouts @jfouts
Entrepreneur, social media coach, author and speaker, co-founder of Tatu Digital Media

Erin Robbins @texasfirlerin
Director of Marketing and Communications for Realty World NCA, and communications and marketing professional

Issues and Perspectives:
Why are so many companies still hesitant to embrace social media?

• Many big businesses still don't see the value of social media and need to be educated about it
• There is still a perceived risk and lack of clarity on ROI
• Even if they aren't ready to participate, companies still need to engage in active online listening. It's critical to know what's being said about your brand before jumping into social media.
  
• Recent crises have highlighted the power of social media with world events, and "microdonating," ie. Katrina, Haiti

What about the "snakeoil" social media consultant?
How do we know the consultant we hire is the real deal?

• Social media is still an evolutionary process, but someone who claims to be a "specialist" should be dedicated to continued learning
• A social media certification is one possible benchmark, though not necessarily a dealmaker
• A consultant should establish clear results for a specific social media campaign, so they can be measured
• Don't judge by the number of friends or followers someone has -- look at the degree of engagement
• When engaging in social media for a company, don't start from scratch, but use your existing followers and identity and build from there
• Consider if you have a "symbiotic" vs "parasitic" relationship with your company to figure out the social media equation
  

What About Google Buzz?

• No consensus here. Panelists ranged from being excited and enjoying Buzz, to cautioning it was not ready yet and should not have been released. My personal take: it's not ready yet.

Who's Doing It Right?

• TechSoup, Sonic Net, Southwest, Mt. Dew, Old Spice, John Chambers, John Battelle

Lingering Concerns and Questions:

• What about privacy issues - how do we take advantage of the best that social media has to offer (ie. geolocation) and make sure it works for us, and not against us?

What's the Future of Social Media?

• Augmented Reality
• More outreach to the general population and a focus on adaptation and usability for the wider public

What do you think is the future of social media?

Here's the link for the clip again.