Sign up for the next BBQ Tweetup

I just set the date for the next Tweetup at Rudy’s BBQ.  Click on the link above to sign up for the lunch on Feb. 5.  This quarterly event brings together studs in the B2B world to talk about social media, community and enterprise 2.0.  Hope to see you there!

Social Media Pangaea – The Big Trend in 2010

Recently, I was asked to speak at the Social Media Breakfast and give my prediction on the big trend in 2010.  I developed this analogy of the Social Media Pangaea that I wanted to share.

Currently in most B2B organizations, social media is broken apart; however, in the next 12-18 months, enterprises will be moving to the social media supercontinent.

Today, there is a battle internally, and different departments own various aspects of collaboration.  There are IT folks driving internal wikis; support and product marketing departments in charge of branded communities; and PR and marketing gurus responsible for the conversations happening off the corporate domain in popular social media outlets like Facebook, YouTube, and, of course, Twitter.

Externally, there is a platform war going on. Should we be on Facebook? Is there more value on LinkedIn? How much longer will Twitter be successful? Should we be trying to squeeze our Web site on an iPhone app? The list of debatable questions goes on and on.

However in 2010, the online continental plates are shifting. Businesses will be finding ways to not only force integration on the surface level (i.e. embedded moderated Tweets on to your corporate site), but will truly be making valuable connections between the conversations happening both inside and outside the firewall.

For example, at National Instruments, we are working hard to bridge conversations. We now have a robust social media portal that allows us to easily collaborate internally on the conversations about our brand on popular social media outlets. This move to “enterprise social software,” intuitively and securely connects these seemingly two worlds. Additionally, we are working on bridging the employee and customer-facing communities. At the end of the day, with all of the pieces united, I feel like the Social Media Pangaea will help us meet our objectives of getting good product feedback, helping our customers be successful with our products, driving awareness and loyalty, and maybe even selling a few products.

For more, check out this video interview from the event:

Social Media and Community 2.0 Strategies Conference

I recently found out that I will be speaking along side some other Forrester Groundswell Award Winners at the  Social Media and Community 2.0 Strategies Conference in Boston on May 3-5.

This is by far one of the best programs I’ve seen at a marketing conference.  They have dedicated tracks for the following areas:

	Market Research		Marketing & Brand Management
	Product Development		Customer Support
	Innovation & Insights		Community Engagement

For more information, visit the webpage here.
Download the brochure here.

Hope to see you there!!

Social Media Predictions for 2010

Thanks to LiveWorld’s @BryanPerson, I was invited to present alongside 9 other social media gurus at the Austin Social Media Breakfast today (#smbaustin). It was an awesome event. Each speaker was asked to look in a crystal ball a make a prediction for a big trend 2010 based on their area of expertise (non-profit, B2B, travel, politics, etc). Here are both UStream videos of the event. Check them out and let me know what you think the big thing will be next year!

P.S. Mom, I’m in the second video.

The Power of Print

I just was featured in the Wall Street Journal’s article, “Squeezing Web Sites Onto Cellphones, Businesses Try to Shift Online Communities, Consumer Forums to Places Tailored for Wireless Users.”

In the article, I discuss how business are evaluating how to make their Web sites mobile friendly.  The problem today is that there is a lack of standards.  Development on the iPhone is different than the Blackberry or the Droid.  Until there are standardizations, it’s going to be hard.  However, companies like Jive Software, are making modules to turn some aspects of business sites, like online communities, into mobile friendly areas.

Ok…enough of the work talk.  The truth is, this article made me re-fall in love with print.  As a former PR professional, I was so excited to see the hardcopy story.  Forget SEO.  It was awesome to be able to pick up a copy at the drug store and send it to my grandma (Snoop Grammie Gram) in St. Louis.  Yes, the social media addict said it – Please Don’t Die Print!