Digital Atlanta 2011

Digital Atlanta 2011 planning is moving forward rapidly with panel, presentation, event and venue submission acceptances going on now until mid-July, 2011.

If you have not had a chance, checkout the Digital Atlanta Facebook page and Twitter account @DigitalATL.

We are looking forward to a great event starting with the mobile marketing and mobile application ecosystem conference AppNation and the Opening Night Celebration at the Fox Theatre on November 7, 2011.

Social Media Atlanta 2010 Opening Night at the Fabulous Fox Theatre

This is a wonderful and fun photo from Social Media Atlanta 2010 Opening Night (November 9, 2010) at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA.

I originated the Social Media Atlanta conference concept but it would have never come to be without the amazing and generous support of many volunteers.

Four of the key individuals who made this week-long, citywide conference a success are in this photo: Stephanie Frost-Rocha, Lizz Judd, Caitlin Peterson and Chelsea Gattung.

Association of Telecom Professionals 2010 Atlanta Telecom Professional Of The Year Award

I am thrilled to have been nominated for the Association of Telecom Professionals 2010 Atlanta Telecom Professional of the Year Award. I am still humbled and excited to have won the 2010 ATP Enterprise Innovation Award onNovember 9, 2010.

I want to send a big thank you and my sincere appreciation to the ATP nominating and selection committees for honoring me with this prestigious award.

Seth Priebatsch: The game layer on top of the world

This is an insightful TEDx video on using game mechanics. Seth Priebatsch, SCVNGR, discusses the range of uses from marketing of products and services to helping patients take their medicine on time to improving society. Take 12 minutes and listen to his perspective on this topic.

Infographic: Information Explosion & Cloud Storage

I love infographics that explain the magnitude of large numbers and activities. This infographic from the Wikibon Blog does a fantastic job showing the growth and magnitude of Consumer Generated Digital Content.



Via: Wikibon

Social Fresh Charlotte

I sincerely enjoyed meeting so many people today and last night at Social Fresh Charlotte. I also want to send out a big thank you to Jason Keith for running another excellent conference. I have been privileged and lucky enough to have been invited to present at 3 Social Fresh conferences over the past 18 months (Charlotte, Nashville & Charlotte).

The questions I received today at the end of my presentation (Managing Social Media Across Multiple Brands) were excellent. They showed that the level of insights and conversation around social media marketing are maturing rapidly.

I also had the honor of moderating a panel on Social Media Customer Service. The panel members included Diana Plazas from DoubleTree Hotels, Kevin Cole from Bank of America, Shawn McPike from AT&T, and Sean Doherty from Sprint. They all provided thoughtful and excellent insights on successfully leading and managing customer service across the Social Media channel.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Jill Hanner for the first time. She has built up an amazing video blog. Check out her twitter account and blogs when you get a chance.

We also announced the next Social Fresh will be held in Atlanta on November 8, 2010 at the Newell Rubbermaid HQ. More details will be coming out over the next couple of weeks as we finalize the Social Media Atlanta 2010 conference website and agenda. Social Fresh will be the kickoff event.

Overall another excellent Social Fresh conference with excellent speakers and topics that continue the conversation on the evolution of the social media ecosystem.

Time to restart the Blog

It has been over 9 months since I last blogged and I believe it is time to start it back up. I have a lot of catch-up posts to get up here and I need to have my personal URLs point back at this Blogger blog. I really like the new Blogger themes and customization options. I have already made changes and I am much happier with the appearance.

There has been a lot going on and I will do my best to catch up. But the biggest news is the week-long event I am planning with social media marketing and community building leaders and practitioners from around Atlanta and several Southeastern States: Social Media Atlanta.

More to come soon.

How Digital Channels Will Change Brand Management Forever - #FCF09

I will be on a panel today at the Forrester Consumer Forum 2009 in Chicago, IL October 27, 2009. The panel is titled: How Digital Channels Will Change Brand Management Forever: A Panel Discussion for Customer Intelligence & Marketing Leadership Professionals. The panel will be moderated by Lisa Bradner (@lisabradner) of Forrester and include:

• Jim Cuene: Director of Interactive, General Mills

• David Deal: VP of Marketing, Razorfish

• Colin Gillespie Global Director of Marketing, Lego

• David Kirven, Director of Brand Strategy, Intuit

Here are the questions and topics we will be covering:

• Why and how must traditional brand management change in the face of digital channels?
• How are brands incorporating new channels into their marketing organizations?
• How are organizations balancing global and local branding?
• How does theh role of agencies change in the digital era?
  

Looking forward to meeting the other panelists and having a thoughtful and insightful panel discussion on this important topic.

Forrester Consumer Forum 2009 and eMarketing Conference Atlanta 2009

I will be attending the Forrester Leadership Board: Interactive Marketing Council Meeting in Chicago, IL October 26 and the Forrester Consumer Forum 2009 in Chicago, IL October 27-28, 2009.

The Interactive Marketing Council is a great group of eBusiness, eCommerce and eMarketing leaders from an array of different companies. I always learn a lot from the other members when we get together for these face-to-face meetings. Forrester is constantly innovating ways to make these meetings better and more interactive. I am looking forward to seeing several friends and colleagues I have not seen in many months.

The Forrester Consumer Forum is one of the best conferences I attend every year. The insights on the consumer landscape, social web marketing, interactive and integrated marketing are outstanding. I am looking forward to filling my brain with new ideas, data and tactics we can use to reach our Newell Rubbermaid consumers.

The theme for this years conference is "The Three Dimensional Consumer: Creating Breakthrough Multichannel Relationships." This fits in well with my thoughts and theories around the social web ecosystem and integrated marketing.

The hashtag for the Forrester Consumer Forum 2009 is #FCF09 and they have a very cool iPhone app that you can download from iTunes or get here developed by ThoughtWorks. The Twitter id is @Forrester.

Here is a summary of what to expect at the forum:

"The Web has come a long way — but not far enough. Many transactional and even brand Web sites began as outgrowths of the catalog or phone channels. As a result, most online experiences are one-dimensional and treat all customers the same, and most sites support buying experiences but fail to engage customers before and after they make a purchase or brand decision. Executives seeking to create profitable relationships must evolve online channel efforts to support three-dimensional consumers. In short, it's time for the Web to grow up and serve as the center of the relationship that companies have with their customers.

Three-dimensional consumers have needs, interests, and questions. To please these demanding customers, earn their repeat business, and have them recommend you to their networks — offline and online — you'll need to effectively engage them as they plan their purchase or brand decisions, help them find the most relevant value as they're buying, and support them during and between their purchases and interactions — all across multiple channels. At this Event, leading Forrester analysts will present research on how evolving consumer online behavior demands that firms step up efforts to engage them, and executives will share their companies' best practices for creating breakthrough multichannel relationships."

I will also be the Day 2, October 29, 2009 Keynote Speaker at eM9 eMarketing Conference Atlanta 2009. I will be discussing Newell Rubbermaid's eBusiness, eMarketing and Social Web Marketing strategies and tactics.

I am very excited and honored to have been asked to deliver a presentation at this conference again. I last presented at eM7 in 2007.

The hashtag for eM9 eMarketing Conference Atlanta 2009 is #eMAtlanta and the Twitter id for the event is @eMAtlanta. Looking forward to seeing everyone at this conference.

Twitter Helps Dilbert Goof Off At Work

I was reading my daily Mashable newsletter today and the 2nd to last item caught my eye: Twitter Helps Dilbert Goof Off At Work. Anytime Dilbert focuses on the social web ecosystem phenomena it is always a joy. The below Dilbert comic is an especially funny take on Twitter. Enjoy.