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.

10 Fortune 500 Companies Doing Social Media Right

Jennifer Leggio wrote a very nice blog post on ZDNet titled: 10 Fortune 500 Companies Doing Social Media Right. I am honored she chose to include my company Newell Rubbermaid and a quote from me in that list. Some excellent companies are included on the list: Intel, Cisco, EMC and Fedex to name a few.

Jennifer Leggio, also known as Mediaphyter, is a co-host with Aaron Strout on BlogTalkRadio Quick-n-Dirty Podcast.

New Media Atlanta 2009 - #NMATL

I am attending and will be on a panel at the first ever New Media Atlanta conference at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center in Atlanta, GA.

The keynote speaker is Chris Brogan (his blog: chrisbrogan.com) and I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with him. He also autographed his new book for attendees: Trust Agents - Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust.

Here are pictures of Chris Brogan, with Stainless Steel Sharpie in hand, and I taken by Jenny DeVaughn and Jennifer Carter:





My panel was titled: Are You Ready For Social Media?: Preparing Your Teams to Listen, Engage, Measure & Adapt

Bert DuMars, Peter Fasano, Seth Miller (and TBSVeryFunny, MostlyMuppet) with Jeff Turner moderating:

Managing an effective social networking campaign is both an art and a science. This panel will give you insight into the tools and techniques used by several large companies in their efforts to engage their customers using Social Media.

Also, I came in 5th during the special Chris Brogan/New Media Atlanta TwitterINGO game. I will be hosting TwitterINGO on September 29, 2009. Hope you can play, should be a challenging set of words.

So many great Atlanta friends in attendance it is difficult to list them all. But you can follow everyone's tweets at #NMATL.

September 26, 2009 Update:

Stacy Williams wrote a thoughtful post on the Backnoise channel at New Media Atlanta. Well worth the investment of your time to read the post and the comments. Unexpected Learnings: BackNoise Can Be Toxic

September 27, 2009 Update:

Another excellent blog post on New Media Atlanta - Blog: New Media Atlanta and Chris Brogan by Ilyce Glink

And another: New Media Atlanta - Social Media Rockstars by Jenny DeVaughn

September 28, 2009 Update:

More blog posts that are excellent reads on New Media Atlanta and the backchannel noise on BackNoise:

Do Backchannels Know No Boundaries by Jason Keith

Who Can Be Brogan by Matt Fagioli

He Said, She Said Volume 5 (and here) by Todd Schnick & Stephanie Lloyd

Snarkiness, anonymity, and backchannel conversations at professional conferences by Paul Chaney

September 29, 2009 Update:

What I told them at New Media Atlanta by Chris Brogan (includes some comments and video of presentation) - Interesting, Insightful and Fun

iab MIXX New York Presentation

I presented with ForeSee Results at the iab MIX Conference & Expo in New York City on September 22, 2009. Our presentation was titled: Beyond Click-throughs and Tweets - Qualitative Measurement of Site Visitor Segments.

Here is a summary of the presentation:

Beyond Clickthroughs and Tweets: Qualitative Measurement of Site Visitor Segments

Successful interactive and social media campaigns drive traffic to your web site, but how well does your web site succeed at bringing vistors closer to your brand and making them loyal customers? Applying a scientific analytics approach to online customer satisfaction measurement provides a qualitative view of the customer experience. This approach enables brands to quantify the intangible value of the site experience and project future behavior that will drive financial success. In the process, brands can gain key insights about visitor segments that help them market more effectively online and offline. Learn how Newell Rubbermaid is applying this measurement approach to Sharpie and other brands and how satisfaction analytics can enhance your measurement system.

Bert DuMars, Vice President, E-Business and Interactive Marketing, Newell Rubbermaid

Eric Head, Senior Director, Business Development, ForeSee Results

The audience was energized and had lots of questions. It was a pleasure presenting with Eric.

New Calphalon.com Website Launches

We launched the new Calphalon.com website today, September 19, 2009.

The new design is focused on the Culinary Lifestyle and integrates consumer generated product reviews from BazaarVoice and advanced where-to-buy services from Channel Intelligence.

The site was developed by LBi Atlanta (@LBi_Atlanta) on a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Commerce Server, Microsoft SQL and Biztalk server platform hosted at Rackspace.

Kamie McHenry-Eckert was the lead Calphalon E-Marketing Manager and Imran Khan was the lead Corporate E-Business Program Manager on the project.

We are thrilled and excited to unveil this next generation website and look forward to its continued evolution.

UGA CONNECT 2009 Conference

I attended University of Georgia, Grady College, CONNECT 2009 conference today, September 19, 2009 in Athens, GA. Porter Novelli is the lead sponsor for the conference.

Panelists and audience debated the value and impact of social media communications.

The hashtag for the conference is #connect. You can also find out more about the conference, speakers and discussions at the following locations:

Twitter: @UGAConnect
Blog: ugaconnect2009
Flickr: ugaconnect09
Delicious: UGAConnect2009
YouTube: UGAConnect

The panels included the following:

Is Social Media Transformational? – Panel Discussion
Melanie James – University of Newcastle (Australia) (via Skype)
Dan Greenfield – Bernaise Source Media, Atlanta, GA
Aaron De Lucia - Porter Novelli

Integrating Social Media in Non-Profits Panel
Tom Watson – Bournemouth University (United Kingdom) (via Skype)
Richard Waters – North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Sara Valkova – Emory Healthcare, Atlanta, GA

Integrating Social Media in Business and Industry Panel
Jeremy Pepper – Palisades Systems, Los Angeles, CA
Toby Bloomberg – Bloomberg Marketing/Diva Marketing, Atlanta, GA

Speaker: Lauren Fernandez, Public Relations Blogger, Dallas, TX

Legal Issues with Employee Blogging
Perry Binder- Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

Integrating Social Media in Government Panel
John Tedesco - Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Lt. Connie Braesch – U.S. Coast Guard, Washington DC (via Skype)

Speaker Bios can be found here and here.

The nice thing about this conference is that it is small enough for the audience to actively engage and debate the presenters. Nothing is taken for granted and controversial perspectives on the theme are not held back

New Rubbermaid.com Launches

We launched the new Rubbermaid.com website last night, September 16, 2009.

The new design is focused on home organization solutions and integrates consumer generated product reviews from BazaarVoice, advanced where-to-buy services from Channel Intelligence, and affiliate marketing services from Commission Junction (@CJnetwork).

The site was developed by LBi Atlanta (@LBi_Atlanta) on a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Commerce Server, Microsoft SQL and Biztalk server platform hosted at Rackspace.

Jim Deitzel was the lead E-Marketing Manager and Imran Khan was the lead E-Business Program Manager on the project.

We are thrilled and excited to unveil this next generation website and look forward to its continued evolution.

From Zero to Community: Practical Advice for Growing and Nurturing an Online Community

I will be on a webcast tomorrow, September 17, 2009 at 3PM Eastern with Aaron Strout, CMO at Powered, and Rachel Happe, Principal and Founder, The Community Roundtable (@theCR). We will be presenting: From Zero To Community: Practical Advice for Growing and Nurturing an Online Community.

Rachel will be presenting her Community Maturity Model and community management best practices. I will be discussing our Sharpie - Uncap Your Creativity, Graco Baby - From The Heart and Rubbermaid - Adventures in Organizaton communities and social networking efforts.

Hope you can attend.

New Marketing Ecosystem And Three Spheres of Web Strategy

I like the poster that Mullen marketing agency developed depicting The New Marketing Ecosystem (see below). This is a comprehensive view of all the touchpoints and complexities of connecting with today's consumer. I have this poster hanging in my office.


I also like the perspective Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang) provides on Web Strategy with his diagram below - The Three Spheres of Web Strategy - Updated for 2009. It is a simple view that provides needed clarity on this very complex subject. I keep a copy of this with me wherever I go.

The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions

The above graphic provides a very interesting perspective on distractions caused by digital devices. The pyramid was developed by Chris McCandless, http://informationisbeautiful.net. Here is his blog post: The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions and a Mashable article on the graphic. Chris definitely develops some interesting and cool graphical representations. Check them all out on his blog and at Flickr.

The HUB Magazine - Being Social

I was interviewed by Tim Manners of The HUB Magazine on Social Media and Social Networking topics a few weeks back. The article: "Being Social," just came out today. The article also includes quotes and comments from:

• Bonin Bough of Pepsico
• Richard Binhammer of Dell
• John Andrews of Collective Bias
• Aaron Magness of Zappos

I am honored to have been interviewed with these other very strong players in the social media and social web ecosystem.

In addition to this article coming out today, Newell Rubbermaid was also featured in a Wall Street Journal article discussing our Twitter recruiting efforts. "A New Job Is Just A Tweet Away" discusses how we use Twitter to find untapped talent. The Newell Rubbermaid Twitter recruiting id is @CoolJobsatNWL.