Social Media Session at IT Expo

Filled with multiple tracks and competing sessions, as well as concurrent conferences, IT Expo in Las Vegas provided access to a diverse range of ideas, primarily presented in an informal panel format. Rather than sessions causing "death by Powerpoint," the sessions I attended consisted mainly of three or four panelists discussing a topic, with lots of interaction from the audience.

My favorite session by far was one that I moderated, entitled "What Every Executive Needs to Know about Social Media," with Garrett Smith of Smith on VoIP, Jeremy Watkin of phone.com, and David Vaughan of TSG Global. This was a totally sales pitch-free session, and the panelists provided great insights about building and leveraging a social agenda, how to interact with customers via social, and creating a social culture. The panelists each had lots of experience as users of social software, helping their companies become more social, and shared lots of practical information.

According to Garrett Smith, companies use social media to:

• Engage with current customers and probable purchasers "on their turf."
  
  
• Increase presence and visibility where your customers are.
  
  
• Reinforce expertise and thought leadership.
  
  
• Attain global business benefits such as branding, traffic, sales and profits.

There was some debate and disagreement over whether social is a sales channel or not. David Vaughan asserted that social should not be considered a sales channel, but it can help lead to sales. He claimed that social sites like Twitter and Facebook should be used primarily for establishing relationships and engagement, which can lead to sales, but the focus should be on long-term relationships rather than providing coupons and sales incentives.

Everyone agreed that it's important to have a social media strategy, which should be consistent with the organization's overall marketing and brand strategy. The strategy should be related to the organizations' business and business goals.

When asked about what advice to give to the audience, Garret Smith suggested to not be afraid of social, and not to avoid it. Jeremy Watkin had lots of practical advice, including the need to have the right types of people interacting with customers on public social networking sites. Having people who understand customer service and customer care is essential, and the people on the front lines providing social customer care need to understand what can and can't be shared publicly, and how to interact with customers.

In both this session, as well as another social software session I attended, panelists agreed that it's important "not to feed the trolls." There are many people who, for whatever reason, like to make nasty comments on social networking sites, venting anger or just being rude. It's important to recognize when a comment or post is a legitimate complaint by a customer, or someone is just being negative and wanting to engage in a social media version of a barroom brawl.

Companies are beginning to get more comfortable with social software and using sites like Twitter and Facebook for customer interactions and customer service, rather than just for marketing and branding. It'll be interesting to watch the industry and see what "best practices" develop. It's great to hear from experts who have experience in developing and deploying social software strategies, and I want to give a big shout out to Garrett, Jeremy, and David. And speaking of social software, be sure to follow me on Twitter @blairplez.