The Social Shake-Up Conference and Why You Should Go

What happens when social media marketing, social business and social operations collide?  The Social Shake-Up Conference 2013 in Atlanta on September 15-17th. This is a celebration of how social business practitioners are creating exciting new ways to connect people within and outside the enterprise – customers, employees, managers and leaders. It’s an exploration of how we’re shaking up traditional organizations and communication channels to create a brand new form of business. And it it is especially thrilling that online community is at the forefront of this conference agenda- it even has its own track!

I am excited about this conference for a number of reasons.  While I am honored to be leading two panels, the reason why this conference is important is because this is the place where social business  the conversation.  We will be addressing advanced social business topics. and the timing couldn’t be better.  Companies are starting to recognize that social is not a fad.  It is here to stay and companies must evolve to survive.  Social business practitioners from around the globe are learning, experimenting and succeeding in reinventing how they engage with their stakeholders.  Customers now have a powerful voice in the companies they hire or the products they buy.  Suppliers and partners are now working together using the digital channel to play a more active role in the supply chain, employees are enabled to be champions of sales, marketing and resourcing.   New digital tools and rules are the foundation that is redefining business.  The world, and how we do business, is changing as organizations increasingly strive to become socially enabled enterprises.

In the first panel, The Social Enabled Enterprise, we will be sharing the results of Oracle’s new executive study which explored the challenges and opportunities global organizations are facing in the transition to becoming socially enabled enterprises. Oracle recently conducted an online survey of over 900 marketing and technology executives with Social Media Today and Leader Networks to understand how companies are leveraging social technologies and practices throughout their organizations. The superb panel and I will be discussing the meaning of the study findings and what it means in practice to organizations.  The panelists are Don Bulmer, Vice President, Communication Strategy, Shell, Erica Brookes Vice President of Product Strategy, Oracle Social and Chris Boudreaux Global Lead for Social Media Offerings, Accenture. It doesn’t get better than this lineup! Their insights, experience and vision, coupled with the substantial research findings are sure to shake-up the status-quo.

In the second panel, Whose Community is this, anyways? Scaling Community Management Best Practices Across Global Organizations we will examine what it means to build world-class online community programs that align with the strategic agenda.  This session is designed to help companies understand and operational-ize their online community initiatives so that they can become a part of the fabric of the organizational interactions with customers, suppliers, partners and even employees. We will tackle tough questions such as how can a global organization create a consistent voice while enabling the power-users?  Who leads the ROI metrics and how to excite executives about community. We will also share information about how to design effective centers of excellence to ensure repeatable successes and a consistent experience for community members. Come hear how organizations such as NBC, Liveworld and Analog Devices plan for and create success, scale and efficiencies with their online communities for substantial business benefit.

Social business is becoming a transformational strategy for companies to get closer to their key stakeholders in innovative ways. ROI, metrics, strategic alignment, operational impact of social business – this is what it is all about!  I look forward to meeting you at the Social Shakeup conference and reconnecting with peers who have been keeping the fires lit throughout the emergence of social business as a discipline, art and science. Please be sure to say hello before or during the conference.  I look forward talking with you about your experiences.  Remember, we are all change agents in this new, brave world. Let’s shake it up together!