CASE Conference and Social Media

I was lucky enough to speak at last month's CASE Conference.  After being connected through a mutual past colleague, I was even luckier to co-present with Tamsen McMahon of Sametz Blackstone Associates on the Why and Why Nots of Social Media. The presentation was jam-packed as social media was definitely a buzz topic over the two days I was at the conference. There were many questions and much interest and I only wish we had more time for both the presentation and taking more questions.

This was my first time presenting at CASE and Tamsen certainly set me up for success.  Presenting has always been somewhat of a high for me and this was no exception.  Presenting can be nerve-wracking; and it can be a whole lot of fun.  Going in to every presentation I do, I try to promise myself three things: 1) Be relaxed; 2) Understand that I won't hit every point I prepare; and 3) Try to interject some humor.  Now, not everyone will get every joke you make as that is typicallly the case for me, but it at least keeps you making yourself laugh.  That is my #1 rule for not only every presentation, but every day. :)

Our presentation can be found on Slideshare. I am actually not a client of Tamsen's or Sametz, but it's amazing how similar our approaches and philosophy on digital media are despite being new acquaintances.  At the end of the day, there are variety of organizational structures, policies and strategies that can work, but they've developed a method that will help determine how social media will work in any organization.

When it comes to any space within social media, I feel that you need to be a consumer first. Your plan has three simple steps.

1. Learn -  Learn your way around the space and discover how other users are utilizing the platform.
2. Interact - Now that you have a sense of the space, use it more frequently and understand its intricacies. Communicate and be a part of the conversation.
3. Engage - Now that you've built relationships and have become knowledgeable of the space, share content and conversation that will engage your new connections.

If you follow these three basic steps, I ensure that you will become a more comfortable and engaged user of social media.  And this method works for both personal and corporate use. For any marketer or communications professional, I feel that you should learn, interact and engage as a consumer first to truly understand the space.  You can stagger these steps in parallel for each and learn about your product, service and market while engaging as an individual user.  After all, your audience is your brand and to quote Tamsen from another session during CASE, "social media allows you to understand your brand."