Social Media

Social media vehicles are big and growing. New social outlets are emerging all the time. Harnessing the power of social media is exciting, enticing and necessary. So what are the social media? How do they work? How can they best be put to use to advance brands and businesses? And what kinds of strategies are necessary to guard against social initiatives that denigrate or even hijack brands? This course will provide insight into how social media works, it will uncover how brands must authentically engage with consumers in the new social context, and outline some successful social media do's and don'ts to increase brand engagement.

Now that social networks have achieved global scale, marketer's interest should shift from quantity to quality. The process of sorting, filtering, weighing, segmenting and valuing social networks as marketing tools is important because American's spend nearly a quarter of their time on social networking sites and blogs and 85% of users engage brands in the social media space; and as consumers our target audience has never had so much power over marketing and the marketing mix.

This course will provide insight into how social media work. It will explore the importance of social media strategy and how to activate it. It will uncover how brands must authentically engage with consumers in the new social context. It will outline some successful social media programs and provide tips about the do's and don'ts of smart social brand engagement. The course will discuss how social media complements more traditional efforts. We will also address how to harness the new social landscape to increase economic value and the metrics necessary to know good intentions are well received and will pay dividends.

Who Is This Course For?

Designed for marketing, media and digital executives this program is highly beneficial for those who are working in any and all aspects of customer communication. The course is particularly valuable for brand managers, digital managers who are charged with building brands and protecting brand equity. The course will also be valuable for anyone in an organization who wants a better understanding of how the new social media are transforming the marketing and personal interaction landscapes.

Key Takeaways

Learn what the social media are and how they work
Gain an understanding of how customer connections are engaged in the new 2-way marketing conversation
Appreciate the critical importance of social media for organizations who need to enhance their connectedness to their customers' evolving lifestyles
Acquire insights into how to organize and manage social media programs throughout your organization
Understand how social can extend your marketing communication effectively and efficiently
Address your own company-specific challenges around social media and the advantages and risks it brings
Learn how to assess and measure the power of Social Media

When

Begins:	Tuesday, June 12, 2012 at 8:30am
Ends:	Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 5:00pm

Where

Reed Smith, LLP
305 Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606

Registration Pricing

		Member Rate	Non-Member Rate
	Program Registration Fee	$ 1,495	$ 1,795

Agenda

Instructor

Nicole Ames
Co-Founder and Principal
Twist IMC

Day 1

Module	Content Summary
Overview of the Key Social Media platforms: Facebook, YouTube, FourSquare, Pinterest, Twitter	Overview of key social media platforms Terminology & terms Technology will change so good strategy is imperative.
Discussion: Avoiding "shiny object syndrome"	GM decides to pull their 10MM Facebook campaign due to lackluster results. Was Facebook the right place for GM? What are signs of the ‘shiny object syndrome’? How do you determine which social platform is right for your customer and makes sense for your company?
Managing Social Media	Managing messages across platforms Online tools: Hootsuite,Tweetdeck, etc. Strategic communications with multiple administrators
Key Social Media Strategies	Strategies: ‘talking’, embracing, listening Best Practice examples Understand the need for a strategic framework for social media marketing whether creating awareness or pushing traffic to a website
Cautionary tales in SM “Worst Practices”	Examples of mismanagement, poor campaign execution & humor gone wrong.

Day 2

Module	Content Summary
Creating a business case for Social Media	How can social media support your marketing plan? Social media and the marketing funnel Can you demonstrate ROI? Is there a value to a ‘like’ or a follow? Discuss as a group
Exercise: Review your Social Media plan	Straw model social strategy Business objectives, Audience, Strategy, Platform Opportunity to outline your company’s social plan --strategies & tactics--for social; get feedback, ask questions in real time, exchange ideas.
Discussion: Social Media and the workplace	Upside of employees using social: Building business, SEO & brand ambassadors Downside: mistakes that go viral Challenge of managing across generations from Boomers to Digital Natives What is the right balance for your team? How do you set expectations?
2012 Industry Trends	Social TV Sponsored & Promoted Tweets Mobile tools F Commerce