Choose C or D or BOTH for Maximum Value and Learning

Creating And Generating Effective Conversations In Social Media: How To Drive Engagement Through Applications

The conversation around generating engagement in social media usually focuses on how to be successful on certain social platforms such as Facebook or Twitter and/or identifies content strategies for communicating with an organization’s audience. What sometimes is overlooked is the need to create effective tools to generate conversations in social media and help activate fans and followers into brand evangelists and grassroots supporters.

To put the importance of applications into context, over 71 million people played Farmville on Facebook during the week of May 28, 2010 (http://www.appdata.com/). Social games and data-based tools represent a real opportunity for organizations to actively shape the conversation and create action beyond the two-way dialogue of social media.

In this workshop, three major types of social media applications will be discussed:

1. Mobile Applications
2. Rich Internet Applications
3. Native Platform Applications (Facebook apps, etc.)

Specifically, this session will focus on identifying best practices for the design and development of applications for these three categories, explaining how to generate opportunities for public awareness in each, while exploring the relationship with social media to help generate ideas for participants.

Together, we will look at case studies examining successful application implementations and uses by government agencies, such as (Spot the Difference - http://buzzeddriving.adcouncil.org/).

Finally, we will tie everything together by actually making an application for a participant’s organization.

WORKSHOP LEADER:  Alex Nelson is a Consultant with Aon Consulting’s New Media and Creative Services Group, leading interactive development as part of his role in shaping solutions that use multiple platforms to create engaging two-way dialogue between employers and employees. Alex works with clients to apply emerging technology solutions to enhance internal and executive communication strategies, taking his background from working with PR agencies to help develop best practices for these new platforms.  Formerly, Alex was an Interactive Strategist with Home Front Communications.  His practice led social media programs on behalf of government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, USDA, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as well as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, and UnitedHealth.

11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Afternoon break/lunch on your own

The ROI Of Social Media: How To Monitor And Measure Your Organization’s Social Media Efforts

This informative workshop will share with you how to leverage existing enterprise tools for social media versus making separate investments to ensure compliance and functionality.  In this session, we will discuss what to monitor to measure real impact, and common myths in this area that simply do not apply to the public sector.  For example: The “myth of reach” is just that – a myth.  The real question is:  are you reaching the right audience with your content, not, are you reaching the most people.  This session will also elaborate on how to reduce costs within your organization while increasing social collaboration both internally and externally.
 
Gartner recently suggested that through 2012, over 70% of IT-dominated social media initiatives will fail because the “provide and pray” model is not enough to ensure success in social collaboration.
 
You will learn strategies on how to avoid this trap, while reducing expenses and overlapping technologies.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Kent Cunningham is a Solutions Architect within the Applied Innovations Group at Microsoft U.S. Public Sector. He has been in the innovative field of IP communications and data center design for over twenty years, and has been heavily engaged with the leading vendors and standards bodies through countless phases of the evolving & immersive collaboration market.  Kent is responsible for defining go-to-market strategies and product development roadmaps as influenced by, and tailored to meet, the unique requirements of customers within the Public Sector.  His current focus is on optimizing highly available, line of business solutions which capitalize on the impacts of Social Networking, Cloud Computing, and Open Standards in today’s consumerized IT model.