Mario Sundar is the Sr. Social Media Manager and Chief Blogger for the business networking site LinkedIn and keynote speaker for Day 2 (my day 2), at OMS 2011. The keynote session was setup as a Q&A session with Mario. So in that interest, I will try to provide some of the questions that were asked, answers given, and my input on those answers. Please know that due to the pace of the conversation, in relation to my typing speed, most answers are paraphrased but all information provided here is 100% accurate.
Q1: What is the future of the Social Media Strategies Position?
Mario: On one hand it is going to be seamlessly integrated into other functions of the business. Secondly there is an executive social media role at the larger companies. The larger companies that take social media seriously will look to bring in those experts at the higher levels of the organization.
Q2: In building social media strategy, there are always founding principles. What are two to three founding principles.
Mario: First, find the right community of users and engage with them. Second, do not start with the tools, start with the plan.
Q3: What are some tools that people should look to use.
Mario: Custom groups on LinkedIn, custom company pages, and direct display ads on LinkedIn
Q4: What is a custom group in LinkedIn.
Mario: First, start with the free version of groups. Explore and see what it can do. See if it matches your customers, and if so, then look into example custom groups like HP's. This will allow you to target a specific audience. Then find a moderator from outside the company so that the conversation is not about sales, and more about thought leadership.
Q5: Where should people start when it comes to social networking sites.
Mario: Of course there are the main three; Facebook, Twitter, and that professional networking site. But what is important is knowing what goes where. To paraphrase what the founder of LinkedIn said: Facebook is your living room where you invite your family and friends over. Twitter is you broadcasting tool, and LinkedIn is your office space where you communicate wi you business colleagues. MySpace is like the bar, and right now is an empty bar.
So I have to say that the Q&A session was very interesting as the perspective of Social Media remains pretty constant whether you work for a social media company like LinkedIn, or a small business in Florida. Social Media, what seems to be becoming a theme at OMS 2011, simply put is identifying your community and conversing with them. Seems simple, but it is far from simple. As Mario said, too many companies try to define their tools and messages before they find their community. A voice without a home is not heard, so let your voice be heard and find your community.
Location:San Diego,United States
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