Later today I will be participating in an online seminar focused on offering some insights and lessons on what it takes to create a successful community for business purposes. What’s most interesting about this seminar is that there is a very wide range of audiences registered to attend online, including financial companies, consumer marketers, advertising agencies, social media experts and public relations professionals. Each most likely has a different reason for attending, but all seem to realize that online communities can play an important role in B2B marketing. There is a powerful business application when it comes to developing and sustaining an online community, and already many of our clients are starting to plan a strategy for community rather than just focusing effort on creating corporate blogs or monitoring blogs. Social media is about more than blogs and though some may argue about whether online community should be considered "social media," there’s no denying that having a strong online community is a vital component of fostering loyal brand evangelists, building business relationships and demonstrating to customers that you are listening.
You can still register for the free seminar online – and I highly suggest you do so as there is a great lineup of participants including Gina Bianchini (CEO and Co-founder of Ning), Craig Cmehil (Community Evangelist at SAP), Julie Wittes Schlack (SVP of Innovation and Design at Communispace) and the session is moderated by Robin Fray Carey (President of the Carey Publishing Group). I am sure the organizers will be making materials available afterward in case you cannot make the presentation – but for those who can, see you there at 1pm EST today!
Thanks for posting the information about the seminar on social networking at b2b’s.
Slack Barshinger has started some social networking features. Here are some examples
https://writtenbyallof.us/
https://www.flickr.com/groups/slackbarshinger/pool/
https://twitter.com/slackbarshinger