Have you ever had one of those days that appears to be "THE" day for everything? Like your bosses wedding that just happens to fall on the 30th birthday party of your best friend, who is your husbands twin? Okay, so that didnt really happen. But May 12th is some sort of business event vortex this year.
Two of these events are happening in London, so here I am, unable to sleep and with a big agenda tomorrow. In the afternoon, I am speaking at the Astia: Doing it Right in London 2009 Venture Conference on the importance of Customers when seeking Funding. I love speaking at Astia events, as they include a great mix of young companies and entrepreneurs, angel investors and mentors, and the energy is infectious. In case you don't know Astia, they are an organization that provides support and loads more to women entrepreneurs seeking venture funding. Great group, very instrumental in the launch and growth of Reality Digital. After I finish at Astia I get to hop the train to Brighton where I join Rob Proctor, our Head of EMEA, in giving a dinner presentation at the iMedia Agency Summit. We will focus on the economic and strategic value of social media communities both for the brands and for their agencies. By empowering partners to become a "Social Media Agency" with Reality Digital providing the technology component of their offer, we have seen real traction and success for quite a few large brands.
And as if that wasn't enough, my colleagues are covering the three (yes, that was THREE) other events that are all scheduled for the 12th or the morning of the 13th. And that doesn't include the two that we just had to miss entirely. Unbelieveable! To check out all the events where we will be go to the Reality Digital website for more info.
We often get asked, "What is social media?" and "Why would social media technology matter to me?" We have our answers, and if you asked these same questions to another social media company you'd possibly get a similar answer. But if you were to ask a dozen other players in the industry, you'd probably get 12 pretty different answers. What gives?
The issue with defining this current "it" word is that the term "social media" describes an industry that is too new and changing too quickly to make a concrete definition possible, just yet anyway. A search on Google displays results for social media technology, social media agency, social media communities, social media widgets, and so on. Anyone unfamiliar with the lingo would be hard-pressed to uncover a singular, simple definition for social media.
The market confusion doesn't really help the consumer understand what social media is, nor does it help the brand manager or business owner understand how to use it to the advantage of their bottom line.
For those who are still struggling to define "social media", here's a simple and creative explanation. A colleague of mine recently came across a popular video that does a great job of explaining the concept of social media that is at once both accessible and endearing. Check out the video, "Social Media in Plain English" created by the folks at Common Craft:
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