Monetizing Your Community – ISSMM Converge Symposium

presents

 CONVERGE – Fall Symposium,

September 27 – 29, 2011

 Silicon Valley Marriott, Fremont, CA 

When I was invited to attend and speak at Converge, I felt it was an exciting opportunity to re-examine the significance of social commerce and how our communities are affected on a routine basis.  With this in mind, I plan to highlight a number of innovative thoughts, tools and ideas on monetizing your community and then apply these solutions to some of the greatest opportunities social technology presents.

Here are a few statistics that frame the opportunity for monetizing your community:

-       91% say consumer content is the #1 aid to a buying decision (JC Williams Group)

-       87% trust a friend’s recommendation over a review by a critic (Marketing Sherpa)

-       Social network users are 3x more likely to trust peer opinions over advertising when making purchase decisions (Jupiter Research)

With these figures in mind, it’s obvious that by using social technology, including online communities, organizations can increase revenue and improve long-term relationships with customers.  My session will focus on how your content strategy can drive increased community engagement and in turn drive commerce (monetization).

Content, Community, Commerce… A theme I’ve embraced for quite some time now!

Preview the slides of my session below:

I’m also looking forward to meeting and learning from world-class thinkers who use and apply the tools of ‘our trade’ and often will discuss new ways of thinking about old problems, similar to what we do at AvectraLabs!  From experience I have found that these face-to-face connections effectively deepen my understanding of various aspects of social technology and at the same time build and establish new, long-lasting relationships, which I value most of all.

In addition to Randi Zuckerberg, another speaker I anticipate meeting is Tim Collins, Senior Vice President, Experiential Marketing, Well Fargo. He will be leading off CONVERGE and speaking at the Professional Networking Reception and VIP Dinner. We are mutually connected to the Social Media Council Group on LinkedIn. This group constitutes many of the most innovative executives across many industries (thanks to Judy Mod @JudyMod). I’d love to learn from Tim. Specifically, how he navigated the public opinions through the merger of the banks. Of course, protecting the world-recognized “stage-coach” symbol of Wells Fargo, I imagine there were many challenges with operations, human resources, brand management, and technology while merging in Wachovia. At Top Rank, Tim is quoted, as saying, “ Social media is media that anyone can participate in. Not just as a consumer, but also as a creator.” I really like the ‘creator’ part! Will talk to him about that too!

I’m definitely looking forward to getting to know another prominent speaker on the agenda, Brian Solis, principal of Altimeter Group (@briansolis) and one of the most renowned and respected thought leaders in social technology innovation.   Brian is consistently ranked as one of the top speakers at events around the world. He actively keynotes industry conferences, summits, and corporate events. At Converge, he will be speaking on “Cutting Edge Social Media Practices.” According to ISSMM’s communiqué, “www.briansolis.com, was rated the world’s #9 marketing blog by Advertising Age’s “Power 150.”    No doubt his slant on upcoming trends and change will be extraordinarily insightful.

Planning to attend Converge?  Lets talk… @sterlingraphael

For more information regarding CONVERGE 2011 and the Institute for Social, Search &

Mobile Marketing (ISSMM), visit www.socialsearchmobile.org.

ISSMM. The Power Forum to Participate, Discover & Lead!