Fall 2010 - Northern Virginia Technology Council

More documents

Recommendations

Info

q m e e t t h e c o m m i t t e e s Committee Leadership Co-Chairs The Social Media coMMiTTee Rufus manning Account Manager Welz & Weisel Communications Gerard m. stegmaier Associate Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Vice Chairs colby cox Account Executive Marketwire + Sysomos David Farmer Vice President Environics Communications Educational forums and insightful dialogue with NVTC members are what makes the NVTC Social Media Committee (SMC) a valuable resource for those in the Northern Virginia technology community who want to use social media tools to improve how they communicate with key audiences. “The great thing about the SMC is that it truly gives its members a resource to stay on top of the latest trends in an ever-changing market.” said SMC Vice-Chair Colby Cox, account executive at Marketwire + Sysomos. “We are all getting information faster and from so many different sources because of social media, and the SMC advises on the most effective way to leverage social media in any situation and medium.” The NVTC SMC’s mission is to be the shining example of how members can embrace social media as a new medium that is affecting businesses around the world. “We don’t need a better example than the recent Virginia earthquake to see how impactful social media can be,” said SMC Co-Chair Rufus Manning, account manager at Welz & Weisel Communications. “Just take a look at Twitter and how quickly and vastly people and companies communicated.” “It’s a great example,” asserted SMC Co-Chair Gerard M. Stegmaier, associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, “While your phone might not have worked, text messaging, Twitter and Facebook worked, and within seconds we knew the magnitude and epicenter of the earthquake.” Manning urges businesses, large and small, not to wait for an earthquake — or any crisis communications or customer service situation — to join social media. NVTC SMC is the resource you need, to help you start. The committee was formed about three years ago, when NVTC leadership recognized the growing importance of social media tools and wanted to give members a platform to learn social media best practices from each other. “I joined the committee because I saw the opportunity and need to create a thought-leadership hub for professionals using social media in the Greater D.C. Region,” said Stegmaier. The committee targets two groups: professionals interested in learning about leveraging social media in their careers, and professionals with a PR or media strategy background that are currently social media influencers for their companies. The SMC has, however, evolved to the point that the committee members are mainly the active social media participants for their companies. “We don’t have a lot of ‘Social Media 101’ involvement,” explained Manning. “We have an active membership that comes in with questions beyond the basics and looks for ways to grow teams within their own organizations. We don’t, however, shy away from educating at any level.” “The Social Media Committee is here as a resource for all NVTC members—especially those with social media responsibilities,” continued Manning. “I encourage everyone from small social media companies to large corporations with social media programs to use us as a local resource tool.” One such resource tool is the recently launched nvtcsmc.com blog. The blog was formed to serve as an interactive hub of useful information for NVTC members, including case studies, best practices, thought leadership and other helpful posts that will engage users in an ongoing social media discussion. NVTC SMC members are encouraged to participate actively in the blog by submitting relevant postings to Andrew Bates at andrew.bates@ penton.com or Elizabeth Glomb at elizabeth. glomb@penton.com. Other resources are the many educational meetings and events the committee hosts. “A mark of success of events is the ability to bring together leaders in the field who have deep expertise, in a way that they can interact with each other and the membership,” explained Stegmaier. The SMC does just that. This past April, the committee held a successful event, during 12 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org Fall 2011
which attendees learned from experts from Booz Allen Hamilton, Discovery Communications and the Department of State about how to set their organization and its employees up for success through a solid and comprehensive social media policy. This interactive forum also informed attendees about government initiatives to develop and use social media. Understanding how NVTC members currently use social media tools helps the SMC determine how best to benefit the membership. So, earlier this year the SMC issued a survey designed to identify current social media use by NVTC members. “Of those surveyed, 80 percent currently employ social media tools in their communications programs and blogs were not used as frequently as expected,” said SMC Vice-Chair David Farmer, vice president at Environics Communications. “Seventy-five percent expected to increase social media use this year and only 18 percent measure results.” Such findings, and those in future surveys, can help tailor programs the committee develops. The current focus of the committee is helping members create momentum to leverage social media with the customer care side of their businesses — the intersection between customer care and social media. On November 8, during D.C. Week, the SMC will host an event that will focus on the interaction between customer care and social media. During the event, Comcast will discuss the success of their Comcast Cares initiative in social media, and more companies will soon be added to this discussion. SMC event sponsorships are available and are another good way to gain exposure for your company with a targeted social media audience, and also to actively participate in the committee’s events. Social media is not for everyone. You have to do your homework and research to find out if there are relevant conversations that you can participate in. First step – join the committee to get your questions answered. Committee meetings are held the third Tuesday of each month, 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. at Welz & Weisel Communications’ convenient Fairfax, Va., location. “You don’t need to travel to D.C. for your social media networking and educational needs,” said Manning. “Join our expert community right here in Northern Virginia.” nvtc For updates on the Social Media Committee’s future meetings and events, contact nvtC Director of Member Relations and Committees Ann Corcoran at acorcoran@nvtc.org to be added to the mailing list, or follow @NVTCSMC on twitter and use the #NVTCSMC hashtag, and visit the blog at nvtcsmc.com. MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY Health Care IT Programs Health Information Management Health Information Technology These programs are offered exclusively at Marymount’s Reston Center. Information Session GREAT EDUCATION CONVENIENT LOCATION www.marymount.edu/reston Fall 2011 www.nvtc.org THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY 13
Page 1 and 2: Fall 2010
Page 3 and 4: Your data center coming up short? N
Page 5 and 6: A M E S S A G E F R O M B O B B I E
Page 7 and 8: P E R S P E C T I V E S Mobile Comp
Page 9 and 10: NVTC Members Appointed to State Inv
Page 11 and 12: Board Member Company Noblis to Esta
Page 13: A I S Network NVTC members have a u
Page 17 and 18: COVER STORY Telecom Today: A NEw wO
Page 19 and 20: VERIZON SMARTPHONES. Twice as fast
Page 21 and 22: TelecoM Today: a New woRld of NeTwo
Page 23 and 24: AT&T covers 97% of all Americans. E
Page 25 and 26: Q&A NVTC sat down with Sprint Chief
Page 27 and 28: Q&A with Bob Johnson, Mike Maiorana
Page 29 and 30: Sprint Is the #1 Most Improved Comp
Page 31 and 32: Q&A with Bob Johnson, Mike Maiorana
Page 33 and 34: orge the Future of Wireless p Virgi
Page 35 and 36: WAMU.ORG Accredited Investors: Spot
Page 37 and 38: Ten years ago I was: In Pittsburgh,
Page 39 and 40: Kathryn Wolf, Courtney Burke, Mike
Page 41 and 42: N E W M E M B E R S as of 08/31/11
Page 44: WHAT YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS. WHATEVER

Fall 2010 - Northern Virginia Technology Council

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?