Forrester: - Making Leaders Successful Every Day

Event Overview

Marketers who sell expensive, highly considered products through a direct sales force or channels are very interested in social media. Large companies like HP, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP pour time and money into blogging, viral video, and setting up communities, expecting Web 2.0 tools to drive demand in 2009 as pipelines stall in the current recession. Yet Forrester's research on Social Computing shows that marketers who start with the tactics and technology first fail to attract buyers through social channels.

In this interactive full-day Workshop, learn how to apply social media tools and methodologies to your existing marketing strategy, use them to improve the relationship between your firm and your buying communities, and create better business outcomes. Forrester analysts will teach you concepts like the POST methodology for social media strategy and how to shift focus from traditional media to social media without losing ground. You will then apply the information through hands-on exercises with other attendees.

During this full day of presentations, hands-on exercises, and discussions, Forrester analysts teach you how to:

• Incorporate social media into your existing marketing program. Technology decision-makers continue to trust information sources that they have turned to for years: peers, publications, and industry service providers. Social media tactics have yet to gain the same stature as conventional channels but are growing in influence. Forrester expects these emerging channels to only pick up steam and this Workshop will teach you how to bring these media into your toolbox and how to use them to complement traditional channels.
   
• Determine the right participation frequency for your audience. Buyer social activity changes as the purchase process progresses. By modeling behavior, marketers can design engagement opportunities that account for buyer movement up and down the Social Technographics® ladder. Marketers will learn how to correlate social activity with progression through the buying process and how to create multiple participation points that move the buying process along.
   
• Sell social media internally and show real business value. Many marketers are excited at the prospect of incorporating social media into their marketing portfolio but are faced with executives and regulatory climates that are far less welcoming. Through the course of the day we will tackle these issues head-on, focusing on how to sell a social media strategy to internal stakeholders and how to follow through with real value.
   
• Prepare your organization for participation and criticism. Encouraging social community participation is an inexact, unclear process so expect mistakes and painful lessons. This Workshop will examine how to deal with negative comments, accept them, and create processes for addressing issues in a way that balances open communication with profitable business goals.

Who Should Attend?

• CMOs or VPs of marketing
• Directors and senior directors of marketing or customer service
• Marketing managers: field, corporate, global, or industry
• Community managers
• Sales, eCommerce, and other executives, directors, or managers involved with companywide customer community initiatives

Why Attend?

• Learn what makes social media effective in the marketing mix and how to measure this activity in business results.
• Learn social media marketing concepts and methodologies that you can use at your firm. Apply these concepts through hands-on exercises.
• Step back from your day-to-day activities to invent breakthrough strategies.
• Develop action plans to bring back to your company.
• Connect with other Forrester clients who are interested in social media marketing initiatives.