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The Squared Root
8 Posts tagged with the interactive tag
If you ever wondered what social commerce's impact is on business, then you will be very interested in Steve Guengerich's keynote presentation tomorrow at the Interactive Austin 2008 conference. Steve, who is the Chief Learning Office at nGenera, will be discussing the intricacies of social commerce and what it means for the companies of today. Steve is going to take the audience through the “perfect storm” that is Web 2.0 as it brings together globalization, talent and technology. He also will bring into light the necessary redefinition of corporate marketing, as well as the trust that consumers and clients have in companies, brands and individuals. According to Steve, Wikinomics is the model for leveraging social commerce. He will use case studies to show how early adopters of wikinomics have utilized this social commerce tool in their business and the major impact that it has had on corporate trust and marketing. Finally, Steve will introduce Interactive Austin 2008 attendees to the next generation enterprise. With the next generation enterprise, companies will be able to source talent both inside and outside the enterprise, as well as allowing the customer to come inside the enterprise to co-innovate. Mr. Guengerich’s keynote is sure to bring excitement into the audience as he delivers them to the cutting edge of social commerce. Before joining the C-level ranks at nGenera, Steve was the Director of Information Technology for Bridgepoint Consulting, as well as the President of Perceptive Sciences Corporation. He began his career with Accenture and PriceWaterhouse-Cooper's consulting group where he specialized in advanced technologies. Steve also is an award-winning writer and has authored eight computer books and articles for publications like Computerworld, eWeek and NetworkWorld.
I just learned that Bill Fields, the former president & CEO of WalMart Stores Division, is going to be a part of Interactive Austin 2008. He is going to be on a panel with our very own Dave Evans and they will be discussing the new trends and technologies that are driving social interaction. Social interactions are increasingly becoming “virtual,” always present and close as your mobile or handheld. As a result these virtual interactions are now a part of real life: people expect to be able to connect independent of physical proximity. Networks of friends, colleagues, partners, and suppliers are playing an essential role in the collaborative processes powering leading organizations. However, I digress, back to Bill. What makes me so excited to hear Bill’s perspective on social interaction is his background. To put it simply, Bill is not new to the world of big business. Bill has served as Chairman and CEO of Blockbuster Entertainment, President and CEO of WalMart Stores Division, as well as President and CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company, which at 332 years is the oldest chartered firm in North America. Currently, Bill is the Managing Director of Field Texas Limited which is a consulting and investment company that specializes in consumer, retail, and supply chain in North American and in China. Bill’s experience and vision in building larger organizations will no doubt provide a very unique and exciting perspective on how social media and social interaction are affecting the business world.
Twitter. If you consider yourself in the know of all things tech, than you probably have heard of Twitter. It seems to be popping up everywhere nowadays. Friends letting friends know what they are doing, giving insight to feelings on a certain topic, arranging plans for the weekend or even commenting on the article they are currently reading. Even though Twitter was created for personal use, friends sending quick micro messages to friends; it is really starting to take off as a business tool. It lets companies update its followers on exciting news, new blogs, schedule changes, or just what the employees of that company are up to that day. Companies are also using Twitter to share and connect with others to listen to what is being talked about, in order to gain business intelligence and consumer insights. Twitter has also taken off as a conference tool, allowing attendees to update their followers on all the interesting topics and speakers that they are encountering at the conference. I have personally found myself addicted to Twitter lately, and get disappointed when I am not receiving tweets. Twitter gives me that wonderful “in the know” feeling; that great feeling of knowing that you can intelligently participate in almost all the conversations that are occurring around you. By having carefully chosen who I am following, I have a better understanding of what is going on in the political world, the interactive world and the social world (mostly my social world here in Austin). If you haven’t experienced a tweet, I suggest you check out twitter and see what have you been missing in the world today.
Clickstream is defined as the recording of what a computer user clicks on while surfing the Internet. The data collected from clickstream shows what sites a user visited, what pages within the site they visited, what they clicked on and how long they were there. The user’s clickstream data can be invaluable to marketers on determining what is of interest to their target demographic, what parts of a site seem to grab their attention, and their Internet habits in general. During his keynote presentation at the Interactive Austin 2008 symposium, Pete Hayes will be teaching the audience about Clickstream as an alternative to driving traffic to their site and incorporating the data into overall marketing efforts. As part of his keynote presentation, Hayes will present a Best Buy case study to show how corporations can insert content into consumer buying sites; he will also demonstrate how content can be syndicated into blogshere with a case study from GearLive; and finally, through a AMD game case study, he will show companies how they can intercept their own clickstreams and discover new uses for current visitors. With the AMD game, Hayes and his team were able to generate 3 million unique visitors per month in 90 days. Not knowing a lot about the topic, I am looking forward to hearing Mr. Hayes' keynote presentation. Hayes is the Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Communications for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Prior to his arrival at AMD in the summer of 2006, Hayes was with SicolaMartin for 11 years. During his time at SicolaMartin, Hayes worked in Business Development and general management roles of their interactive division His client experience includes 3M, AMD, Citrix, Compag, Dell, Freescale, Motorola and Novell.
The subject of "social commerce" -- social media applied to business and specifically to commerce-related transactions and customer processes -- is gaining in recognition as a significant tool in the standard business toolbox. For example, of the top 100 retailers with online operations, 50 are using the Bazaarvoice social commerce platform. Powering these commerce applications is, at the core, social media: digital word of mouth turned media, produced and presented by current customers for consumption for consumption by potential ones. If you're wondering about who is using social media -- and in particular experiencing it in the context of a purchase -- the answer is "everyone," a point driven home in a recent Universal McCann study. It's basically a given that if you sell it, someone else is talking about what happened after they bought it. That conversation is being tapped and inserted into the purchase funnel, right in between your ad (awareness) and the check out (point of sale). The rise of social media good news for those brands with a tight link between Marketing--where the expectation is set, and Operations, where the promise is delivered on. These are just some of the topics I'll be speaking about at the upcoming Interactive Austin conference in June. I hope to see you there. In the meantime, let me about your experience with social media and its use in your company.
Social commerce, the use of social media in business, is putting companies on an even playing field; and the companies that aren't getting on board are going to find themselves falling behind the competition. Think about it - social media is everywhere! Wiki-ing, blogging, podcasting, twittering, FaceBooking, and MySpacing - this is how the world is communicating now. And if your company isn't playing along, your message is less likely to reach your target audience. For this reason, major corporations, like Austin-based Dell, Intel and AMD are integrating social networking and other social media into their marketing plans. 
To help companies get to where they need to be, interactive professionals in Austin that understand the power of social media in today's world have converged to create Interactive Austin 2008. This forum which takes place on June 19th, is an event dedicated to educating companies on the advantages of Social Commerce, the importance of it in the rapidly changing corporate environment, and how to harness its power for profitability. The event will feature two prominent keynote speakers. Brian Magierski, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of nGenera Corporation, will speak on "Social Commerce and It's Impact on Business." While the Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Communications for AMD, Pete Hayes, will speak on "Get into the Click Stream: An Alternative to Driving Traffic to Your Site." Aside from the keynote speakers, this will be a day full of educational and informative panel discussions and case study presentations from Austin's social media experts. If you have a company, it would be a wise decision to attend Interactive Austin 2008. For more information about it, check it out online at http://www.interactiveaustin2008.com. We will see you there!
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Now that I am serious about meeting up with the rest of the world, my friend Cynthia Baker has asked me to draft a real professional biography that would be useful for securing presentation slots at target rich business conferences. Upon drafting the biography, I immediately reviewed at http://www.tagcrowd.com/ and here is the result.
It's amazing how well tag clouds center in on your thinking process! Thank you www.tagcrowd.com. Here is my current biography to be recorded in Internet history forever. Please trust this only represents my life until now. But afterall now is gone. Kindest Regards. Steve Golab began his career as a pioneer of interactive communications while still an undergraduate in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Golab piloted the university's College of Engineering Multimedia Lab, developing interactive educational materials while demonstrating the powerful impact of multimedia and the Internet on learning complex technical subject matter. In 1994, during the early adoption of HTML 1.0, Golab co-founded FG SQUARED (www.fg2.com). Launched as a technology consulting business, the Austin-based firm soon evolved into a multimedia design agency focused on digital video, 3D animation, motion graphics, information management, and systems. Golab's engineering background brought the firm its initial success as a high-tech consultancy. His talent for understanding what really happens inside technology and visually communicating complex subject matter is core business at FG SQUARED. From business visionary to organizational thinker and from strategy leader to relationship builder, Steve's role in the agency he helped create is wide-ranging. A typical day finds Steve moving from addressing high-level client needs to consulting with team members in planning and execution of world-class interactive strategies. Steve focuses on longevity, leadership, and the building of profitable relationships. However, it is Golab's strong entrepreneurial spirit, diverse business management skills and his passion for achieving total client satisfaction that have enabled FG SQUARED to consistently remain an industry leader. Today, FG SQUARED has evolved into a full-service, interactive agency that applies interactive technologies and expertise in marketing to help clients achieve a faster track to profitability. Since 2003, FG SQUARED has achieved upwards of 35 percent compounded average annual growth. The agency's core capabilities span the spectrum from strategic planning and digital branding to interactive media production and social media solutions for Fortune 500 clients such as Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD), Hitachi Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Premier Global Services (NYSE:PGI), Canon (NYSE: CAJ), and Texas Association of Community Health Centers. Building long-term relationships with clients in diverse fields including energy, technology, healthcare, entertainment, and mobile communications, FG SQUARED has earned more than 100 interactive media awards including the New York Festivals, Business Week MC Icon, WorldFest International Film, and Telly Awards. FG SQUARED is also a past recipient of the New Media 500, honoring it as one of the world's most influential interactive agencies.
Late Friday morning, the South by Southwest Festival officially kicked off here in Austin. It’s that crazy time of year when aspiring rock stars, film makers, internet strategists, and other hipsters of every stripe converge into the downtown Austin entertainment district. Being the brainiac that I am, this year I decided to arrive twenty minutes early, so I was one of the first in line. Moments after I arrived, the line was snaking around the corner of the wide convention hall. Wow, was I relieved to be near the front, so I could quickly get back to my office across the street. For those of you attending the festival, check out http://sched.org/sxsw2008/. It’s a slick and interactive event marketing tool that allows attendees to quickly make their schedule and share it with others. For instance, here is my schedule: http://sched.org/sxsw2008/steve_golab. If you want to meet me at the event, this will give you an idea where you'll be likely to find me. I doubt I’ll actually stick to the schedule, though, and also I may be changing it around as the event goes on. If you are not heading to the festival this year, I still encourage you to check out http://sched.org/sxsw2008/ and http://sched.org/sxsw2008/steve_golab. This web-based scheduling tool is elegant and also brings high impact user experience of sorts. Try to use it, you'll see what I mean. From an event marketer’s perspective, the tool allows exhibitors, producers, and sponsors to measure participant interest in real-time and better forecast where the crowds will be. If I had more time, I could probably rattle off eighty other benefits possible with the right social media marketing strategy in place. The tool itself is an attraction for the event and I bet it wins honors this year for the Interactive Awards. Rock on!
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