* I think this is the first social media event that I’ve attended where the event hashtag (#blogpotomac) became a Twitter trending topic (at least, since trending topics were added to the Twitter.com main page at the end of April.)

Attendees displayed a perverse pride at this fact, as well as an artificial sense of competition with the hashtag #beatlesporn (a Twitter meme involving turning any Beatles song title into a porn movie title), despite the fact that it simply means that a few dozen people are posting simultaneously to capture an identical moment (usually a speaker’s quote).

It was also my first experience personally monitoring a hashtag stream that attracted the attention of spammers, and thus started to get polluted by Twitter hashtag spam.

* While I do look a little askance at the phenomena of lots of people posting the exact same tweets about the exact same thing (see this Gizmodo article for a variation involving digital cameras), all that redundancy in crowdsourced note-taking does have its uses:

- Attendees can pay attention and free-ride off of the note-taking twitterers’ work

- Note-takers have a safety net in case they miss something

- Speakers can easily see which words and concepts grab people’s attention (at least from a soundbite-y perspective)

* Recurring themes:

- Blogging: In case of emergency, break glass: In response to a question / statement that “[corporate] blogs are dying a bit every day” (in the face of Twitter and other tools), Shel Holtz noted that while every organization should use the right tool for the job, each should have at least one blog (whether it’s a customer service blog, corporate group blog, CEO blog, etc), so that there’s a viable platform in case the organization need a rapid response from an authoritative, archived location. It’s a sentiment I first heard expressed by Steve Rubel back in 2006 (as corporate blogging was reaching peak hype), and it still applies even in an era of Twitter ascendancy.

- Hashtags: Shireen Mitchell, a prolific (even chronic) hashtag user, addressed the roles of hashtags, in both making communities more coherent to insiders (by helping to self-organize conversations), as well as making them more accessible to outsiders (that is, once you can decode hashtags that are often space-constrained to the point of arcana.)

- Crisis as Danger / Opportunity: Although I agree with the sentiment, I deducted a few cliche points from Ford’s Scott Monty for using this expression of dubious provenance — I group it with “teachable moments” and “making lemons from lemonade.”

However, I did like his points, including his notes on a mobilized, engaged community as both your early-warning system and “digital armor” for attacks, as well as his reality check for companies uneasy with employees using blogs and social media: Do the lawyers vet every e-mail and phone call that their corporate communicators send out? In an age where every e-mail or phone call can be published (well, wiretap laws notwithstanding), a lot of this discomfort is simply unfamiliarity with the context of the tools.

I add in this decidedly non-Far Eastern wisdom: “You gotta be in it to win it.” (The old motto of the New York Lotto.)

- Personal Branding: Yet again, personal branding was kind of trainwreck-y, mostly because you can never get people to agree on just what it is they’re talking about. Amber Naslund took issue with the idea of personal branding as a shortcut to building a real reputation; Aaron Brazell framed it in the context of “confidence vs. cockiness.”

In the context of personal brands coexisting with corporate brands, I do think you can have it both ways — people can use the company’s authority to boost their visibility, while companies can increase their humanity. As long as each has a succession plan (Scott Monty’s term), everyone benefits.

- Customer Service: Shashi mentioned the notion of customer service being the purest form of marketing, which tied in with other speakers’ notions of getting more employee voices to communicate. Again, to tie it all off, getting more employees to participate in social media increases positive contacts with customers, reduces dependence on any one social media communicator, and helps break down silos. So do it.

Other than that, Geoff dropped a small bombshell in announcing that the third BlogPotomac (scheduled for October) would mark his final involvement (not wanting to be “the guy who’s a community leader, but whose kids are stealing”)

In summary, it was another good event. To some degree, as with any blogging / social media confab, there’s a degree of preaching to the converted (especially as attendees are more familiar with the tools and concepts), though that’s where the community-building aspect comes into play.

We arrived from our quick flight out of Dulles to a cool building with an awesome view of downtown Chicago. When walking into the room it was bustling with people clustered around tables and it reminded me of the blogger lounge at South by Southwest (SXSW). If you took the blogger lounge times four put all of the top bloggers from around the country in one room and added content to the discussions you have SOBCon. An awesome feat to acheive and Terry Starbucker & Liz Strauss did an outstanding job.

(Photo by Geoff Livingston)

Few things new this year:

Corporations that understand social media or are making a great attempt at engaging using social media

Sponsors like Colgate and marketing firms that brought in cool products we know (like Klondike Bars) and things we are going to see soon (reusable soap dispensers) to get feedback and engage a community of people that understand the concept of community and conversation.

Dual tracks the first day

This is only thing I didn’t like because it split the room up and made you choose between speakers you wanted to see. I guess I am more of a Gnomedex person with a single track, but that is just a personal preference.

Outstanding Content Examples from the First Day

Since our flight came in later I missed Chris Brogan and Julien Smith talk about their book “Trust Agents”. These guys wrote the book on trust in building community and participation in a 21st century business.

Photo: JD Lasica

I then was able to finally meet Brian Clark, Founder of Copyblogger and then meet the other half of the book Barack 2.0, David Bullock. I did an interview with his writing partner, Brent Leary about Social CRM (his specialty) and the Barack 2.0 project in October, five days before the election. David stated that their book was a matter of historical record and was not there to be political but a true analysis of the campaign’s use of social media through election day and beyond. He noted that many of the services used (Facebook, Twitter) didn’t even exist during the last election which was a very poigiant observation as to the adoption and rapid evolution of social media.

We had some other great presentations in addition to awesome networking in the halls and at your table. At the end of the day we had the opening day party at Hotel 71 on the top floor which was spectacular. On a side note, it was used as the set for Batman’s apartment in the movie “The Dark Knight” so you know this place was ultra cool and again showed that Terry and Liz know how to put on a conference.

More awesome sessions and content from Day Two

After a late night of umm, networking, we arrived bright eyed and ready for day two with started with a lively Q&A consisting of Chris Garrett, Lucretia Pruitt, Jason Falls and Zena Weist they had lots of feedback on social media in general and that basically we have only scratched the surface since 24% of people are even aware or planning to use social media.

We were then treated to a change in presentation with Kali Evans-Raoul talking about appearance and her image consulting business. We learned alot of major things (dress and ettiqute) to weird little things (your teeth move and change color over time without you realizing it). It was a very appropriate conversation since most of the mainstream media thinks that all bloggers work in their pajamas this session was to prove that we don’t, well most of us…

After lunch Geoff Livingston spoke about how to do a complete customer outreach program that consisted of online and offline components.

Photo by Shashi Bellamkonda

This was followed up by KD Paine and her awesome presentation on metrics and the ROI of relationships in social media. I have embedded the presentation here because it is that good and feature rich.

Wrapping up the day we had fun at Morton’s in Chicago and many headed off to Karaoke or off to bed.

Heading out and Wrapping Up

On Sunday morning they had a farewell breakfast and wrap up back at “Batman’s Apartment” at the top of Hotel 71. Not to let a good gathering go to waste, Terry Starbucker & Liz Strauss did some experimentation with this year’s conference and allowed sponsors to show a product (physical or software) to the attendees and get their input and feedback along with how they would leverage social media to maximize outreach and promotion of the product.

Think about it… Attendees get tapped for their expertise because they are experts and not just getting pitched to and sponsors maximize the investment in the conference and get some great feedback and free consulting from the top people in the social media space.

This was truly brilliant and I am sorry we had to catch a plane home. There is always SOBCon 2009 and I am looking forward to it next year.

People are finding that there are wide variety of hosted & free social solutions that are incredibly helpful to small businesses. They literally level the playing field and allow your business to effectively compete online against larger & better-known companies.

Network Solutions is sponsoring an event in Atlanta, Georgia on Oct 21, 2008 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. It is free, but you need to register here.

Network Stars Atlanta Seminar: Learn How Your Small Business Can Effectively Compete Against the Big Players

It will be a panel of successful small business and marketing leaders. These experts will share innovative and practical insights about how they have successfully used the power of social networking to increase their online presence.

The following panelists will conduct an informative and dynamic discussion on October 21 about best practices in traditional and social web marketing for small businesses.

Christina Warren Download Squad Writer

As a freelance writer, Christina blogs for TUAEW, Download Squad, Styledash, and co-hosts the videocast Squadcast. Christina was on the “Coaches” panel for USA Today’s American Idol Coverage.

Toby Bloomberg Diva Marketing blogger

A 15-year traditional strategic marketing veteran with over 4 years experience with social media, Toby is a national speaker and facilitator of Social Media Marketing and traditional marketing topics for organizations. Her blog is one of the highest ranked marketing blogs in the world according to the Ad Age Power 150. Toby serves on the boards of the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association, International Blogger and New Media Association, as well as, the social media communities Savvy Auntie and Divine Caroline.
Brent Leary Technology for Business $ake Host

Brent is the Cofounder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC, a CRM consulting/advisory firm focused on small and mid-size enterprises. He has over 15 years of IT and management consulting experience, and writes a business solutions column for publications such as the Atlanta Tribune.

Geoff Livingston Now Is Gone Author and Buzz Bin Blog Creator

Founder and CEO of Livingston Communications, one of Washington DC’s top social-media oriented public relations firm, Geoff has worked as a marketing strategist for over 14 years. He creates marketing strategy, media relations, branding and Internet marketing campaigns for public and private organizations. Geoff’s Buzz Bin blog is nationally recognized as one of the leading marketing blogs in the world.

Join us for this free seminar for the Atlanta small business community, which will be held at LITKitchen in the trendy new Atlantic Station part of town.

If you’d like to attend, please register here. We hope to see you there!

About Network Solutions

With nearly 30 years of experience, Network Solutions is the premier provider of affordable online solutions for small businesses, helping them market their services on the Web. To learn more, please visit http://about.networksolutions.com/

Brian Solis is Principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning PR and New Media agency in Silicon Valley. Solis blogs at PR2.0, bub.blicio.us, and regularly contributes PR & tech insight to industry publications. Solis is among the original thought leaders who paved the way for Social Media. He’s a co-founder of the Social Media Club, is an original member of the Media 2.0 Workgroup, and also contributes to the Social Media Collective.

During the book signing, he and Geoff had a discussion about the transition that Public Relations is going through called “PR 2.0″.

To get some perspective, Brian defines “PR 1.0” as “all about broadcasting and pitching”. He goes on to explain “PR 2.0” that “it is about telling a story and creating relationships that gets people involved and caring about what is happening. The goal is to create a relationship that turns into a buyer but also a loyal long-term customer.”

Here are some key highlights from the interview:

The PR Industry is ready to go through a shake-up

According to Brian, “over the years, the PR 1.0 publicity machine lost its way and its spark. We got caught up in hype, spin, buzzwords, and spam, and forgot that PR was supposed to be about Public Relations. But, its still how many companies continue to approach PR today.”

He goes on to say “for many years the focus has been on farming press releases and seeing how much you could get out there to get a quick hit and hopefully an article mention. PR people are trying to force the old model on to the new one and it doesn’t work. Many companies in the next few years won’t make it and there is a shake up of how PR gets done coming over the next 12-18 months.”

Don’t confuse Social Media with Online Marketing

Enter Social Media and the democratization of the Web and content. Now media and content producers are pushing back, demanding a more targeted and relevant form of outreach. Brian has a unique take on social media and online marketing. He likes to say “for those who confuse Social Media with online marketing, Social Media is anything that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations between people – it is not the practice of social marketing. I say people, because it humanizes the process of communications when you think about conversations instead of companies marketing at audiences.”

Bloggers can be your ally

In the past, many PR people thought of bloggers as noisy annoyance that got in the way of real news reporting. This is changing dramatically with the inclusion of blogger relations into a PR strategy. Bloggers can be your ally but you must work to have a dialog with them. It has become the first step to understand what a community is saying about your company and possibly what you may need to do to prevent further problems or grow what is working with the public.

Learn more about PR 2.0

For more information about PR 2.0, check out Brian’s Blog, PR2.0. Also, for more information about how to engage with Brian to help your firm, check out his firm, FutureWorks, web site.