Social Networking is quickly becoming a “must do” for business success in this climate.  Small and large companies are now embracing multiple social tools for networking, communication, and business development. Network Solutions CEO, Roy Dunbar, suggests that businesses that use online and social networking tools perform 16% better than businesses that do not.

That is why E-Factor has put together the event: Live. Work. Play. Building Your Business, Life & Beyond on Social Networks.

It is happening on May 28^th, 2009.  Atlanta, GA from 6-10pm at the One Ninety One Club and our very own Shashi Bellamkonda will be the keynote speaker for the event. Here is the agenda and it looks to be awesome:

The Experience
:: Live (6:00 – 7:30PM) is an networking reception featuring open bar, hors d’oeuvres, light background music and book signings by Brent Leary and David Bullock, Co-Authors of Barack 2.0:  Social Media Lessons for Small Business.

:: Work (7:30 PM – 9:30 PM) will feature a keynote speaker, interactive moderated panel discussion (live twittinar and skypinar) and Q/A. 

Keynote Speaker:
Shashi Bellamkonda, Social Media “Swami,” Network Solutions
Shashi Bellamkonda works at the heart of Web hosting company, Network Solutions, as their first-ever ‘Social Media Swami’. In this leadership role he has helped Network Solutions aggressively move into the online space to actively listen to and interact with its customers. This push paid off when Network Solutions won the 2008 SNCR Excellence in New Communications Award for Online Reputation Management and the 2009 a Gold Quill Award of Excellence in Social Media from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

Moderator:
Toby Bloomberg, CEO Bloomberg Marketing and Diva Marketing Blog
Toby has been called the Blogging Diva, The Marketing Diva, A Blog Evangelist and an industry expert when it comes to helping companies understand how social media can help grown their brands. Her blog Diva Marketing is (usually) ranked in the top twenty-five marketing blogs in the world by Ad Age’s Power 150.

It is also (usually) the number 2 women written marketing blog in the world. She recently launched an internet radio show, Diva Marketing Talks. 30 minutes. 2 guests – ensure it’s a conversation. 1 social media topic.  Toby Bloomberg, president of Atlanta-based Bloomberg Marketing,

Panelists:
Brent Leary, Co-Author, Barack 2.0:  Social Media Lessons for Small Business, www.barack20.com
David Bullock, Co-Author, Barack 2.0: Social Media Lessons for Small Business, www.barack20.com

Angela Benton, CEO, Black Web 2.0, www.blackweb20.com

Garrett Mullins, Vice President, Channel Sales and Business Development, www.compete.com

:: Play (9:30PM-12:00AM)

The keynote speaker, moderator and panelists will simultaneously use EFactor.com, Twitter, Skype and UStream.TV to engage listeners throughout the planet during this phase of the event.   The event will also be simulcast live via the web from EFactor.com.

FEES:
Live in person:  $40
Live via Internet:  $25 (REGISTER HERE)

Here are some quick recaps:

Brian Solis, Author of PR2.0, CEO Futureworks: Small businesses now have direct access to the people who can help them make their businesses grow, on a mass scale. Now, small businesses can be influential and become authorities, and build communities around them, based on their expertise.

Rohit Barghava, author, “Personality Not Included“: Small business owners understand the power of word of mouth marketing and customer referrals. It’s cheap, viral, and works.

Tim Ferriss, author, The 4-Hour Workweek: To get online, first get offline — go to conferences, meet people, have credible people online vouching for you — then connect with them online.

Steve Hall, Publisher, Editor, Adrants: Reach out to everyone in your industry, get to know them, and broaden your circle of social friends. Eventually, you’ll be able to use the network to help spread whatever you’re trying to spread.

Toby Bloomberg, CEO Bloomberg Marketing: Small businesses especially build businesses through relationships, which they can do through through blogs, podcasts, video. Social media was built for small businesses, and lets them scale further.

Ryan Anderson, Community Relations, Overlay.TV: It’s an incredible opportunity for small business to bypass filters to get to core customers. The tools let you create conversation that you just can’t do through traditional media.

Darren Rowse, Author, ProBlogger: If starting out again, he’d spend a lot of time defining his niche, establishing self as expert, offering to guest blog in other expert blogs (for free), to get own his content and expertise out.

David Alston, VP of Marketing, Radian6: Small business can use social media to build a brand, in a highly targeted way. Talk to the people in your space and reach out to them.

Mari Smith, Relationship Marketing Specialist: Radical Strategic Visibility — your goal is to be ubiquitous, in a way that excites people.

Liz Strauss, Social Web Strategist, Successful Blog: Use the internet to become irresistible — know which type of people on the Internet they’re going after — readers, people who do, offer and sell things, and people who pass on info to their friends.

Paul Chaney, President, Int’l Blogging and New Media Association: Small business is best suited to use a lot of these tools — an example is a custom signmaker with a blog, who shows the process and tells the story of making the sign, to help customers get to know him.

Find anything particularly meaningful (or offbase) here among our experts’ opinions? Leave a comment and let us know what you think about the social opportunities for small business.

The stars are in our midst … and small businesses can only benefit.

Late October, Network Solutions hosted the Solutions Stars video conference featuring exclusive conversations from BlogWorld Expo. Those in the Solutions Stars series talked shop on everything from building strong web presence to understanding social media strategy.

Say what?! listen, listen, listen
This week, I revisit another clip in the series about listening to your communities through social media. Watch the full clip below as these marketing leaders, top bloggers, and entrepreneurs discuss who to listen to online — and where to find them.

But first, the players … :

David Alston, VP of Marketing, Radian6
relates a key tenet of social media to sales & party-goin’ strategy

Ryan Anderson, Community Relations, Overlay.tv
tells more on businesses “answering the social phone”.

David Berkowitz, Director, Emerging Media & Client Strategy, 360i
reveals a source of inspiration for what your next step should be in a social media initiative.

Toby Bloomberg, CEO, Bloomberg Marketing
gives a Web 2.0 lay-of-the-land for learning what’s being said about your business.

Matt Dickman, VP of Digital Marketing, Fleishman-Hillard
recommends an easy approach to finding relevant influencers and customers in your space.

Robyn Tippins, Community Manager, Yahoo Development Network
shares how small business can “stand out” when it comes to listening to communities and customers online.

Chris Brogan, VP of Strategy, CrossTech Media
names (3) sources where small businesses can start finding online conversations about them.

Jason Falls, Director, Social Media at Doe-Anderson; blogger for Social Media Explorer
Outlines tips for keeping your business’ ear to the ground toward your customers.

Brian Solis, CEO, FutureWorks, and author of PR 2.0
gives the scoop on how to see what comes up online that’s related to your business.

Watch the whole series(!)
Just click below for the full clip on listening with social media or check out all (9) of Solutions Stars video conference interviews.

Questions for you
What ideas from the Solutions Stars video appeal the most for your interests, needs? Where have you unearthed conversations about your business online? And which tools or social networks helped you find them?

Photo, Stars at Your Feet, by Janusz I under Creative Commons A-ND-NC 2.0

In this episode our stars were able to provide some great insight on managing the demands on your time when you add social media into your bag of marketing tools.

Some highlights include:

- You don’t have to write everyday. It is all about quality over quantity
- Figure out what you want to say
- If you are using social media to interface with customers you need to “be in the trenches”
- Evaluate paid advertising to drive traffic and awareness to your blog
- Carefully manage your resources
- Solicit content from your users and customers. Including guest posting, case studies and testimonials
- Ask yourself “what would you do for the next 10 years if you couldn’t make money”. That is the passion you have and that will show to your customers, even on a blog.

The stars in this episode include Chris Baggot, Rohit Bhargava, Toby Bloomberg, Chris Brogan, Paul Chaney, Tim Ferriss, Tony Hsieh, Jennifer Openshaw and Wendy Piersall.

Here is the full episode:

If you’ve been enjoying the events that we’ve been bringing you, then you will NOT want to miss this one! This one requires no travel you can attend it from the convenience of your office or home! We’ve created a free video conference that’s jam packed with insights & online marketing tips for small businesses!

Mark your calendar because on October 29 at 1 pm we’re providing the Solutions Stars Video Conference! Geoff Livingston, author of Now is Gone, & Network Solutions Social Media Swami Shashi Bellamkonda met with 32 top bloggers at BlogWorld Expo. We asked them to share their insights & tips on online marketing for small businesses for you. It was all captured on video & now we have a conference features nine different documentary style video sessions:

• Building Web Presence
• The Social Opportunity
• Start with Listening
• Strategy Drives Outreach
• You Need Social Networks
• To Blog or Not to Blog
• Visibility Through Search
• Rising Above the Noise
• Time Demands

In addition to the Solutions Stars Video Conference site, please visit the event pages on Facebook and Upcoming.

Here are the steps:

a) Bookmark this page – http://www.solutionsstarsvideo.com/

b) Create a calendar event for themselves

c) Choose the event time

d) Come up with good questions for the chat room

We’d love it if you’d grab a badge for your blog or site.

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/