The Social Media Marketing Blog: Standing Apart from the Rest

On Monday, May 22, I'll be part of a panel for the Institute of Management Consultants New England Chapter meeting. The panel is called Social Networking and Web 2.0: What you need to know to use this medium to separate your company from the pack.

The IMCNE is a professional organization that has been around for 40 years, and if you know management consultants, many of them are veterans of the corporate world who are making a good living consulting on organizational, operations, and leadership consulting. It's no surprise they may be a little light on social media, so here's our opportunity to give them something a little different.

I'm excited about being part of this discussion for a few reasons:

The panel moderator is Lewis Green, one of my co-authors from The Age of Conversation, someone who attended Blogger Social with me a couple of weeks ago, and author of the business and leadership book Lead With Your Heart
I'm lucky enough to be teamed up with some other smart individuals in the social media space: Aaron Strout from Mzinga and Laura "Pistachio" Fitton. If you don't know them, one of the best ways to get to know them is on Twitter: @astrout and @pistachio.
Lewis is using the principles of social media to build the panel discussion - he's involving his audience. Over on his blog, Lewis has asked "What would you ask?"

Keeping in mind that the panel is about how to use social media to make your company stand out, I find it fascinating that the concept is being batted around. Less than a year ago, a number of companies were simply starting to hear about some aspects social media. When you consider the quick adoption of a number of tactics, it's not surprising that companies are seeing this as a competitive advantage.

But are they missing a larger takeaway? It's not enough to stand apart from your competition. You need to think about what you're doing to build relationships with your customers to make them the most loyal advocates for you. Over time, as you get to know them, you'll be able to better serve them and give them a better experience every time.

See if you can drop over to Lewis' blog and give him a comment or two about what you would ask if you were part of the presentation. While you're at it, leave a comment here too.

How would you recommend using social media to separate your company from the pack?

Photo courtesy of nickwheeleroz

Labels: social media, speaking

About Scott

For hi-res, click here

Ranked by Forbes as one of the top 10 influencers in social media, he has been called "an unstoppable force of nature," "the best corporate social media lead on the planet," and Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford Motor Company, called him "a visionary."

At Ford, Scott heads up the social media function and holds the title Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager. He is a strategic advisor on all social media activities across the company, from blogger relations to marketing support, customer service to internal communications and more, as social media is being integrated into many facets of Ford business.

Prior to joining Ford, Scott served as Consigliere for crayon and spent a number of years with PJA Advertising + Marketing, a boutique BtoB agency specializing in health sciences & high tech.

In addition to his professional responsibilities, Scott is an active blogger and podcaster. He writes about the intersection of advertising, marketing and PR at The Social Media Marketing Blog and also writes The Baker Street Blog and cohosts I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, two literary undertakings. Scott has been featured in hundreds of news and business publications in print and on the web, in nearly dozens of books, and on a variety of mainstream media, including NBC, NPR, CNN and The Wall Street Journal. Scott is a recognized thought leader in the social media industry and frequently speaks at industry events.

Scott received his Master's in Medical Science from Boston University's School of Medicine concurrently with his MBA from BU's Graduate School of Management. He lives in the greater Detroit area with his wife and two young sons, golfs all too infrequently, and has a hidden talent for voice over work.

Oh, and one last little-known fact: Scott coined the Oxford Dictionary of English-accepted term "tweetup."

You may download a headshot here, courtesy of Rosh Sillars; a PDF version of Scott's bio is here .

Books in which Scott or his work is featured:

The Social Media Strategist

Social Business by Design

Digital Strategies for Powerful Corporate Communications

Social Media Marketing for Dummies

Real-Time Marketing and PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now

Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web

Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business

Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements

Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead

MicroMarketing: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small

Spend Shift: How the Post-Crisis Values Revolution Is Changing the Way We Buy, Sell and Live

Power Friending: Demystifying Social Media to Grow Your Business

The New Rules of Marketing & PR

by David Meerman Scott

Twitterville
by Shel Israel

Six Pixels of Separation
by Mitch Joel

Monkeys with Typewriters
by Jemima Gibbons

Read This First
by Ron Ploof

World Wide Rave
by David Meerman Scott

Get Seen
by Steve Garfield

Disclosures/Relationships

Scott is on the board of the Social Media Advertising Consortium

Scott has been named to the Advisory boards of Pivot, SavvyAuntie, Business Smart Tools, The Hive Awards,
Scott is a judge for the SAMMY Awards

Named one of iMedia's 25 Top Internet Marketing Leaders & Innovators

Humongo occasionally does web work for me and designed this site

No animals were harmed in the making of this blog.

Scott Monty Bio

Speaking Events

Scott speaks on social media at events, seminars and conferences around the world. His topic generally focuses on corporate use of social media, becoming an online spokesperson, and specifically on the progress that Ford has made in the recent past. If you're interested in booking Scott to speak at your event, please click here to submit a speaking request for Ford-related purposes or email me at speaking [AT] this site's URL (if you know what I mean) to send a general email request.. Scott's bio and headshot can be found in the "About Scott" tab above.

Who is Scott Monty?

Hi, I'm Scott. I'm the global head of social media for Ford Motor Company. This is my personal blog, where I share my perspectives on social media - the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web - for marketers, agencies, the enterprise and the individual. This blog contains my personal views. My bio is available here and my headshots can be found here.