Social Media World Forum – Olympia, London

You can tell when the latest online phenomenen has really taken off when it inspires a multitude of conferences and trade shows for businesses to try to sell us something to enable us to use it better. There’s nothing wrong with that which is why I shall I be presenting myself at the Social Media World Forum registration desk at London Olympia for my delegate badge tomorrow morning.

Unlike a lot of shows I’ve attended recently I’m holding out high hopes for this one as the event program looks excellent. A wide variety of content to cover the multitude of uses of social networking and I’m particularly looking forward to seeing Adam Parker of online PR agency Realwire present his workshop, The Press Release for an Online World or “Meatball Sundae”. This will look at the social media news release, who’s using them and how they can benefit PR and search engine optimisation (SEO). I know Adam personally so I know it will be excellent though I’m not so sure about his catering judging by that title!

As we know social networking is becoming ever more important in a business context. In its introduction the event website states:

Brands willing to dip their toe in, have found success by playing on specific themes which tap into popular culture. If executed well, brand positioning on social networking can reap similar rewards and help SMEs to achieve sales growth, increased brand awareness and most importantly, endorsement amongst their target audience.

However, there are warnings to heed. If too little respect is paid to the conventions of the community, where quality content is essential for success, then the users of social networking sites can just as easily deliver a knockout blow to a business as they can champion it.

That pretty much sums up everything I feel.

Over 4000 people are registered for the event so it has really caught the imagination of the online community. If you are one of those attending then please us the contact me form and let’s see if we can meet up.