VT Business Expo Wrap Up

Yesterday I had the opportunity to address a room full of Vermonters at Senator Leahy’s e-Biz Seminar at the VT Expo.  The topic was Creating A Buzz About You and Your Business: Should You Be Marketing Yourself and Your Company Using Social Networking Sites?”.  

For all of those that don’t get the jargon, “Social Networking Sites” is a reference to sites like Facebook, Myspace and LinkedIn.

I was asked to participate because I am a daily user of these sites and I have developed a strategy that ties those sites to my existing website, RealEstateVT.com and to this blog.  This allows me to stay connected with friends and clients and keep them up to date with developments in my personal life and career.  It also allows friends and clients to keep me up-to-date with their affairs.  

I was told that I did a good job, however, admittedly I was nervous.  The panel was full of heavy hitters that make their living studying this topic and advising clients and students.  I on the other hand am simply an end user acting on intuition rather than careful measurements.  The reaction to all of the speakers was overwhelmingly positive and I feel that, despite being nervous, I accomplished what I was asked to do.

The highlights of the event for me included:

• Hearing Senator Leahy address me as an “expert”!
• Simply having the opportunity to address a room full of intelligent people.
• Listening to entertaining questions and thoughts from the other panelists and audience members about the effectiveness of using social networking sites as part of a marketing strategy. What are the metrics for measuring the effectiveness? What is the Return on Investment (ROI) etc?

The other panelists were:

• Elaine Yong, Champlain College: General overview of Web 2.0/ Social networking.
• Dave Winslow, EpikOne: Integrating Web 2.0 / Social networking sites into your online presence, pros and cons.
• Ted Adler, Union Street Media: Some real world examples, integrating Web 2.0 / Social networking sites into your online presence, pros and cons
• Nicole Ravlin, PMG: Marketing using Web 2.0 / Social Networking applications

Like I said, everyone did a great job and I was honored to be surrounded by intelligent people that are all experts in their field.

Elaine posted a video on her blog which she also used during her presentation.  This video gives a general explanation of social networking.  I think it does a great job explaining the topic so I have decided to post it as well.

-Dan Cypress

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc&hl=en]

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