The 84th annual Academy Awards was a chaotic event to say the least. Between Sacha Baron Cohen dumping “Kim Jong Il’s ashes” on Ryan Seacrest’s designer suit, the cast of “Bridesmaids” presenting their Martin Scorsese drinking game, and J.Lo’s debatable wardrobe malfunction, viewers gave up their regularly scheduled Sunday night programs to see what other vagaries might ensue. While I’d like to congratulate everyone who walked away with an Oscar on Sunday evening (congrats Meryl Streep!), we should also acknowledge one noteworthy contributor to the show’s success that made their “speech” through a different channel…social media!

According to Bluefin Labs, the Hollywood, CA event generated some 3.8 million comments on Twitter, Facebook and other social media websites during its ABC broadcast (compared to last year’s 1 million). This statistic places the Academy Awards just above last year’s MTV Video Music Awards, which produced 3.1 million social media comments. The only award show having received more commentary through social media was this year’s telecast of the Grammy Awards, which had an astounding 13 million comments!

An estimated 57% of the Oscars’ comments were made by women, with the remaining 43% coming from men. Bluefin Labs further analyzed the results to determine that 22% were positive, 16% were negative, and 62% remained neutral.

High-traffic moments occurred somewhat predictably throughout the evening:

1. The most-talked about moment was the Best Picture announcement for the nearly silent film, “The Artist.”

“Last year’s Best Picture: An English dude who couldn’t speak. This year’s: A French dude no one could hear.” – Andy Borowitz author/comedian

“I am officially announcing that I am re-making THE ARTIST with sound.” – Alec Baldwin actor

2. The second peak of social media commentary took place when crowd-pleasing comedians, Tina Fey and Bradley Cooper presented three awards. Cooper’s mustache created a lot of buzz while fans encouraged The Academy to consider Fey as next year’s host.

“Tina Fey should host next year.” – Kelly Oxford writer/famed tweeter

“Bradley Cooper is just in from robbing a train. #Oscars” – Hulu online service for ad-sponsored video streaming

3.  Octavia Spencer’s emotional acceptance speech claimed the third most popular spot for social media discussion. Spencer’s comments additionally ranked highest in positivity ratings.

“Congratulations to @OctaviaSpencer for her Oscar win! You truly deserve it! God bless!” – Kelly Rowland singer

“Yes!!!! Welcome to the family Octavia !! Congrats!!! Amazing!!” – Jennifer Hudson singer/actress

Other unique moments during this year’s Oscars generated additional online discussions, and continues to prove how real-time social media platforms are changing the face of awards show commentary, as well as television watching in general. One such example was the somewhat controversial exposure of Angelina Jolie’s right leg. Viewers immediately shared opinions of Jolie’s wardrobe choice and, almost instantaneously, a Twitter account was created for “AngiesRightLeg.”  The Twitter account currently has close to 35,000 followers and about 30 tweets.

The above statistics and results only reinforce existing research in support of the effectiveness of social media. Clearly, with active individuals across such a broad spectrum, sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. can all assist in amplifying anything – whether that’s celebrity limbs or your brand. Celebrities who utilize social media for public relations’ benefits also have the opportunity to translate the increased popularity of their profiles and pages into potential business success. Advertisements cost $1.7 million per 30-second commercial, but given the popularity of the 2012 award show, it’s likely that this was money well spent.

Were you commenting on the Academy Awards via social media last Sunday?  What was your favorite part of the show?  Do you think social media is changing the face of television commentary? Tweet us @451Heat or share your comments below!

-Katie O’Brien, 451 Marketing Marketing Intern

@KGOBrien

Katie is a senior at Boston College majoring in Communication.

Thanks for the images:

1. www.gradley.net

2. www.laist.com

3. www.hollywoodreporter.com

4. www.blogcdn.com

5. www.cbswbbav.files.wordpress.com/

6. www.laist.com

With the big game on Sunday, it’s almost impossible to go online without seeing something pertaining to the Super Bowl. While I enjoy hearing about the Patriots, one thing that really caught my attention has been all the talk regarding the widely anticipated Super Bowl commercials. I like Super Bowl commercials just as much as the next person, but I was surprised that I am already seeing the full commercials before the game has even happened. Did I miss something? Isn’t the point of paying 3 million dollars so the commercial will have its big debut during the Super Bowl, not weeks before on the internet? Well I really thought about this and tried to figure out the reasoning behind this new marketing strategy. While at first I was rather confused by this approach I do think it can have a positive impact for some companies, but definitely not all.

I just recently saw Chevy’s 2012 Super Bowl ad “Happy Grad,” a simple yet memorable commercial. Although it was posted early on the internet, it is greatly entertaining, which puts Chevy in a good position for when it does air. People are already talking about the commercial, which adds to the anticipation of other viewers. Instead of just being viewed during and after the Super Bowl, Chevy’s ad is being seen before the game has even started. The “Happy Grad” ad has already had 905,921 views on the popular site YouTube. The commercial will have a much longer lifespan than ads that are waiting to air on Super Bowl Sunday. This strategy has also given Chevy the advantage of having a larger return on investment by allowing their commercial to circulate for a longer amount of time on the internet and television. People will constantly be seeing the Chevy brand, giving them more incentive to buy from them. While this is a risky strategy, it works for Chevy because they have a good commercial that viewers find desirable.

Click here to view the embedded video.

While Chevy will most likely see a positive impact from releasing their commercial early, not all companies will get the same outcome. Another 2012 Super Bowl ad done by Lexus is called “The Beast.” Sounds pretty cool, huh? Well don’t let the name fool you because this commercial isn’t that special. When I began watching it, I was pretty interested, but then it became rather predictable and unexciting. I really didn’t find it entertaining and wouldn’t be too excited to see it again during the Super Bowl. While this may be my personal opinion on the ad, I think many people would feel the same way about seeing a commercial in the future that they didn’t even enjoy the first time. For me, now that I have already seen this commercial, I really don’t feel a need to pay attention to it again during the Super Bowl. I think this is a great downside to companies posting commercials that aren’t very entertaining and enjoyable before they are supposed to air. People already know what the ads are like and may not have an interest in them the second time around. Now that this Lexus ad has been around for over a week, people might even be sick of it by the time it actually airs.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Overall I think it’s a pretty risky strategy to post your Super Bowl commercial before the actual game. You really have no idea how people will react to your ad and once it’s out, it’s out.  Viewers like the element of surprise and seeing Super Bowls ads before the game just doesn’t have that same effect. While some companies like Chevy may see a positive outcome from posting their ad, not all will get the same response. I was really surprised to see this happen this year and while I may understand the reasoning a little better, nothing beats seeing new commercials on Super Bowl Sunday.

Do you think releasing Super Bowl ads early is a good strategy? Will it detract from watching on game day? Tweet us @451Heat to share your thoughts!

Thanks to @bonnielester530 for this week’s post!

Bonnie is a 451 Marketing Marketing Intern. She is a senior at Worcester State University majoring in Business Administration.

Whether you are trying to acquire new customers, generate more leads, or simply sell the product, paid advertising can come to your rescue. The advantage of paid advertising is that people are already searching for your product/service. As opposed to conventional marketing, a paid search audience already has the intent to buy or learn more about your product.

Apart from the benefit of having qualified traffic, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has many other positives. First off, it is easy to start. Setting up your account is simple; you can start off with a budget that you are comfortable spending. Secondly, PPC offers flexibility. You can test out different versions of ad copy, headlines, and call-to-actions. Lastly, paid ads are great way for increasing brand awareness. Even if people don’t click on your ad, just showing up in the search results for your key terms builds trust factor and brand recognition.

However, there are challenges involved in paid advertising. With more marketers turning to PPC advertising, the paid search space is becoming  competitive. More and more brands are fighting for the top ad positions. Because your competitors are bidding on some of the same keywords as you are, this could result in a price war. Keywords which once cost few cents a click now can cost considerably more. This isn’t a problem if you have a large budget to work with. But if you have a limited budget, you need to keep an eye out on your account spend.

So how do you stick to your budget and still get the most out of your PPC ads? Here are 5 tips to better optimize your PPC budget:

1.  Negative Keywords: Negative keywords are search terms that you don’t want your ads to show up for. Look through the search query report and make note of such keywords. Once you’ve identified these keywords, add them to the account. You can add negatives at the ad group, campaign, or account level.

2.  Device Targeting: You can set your ads to show up on desktops/laptops, tablets, mobile devices or on all of these devices. If your website is not mobile ready, users will struggle to read the content on your site. In such a case, it makes sense to exclude the mobile audience and just target your ads to people searching on desktops/laptops and tablets.

3.  Ad Scheduling: Ad scheduling lets you specify certain days of the week when you want your ads to appear. You can also adjust bids for your ads during certain time periods in a day. Review all of your campaigns and see what days and times are best converting. Shut off your ads during the low converting period.

4.  Ad Delivery: Ad delivery determines how quickly your ads are shown each day. You can have the ads show up evenly throughout the day, or you can have them show as quickly as possible. If your campaigns are consistently hitting the daily budget cap, switch the setting to allow your ads the opportunity to appear throughout the entire day.

5.  Bid: Keywords can be very expensive. If you are running on a tight budget, being at the top ad position might as well drain your daily budget in a few clicks. In such cases reduce your bid, be at a lower ad position and use that saved budget in getting more clicks.

These are some quick tips that we’ve found useful in better utilizing the budget. How do you optimize your account spend? Share your thoughts in the comments or tweet us @451Heat.

As the prevalence of Facebook advertising continues to grow, more and more marketers are willing to spend on these ads. And I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t. The ads are well targeted, effective, and, most importantly, have a large audience. Facebook presents this unique opportunity of not only increasing awareness and branding, but also initiating engagement and fan creation.

The only problem with Facebook ads is that of Ad Fatigue. In general, people get tired of seeing the same ads again and again. Since people log into their accounts at least three to four times a day, they are bound to see the same ads multiple times. As a result, they are less likely to click on these ads. Facebook understands this phenomenon and reacts by decreasing the number of ad impressions. All these factors directly affect the click-through rate (CTR) which in turn affects the cost per click. Basically, now you’re stuck in a cycle where your ad impressions have decreased, the click-through rate has dropped, and the only way to improve is to increase the bid and/or budget.

So, how can you overcome the constant battle of Facebook ad fatigue? Similar to search engines, Facebook and its vast user base loves fresh content! You need to “freshen” up your ads every few days. Rotating the ads frequently will enhance their performance. Remember – the higher the click-through rate, the lower the cost per click. By refreshing your ads frequently, you’ll be able to maintain the same impression share at the same cost.

Here are some quick tips to keep your ads fresh:

• Images: Make sure you have at least two images ready for every ad. Rotate the images every few days to avoid ad fatigue. Use/test images that are known to do well on Facebook – company logos, headshots, product photos, and happy people. An image is the most important feature of a Facebook ad. Therefore, change the image as frequently as possible to prolong the lifespan of your ad copy.
• Headline: Every time you notice a drop in CTR, change the ad headline. Use a different call-to-action. Ask a question. Use the brand name in the headline. Test and find out what clicks best with your audience. This might seem to be a minor tweak, but can definitely help boost the CTR.
• Ad Copy: Similar to search, always perform A/B testing. Test out at least two different versions of ad copy at the same time. Ask questions. Use a strong call-to-action. Put segment-targeted language high in the body text. Ask users to ‘like’ your brand on Facebook. Often, short ad copy (<90 characters) outperforms  longer copy(>90 characters). Most importantly, replace the low performing ad with a new contender.

These are some tricks we’ve found useful in fighting Ad Fatigue. How often do you refresh your ads? How do you deal with this problem?

As we enter a new year, it’s a great time to evaluate 2011 and set goals for the year ahead. With that in mind, the 451 Marketing public relations team put together a list of their resolutions for 2012.

Say “No” More Often

In a job that’s all about client service it’s extremely difficult to tell clients “no,” even in a nice way, when they ask the team to take on tasks that don’t map directly to their program’s goals. In 2012, I resolve to challenge clients more often to allow my team to stay focused on the actions that produce the results we are measured on. I love my clients and get excited along with them about new opportunities, so this resolution is a tough one for me!

– Karyn Martin, Senior Account Director, @karynmartin

Always Do My Homework 

Who can forget the PR blunder that was “Qwikster”? As Jason Gilbert of the Huffington Post wrote, “It should certainly be a first ballot entrant into the Bad Decision Hall of Fame, enshrined next to New Coke, Prohibition and that time Garth Brooks dyed his hair black and played rock music under the name Chris Gaines.” After a disastrous price hike in July 2011, Netflix went on to announce a way to offer users more convenient way to “Qwickly” receive DVD’s by mail while keeping the “Netflix” name strictly for streaming. Judgments about business decisions aside, the launch of their new Qwikster service may not have been such a PR fail if they’d taken the time to actually do their homework. Even a simple Google search (a seemingly no-brainer move) to see if the term was already in use would have done the trick. Luckily, we in PR squealed with delight as we realized before Netflix did that the @Qwikster handle was owned not by Netflix, but by a marijuana-loving high school student; and thus, hilarity ensued. Although I wound up canceling my Netflix service along with  800,000 fellow subscribers, this PR blunder turned out to be a great reminder for us all and something I’ll take with me into 2012.

– Laura Christo, Account Executive,@LauraChristo

Keep Up With National Trends

My New Year’s resolution is to pay closer attention to national trends in food and hospitality before they hit Boston so that I can help our clients introduce these new ideas to our market. It can be tough to take a step back during our busy day-to-day, so I resolve to make time for this in 2012.

-Nicole Russo, Executive Vice President Public Relations, @NicoleRusso

Help Clients Understand the True Definition of PR

In 2012 I resolve to help clearly define what PR is with our current, new and prospective clients, especially in the beginning of a new project. The term “PR” gets thrown around so loosely (“Charlie Sheen is one big PR disaster!” “Ashton Kutcher’s PR team is now Tweeting for him.” “The BP oil spill was a case of bad PR.”) that I think sometimes the true definition as well as the various components of PR get muddled for those not embedded in the industry. Additionally, I want to help clients understand how the different facets of PR apply to them – every client is different, so each campaign is going to be different, too.

- Meredith D’Agostino, Account Executive, @ladymusic

Pick Up the Phone More Often.

It has become very easy to handle communication with clients and reporters via email, SMS text, and even an occasional direct message on Twitter. While an electronic message is often more efficient, it’s also much less personal. In a business where relationships are paramount, nothing is better for building and strengthening a relationship than a personal conversation. While a face to face conversation is always best, it’s not always possible, so a phone conversation is the next best thing.

-Tom Lee, Partner, @TomLee451

Do you have any PR resolutions for 2012? Share them with us in the comments section below!

Search Marketing is a fast-growing industry. Businesses are quickly recognizing the importance of ‘being seen’ in online search results. One of the greatest benefits of search engine marketing is the fact that you advertise to a targeted audience – users who have already shown some interest in your product/service.

The anatomy of a search engine result page (SERP) is simple enough – it contains organic and paid listings. The ranking of these listings depend on many factors, but relevancy is one of the most important factors. Based on a search engine algorithm, the SERP displays search results and paid ads that are relevant to the search query entered by a user.

But where should we, as marketers, invest more money? Should we spend more time optimizing our website or optimizing our paid ads? This is a common question that puzzles most clients/marketers. I believe the two go hand-in-hand and should form part of your overall internet marketing strategy. Though the process behind them is different, both help achieve the goal of improving visibility of your business online.

SEO is a long process that needs time to produce optimum results. You cannot rank #1 for your top keyword in a day. In contrast, paid ads are easy to set up and give instant results. So, why not use insights gained from these paid ads to shape your SEO strategy? Paid ads are great for testing. You can test different headlines, calls-to-action, landing pages, and products, and use these results in designing your page content, headlines, and titles.

Apart from testing, SEO and PPC collectively is great for building credibility of your business. The presence of both adds to an element of trust. A user who sees your organic listing and your paid ad beside it is more likely to interact with your business. This follows the simple rule that the more space you occupy, the less choice users will have to interact with your competition.

Finally, it is difficult for a website to organically rank well for certain keywords. This could be because of aggressive competition or, maybe simply because there isn’t much content around that keyword on the site. In these cases, paid advertising can help. By including such keywords in your paid campaign, you can at least gain some presence on the search engines.

Search engine marketing is a competitive industry. Marketers should make every effort to occupy as much space as possible. Paid ads provide us with a great opportunity to improve visibility and grab more shelf space. Why not take advantage of this opportunity? What do you feel about integrating your paid advertising and SEO efforts?

Zipcar and Hertz on Demand. What’s the difference? There isn’t really, except for better PR on Zipcar’s part. Zipcar, the current leader in the car-sharing business, will feel some pressure from Hertz’s revamped program: Hertz on Demand, allegedly offering better services including no annual fees, electric vehicles, and one-way travel. And Hertz is not keeping quiet their plans to gun down Zipcar, with its July press release mapping out a direct comparison of Hertz on Demand and Zipcar prices. On paper, Hertz should be able to take down Zipcar. But, in reality, Zipcar might have the upper hand with a better PR campaign.

Zipcar targets a young crowd (mainly college students and urbanites under 35), which is apparent in all aspects of the brand. Everything from their website to the names of their cars suggests an appeal to the young, trendy, and fun. The website, emails, and ads all feature young adults laughing, having a grand ol’ time by their Zipcar, either in the city or in a park with the city in the distance, using phrases like “Love the city. Flirt with the country.” On every car, there is a visible bright green logo of Zipcar, with a printed “zipcar.com” and a fun name like “Escape Eddie” on the rear. Zipcar has also partnered with numerous colleges, offering discounts, to directly target college students.

Hertz on Demand on the other hand, has great perks but the brand doesn’t have the same fun, trendy feel as Zipcar does. Their website is just another car-rental website, nothing too fun or exciting about it. Hertz’s main strategy is to highlight their better prices and eco-friendly electric cars. The electric, energy-saving cars definitely appeal to the modern generation and there’s no doubt that many will be attracted to use the convenient one-way service that Zipcar doesn’t offer. It’ll be interesting to see what else Hertz comes up with to target customers (or even steal some from Zipcar).

At the end of the day, Hertz on Demand is the only seemingly viable competitor with Zipcar. So it’s on: Hertz vs Zipcar. Who do you think will win?

-Chenny Zhang, Boston College ’12, Communications Major

As of last Wednesday, a brand can now create a custom experience on Facebook using Klout scores to target fans with the largest social media followings thanks to social marketing company Involver.  Companies can add the Klout Coupon App on their Facebook page as a Facebook Tab, which asks visitors for their Klout score.  Based on their Klout score, a brand can decide what pages are visible to the visitor and how to reward them. Klout is the leading way to measure online influence based on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles.  Setting up your Klout Coupon App is very simple; below you’ll find an explanation of how it works, along with some tips to help you get started.

Starting from the Involver website, you may install the Klout Coupon Application.

You are then redirected to Facebook to verify the addition of this application to your Facebook Page and allow permission.

After applying the Klout Coupon App you will have access to your settings where you can establish your landing image, threshold settings, and visitor rewards.

The Landing Image is an image that will appear when the user first lands on your page.  It is recommended to include a visible Call-To-Action indicating that the user must click on the image to get their Klout score and coupon.  For example, on the Audi landing page viewers are encouraged to click and get their Klout score in exchange for a free Le Mans desktop graphic.

Klout scores measure how much influence a viewer has in its social network on a scale from 1 to 100.  The Klout Coupon App allows you to establish a threshold between 0 and 100.  By establishing this threshold you can set the Klout score that separates your most influential users from the crowd.

Next is the configuration of the coupons.

The coupon image will show up after the user’s score is calculated.  The coupon details are optional and are to your discretion.  They will appear above the coupon image.

You can also configure separate coupons for users below your selected Klout score threshold. If they are below your threshold, you might want to consider providing the visitor with a link that leads to a branded document offering tips on how to raise their Klout score.  The coupon can be a link or document.  You can even include unique coupon codes to track redemption.

Lastly, you can limit who has access to the Klout landing page by using it as a Fan Gate, which means it is only visible to those visitors who have already Liked your Facebook page.  Doing this can create special offers to influential, but having accessible to everyone allows for the creation of buzz around your brand.

Below is an example of the Klout Coupon App in action through the Involver Facebook page.

After clicking you are redirected to the coupon page.

As you can see, Involver has made this is a pretty simple process. This Klout/Facebook bridge offers businesses another way to reward and engage social influencers in their network.  What do you think about this Klout and Facebook integration? Will your business take advantage of this tool? Let us know your thoughts.

-Elizabeth Bond, 451 Marketing Social Media Intern

What: What’s Next DC Conference
When: Monday, January 24 | 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Where: The George Washington University, Marvin Center, Grand Ballroom, Washington, D.C.

Kick off 2011 with fresh thinking and new approaches to marketing and communication. What’s Next DC has cut the fat from your typical bloated business conference.

There are no sales commercials masquerading as presentations here, or sleepy Q & A sessions where only 1 of 8 questions apply to your business. What’s Next DC is about brainstorming, case studies, energy, networking, strategy and – best of all – personalized solutions to your company’s most important challenges.

How will we accomplish this? By jamming as much information into the day as possible. We’ll have floating experts in a variety of fields available, so if you hear something you like and want to bounce ideas around right there on the spot, you can! We’ve scheduled group brainstorming/strategy sessions and niche learning sessions where you can discuss your areas of interest and expertise. There will also be an area dedicated solely to networking all day long.

This is not just a conference, it is an experience. Come prepared and energized to learn and share with other Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising, and Communication Professionals!

** use coupon code: 451marketing to get 25% off registration **

What hasn’t changed is that our industry is still attracting and cultivating some of the smartest, most talented, and ambitious individuals around. This list consists of the people who the 451 team feel are setting the bar high.

As with any list of this nature, it cannot be comprehensive. If you know any great social media strategists out there, we invite you to contribute their names with a brief description of their work for us to post.

We look forward to seeing what these people will do in 2011!

Stephanie Agresta (@stephagresta) has been instrumental in developing digital strategies for Microsoft, Windows Phone, PepsiCo, HP and P&G. In 2010, she was named to PR Week’s “40 Under 40.” Her first book, Perspectives on Social Media Marketing, was released in October 2010. Additionally, she is a frequent speaker at industry events and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Social Media Advertising Consortium (SMAC).

David Armano (@armano) is SVP at Edelman Digital. He has 14 years of experience in the industry with the majority of his time spent in digital marketing and user experience design. Armano currently writes for the Harvard Business Review, and for his blog, Logic + Emotion, which is ranked in the top media and marketing blogs according to Advertising Age. BusinessWeek also named him to its “Best of 2006” list.

John Battelle (@johnbattelle) is an entrepreneur, journalist, professor and author who has founded, or co-founded scores of online, conference, magazine, and other media businesses. In addition to his work at Federated Media, Battelle continues to serve as the Executive Producer and Program Chair of the Web 2.0 Summit, as well as brand manager for BoingBoing.net. Battelle maintains Searchblog, which covers the intersection of media, technology, and culture. He was named one of the “Most Important People on The Web” by PCWorld.

Connie Bensen (@cbensen) is a community strategist whose passion is community building, and the related facets of social networking and branding.  Forbes.com listed her blog (conniebensen.com) as one of the top 20 marketing and social media blogs by women in 2009. She is also a 2009 Fellow with the Society of New Communications Research and speaks at leading social media conferences.

Ron Callari (@roncallari) is a self-proclaimed social media scientist and editorial cartoonist who currently consults, and is a freelance correspondent in the social media space. Callari’s published works explore current trends on the digital horizon, social media, humor, politics and innovation. His mission is to provide brands with social media expertise to distinguish them from their competition, while turning customers into brand advocates. Novologies’, the company Callari works for,  social media service FLIP.TO has been successful in adding over 50 hotel BETA customers internationally in the last 8 months.

CC Chapman (@cc_chapman) is a dedicated freelancer who works directly with clients, or through agencies in both creative and strategic roles. In 2009, he launched Digital Dads, a site where dads can share their thoughts on a variety of topics. Additionally, Chapman launched a podcast series in 2004, titled “Managing the Gray,” which provides, in simple terms, new media strategies, and information on technology and social media. His highly anticipated book, Content Rules, is available for pre-order.

Adam Cohen (@adamcohen) is a partner at the digital agency, Rosetta. Cohen leads Rosetta’s social media practice. His blog, A Thousand Cuts, was started in February of 2008 to encourage conversations about social media and interactive marketing.

Bob Collins (@robertcollins) is a digital media and public relations strategist with over 16 years of experience in marketing, new media communications, and public relations. He is the organizer and host of Boston’s Social Media Breakfast.

Angela Connor (@communitygirl) is an online community strategist who currently works for Capstrat as a social media manager. Angela is the author of 18 Rules of Community Engagement: A Guide for Building Relationships and Connecting with Customers Online.

Joe Cothrel (@Cothrel) is the Chief Community Officer at Lithium Technologies. He is Lithium’s top expert on community and social best practices. He has helped more than 300 companies execute social efforts.

Jeff Cutler (@JeffCutler) is a social media journalist and an event speaker who has run Novel Ideas for 19 years. Novel Ideas specializes in social media, advertising, marketing, non-profits and journalism. Jeff currently writes for  over twenty blogs, including Things To Worry About and Bowl of Cheese. Additionally, he is a Social Media Trainer for http://SPJ.org – the Society of Professional Journalists.

Caroline Dangson (@cdangson) is currently a consultant with Dachis Group. She focuses on the cultural and operational transformation required for companies to realize the full potential of social business initiatives. Caroline writes about relevant social media topics and issues for Dachis Group’s corporate blog.

Jason Falls (@JasonFalls) owns, co-authors and edits Social Media Explorer. He is an active public speaker, and thinker in the world of digital marketing and social media. As an industry-leading blog, Social Media Explorer is ranked consistently in the top 25 of Advertising Age’s “Power 150 Marketing Blogs.”

Laura Fitton (@pistachio) is the CEO and Founder of oneforty, which helps people discover thousands of tools that help them do more with their businesses, careers, or lives. She re-launched Pistachio Consulting, the first Twitter for business consultancy, in September 2008 to connect businesses to new ideas and innovations using all the tools of microsharing. Laura co-wrote Twitter for Dummies.

Kyle Flaherty (@kyleflaherty) currently works for BreakingPoint Systems, a leading provider of network simulation and traffic generation tools. Kyle manages external communications, community relationships and influencer marketing. He also regularly speaks at events and writes in his highly regarded industry blog, Dance with Strangers, which he “hopes will be the most read marketing blog in the entire world.”

AJ Gerritson (@AJGerritson) is a founding partner at 451 Marketing and has more than 13 years experience in brand strategy, search engine optimization, public relations, advertising and interactive marketing. He is a frequent speaker on the national circuit, and in 2010, Boston Business Journal named AJ to the “40 Under 40” class. AJ writes for 451 Marketing’s blog, 451 Heat.

Paul Gillin (@pgillin) is Principal of Paul Gillin Communications where he consults and advises on strategies to optimize social media’s use for marketing.  Prior to founding Paul Gillin Communications, he was the founding editor-in-chief of TechTarget and was also an executive editor of Computerworld. He has written two books, The New Influencers and Secrets of Social Media Marketing. Both books explore social media’s influence in marketing. Paul also writes a regular column for BtoB Magazine.

Tyson Goodridge (@goodridge) is Founder and Principal of Dialogue, a Social Media Education and Advisory Services Firm.  His firm specializes in social media training, curriculum development and consulting. Dialogue’s clients include IDG, Chaco, Harvard School of Public Health, and Novartis. He’s also founder of “Eat, Drink and Be Social” and is social media instructor/consultant at Apple retail stores.

Rachel Happe (@rhappe) is the Principal and Founder at The Community Roundtable, a peer network for community managers and social media practitioners. Happe also has a blog, The Social Organization, where she discusses her perspectives on how social media can be used as a problem-solving tool for organizations.

Doug Haslam (@DougH) is a supervisor for Voce Connect. At Voce, he has worked on social media projects for Nokia and Yahoo!. Haslam is also an organizer for Podcamp Boston, which provides ideas for content makers, by sharing knowledge of podcasting, blogging, video blogging, and social media. He writes regularly for his blog at doughaslam.com.

John Havens (@johnchavens) is the Senior Vice President for Social Media at Porter Novelli where he provides digital and social media counsel. Before that, Havens was the Vice President of Business Development at Blog Talk Radio. Havens is the co-author of the book Tactical Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media To Maximize Value and Build Their Brand.

Shel Holtz (@shelholtz), Principal of Holtz Communications + Technology, is a writer, blogger and consultant. Holtz has written several books, including How to Do Everything With Podcasting and Blogging for Business. He is also a five-time winner of the International Association of Business Communicators’ “Gold Quill Award.”

Marta Kagan (@mzkagan) is the US Managing Director for Espresso and runs the blog, The Secret Diary of a Bonafide Marketing Genius.  Her presentation “What The F**K is Social Media?” has been translated into seven languages. She has received such accolades as a finalist for the “2004 Stevie Awards for Women Entrepreneurs” and a finalist for Fast Company’s 2004 “Fast 50 Winner.” She is a recipient of Maildog Manager’s “Best in Show” award.

Rachel Levy (@bostonmarketer) is the Founder and CEO of the website, webinarlistings.com, which allows companies to promote webinars and simultaneously allow people to find webinars that may be of interest to them. Levy uses her twelve years of experience in marketing as a consultant and trainer for social media at Rachel Levy Consulting. She blogs at rachel-levy.com/blog.

Charlene Li (@charleneli) is a New York Times Best-Selling Author for her book, Open Leadership. She co-authored the book, Groundswell, which was named one of Amazon.com’s “Best Business Books of 2008.”  Li is the founder of Altimeter Group, and blogs at charleneli.com/blog.

Ravit Lichtenberg (@ravit_ustrategy) is the Founder and Chief Financial Officer of Ustrategy Consulting, a boutique consultancy that specializes in helping companies understand their customers’ psychology in today’s social world. She blogs at ravitlichtenberg.com.

Steven Lubetkin (@podcaststeve) is the managing partner of Lubetkin & Co. LLC, which specialize in Internet broadcasting and communications consulting. Lubetkin is a Senior Fellow of the Society of New Communication Research and is a recurrent speaker on social media. Lubetkin is the recipient of the “2010 ASTRA Award” for B2B podcasting from the New Jersey Communications, Advertising and Marketing Association.

Simon Mainwaring (@simonmainwaring) is the owner of Mainwaring Creative. Mainwaring works as a brand consultant who has over 20 years of performance experience. He has received over 60 international awards. He wrote a book, scheduled to be released in 2011, in response to Bill Gate’s speech, “Creative Capitalism.” Mainwaring’s book seeks to show ways in which new media can help promote positive world change.

Joselin Mane (@JoselinMane and @BostonTweetUp) carries 20 years of experience in computer technology as an Internet marketing consultant. Mane is the CEO and Founder of LITBeL Consulting, and the founder of Boston Tweetup. He focuses on leveraging Internet to systematically reach clients’ financial and growth goals.

Drew McLellan (@drewmclellan) is the CEO of McLellan Marketing Group. He is also a blogger and author. McLellan is recognized as a national branding and social media expert, and continues to be sought after as a public speaker. His blog, Drew’s Marketing Minute, is highly regarded in the marketing space.

Marc Meyer (@marc_meyer) is a digital, and social media strategist for Ernst and Young. Additionally, Meyer is the founder of the website, Hash Tag Social Media, which hosts a live sixty-minute Twitter chat at 12 pm every Tuesday, and helps people connect and share ideas related to the use of social media for businesses.

Tom O’Keefe (@BostonTweet) is the creator and founder of bostontweet.com.  His site was created as a way to generate business in a downturn economy and has transformed into an excellent way to find out about the happenings in Boston as well as to drive traffic to certain businesses.  With over 20,000 followers on Twitter and thousands of visitors to his blog, O’Keefe provides customers with the information they want, and boosts traffic to and gives valuable demographic information to businesses.

Neil Patel (@neilpatel) is the co-founder of two internet companies, Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics. He was named to Technorati’s “Top 100 Bloggers” list, and according to the Wall Street Journal, is one of the top influencers on the web. Patel achieved these accolades by the age of 21. He uses his successes and failures as an entrepreneur to help others on his blog, Quick Sprout.

Erik Qualman (@equalman) is the author of the book, Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business, and the blog, Socialnomics. Erik is an MBA Professor at the Hult International Business School. For the past 16 years, Qualman has helped grow the digital capabilities of many companies, including Cadillac, EarthLink, EF Education, Yahoo!, Travelzoo and AT&T.

Neal Rodriguez (@notifyneal) is Managing Director of Shovecom, a full-service New York Interactive Agency. He is an online marketer with seven years of experience in social media engagement and search engine optimization. Neal writes for the Huffington Post and PBS.org.

Mike Rowland (@ImpactInteract) is president and founder of Impact Interactions. There, Mike leads the company’s engagements with large organizations to utilize online communities, and social media to engage site visitors and generate measurable business results. Prior to founding Impact Interactions, Mike built Participate Systems  into one of the pioneers in the online community management world.

Steve Rubel (@steverubel) is SVP, Director of Insights for Edelman Digital. In his role, he helps clients identify emerging technologies and trends that can be applied in marketing communications programs. Rubel also explores these topics on his site at steverubel.com, and in monthly columns for Forbes.com and Advertising Age.

Marian Salzman (@mariansalzman) is president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America.  Marian is the author or co-author of 15 books on topics ranging from current affairs to the youth market and the commercial workplace.  She co-founded Cyberdialogue, the world’s first online market research company, in 1992.  Her annual trends forecast is highly regarded in the industry.

Allan Schoenberg (@allanschoenberg) is currently the Director of Corporate Communications at CME Group. He has broad experience in all aspects of business-to-business communications, including social media, brand management and marketing. Allan also has been teaching many public relations classes in the graduate school at DePaul University since 2005, and undergraduate public relations classes at Loyola University since 2006.

Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) is currently working at Rackspace to build a new community of people fanatical about tech startups called, “Building 43.” He is a tech enthusiast, video blogger and media innovator who searches for world-changing technologies. Before working at Rackspace, Robert worked at Microsoft as an evangelist and one of the people who started its Channel 9 video community.

David Meerman Scott (@dmscott) is a marketing strategist, keynote speaker and the best-selling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR. He is also the author of Real-Time Marketing & PR. David’s popular blog (davidmeermanscott.com), and numerous speaking engagements around the world give him great credibility and authority to discuss how businesses are implementing/should be implementing new strategies to reach buyers.

Derek Showerman (@derekshowerman) is currently the Director of Digital Marketing and Business Development at Environmental Data Resources. Prior to working at EDR, he was the Senior Manager of SEO at Sokolove Law, LLC and prior to that, he was the Director of Social Media at Authority Domains. Derek is considered a pioneer in the industry as he utilized Web 2.0 tools when he owned and ran a music website before they were utilized regularly in the business world.

Jim Storer (@jimstorer) is an experienced community manager and social media strategist who co-founded The Community Roundtable. Within the past ten years, he’s built and managed communities as well as consulted with both start-ups, and large enterprises on how to effectively build lasting value with community, and social media solutions.

Aaron Strout (@aaronstrout) is the Chief Marketing Officer at the social media agency, Powered Inc.. He provides a social voice for the company by speaking, blogging, podcasting and participating in social networking activities. Aaron is a founding member and former president of BIMA, and serves on the advisory board of the prestigious Social Media Club.

Mike Troiano (@miketrap) is the Principal of Holland-Mark, a leading independent advertising agency. Mike serves on the boards of several VC-funded technology companies, including Crimson Hexagon. His blog, Scalable Intimacy, is listed on both AdAge’s “Power150” and Alltop, and he is ranked in the top 1 percent of the most influential people on Twitter.

Todd Van Hoosear (@vanhoosear) is the Principal of Fresh Ground, and a founding member and interim director of the Social Media Club of Boston. He is also the VP of Social Media for Publicity Club of New England and has lead regional, national, and global public relations teams in the telecommunications, CAD/CAM, networking and Web spaces. Todd was recognized as a 2009 Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research.

Mark Wallace (@mwallcomm) is the Vice President of Social Media for EDR. He oversees the strategic growth initiatives for Commonground – the global community for environmental and property due diligence professionals. Prior to joining EDR, Mark was Vice President of Community Sales at Mzinga, a leading provider of social networking consulting, technology, and services

Tamar Weinberg (@tamar) is the author of The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web and the creator of Techipedia. She provides consulting in internet marketing, and manages community support and  advertising at Mashable. She specializes in social media consulting and strategy, blogger outreach, reputation management, and search engine marketing.

Alan Wolk (@awolk) is the Managing Director of Social Media Strategy at KickApps, a fast-growing company that builds, and maintains social web sites and applications. His blog, The Toad Stool, is “one of the ‘must read’ blogs for our industry,” and looks at the confluence of advertising, marketing and the social web. Wolk is also the founder of “The Hive Awards,” a new awards show that debuted at SXSW Interactive in March 2010.

Adam Zand (@nooneyouknow) is the Marketing & PR Consultant and Connector at Almost Ubiquitous. With over 16 years of business development, marketing and media relations experience, Adam specializes in marketing communications, PR, social media, advertising, content creation, and business development.

Dan Zarrella (@danzarrella) is an award-winning social, search, and viral marketing scientist and author of the O’Reilly Media book, The Social Media Marketing Book. He has been featured in numerous well-known newspapers and speaks at conferences around the country. In 2009, he was awarded “Shorty and Semmy” awards for social media and viral marketing.

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