SAO Corvallis Feb. Tech Pub: An introduction to social media and networks for B2B companies. February 12, 2009

Thursday, Feb. 12th, 2009

5:30pm - 8:30pm

Location: Renaissance on the Riverfront
136 SW Washington Ave.
Corvallis, Oregon 97333

RSVP TO: SAO by emailing sao-coordinator [AT] corvallis.sao.or.us

$5 for SAO members or students, $15 non-members
Includes finger food and no-host bar

AGENDA:

5:30 - 6:15: Business Networking Time with finger food, no host bar
6:15 - 6:30: 30-Second Mic (give us your technology business elevator pitch!!)
7:00 Program: Jerry Saveriano, Sanda Communications - Introduction to Social Media for B2B companies.

PROGRAM:

How's your blog? Do you Twitter? Are your customers talking about your company online? Have your competitors started to use social media tools like YouTube videos, LinkedIn or even Facebook to reach out to your markets? Social media and networks are exploding for B2B applications* and this presentation can help get you started.

SM4B2B will discuss how you can develop an online strategy to decide if SM is the best new way to engage your customers, prospects, channel partners and even your own people, whether they are on the other side of the globe or in the next cubical. And if it's the right time for your business, we'll show you how to get a fast, affordable start to test the waters.

We'll show examples of SM4B2B websites we built including what worked and what failed. We'll provide you with a set of definitions, research materials and good business reasons for going Web2.0 this year.

We'll cover key SM4B2B topics such as:

What it is and why it's important .
How to decide if now's the time .
What does it cost? What will it make? Will it pay? How long will it take?
How to start small, fast and cheap
Should you build your own or join an industry community?
What are the right tools, platforms and people to get started?



The Corvallis Chapter of the Software Association of Oregon is starting a Special Interest Group (SIG) to explore the best ways of growing our businesses using social media tools and helping other local companies learn how to get online putting Web 2.0 and social media tools to work. If you’re interested in seeing what we're planning to do with the SAO SM4B2B SIG (enough initials for you?), this meeting is the place to be. An objective of the SM4 SIG will be to build an online community of local companies that participate in the High Tech After Hours Conference held in Corvallis each November.


Speaker bio:

Jerry W. Saveriano is president of Sanda Communications, a marketing, advertising and public relations agency that has for over a decade worked with high tech, software companies and other business, big and small, as well as public sector clients.

For over twenty-five years Saveriano has consulted and lectured internationally on advanced automation topics such as CAD/CAM, geomatics, robotics and Artificial Intelligence. He was Industrial Editor of Robotics Age magazine, founding Chairman of the Southern California Chapter of Robotics International and wrote the Pioneers of Robotics article in the Encyclopedia of Robotics published by John Wiley & Sons.

He created a series of articles and lectures on Internet Marketing and Customer Relationship Management. Jerry put on the first CRM workshop at Oregon Graduate Institute and wrote a CRM titled “E-This!” column for the Software Association of Oregon (SAO) newsletter. He has lead Sanda's Web 2.0 initiative in building online communities for B2B clients, non-profits and state agencies.

Official Website: http://www.sao.corvallis.or.us/drupal/node/130