The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

Brian Simpson on Combining Online and Offline Relations in Hospitality

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a new podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management.
Our sixth episode features Brian Simpson, Director of Social Hospitality at the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City.
 

Highlights include:

  • How online extends and combines with the vital offline relations and events in the hospitality industry
  • A discussion of whether or not being a nimble small business is an advantage over being a big chain when it comes to using social media
  • How hard metrics and the more “touchy-feely” side of social media mesh
  • A critique of Roger Smith Life and the value of showing an off-product side of your business; “It’s got to be interesting.”

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove.

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Shwen Gwee on using Social Media Tools to Grow Community

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a new podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management.

Our fifth episode is an interview Shwen Gwee, who works in the health care and pharma industries, and heads up a network called SocialPharmer* and the blog Med 2.0.

Highlights of the conversation include:

  • Taking a community cultivated at a conference and continuing to grow it online with social media tools
  • Conversely, how online groups (like Twitter chats) can be used to lead to more substantial offline events
  • The reluctance in highly-regulated industries like pharmaceuticals to using social media, and how to counter those
  • How growth in industry participation has actually taken off in some areas, particularly Twitter, and Facebook, which has seen many popular Fan Pages grow up around support for people with certain diseases
  • Lessons learned from live events, including: the ability for people to talk across different verticals, the opportunity to speak with patients in an informal setting, and in-depth discussions of the mutual trust needed to keep social media use growing in pharma

Download this episode.

Subscribe to this podcast series.

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove.

* Note: SocialPharmer is currently a Ning group, but with the announcement that Ning will stop support for free groups, Shwen has told us that he is working on moving the network to a new platform, to be determined soon.

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

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Conversations with Community Managers – Diane Hessan

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Diane Hessan from Communispace is one of the most approachable CEOs you’ll meet. When you meet her for the first time she really wants to get to know you and listens intently. It’s not surprising she runs a successful social media company given this trait and it’s also not surprising she has her team actively (and publicly) sharing via a group blog.

We talked about the blog and what executives need to think about when they’re getting started in social media. Her advice in a nutshell? Start slow and be prepared to mix business with personal. Diane does a good job of this with her popular @communispaceCEO Twitter profile, where she shares what she’s thinking about and reading and isn’t afraid to be herself. It shouldn’t surprise you that Diane was named the 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce last month. Enjoy the podcast!

Download this podcast (18.7mb/21 minutes)

 

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Conversations with Community Manager – Shawn Morton

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I met Shawn last March while on the Innovator’s RoadTrip. He joined us for a beer in Columbus and talked about the innovative work he was doing at Nationwide. We soon realized we had a lot of friends in common and ended up at a lot of the same “social gatherings” at SXSWi. Good times!

During this podcast Shawn talks about what it’s like getting a large organization started in social media, the importance of executive sponsorship and how demonstrating quick wins is a good strategy when you’re just getting started. He also talks about Nationwide’s use of Yammer and how it’s a good first step for people getting used to the power of social media. Finally, Shawn shares the innovative way he works with the legal team at Nationwide to make sure they’re comfortable with how the team is interacting on social networks. Enjoy!

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Conversations with Community Managers – David Alston

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Rachel and I had a chance to sit down with David Alston from Radian6 last week. I first met David at a Social Media Breakfast in Boston and was inspired by how he looks at the way marketing (and the role of the CMO) is changing as social media and community become more prevalent in business. In this podcast we explored this dynamic and learned how Radian6 helps community managers stay on top of brand conversations across the web. We hope you enjoy it and would love to hear how you see marketing changing in your organization.

Download the mp3 (21 min/19.7 mb)

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