The growth and influence of social media is unprecedented. However, while the need for consumer-facing brands to aggressively pursue a social media presence has been quite evident, many B-to-B companies have been slower to embrace the medium.

Well, now that seems to be changing. A recent Forrester Research study found B-to-B marketers are expected to increase their spending on social media activities by 490 percent between now and 2014. Why are B-to-B marketers spending so much? For starters, many have realized the enormous benefit of leveraging the power of the crowd to drive innovation. For more examples and other ways B-to-B companies are driving a competitive advantage using Social Media click here.

Webinars: What’s Next?

 

We want to hear from you.

 

First, a big “thank you.”  Response to our new association has been impressive so far.  In just over two months since our soft launch, hundreds have joined our facebook and Linkedin groups.  We’ve received great feedback and comments from our blog postings and we have nearly 200 leading marketers registered for our first webinar, featuring author and leading social media expert Charlene Li.  Attendees for our inaugural event include marketers from some of today’s most innovative and leading brands including Apple, IBM, Microsoft, NBA, Virgin Mobile and many more friends and associates.  Yes – all good news, we are starting the conversation around participatory marketing and many are joining in. 

 

So what’s next?  To keep the momentum going, we working hard on coming up with additional ideas for future webinars.  As we look at the possibilities, we want to find people who challenge conventional thinking and embrace the notion that participation in marketing is critical to success.  Next up will be Ron Shevlin, a senior analyst at Aite Solution and his new book says it all: “Everything They Told You About Marketing, Is Wrong.” Ron’s webinar will take place on or around April 21^st and we will follow up shortly once the details are confirmed.  So the question now goes to you all -- who else do you want to hear from? 

 

Let us know by submitting your ideas and recommendations to our email address info@thepmn.org.  And don’t forget to join the PMN.  Membership is inexpensive and your support will help us assure that we can continue to bring you the best minds in the business to help you optimize and grow your participatory marketing success.

'Til Next Time