ITWeb hosts second annual Social Media Summit

As the boundaries between our work and personal lives blur, social media is becoming an imperative for businesses. Whether catering to consumers, or operating in the B2B space, organisations are expected to be available on social channels and sharing thought leadership.

It's not enough to simply have a presence on a social platform like Facebook or Twitter, however. Ineffective use of social media can lead to an organisation falling behind competitors, disappointed customers and clients, and even legal issues.

On the other hand, if used effectively, social media is not only a great marketing tool, but can also be used to source valuable business intelligence.

This is why ITWeb is hosting a Social Media Summit to assist organisations with ensuring that social media is put to work for them.

The summit, which debuted last year to overwhelmingly positive feedback, will provide a sober, business-driven approach to implementing social media within an organisation.

Well-known speaker, writer and social business strategist, Ryan Hogarth, will talk about the social business imperative in his keynote address. He will outline how businesses can bring about success through embracing social media.

Another highlight on the agenda is the "social media platform smackdown". Advocates for the most popular social media platforms locally (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Mxit and Google+) will outline the ways different platforms can be utilised by business and give concrete examples of the kinds of businesses that are using them well. They will then defend their chosen platform as part of a panel discussion. Advocates include the likes of Brett StClair (head of new products sub-Sahara for Google) representing Google+, and Jodene Shaer (who has over 30 000 followers on Twitter, the most of any local non-celebrity) representing Twitter.

The conference will also examine the governance, HR and legal issues relating to social media, such as how to craft effective social media policies for employees.

Market leaders will provide case studies on how they have used social media to create business value.

The second summit day will be analytics intensive. Delegates will be given insight into how to measure their social media success and will come away with a thorough understanding of the power (and limitations) of social networking.

Experts will teach those present how they might pull valuable data from social networks, analyse it and report on it. Case studies will demonstrate how such data can be used within an organisation to improve connections with customers and clients, manage an organisation's online reputation and assist with business decision-making.

The event takes place on 14 and 15 August at The Forum, in Bryanston. For more information, click here.