This Week in Social Media

Guest: Vijay Iyer, Director of Public Affairs and Corporate Communications for OnStar In 2015, analysts estimate worldwide sales of 3 million hybrid and electric cars and light trucks – and almost 100 million electric scooters and bikes. EVs represent more than just a different way to turn the wheels on the family car – they are a wholesale re-thinking of consumer mobility, introducing cars that have as much in common with your smartphone and your laptop as they do with the car in your garage right now. Questions are inevitable, of course. How should an electric car behave? How should manufacturers prepare consumers for the differences in owning, driving and maintaining it? What responsibilities should marketers and product managers take on to help this market take off? And will the EV “cool factor” taper off or continue to grow? Whatever the answers to these questions, it is clear that the electric vehicle will be a connected vehicle. And that mobile, social, and local technologies will be key to shaping vehicles as they move from prototype to production. Join Mike O’Toole, President, PJA, for a provocative discussion that gets to the heart of the probable and probes the limits of the possible. He’ll be joined by Vijay Iyer, Director of Public Affairs and Corporate Communications for OnStar.

Guest: Matt Magee, VP, Digital Strategy Mobile offers smaller brands a few ways to gain an unfair advantage over their bigger, better funded competitors. While some of these are temporary opportunities that exist at this time because of where mobile marketing is on the maturity curve, others come from unique characteristics of the mobile device experience. Join Mike O’Toole with guest Matt Magee, VP, Digital Strategy, PJA as they discuss the these issues and why brands should act now to take advantage of the benefits of mobile.

Guest: Elizabeth Heichler, Editor-in-Chief, IDG News Service As people continue to use social media as a way to discover news, it’s inevitable that journalists will have to adapt to this new cultural norm. We’ve talked in the past about how this affects newspapers like the New York Times, but it’s also affecting niche news industries like technology journalism. Join Mike O’Toole and special guest Elizabeth Heichler, Editor-in-Chief, IDG News Service, as they talk about how digital media has changed the way journalists report and deliver news and what this means for the future of technology journalism.

Guest: Martin LaMonica, Senior Writer, CNet As the green technology trend continues to emerge, it becomes clear that digital and social media could be a critical component in its growth. Social and digital drive the behavioral changes, awareness, education, networking and collaboration that green industries like Electric Vehicles need to break into the mainstream. This week join host Mike O’Toole with guest Martin LaMonica, Senior Writer, CNet, as they discuss the connection between digital and green technology.

Guest: Doug Aamoth, Editor, Techland With the recent announcement of the iPhone 4S and the Kindle Fire, it’s clear that Apple and Amazon continue to secure their reputation as game-changers. But with many people disappointed with the iPhone 4S, the Kindle Fire may be the new device that deserves all the hype. Join Mike O’Toole and special guest Doug Aamoth, Editor, Techland, as they discuss the implications of these devices and what we can expect from them in the near future.

Guest: Tim Washer, Senior Marketing Manager, Cisco Systems When trying to reach an audience through marketing, it’s important to access your buyers’ rational sides and their emotional sides. And the second one can be tricky – especially in markets like business and technology. Humor is the basis of so much advertising in the consumer world, but it’s more challenging to incorporate it in the B2B world. What’s the impact of humor in marketing? And what are some ways to ensure that it’s successful? Join Mike O’Toole, along with special guest Tim Washer, comedy writer and Senior Marketing Manager at Cisco Systems, as they discuss the emotional side of business marketing.

Guest: Tim Washer, Senior Marketing Manager, Cisco Systems When trying to reach an audience through marketing, it’s important to access your buyers’ rational sides and their emotional sides. And the second one can be tricky – especially in markets like business and technology. Humor is the basis of so much advertising in the consumer world, but it’s more challenging to incorporate it in the B2B world. What’s the impact of humor in marketing? And what are some ways to ensure that it’s successful? Join Mike O’Toole, along with special guest Tim Washer, comedy writer and Senior Marketing Manager at Cisco Systems, as they discuss the emotional side of business marketing.

Guest: Evan McDaniel, Director of Technology, PJA Ever since Steve Jobs’ open letter about ditching Flash for HTML5, the Internet has seen the rise of this increasingly popular coding language. With HTML5, brands can develop websites and apps that work across a variety of platforms. But what does this mean for the future of the Internet and the battle between native apps and the mobile web? Join Mike O’Toole, along with guest Evan McDaniel, Director of Technology, PJA, as they explore the advantages and disadvantages of HTML5 and what it means for marketers.

Guest: Matt Magee, VP, Digital Strategy, PJA Facebook is the big social network that everyone’s always talking about, but LinkedIn delivers the professional audiences that B2B marketers crave. And as it continues to grown past 100 million users, it keeps getting more appealing. But how can B2B marketers take advantage of the many opportunities that LinkedIn has to offer? Join host Mike O’Toole with guest Matt Magee, VP, Digital Strategy, PJA, as they discuss real-world success stories and share best practices for getting the most out of LinkedIn.

Guest: David Spark, Spark Media Solutions When it comes to digital media, word of mouth is key. Studies show that consumers value and trust the opinions of their peers, and social media creates many opportunities to leverage this. By influencing the influencers, brands can initiate these successful word-of-mouth experiences. Additionally, marketers are beginning to take a more journalistic approach to storytelling in an effort to create non-partisan content that targets influencers. And this is just one of the ways to go about finding these influencers and creating meaningful relationships with them. Join host Mike O’Toole along with guest David Spark of Spark Media Solutions as they discuss this topic and offer suggestions for marketers.

Guest: Robert Davis, VP, Digital Marketing According to the panelists at OMMA Social’s “Bridging the Gap: Linking Social Media to ROI,” social media measurement is currently getting an F. And they’re not the only ones noting the problems with quantifying ROI. But the truth is, there’s more to social media measurement than ROI. Join host Mike O’Toole and Robert Davis, VP, Digital Marketing, PJA as they discuss other important measurements such as brand presence and engagement and look beyond ROI.

Guest: Chase Garbarino, Co-Founder, Bostinnovation Anyone who lives in Boston knows that it’s a hub of innovation, with a slew of start-ups, venture capitalists, and technology companies spread all throughout the area. But what kinds of surprising well springs of innovation are here that you don’t hear as much about? Join Mike O’Toole as he talks to Chase Garbarino, co-founder of Bostinnovation, about the newer generation of innovators and the future of innovation.

Guest: Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs In this attention economy, there is an ongoing tension between the flood of cheap content and the relative scarcity of content that is actually valuable. Content wants to be free, but what it should really want is to be good. New York Times recently announced its new paywall plan, joining other publications like Financial Times who have been gating their content for a while now. How can marketers move forward effectively and fight against the noise to deliver meaningful content? Join host Mike O’Toole along with Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs and co-author ofContent Rules, as they discuss this issue.

Guests: Grant Hunter, Regional Creative Director Asia, Iris Worldwide and Jon Burkhart, Social Media Creative Director, Iris Worldwide If social media has taught marketers anything, it’s that we now live in an environment where we just can’t predict or control everything about our campaigns. But this isn’t just about viral videos that don’t go viral, or user backlash that does. It’s about marketing as a whole and how it is changed by a broader culture of unpredictability – driven by the voracious appetites of a relentless 24-hour news cycle, the inability to fit consumer contributions to our expectations, and an attention-starved world’s unquenchable desire for fresh content and technology. How do these trends change marketers’ job descriptions? How can we generate ideas that anticipate and leverage the unexpected? How should we operate differently – in our relationships with clients, in our ability to sense and respond to consumers, even in the way agencies get paid?

Guest: JB Hager, Co-Founder, On-Airstreaming If social media has taught marketers anything, it’s that we now live in an environment where we just can’t predict or control everything about our campaigns. But this isn’t just about viral videos that don’t go viral, or user backlash that does. It’s about marketing as a whole and how it is changed by a broader culture of unpredictability – driven by the voracious appetites of a relentless 24-hour news cycle, the inability to fit consumer contributions to our expectations, and an attention-starved world’s unquenchable desire for fresh content and technology. How do these trends change marketers’ job descriptions? How can we generate ideas that anticipate and leverage the unexpected? How should we operate differently – in our relationships with clients, in our ability to sense and respond to consumers, even in the way agencies get paid?