Does Social Really Matter to Business?

The COIL

While the importance of social media in branding and marketing is unquestionable, plenty of questions remain as to the effect of social on the more mundane aspects of business, government, and education. Perhaps it would be better to ask: If social is a daily part of your customers, employees, citizens, or students lives – How can it not be an integral part of all of your strategic planning? After 5 years of intensive hyperbolic furor the evidence of the importance of social to the business of business remains somewhat elusive. Noted industry analysts Howard Hecht and Fred McClimans will mow down the walled garden of the social media elite and clearly break down the good, bad, and irrelevant aspects of social as it pertains to business. Fred and Howard are joined by a panel of industry experts to dive deeply into what happens when social is forced to get real and the shortest possible route to get it there. Among the hard-hitting questions the panel will tackle are: What is the best way to encourage engagement in a non-branding/non-marketing business social initiative? What, if any, are the linkages between the Collaborative Economy, Social Media, and Enterprise Social? Who are the best people in an organization to spearhead an Enterprise Social program? What is the real value, measured in dollars, of social collaboration?