Social Media Boot Camp Drive

In this special episode two former Social Media Boot Camp attendees, Laura Meade Kirk of Amica Insurance and Angela Nebel of Summit PR Strategies, discuss where they were before they took the workshop, what they learned and where they are know.

The next Social Media Boot Camp is Aug. 18-19, 2010 in Los Angeles. It is followed by the Social Media Master Class on Aug. 20, 2010 was is designed as a continuation of the Social Media Boot Camp.

This is the longest-running, top-rated workshop of its kind, and the only recurring course that teaches practical, step-by-step guidance for integrating social media into business communications.

Eric is currently completing a book on B2B applications of social media, so there are plenty of business-to-business uses presented as well.

SHOW NOTES:

01:34 -- Laura Meade Kirk, a former Providence Journal reporter, discusses her transition from the newspaper business to the field of public relations at Amica Insurance.

04:24 -- How Amica Insurance is currently using social media for business communications, including the use of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

05:21 -- What makes the Social Media Boot Camp different from other social media training courses, conferences and workshops.

07:37 -- Resources currently focused on social media communications at Amica and the biggest challenges she is currently experiencing with respect to leveraging social media at the company.

11:04 -- History of the Social Media Boot Camp, which was created five years ago for the Ministry of Information at the Government of Singapore, UCLA Extension and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). It has also been presented privately for numerous organizations including Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, United States Marine Corps, US Dept. of State, NORAD NorthCOMM, US Pacific Command and many, many others. Read past attendees testimonials.

12:26 -- Angela Nebel, principal at Summit PR Strategies in Michigan discusses her professional background and what lead her to attend the Social Media Boot Camp.

14:45 -- The group dynamics of the Social Media Boot Camp and the benefits of networking with other attendees.

15:47 -- Challenges of using social media for clients, demonstrating value and how she's keeping up-to-date.

16:49 -- Importance of establishing social media fluency and how that accelerates the learning curve.

17:30 -- Maintaining ongoing relationships after the boot camp and using one another as resources moving forward.

19:25 -- End

ABOUT THE PODCASTER

@EricSchwartzman provides online communication training, strategy and social media governance to public relations, public affairs, corporate communications and marketing specialists. He has extensive experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs through public speaking, hands-on training seminars, consulting and the development of corporate policies on social media usage.

His clients have included Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, NORAD Northcomm, Southern California Edison, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, the United States Marine Corps and many small to medium-sized companies and agencies.

Eric is the instructor behind PRSA’s top-rated social media and emerging treads training seminars, the Social Media Boot Camp and the Social Media Master Class, which are offered monthly in the US.

His upcoming book "Social Marketing to the Business Customer" about B2B applications of social media communications will be published by Wiley & Sons in January 2011.