Panel description:
We all know that social media is the best thing since sliced bread, right? Then why is it so hard to explain the value of social media to people who don’t get it? Join our panelists, who have successfully championed social media initiatives, for a discussion of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to selling social media to your boss or clients. This panel is sponsored by Small World Lab.
Panelist(s)  (VP of Product Mgmt, Small World Labs), Peter Kim (Sr Partner, Dachis Corporation), (Founder/CEO, Small World Labs), (Sales & Business Dev Expert, CreativeAgencySecrets.com), (Web Interaction and Usability Specialist, Small World Labs/American Heart Association)

In true social media form, the panelists created a hashtag on twitter, and projected tweets on the screen. Attendees could tweet questions, comments, whatever during the panel, for all to see. Pretty awesome.

You can check out the tweet history of the panel here, using the hashtag #swl:

My notes from the panel - lots of random great advice and tips that might help you get social media accepted into your organization (pardon the randomness):

For those that have had success getting SM accepted, they found that reach was important. Something that the entire organization could understand.
It’s valuable to show how multipliers (like Facebook, WOM) are a factor and that’s a huge deal in gaining acceptance.

Questions you should be asking:
+ What can this do for my customers?
+ What resources can we dedicate to this?
+ Does our company culture allow for a campaign that’s out of our control?

How to deal with legal department:
+ Legal’s goal is to reduce risk to zero - but business is about leveraging risk to advantage of the business. Hmmm.

Internalize the idea, and then give it six months. Someone else will bring it up as their own concept, after it germinates.
If your company culture doesn’t support social, go to another company or stay and be a catalyst for change

How does the pitch change based on your internal audience?
+ Depends on the psychology of your audience. Look at their personal motivations, and play to them.
+ Change the pitch for the strategy/media that you’re pitching to.

Be realistic
Keep it simple
Show business value
Show how this helps our customers

Top tips for success:
Good planning
When you measure, you share results with org
Build a culture within communities
Be capable of articulating the metrics to your organization

Social media in the workplace. Is it a productivity drain?
+ Same arguments existed when internet came to the office, when computers came to the office, etc. Trust your people.

What if your audience is the communications group - the people who are supposed to get it?
+ Find someone who gets it from the inside
+ Show how their peers are already doing it

How does brand awareness and conversation ultimately affect sales?

Wrapup:
Set expectations
Measure, and start from the beginning
Get people behind it from inside the org
Find an adversary, and involve them.

_

Getting to SXSW was a breeze this year. Last year we were hit with a surprise snowstorm in Dallas (!) that closed the airport, and we had to scam a rental car, and drive ourselves to Austin.

Thanks to some JetBlue love this year. , we arrived on time and stress free. Our cab ride from the airport was quite another story:

We were informed by our cabbie about the Obama conspiracy, and who it was that put him in power. It turns out that there’s an elite class of humans that are controlling the world. And they’re genetically engineering a new class of human clones, infusing insect genetics into the mix, to create an army of human slave clones. The super humans are planning a massive bio chemical attack, where they’ll kill off at least 50 million humans. They’ve already got the coffins and coroner teams ready to handle this.

Needless to say, we’re trying to avoid the genetically altered insect people while staying in Austin.

After some chicken tacos, we caught up with the team from Segway and chatted about internet stuff. Because that’s what you do at an interactive festival.

Dinner at Stubbs was awesome (See David, Stephanie & Eric from Segway, and John from PsychCentral above) and we enjoyed great bbq and deep-fried everything.

A few beers and an early night tonight, as SXSW kicks off officially tomorrow. Woot!