“Social Media Monitoring – Saturday – 1:30pm-2:10pm – David Alston – Radian6:  A discussion on what opportunities and issues can be uncovered by constantly monitoring all forms of social media. How do you go about monitoring – how do you get started, how do you get focused, how do you managed who handles what in your organization? And sure, you should be monitoring your brand mentions but what else? Should you be looking for trends, for where the crowds are forming, for influencers? And now that you’ve found posts, pics, vids, tweets etc..that impact you or your company now what? Finally, investing in “listening” means proving an ROI to the powers that be, so what should you be measuring to help the cause? Social media is changing how PR, marketing, and customer support are being delivered – has your organization adapted yet?”

This is the topic I’ll be discussing at the upcoming BlogOrlando event in, where else, sunny Orlando.  Josh Hallett outlined the format to me as one where the audience guides the discussion.  That’s my kind of format.  I’m not one for creating large slide decks and sticking to a script.  I absolutely love speaking “with” a group that wants to be part of the discussion.  I guess that’s why I working in social media so much.

Social media is not a one way dump of information.  It’s not about forcing someone to listen to your message whether they want to hear it or not.  Social media is about listening.  It’s about learning from those you have something in common with.  It’s about extending out a hand in a digital handshake and saying hello.  It’s about joining their discussions first and once they get to know you, offering up some relevant and valuable opinions/stories of your own.

This is exactly the approach I’ll be taking for the session I’ll be moderating.  The pace may be a lot quicker, perhaps more like a Twebinar, but hopefully we’ll all come away with new ideas and new beginnings of new relationships.

And as part of the listening and getting to know you process I would love to connect in advance of the session.  Please feel free to connect via Twitter (@davidalston) or Plurk (@davidalston)  See you in Orlando.