I’m a business school student. I haven’t been to many conferences and didn’t really know what to expect from Radian6’s #Social2011. But I had at least heard of the concept. The “un-conference” however, was completely new to me. So naturally, I decided to go check it out.

I entered a small room as Kary Delaria from Kane Consulting began her presentation explaining the real world application of the Radian6 technology in her work. She went through a case analysis of an anonymous company with us and explained the four steps she took in developing her report.

Competitive advantage

She looked at her client’s social presence and compared it to their competitors. She examined every bit of information to determine what they should stop, start and continue doing.

Where to establish presence

Looking at the competitive landscape, Kary went through it using her own methods aided by Radian6 to determine where to establish the presence. Unfortunately, she couldn’t cite specific examples without giving away too much information about the client.

Optimal keyword phrase and content

Now that the client knows what they should be doing and where they should be doing it it’s time for them to learn how to engage their customers. She combed through data piles to determine which keywords were most recognized and what content appealed to customers. Of course this may be a bit tedious, but necessary if you want satisfied clients.

Benchmarks for measuring goals and success

Finally she leaves her customers with goals and benchmarks that they should strive for. I asked her if there were any particular ones that she usually recommended but she said that it all depended on the company.

I felt as if I was in a class lecture going over a Harvard Business School case study, expect this time I was actually interested. This wasn’t a case about a company decision 10 years ago that I would never be involved with, this was something that just took place where I could ask for insights from the people that actually conducted the research and made the decisions. I felt like I was a freshman in college again. I was interested in the material and surrounded by a room full of very smart people sharing very smart ideas. Unconferences? Yea, I could get used to this.

Paul Hlatky studies Marketing and Management Information Systems at Boston University with a minor in Philosophy. One of the few comedians interested in technology, media, marketing and entrepreneurship. Follow him on twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.

Tags: Guest Blogger, social 2011, Social Media, unconference