On the Atlanta green calendar, a worthy entry was last night’s Social Media: Business Beyond the Buzz panel sponsored by Green Chamber of the South and SoutheastGreen.com. The presenters offered solid credentials with diverse experiences attuned to large and small business needs: Sean McCandless, Colfax; our own Nora DePalma, O’Reilly/DePalma and Green Earth PR Network; Gretchen Miller, Vitrue; Candace McCaffrey, Cookerly Public Relations; and moderator Beth Bond, Southeast Green. Here are summaries of select questions.
Is social media more popular in the green arena than in other sectors? In the building sector, DePalma noted that green references were more often retweeted including exchanges with green journalists to yield a broader conversation.
Since McCandless deals a lot with green regulation, he sees claims that amount to green washing among products that offer only slightly better performance. What he likes about social media from the green aspect, is the flow of information. If marketers are trying to hide, it is less likely to work since green promotes transparency. As an early adopter of social media with green clients, McCaffrey felt social media offered a good match for users with a higher level of passion.
Is it social media more important to establish transparency for established versus small businesses? McCandless offered that it was equally important to large and small organizations, although small business can reach scale faster on social media. Both DePalma and McCaffrey noted the need to put strategy and marketing behind the effort, stressing that social media is not free. It is a way to get your message out quickly. At the same time, McCaffrey emphasized that with a lot of clutter, a strategy was particularly important.
Miller works with large entities, balancing value and entertainment. Her firm had just announced some of the first useful metrics for social media. She predicts Facebook will be operating system of the future, advising that all business needs a local, scaleable viewpoint.
The conversation echoed themes that support our Grammar of Green whatever the channel—transparency, engagement, value, and strategy for clarity among the clutter. For more social media tips from the event, visit the O’Reilly/DePalma website here.