Enterprise Social Media

About

We are a group of entreprise marketers, community managers, product managers and ordinary people who work in some capacity with social media. We all work (or used to work) for fairly large organizations (Intel, Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Yahoo, Cadence Designs Systems, AMD). Our vision is to help other marketers who are struggling to understand this space; and hopefully provide our insights and real-life experiences with social media to include: successes, failures, best practices or whatever else is on our mind.

We fundamentally believe that the core of social media revolves around the conversations that are happening online today; and that it is imperative that companies and brands participate in these conversations in some capacity.

The posts and articles on this blog are represented from the point of view of each individual author and not the company that he or she works for. Here is the official disclaimer:

All commentary on this blog is our personal opinion and is not read or approved before it is posted. No warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of our opinions or any comments left by others. The opinions expressed here on this blog are our own and not those of any of our employers past or current. This includes, but not limited to, thoughts, intentions, ideas, strategies and tactics.

Now, who are we?

Michael Brito, Managing Editor
Michael Brito is a Social Media Strategist for Intel Corporation focusing on the consumer segment. He blogs, communicates and builds relationships with other people. He uses Twitter actively. He believes that marketing is good; and if you love your customers they’ll love you back and tell other people about it. He believes that business results are critical but should not be the driving force behind connecting with people. He believes in being real, authentic and human. He believes that consumers are real people with real passions; and that marketers should start treating them that way. He is a recovering direct marketer and has worked for companies such as Sony Electronics, Hewlett Packard and Yahoo! He is on the Interim Board of Directors for the Social Media Club; and an advisor for Izea. He also authors Britopian, another social media blog.

Michael has written several articles for online publications such as Search Engine Journal, WebProNews and Imedia Connection; and you can often find him roaming Facebook and Twitter just about everyday.

LaSandra Brill, Contributor
As Manager of the Service Provider Web & Social Media Marketing group, LaSandra Brill shapes Cisco’s marketing strategy to include a mix of social media marketing techniques. LaSandra is an Ezine expert author and authors a blog, Marketing in a Web 2.0 World, where she explores how marketing is changing for B2B companies with the rise of social media and Web 2.0. She has ten years of technology marketing, communications, and web strategy experience. Before joining Cisco, she held marketing management positions at Mirapoint and AppStream.

LaSandra holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Management from San Jose State University. You can view her LinkedIn profile here.

Tac Anderson, Contributor
Tac is a serial entrepreneur, born contrarian, avid blogger and a voracious reader and learner. Tac has been passionately involved in “computer mediated communications” since the mid 90’s. He is passionate about accelerated forms of communication and blogs regularly at www.newcommbiz.com.

As HP’s Web 2.0 Strategic Lead for the global LaserJet business, Tac helps HP leverage Web 2.0 technologies both for internal and external communication. He regularly works across multiple segment teams such as, New Business Development, PR/AR, IT, Current Business Management, Channel Partner teams as well as working with all of the regional marketing teams.

A local tech evangelist, Tac stays busy fostering discussions as the Founder and Chief Instigator at TechBoise.com. The typical Gen-Xer, his patience is thin, but he keeps at it. He will not take no for an answer.

Kelly Feller, Contributor
A savvy marketing chick and professional writer for over 15 years, Kelly Ripley Feller is a social media addict and outspoken proponent of change and marketing evolution. Professionally Kelly has enjoyed a diverse career managing marketing and communications programs for organizations that include non-profit, natural foods, healthcare, and high technology. She has worked with a variety of technology companies including Intel, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Intuit, SAS Software, Symantec, and IBM. Today she manages social media programs for Intel and writes about social media, marketing, business, Second Life, and politics, including a column on social media and politics for a literary magazine. An enthusiastic live music lover and classical singer, Kelly performs at local schools and senior homes and is a hospice volunteer for veterans. She has been active in Second Life  for over a year and a half—the equivalent of several lifetimes in that virtual realm. She lives outside of Portland, OR with her husband and son, and holds a BA in Communications and Political Science from the University of Michigan.

Tom Diederich, Contributor
Tom began “blogging” in 1996 (though he called it his “online journal”) when working in Tokyo as a journalist. In 1998 he moved to Silicon Valley as one of Computerworld’s first online reporters. After transitioning to the world of corporate communications in 2000 (including stints at Palm and Intuit), he landed at Symantec in 2006 where he created the Symantec Technology Network, an online community for business customers, specifically IT managers. The site features expert videos, forums and blogs.

In early 2008 he joined Cadence Design Systems as the company’s first social media/Web community manager, launching the Cadence user community — an endeavor that included the recruitment and training of dozens of employee bloggers. The site features discussion forums, expert blogs and code-file sharing.

He left Cadence in October 2008 for a newly created role at Lithium Technologies, a company specializing in enterprise communities (forums, blogs, social networking tools and community management). He manages “Community Management Services,” which includes the forums moderation team. Tom holds a B.A. in journalism from “The” Ohio State University.

Angela LoSasso, Contributor
Angela LoSasso is Community and Blogs Strategist for Hewlett-Packard’s Imaging and Printing Group, Americas region. She launched HP’s first Wiki-based communities to support HP’s $300 million “What Do You Have to Say? campaign, and she also writes an internal HP blog, The Conversation.

Angela’s web career started in 1993 as a moderator for a technology forum. From there she led content and editorial development teams for Internet pioneers and award-winning websites such as CNET (as an Executive Editor) and Netflix (as Director of Editorial). Angela’s other editorial and journalism stints include the Los Angeles Times, Entrepreneur Magazine and Future Publishing.

Her secret to surviving and thriving in the corporate world and as an entrepreneur: Be nice. Play nice. Don’t run with scissors. She currently manages the HP’s Community Wiki and HP’s Small Business Community Wiki.

Bob Duffy, Contributor
Bob currently works at Intel Corporation as a senior social media strategist responsible for new social media capabilities, program policies and governance.  Bob established the strategy and program that launched the Open Port IT Community, Intel’s first end user online community.  Bob is a member of Jive Software’s Client Advisory Board, The Blog Council and recent speaker at Web2.0 Expo and Office2.0 Conference.

Rich Taylor, Contributor
Rich Taylor is a young marketer with a fresh perspective on the marketing world and takes great interest in the latest marketing techniques and applications.  Rich was thrown into the fire when he went to work for MySQL in 2005 assisting or managing various aspects of marketing, including customer relationship management, email campaign management, demand-to-close processes, webinar management and marketing communications.  Rich has learned the importance of balancing marketing activities with community relations while working alongside an extremely experienced marketing and management team and the large community of MySQL users.

Rich currently works as an Online Marketing Manager for the Database Group (MySQL and more) at Sun Microsystems.  Rich is also pursuing an MBA at Boise State University where he is researching the differences and similarities in metrics and responsibilities between Involvement Marketing (Web 2.0 and Social Media) and Traditional Marketing.  You can get updates on this research at rqtaylor.com, or contact Rich on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Bryan Rhoads, Contributor
Bryan is a Digital Strategist for Intel focused on social and emerging media. He founded the Intel Digital Innovation Program responsible for driving online leadership opportunities between Marketing and IT. He currently serves as the cirriculum architect for the Intel Digital IQ program and is a founding member of the Intel Social Media Center of Excellence.  Within Intel, Bryan has pioneered social media techniques that have laid the foundations for Intel to successfully leverage Web 2.0. He designed and built Intel’s external blog platform, establishing communications, legal, security and publishing guidelines that integrated social media into Intel’s marketing mix.

Bryan led a 4-year research project with MIT that researched online trust and digital marketing strategies. Bryan’s Intel and MIT researchers designed innovative approaches to increase user confidence and trust in online media experiences and communications. He is also the designer of the Intel Download Center and many highly-trafficked and high profile sections of Intel’s web systems.

Bryan speaks on digital innovation and social media at the Yale Center for Customer Insights, MIT Center for Digital Business, Innotech, the Marketing Sciences Institute, the Experiential Marketing Summit, etc.

Bryan sits on the Executive Board of the Internet Strategy Forum, the Center for Consumer Research at St. Joseph’s University, the Marketing Advisory Track at Northeastern University and is a member of the City Club of Portland.

A papa of two, husband of one. Bryan moonlights as a grassroots bio-fuels advocate as well as an urban farmer in his backyard in SE Portland’s Mt. Tabor neighborhood.

David B. Thomas, Contributor
Dave is Social Media Manager at SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services. Dave started his career in 1989 as a reporter and photographer for The Chapel Hill News in Chapel Hill, N.C. Since then he has worked in marketing communications for a variety of companies and clients, mostly in technology. Before coming to SAS in 2007, he worked for Yep Roc, a leading independent record label, where he directed web and social media marketing and launched the web store. Dave has been actively involved in social media since 1994 when he joined his first Internet forum, and began blogging in 2002 when he wrote the daily update for the Iceland Airwaves music festival. Dave’s first job at SAS was in the Corporate Public Relations group, where he assisted journalists who wanted to learn more about SAS’ work/life balance, award-winning employee benefits and sustainability activities. He also oversaw the Fortune 100 Best Companies award application process. Born in New Jersey, Dave came to North Carolina as quick as he could, and graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro with a degree in English. You can find Dave online at the SAS Social Media blog, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and find out what he’s reading on Del.icio.us.

Becky Carroll, Contributor
Becky is the author of the business blog Customers Rock! listed among the Top 25 Marketing blogs. She also teaches the class “Marketing via New Media” at UC San Diego Extension. Becky is a regular personality on the Big Biz Talk Radio show, a nationally-syndicated program, a contributing author on the recently-released business books Age of Conversation and Age of Conversation 2, and a sought-after speaker on social media and customer loyalty. She has been a judge for various marketing and customer service awards.

Before joining Brickfish, Becky was the President of Petra Consulting Group, a management consultancy focused on creating WOW customer experiences. Becky’s clients have included EA, HP, Fujitsu, and Ford. Her work with EA won the Silver Senet award for video game marketing.

Previously, Becky was a Senior Consultant with industry-leading Peppers and Rogers Group. She also worked at HP for 14 years, including her role as Director of Marketing, UK.

Wesley Faulkner, Contributor
Wesley’s experience spans multiple facets of the technology industry, from manufacturing to product development.  His passion for technology was fostered through over thirteen years of experience in technical and customer service support, field engineering, and digital media entertainment development.  Recently, Wesley has become a rising player in the social media scene; he has been a featured guest on several web media outlets such as CNET and ManiaTV.  As a member of AMD’s social media council he assists in the development of their social media strategy and vision for the company.

Wesley’s previous employers include: Applied Materials, Integrated Devices, and Dell.  Wesley currently works at AMD as a Product Development Engineer.

John McElhenney, Contributor
A passionate leader and speaker, Mr. McElhenney has been pushing the envelope of interactive marketing since the single-speed CD-rom was invented.

His history includes two years at Dell Computer Corporation where he was a lead strategist with Dell’s Global Online Group working on Community and Conversations in Social Media.

Mr. McElhenney has over 15 years of marketing experience as a team lead for various international advertising firms as well as principle of a interactive design firm, Active Media, for six years.

Fluent with code, design and marketing, Mr. McElhenney is confident speaking to a room of thousands as well as presenting ideas to directly to C-level executives.

His thought leadership is exposed and explored on his blog: http://uber.la

Major clients include: Motorola, Dell, IBM, Compaq/HP, Texas Department of Economic Development, CSC and Power Computing.

He is leading several non-profit and open source projects including:

http://socialwiki.org
http://pettweets.org
http://myfriendjoey.org

Find out more about Mr. McElhenney at the following sites:
http://friendfeed.com/jmacofearth
http://twitter.com/jmacofearth
http://slideshare.net/jmacofearth
http://uber.la/contact