VillageWorks Communications, Inc to provide a full-spectrum social media program for the 2009-2010 Program

Taking a cue from its name, the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Frederick County program is taking the lead in using social media to promote their efforts for their next class of recruits. Beth Schillaci of VillageWorks Communications, Inc. will be developing a complete social media outreach campaign.

Schillaci is a 2004 alumni of the program herself. “Leadership Frederick County is a great program that really gets into the important local issues and provides tools to develop area leaders,” she explains. “I’m going to have the chance to experience the program again, but this time I’ll be sharing my experiences across a variety of social media platforms. Our goal is to share the value of the program with our alumni and community.”

Schillaci’s company, VillageWorks Communications, Inc., is a leader in social media marketing. She has embraced the term “conversational marketing” to describe her company’s distinct blend of real-time market research and reputation monitoring blended with strategic social media efforts. Through not just conversation monitoring but also conversation mining, VillageWorks helps clients understand who’s talking about them and to engage their critical audiences to create positive buzz.

To promote Leadership Frederick County, regular updates from the program are planned, including a blog, Twitter account, Flickr photos, YouTube videos and more. A Facebook fan page will aggregate all of the information in one site for easy review.

“We want to make the experience as interesting and interactive as possible,” Schillaci explains. “Using a variety of tools will allow us to fully show how extensive the program really is.”

Leadership Frederick County will welcome their new class in September 2009, and will run for 9 months. Up to 40 people will participate in the program, including Schillaci. Leadership Frederick County is currently recruiting for the class of 2009-2010. For more information or to apply, contact Michele Waxman Johnson, Executive Director, at leadership@frederickchamber.org or 301-662-7962.