Integrating social media into marketing efforts is the new Holy Grail for businesses these days. But too often, companies will jump into social media without any real strategy or goals. When that doesn’t lead to immediate results that create a seamless match of tool and tactics, it’s easy to dismiss social media as a fad and abandon all efforts.

Social media is the cornerstone of a successful conversational marketing program
That’s why VillageWorks Communications of Frederick, Maryland has developed their Social Media Sidekick service. Sidekick can help ensure that social media is integrated into a company’s marketing goals, and that the right tactics and resources are used to develop a program that works.

“Social media is the cornerstone of a successful conversational marketing program,” explains Beth Schillaci, President/Founder of VillageWorks Communications, “but too many organizations jump into social media and find themselves lost. Some companies may have already included social media into their marketing mix, but have found their efforts have stalled. VillageWorks’ Social Media Sidekick service can be used to evaluate their current efforts and provide guidance and solutions on how to get those efforts back on track and even how to expand into new opportunities.”

Sidekick isn’t a cookie cutter approach, it’s a custom look at individual needs, goals and resources that help companies get real results. A typical Social Media Sidekick session takes half a day and will help a company learn how to:

- Monitor and research the current social media climate and efforts.
- Define social media strategies and tactics to achieve marketing goals.
- Integrate social media into your current marketing mix.
- Review resources to achieve social media goals.
- Create internal strategies and strategic teams to put the plan into action.
- Structure schedules to use social media for true conversational marketing.

How long a Sidekick sessions lasts and what specifics topics will be covered can be customized to suit specific needs. The goal of a sidekick sessions is not to “tell you” what your strategy should be or to set up specific tools; rather it is to empower organizations to develop the right strategy for their specific needs and to determine what resources can be used to get the job done.

Sidekick is much more than a coaching service. It provides real feedback and insight into the best social media tools for each client, along with concrete ways to use them to best reach the intended audience with the correct message. The service is affordable, too, with prices starting at just $500 for the half-day session. Once a Sidekick session is completed, VillageWorks is also available to offer help with developing a strategy, setting up listening posts, training and workforce development and policies to ensure social media success.

For more information, contact VillageWorks Communications at www.VillageWorks.net or call 240-529-3000.

Recently, Beth had the chance to do a radio interview about conversational marketing and how to use it to convert social media conversations into sales - have a listen!

From left to right: David Gray, Jan Gardner, Beth Schillaci and Marcia Hall

This morning VillageWorks was visited by different Frederick City and County officials, including representatives from Economic Development, Downtown Frederick Partnership, Workforce Services, City Alderman and County Commissioners. The time was spent by the officials learning more about VillageWorks past, present and future with regards to services as well as what it means to be a downtown Frederick business. In return, we learned about services that the City and County offer to local businesses to help them grow.

Beth Schillaci was quoted in an article today on the importance of new media tracking and cross-promotion. To read the complete article, click here.

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.

Beth Schillaci will be presenting at 3 different conferences this month:

June 5 - Frederick County Chamber Social Media Conference
I will be speaking about the importance of social media monitoring and etiquette. I’m also lucky enough to sit on the final panel and talk about using social media to promote my business.

June 10 - Maryland Community College Association of Continuing Education and Training
I will be part of the panel discussion on Social Media Networking Technologies for Marketing Continuing Education

June 12 - Blog Potomac
I get to sit back, relax and listen to some of the best minds in the industry speak. I’m sure I will have a lot to share after this event.

June 16 and 17 - ASMI Online Marketing ROI Conference
I will be speaking during the conference about Making Marketing ROI Transparent to Your Stakeholders and will be doing the Post Conference Workshop on Making Online Marketing Work on a Limited Budget.

VillageWorks, a consistent leader in modern marketing techniques, has made another bold move. The company is dedicating its focus to social media marketing with new services and a new location.

VillageWorks has moved downtown to 50 Citizens Way, Suite 402 in Frederick, MD. The move puts the company right in the midst of Frederick’s vibrant downtown scene, a fitting symbol for the way the company puts their clients in the midst of conversations about their products and services, too.

“We had a great opportunity to move to a space downtown where we can be right in the action,” explains President Beth Schillaci. “This is the perfect physical symbol of what we do for our clients, too – we put them right in the middle of the action when it comes to conversations about their products and services and what their customers need.”

VillageWorks is focusing on real-time market research and reputation management using the latest social media tools. VillageWorks monitors buzz about you, your company, your industry or even your competition across the Internet, from mainstream news to social media sites, to give you a real look at your target audience, what they’re saying and where they’re saying it.

Armed with this real-time research, VillageWorks will then develop a strategic plan to use the most appropriate new media tools – from social networks to blogs and more – to engage your audience where they already are. VillageWorks can implement that plan, or teach you how to do so in-house.

“The reality is that today, marketing isn’t about ‘telling’ your story, it’s about having a conversation about what your customers want and need,” says Schillaci. “Conversational Marketing is not just social media tools like Facebook and Twitter; it’s a way of engaging with a target audience to have different conversations where they already are, instead of trying to pull them to where you are. That’s the reason why I call what we do ‘conversational marketing’ – because it’s about talking with, not just to, your entire audience. Conversations can occur at different points in an organization – with partners, customer service or about new products. We help clients learn when, where and what people are saying about them, and then help them develop a way to respond.”

To provide clients with everything they need to navigate the new media marketing landscape, VillageWorks has also added services, including:

• Real-time market research for reputation management
• Response management protocols and alerts
• Strategic planning for conversational marketing
• Implementation of conversational marketing plans
• Training and support for implementation in-house or DIY

VillageWorks will also soon be offering workshops on topics that will include:

Strategic Social Media
What social media is, what it isn’t, and how to do it right; market research; audience tailoring; resources to get it done.

Can you hear them talking?
What people are saying and how to find out; talking to people vs. talking about things; when to respond and how to do it

Social media platform specifics
Learn how to use some of the most popular social media tools including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and WordPress.

“Every day there are new tools that companies can and possibly should be using to manage their reputations and market themselves,” explains Schillaci. “VillageWorks takes care of finding those tools and figuring out what’s best for each company. Our goal is to create the strategic framework for success across all media and markets. Whether that means training clients to handle things in-house or taking care of everything here, our strategic conversational marketing consulting can help companies thrive in today’s economy.”