Great day at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, participating in the Britt Technology Impact Series, which is part of the Glassmeyer/McNamee Center for Digital Strategies.  Program Manager Tim Paradis ran everything smoothly and Professor Paul Argenti kept a firm hand on the panel.  Several years ago I used Professor Argenti’s book, The Power of Corporate Communication, as the main text for a class I taught at Manhattanville College, so it was especially nice to meet him.  

I also enjoyed meeting and interacting with my fellow panelists: Ray Kerins from Pfizer, Alex Dudley from Time Warner Cable, and Rod Thorn from Pepsico.  Smart chaps, all.  I  hope I held my own compared with their intellectual heft.  And I appreciated the interest demonstrated by the audience, most of whom I’m sure have a more substantial working knowledge of social media than I. 

Those of us at the front of the room felt that the topic of the panel was worth a much longer session.  We reached a consensus that social media and its influence on corporate communications is a continuously and rapidly evolving dynamic, and there’s no choice but to keep experimenting, taking reasonable risks, and steeling ourselves for the inevitable mistakes we or our businesses will make along the way.

Ray spoke of the challenges of navigating the social media landscape as a regulated business, despite the fact that Pfizer’s communities are ready and eager for online engagement.  They’re moving ahead with understandable care. 

Rod noted that social media is simply another tool that — like others — needs to tell a story that’s compelling to our publics, regardless of a whether we’re operating under a 140 character limitation. 

Alex recognized that the demands of social media are such that he has a full time person dedicated to creating and managing social media content and a team of people who monitor social media platforms to keep ahead of issues and stay abreast of the conversation.

Each gent had substantially more to offer, but it’s best to hear their thoughts unadulterated by my unreliable mental note taking.  I believe a portion or all of the program will be available online in one form or another soon.  When it is, I’ll provide a link.

Meantime, I represented the B2B landscape, offering the perspective that social media is particularly effective for driving thought leadership programs (provided it’s based on original, not just curated, content).  I also spoke to the use of social media in a crisis, or learning to use social media when a crisis breaks.  Everything I know about that topic I learned from a master (Donna Tocci).  Next time the Center for Digital Strategies has a social media session, Donna would be a great get for the panel (hint, hint).