Simply Social: How can businesses leverage social media?

Monday, 25 October 2010 18:11 YourStory Team News - Latest News Read : 773 times ( 3 Votes )

On a breezy Saturday morning, Buzzom.com managed to bring together the best brains in the country to discuss social media engagement by brands and businesses. The conference was aptly titled Simply Social. The eclectic bunch included stalwarts like Rajesh Dembla from Just Dial, Archana Vohra from Times Internet, Rajiv Dingra from WATConsult.com, Kiruba Shankar from Business Blogging and many others.

Kiruba kicked off the show in style, enthralling the audience with his insightful take on social media. His argument favouring the need for quantification of social media engagement was widely appreciated.

Buzzom also used the event to launch their proprietary social web engagement and analytics platform called Simplify 360. Shradha Sharma from YourStory.in launched the platform and also conducted a Q & A session with the team. Rohit Gupta, the tech entrepreneur behind Simplify 360, took the audience through the unique features of this social media analytics product and highlighted its usage in the B2B space.

The highlight of the event was the “What’s your social media story?” contest where startups were invited to present case studies on their success in leveraging social media for business. The jury for this contest comprised of Anirudh Singh from Cannan Partners, Ankur Gulati from DFJ and Shradha Sharma from YourStory.in. The winner, Advit from Odigma won a Nokia E72 business phone for his stellar effort.

There were a number of invigorating sessions held throughout the day and it was unanimously agreed that social media engagement throws up peculiar challenges as it requires the brand to not just communicate, but also listen carefully. It also gave rise to a discussion about the double-edged nature of social media and the ways to tackle negative publicity.

With social media becoming increasingly important for brands and businesses, a number of speakers reiterated that maintaining the human touch was imperative and any tool which allowed for better management without impeding the personal nature of the interactions was bound to succeed.

Simply Social 2010 was supported by iTimes, Yourstory.in, aFaqs!, Buzzintown and Meraevents.

(a view from the sidelines by Sriram Mohan)

View the original article here

Sociopreneurship India 2010: Riding the wave of social entrepreneurship

Tuesday, 26 October 2010 12:50 YourStory Team News - Latest News Read : 106 times ( 2 Votes )

Sriram Mohan | YourStory | 26th October 2010 | Bangalore

In August 2010, Yourstory.in had partnered with CNBC Young Turks to orchestrate the much-appreciated Microsoft Canaan ‘TechSparks’ conference, a first-of-its kind platform designed to showcase product technology innovations and salute the entrepreneurial spirit of Indian techies. More than 208 startups registered for the event, out of which 17 were shortlisted and given the opportunity to present their pitches to an audience that included an impressive line-up of investors, corporate heads, technology enthusiasts and other successful entrepreneurs. The top 5 pitches were even covered by CNBC TV 18, the television partner.

Up next from the same stable is the event of the year for social enterprises, Sociopreneurship 2010. This mega-event is due to happen in November later this year and features some of the finest minds in the country as panelists/speakers. The list includes Shereen Bhan from CNBC TV 18, Charles Assisi from Forbes India, Alok Mittal from Canaan India, Ramesh Ramanathan from Janalakshmi, Eric Savage from Unitus Capital, Rahul Bedi from Intel and Geeta Goel from the Micheal and Susan Dell Foundation among others.

Sociopreneurship India 2010 is meant to serve as a platform for all those startups and entrepreneurs who intend to put India on the growth path through their novel ideas aimed at a creating an inclusive society. The focus will be on those entrepreneurs who have managed to strike the balance between profitability and social consciousness. The event is likely to become an annual fixture, considering that it brings together startups, entrepreneurs, investors, vendors and media, thereby creating ample opportunities for funding, branding and networking.

British Council, Harvard Business Publishing, NSRCEL IIM Bangalore, Netsurf Communications and Unitus Capital are some of the partners for Sociopreneurship India 2010.

Click here to register for the event.

View the original article here