This year we are pleased to have introduced an advisory board of leading social media experts. The role of the SMWF Asia advisory board is to support us in shaping our 2-day conference agenda, by advising on key hot topics, and industry news, interactive conference formats, viewing speaker submissions, and continuously supporting the conference team so that we can always provide new ideas in the fast moving environment of Social Media.

We’d like to introduce our advisory board members:
-    Dr. Bernard Leong, Partner, Thymos Capital
-    Shalabh Pandey, Digital Marketing Entrepreneur, Singapore
-    Neal Sato, CTO, Mixi
-    Jamshed Wadia, Account and Co-Marketing Manager, Intel
-    Tania Chew, Consultant, Communications & Social Media Marketing
-    Jon Russell, Journalist, blogger & digital media consultant
-    Derrick Koh, ASEAN Communications Manager, Lenovo
-    Nicholas Aaron Khoo, Singapore Tech Blogger, Thinker and Learner
-    Benjamin Koe, Public Relations & Social Media Consultant

We’d like to thank all our members for their ongoing support, to ensure we deliver a top notch conference for our delegates.

To find out more about the SMWF Asia advisory board members, click here

With the conference agenda really starting to take shape, we thought we would update you on one of the highlights taking place on day 1!

Argha Sen, Head of Marketing and CRM, for Toys R Us Asia – the world’s #1 toy retailer, will be sharing his experiences of how Social Media fits into the marketing mix at Toys R Us.  His 20 minute speech will be taking place at 1430, and will be covering the following points:

1430       Case- Study -Social Media Marketing @ Toys R Us: THE INTEGRATION STORY
•    Integrating Mass Media, Events, PR, CRM, Digital Marketing and Social Media to create the Toys R Us magic
•    Case Studies – Transformers Revenge of The Fallen and Lan Kwai Fong Carnival: Taking Social Media to the Streets
•    The Good, The Bad, the Ugly
•    What Next: The Future is Here

If you are looking to hear specific examples of how a global brand has been heavily involved in Social Media, then this is a session not to be missed!

Argha Sen is responsible for managing Toys R Us marketing programs across 8 countries, spanning more than 100 retail stores. He also directs the multi-country Toys“R”Us Star Card CRM program, which was recently named the Best Loyalty Program in the ASIAN BRAND MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS Awards for the third year in a row.

Now based in Hong Kong, Argha travels extensively both for work and pleasure, loves to explore new cuisines and tastes, and blogs about food, drink and travel in his spare time.

If you would like to be considered as a speaker at this year’s SMWF Asia, check out our speaker submissions guidelines here

Social Media World Forum Asia is back for 2010!  The event  will be taking place at the larger venue – The Suntec Conference Centre on the 22nd & 23rd of September 2010, before the F1 Singapore night race, allowing people to stay over the weekend and visit the race, and enjoy the parties

New look website launched

The team have been working hard over the last few weeks and have just launched our new look website www.socialmedia-forum.com/asia

The website has a vibrant new look, new content, significant updates and features to provide a more engaging and interactive platform for event attendees to network and connect before and after events.

So who is going to be speaking?

Some of the speakers already confirmed include:

•             Blake Chandlee, VP & Commercial Director, EMEA, Facebook
•             Lito S German, Marketing Director, BMW
•             Jeremy Khoo, Deputy Director, Marketing Communication and loyalty, NTUC Fairprice
•             Derek Yeo, Head of Corporate Marketing & Ancillary Finance, Tiger Aviation
•             Argha Sen, Head of Marketing & CRM, Toys R Us (more…)

Joe Hughes, Research & Insight Manager,Yomego

A large brand said to us recently that it wasn’t considering a social media strategy, because if you “get the product right, the rest will take of itself”. It was taking a ‘trust to luck’ approach, relying on spontaneous word of mouth recommendations to drive users of its product.

In one way, it has a valid point. If a product is good enough, people will recommend and promote it to each other – whether they talk about it online or offline. Equally, if the product isn’t up to scratch, no-one will buy.

But social media isn’t just about one-way promotion. The scope for customer engagement, and actively building reach, positive reputation and loyalty is huge. Social media is driving customers to consume more offline. (more…)

The Six Degrees team have just about recovered from the Social Media World Forum #SMWF last week. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came along, tweeted, networked and blogged.

Social Media World Forum 2010 video – can you spot yourself?

During the two days a lot of issues and topics were covered! below are some blog posts with some good overviews.

•    Viralblog Part 1 – http://www.viralblog.com/social-media/social-media-world-forum-part-i/
•    Viralblog Part 2 – http://www.viralblog.com/social-media/social-media-world-forum-part-ii/
•    Viralblog Part 3 – http://www.viralblog.com/social-media/social-media-world-forum-part-iii/

•    Top 5 trending and hot topics at #smwf 2010 – http://ow.ly/1nCpn

•   77Agency Roundup- http://lab.77agency.com/news/roundup-of-the-social-media-world-forum-in-london-5466/

With the attendance doubling from last year, our exhibition grew considerable and generally a lot more going on this year including some very popular workshops!

We would also like to say a big thank you to all the event sponsors & exhibitors (http://tinyurl.com/yj85h9x)
So what are we planning for 2011 we hear you ask? The team are putting their heads together to coming up with some buzzing exciting ideas for next year show, watch this space…
We are always looking for feedback and suggestions for next year…so if you have any recommendations, ideas or just comments please drop us a line and let us know!

In light of the recent negative publicity and criticism surrounding social media and in particular social networking platforms such as Facebook. It has become apparent that while everyone recognises that Social Networking is a powerful platform to help people and businesses share information and experiences, strong actions and immediate measures need to be put in place across the industry to ensure a safe and secure networking environment.

Social Networking is not a new concept and has been attracting the dark elements of society for the past 20 years.  Through the years Paedophiles and Terrorist organisations have been exploiting the unmoderated nature of chat-rooms and social media platforms in order prey on victims or corrupt opinion. (more…)

Interview with Freddie Laker, Director of Digital Strategy, SapientNitro

Freddie Laker from Sapient Nitro will be keynoting at the social media world forum on the 15^th March, and we caught up to ask him a few questions pre event on his tips using social media.

1. From your experience, if you had to recommend one tip for using social media what would it be?

So many companies are excited about their first corporate blog, viral marketing campaign or Facebook group, yet the pioneers and the bold are those already looking ahead at what’s next. To maintain hard-won, relevant profile and share of voice in a world of increasingly fickle consumers, marketers need to understand how social media is going to intuitively evolve and anticipate how to make existing and new tools and strategies work harder and smarter to keep the conversation going. I’d even go as far as arguing that in a couple of years only ‘silver surfers’ will still be referring to online collaborative tools as ‘social media’.

2. What do you think is the biggest thing that marketers fail to realize about social media? (more…)

We are pleased to welcome back Wiley to the Social Media World Forum – this year Wiley will be bringing along some of the top Social media books currently avalible.

Wiley was Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons Publishers has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfil their aspirations.

Wiley is proud to have Guy Clapperton, authour of  ‘This is Social Media‘  chairing the conference Monday 15th.

As a special promotion Wiley will be offering 20% discount on all books at the event. This book as well as other new exciting books on the world of social Media will be available to purchase from Wiley’s stand (Stnad number. 14) during the two days of the conference.

Other books which will be avalible at teh event include:

(more…)

Hilton London Olympia – 380 Kensington High Street London W14 8NL, United Kingdom

We are pleased to have partnered with The Hilton London Olympia Hotel to offer all Social Media World Forum visitors a discounted room rate for the 14th, 15th & 16th March 2010.

We only have a limited number of rooms reserved, so we do recommend making your reservation soon!

Room Rates:

Hilton Guest Double/Twin

Single occupancy          £105.00 per room excluding VAT & English Breakfast

Double Occupancy        £115.00 per room excluding VAT & English Breakfast

To Book:

To take advantage of the above discounted room rates simply contact  Julie Allen on +44 (0) 207 856 1902 or email Julie.allen (@) hilton.com and quote ASNE.

If you do not quote this promotional code at the time of booking your will not receive the event hotel rate.

The Hilton London Olympia hotel is on the bustling Kensington High Street, 2 minutes’ walk from Olympia Exhibition Centre with Heathrow Airport just 14 miles away.  The hotel has many facilities – contemporary Plum Grill, socialize at Plum Bar or watch the match at Plum Sports Lounge.

The Hilton will also host the events pre networking get2gether on the evening of the 14th March within the Plum Bar.