According to a study by SAS and the Harvard Business Review, by 2012, 88% of companies will use social media worldwide.

Well, 2012 is just around the corner, and if you haven’t taken the steps to make your business socially active and aware, now is a great time to start! Meltwater Buzz, our social media monitoring, engagement and management platform, is the perfect tool to help you build and drive your social business.

How?  We’ve broken it down to six core steps.

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This November the Social Media World Forum will be landing in New York and we are giving you the chance to win an access all areas workshop pass as well as an invitation to the evening networking party.

What can you expect from #SMWF N. America?

SMWF North America will be providing a format for networking, engagement, and lots of social media debate around the latest tools, technologies, platforms, and emerging trends within social media marketing.

With predicted numbers of 2500 + attendees the show has grown significantly and will host a variety of free to attend Social media Hub & paid conferences for marketers, PR professionals, brands, agencies and SME’s. (more…)

Ted is a leading social marketing strategist and coined the term ROR: Return on Relationship,  a concept he believes is the cornerstone for building an engaged multi-million member database, many of whom are vocal advocates for the brand, like the one he built for e.l.f. Cosmetics as the Chief Marketing Officer between 2008 and 2010, and the one being built for the new updated OpenSky where Ted was Chief Social Marketing Officer until the end of April.

Currently the Chief Social Marketing Officer at Collective Bias and Social Marketing Strategist for MARS Advertising, Ted be will taking part in  the Keynote Panel discussion ‘What is Social Reputation and why this should matter for your business’.  With less than a month to go until SMWF N. America, we caught up with Ted for a chat about his experience in the world of social media.

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On Nov 1 -2 at the Javits Center, Robert Harles, Global Head of Social Media for Bloomberg will be discussing how to integrate social media into a traditional organisation. We caught up with Robert to ask him a few social media based questions:

1. How did you get your start in the industry?

A road less traveled…I started in consulting with McKinsey & Co. I did two start ups including comScore where I learned how to build customer communities, from there I was asked tojoin Sears Holdings to build and run their social media program five years ago. We created the mysears.com community which now has over 1M registered members and drives Millions of $ in direct revenue. That gave me a lot of solid experience: dos/don’ts, building capabilities, moderation and measurement, developing and executing social strategy, integrating these activities within a business.

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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

For SMWF Asia 2010, we are looking to create a cutting edge, thought provoking, interactive conference line up covering the advances of Social Media in the dynamic world of online marketing.  In true Social Media style we want to hear from you guys, on your thoughts, ideas and views to ensure the event provides a fully educational and inspiring experience for all our delegates SMWF Asia 2010 will take place on the 22nd & 23rd Sept at Suntec Conference Centre Singapore.
SPEAKER SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE:  30th JUNE 2010
Conference Facts:

Day One         Social Media / Social TV stream (intermediate > advanced level)

Day Two        Social Media stream (intermediate > advanced level)

Each conference session will last between 20 mins > 50 mins depending on the content level and format of the sessions.  Conference sessions will have between 100 > 250 delegates in attendance.  Sessions can feature single speakers, co-presentations or panels.

If you would like to be considered for a speaker slot at this year’s SMWF Asia, take a look at our proposal guidelines here.

Good luck with your submissions!