People came out in force for NVTC’s ‘Get on Board with Social Media. Your Competition Is’. There must have been close to 100 people in the room at the Towers Club in Tysons Corner. You could tell just how hot Social Media by the buzz in the room.

The panelists were:

1.      Brian Dresher, Online Marketing Manager, USATODAY.com,
2.      Phil Bronner, Partner, Novak Biddle Venture Partners,
3.      Amber Harris, Manager, Digital Communications, Discovery Communications
4.      Barg Upender Founder, CEO, Mobomo

Shashi Bellamkonda, Social Media Swami from Network Solutions did a fine job as moderator.

What a fascinating discussion it was. The four panelists shared practical Social Media tidbits including how each of them use Twitter as a real-time information tool. They also spoke about why Reputation Management is becoming increasingly important for everyone, whether they’re on the Internet or not. There was no doubt in the panelists’ minds that Social Media and Web 2.0 tools will become ubiquitous, especially as Gen Y becomes an even greater influence on society. They even joked how they don’t use email anymore, but instead send Facebook messages or direct messages via Twitter.

Each panelist gave good reasons why small businesses and large should jump into the Social Media fray. Will Twitter go away? Maybe. Or perhaps it will evolve and become an even more user-friendly tool adopted by everyone. How about Facebook? Unlikely it will go away given the incredible stats. Adoption numbers are massive with people spending not minutes but hours using the platform each week. Brian Dresher made the crowd erupt with laughter saying that “USA Today didn’t want to be the creepy old man at the back of the room” when it came to Social Media. In other words, USA Today is focusing on Social Media it’s time to adopt to the tools.

To summarize:

1. If you’re not using a Social Media tool, you’re certain to lose out in the near future.
2. The business of Social Media and Web 2.0 is in its infancy but will become a major industry in the next 5-7 years employing many hundreds of thousands.
3. The panelists recommended you pick a tool and learn how to use it. I recommend two tools, Twitter and Linkedin. Get TweetDeck for Twitter.
4. Learn more about Social Media by reading content on Mashable.com and SocialMediaExaminer.com
5. Dedicate 30 minutes a day for the next 6 months reading content and using the tools.
6. Use tools like Radian6 and ViralHeat for Reputation Monitoring.

I’m going to follow these guys on Twitter. Are you?

Brian Dresher – @bdresher
Shashi Bellamkonda – @shashib
Amber Harris – @thenuwanda

Please follow me @ronankeane.

Don’t forget to retweet and “share this” article by using the buttons below. Thanks!

Oh…and don’t to leave a comment.