Matt Barrie, Chief Executive, Freelancer.com
Presentation | Website | Twitter

Matt Bateman, Managing Director, Viva9
Presentation

Carl Bellamy, Group Sales Manager – Small Business, Australia and NZ, Yahoo! Search Marketing
Presentation

Kate Carruthers, Director, Digital Media Group
Presentation | Website | Blog

Suzi Dafnis, Community Director, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
Twitter | Website | Blog

Adam Franklin, Managing Director, Bluewire Media
Presentation | Website | Email | Twitter | Linkedin | Blog

Gavin Heaton, Publisher, The Age of Conversation
Website | Twitter

David James, CEO & Director, Brasserie Bread
Presentation | Website | Twitter | Blog

Benjamin Mangold, Analytics Director, Mangold Sengers
Presentation | Website | Resources | Blog | Email | Twitter | Linkedin

Josh Mehlman, Editor, NETT Magazine
Website | Twitter | Personal Blog

Phil Morle, Co-Founder, Pollenizer
Website

Mark Pesce, Inventor, Writer, Educator & Futurist
Presentation | Text Version of Presentation | Twitter | Email

Tim Pethick, Entrepreneur at Large & Founder, Nudie Juice
Presentation | Website | Email | Blog

Steven Power, CEO, ReachLocal Australia
Presentation

Dominic Thurbon, Managing Director, The Centre for Skills Development
Twitter

James Toepfer, Industry Marketing Manager, Google
Presentation | Email | Questions | AdWords Special Offer

Sharon Williams, Founder and CEO, Taurus Marketing
Presentation | Website | Email | Twitter | Linkedin | Ninemsn Small Business Blog

Shane Williamson, Co-Founder, Mobile Monday
Presentation | Website | Email | Twitter | Blog | Linkedin

Matt will explain the concept of affiliate marketing and how best to use it to advance small to mid size business.

Here it is for those who’d like a sneak peek. This will also be a handy resource for those who will be at another Track (either Social Media or Effectiveness) on the day.

Here he discusses search engine optimisation and search engine advertising and the science behind each, the state of the online versus printed directories market and just how important it is to have a website (not always!) when customers are trying to find you.

ReachLocal is a strong position to speak with authority on the subject. They topped this year’s Technology Fast 500 list compiled by Deloitte, achieving the coveted top spot on the list with 2008 fiscal year revenue of $146.69 million and a five-year fiscal growth rate of 146,050 percent.

I sent my very first email marketing campaign in 2006 and I learnt two brutal lessons. One, how easy it is to stuff things up and, two, how few people actually read your email.

Since that time I have learnt that a 40-50 percent open rate is actually quite good and that our email campaigns are interesting enough to attract a click through rate that is five times the average.

In the SME Tech Summit workshop we’ll examine six common mistakes, I’ll reveal my secret formula for email marketing success and finally show you how it can all come together with a real life case study from Sydney weight loss company Hypoxi Australia.

If there are any questions you’d like to ask, please tweet me @Franklin_Adam

Sydney Web Design: Adam Franklin is Managing Director of Bluewire Media an ISO9001 quality assured digital agency. 1300 258 394.

In the meantime, or if you’d like to get a better feel for the event, please peruse or download the Showguide below.

SME Technology Summit 2009 Showguide

The article examines some key issues in social media marketing, including authenticity. It begins, however, by asking who inside organisations should be dealing with social media.

Futurist and media technology strategist Mark Pesce believes it’s everyone’s job.

“The strength of social media is that they empower individuals throughout an organisation to speak on behalf of that organisation,” he says. “Is this potentially confusing and chaotic? Yes. Get used to it. This is the way things work now.”

It goes on to look at how companies sometimes create fake online identities to say the things they want said.

At Nett we often say that building a following and credibility in social media takes time and hard work. You also need to be genuine, because audiences can spot a fake. However, there are a number of techniques one can use to push things along a little.

“Everyone does them, it’s just that no one will admit it,” says one new-media entrepreneur, who did not want to be identified.

One example was brought to a head recently when mUmBRELLA reported that Geoff Emerson, founder of marketing agency The Prosperity Principal, was looking to hire a social search consultant who would “take on a supplied persona and join in on the conversation” in social media to promote clients’ products. This concept of a ‘trusted avatar’ attracted a storm of controversy. (Emerson did not respond to our questions in time for our print deadline.)

Most of the experts we interviewed were dead against the idea.

“These practices make our relationships less trustworthy,” says David Weinberger, a senior researcher at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and a co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto.

“Eroding trust for personal gain is, in a word, evil. Oh, it’s not evil on the order of genocide or child abuse, but it turns our willingness to embrace others against us.”

“Under no circumstances,” says Pesce. “This is basically a fraudulent activity.”

The first key point is that it’s nonsense that “everyone” does it – people who steal from the cookie jar believe that others have the same ethics.

The second key point is that You Will Get Found Out, without question. Authenticity is no longer about how well you fake it. A transparent world is making what you do clearly visible to all.

The article finally looks at the practice of buying online “friends”.

Brisbane-based uSocial.net is one of only a few companies in the world that will admit to selling lists of followers on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which companies can then use to market to. (Founder Leon Hill also did not respond to our questions in time for deadline.)

…

Nett had to convince Pesce that people actually did this before he would respond.

“Money can’t buy you love,” he says.

“It can’t buy you friends, either. Simple as that. Connections predicated on cash are not the same as those drawn from the bonds of affinity. What you’ve got there is not a social network. It’s something else. That something else might still be useful – time will tell. But you’re not being sold a social network.”

Many more insights on how to engage (and how NOT to engage) in social media to build your business at SME Tech Summit!

Mark’s topic is below. Be sure to get along to see it!

Using the Network for Business Success

The past five years have seen an explosion in the ways we can connect with one another. Just five years ago email was a bit risqué – now people use Facebook and Twitter and Google Wave and don’t even give it a second thought. All of this ‘hyperconnectivity’ means we can be reached anywhere, everywhere, all the time. This has enormous implications for SMEs. More than just supercharging your rolodex, these network connections can become the channels to increased sales and productivity.

The network represents a new force, pressing down from the outside, as your hyperconnected customers (both satisfied and not-so-satisfied) use new channels to spread the word about your products. You need to be there, wherever those conversations are happening, whenever they happen. You really do need to have eyes and ears everywhere across the net. How can a small business afford to do this? New tools make it easier, but to make best use of these tools, you have to empower your employees to use them. Social media in the office is powerful – and a little bit dangerous. But with some simple ground rules, it can change your business.

This powerful trend is driven largely by technology and connectivity, creating a world in which smaller, more nimble, better connected companies can outsmart their monolithic larger brethren, competing globally and tapping opportunities as they arise.

At the same time, using technology well in business is proving to be one of the most prominent drivers of success. Almost every aspect of business is becoming driven by technology. This is obviously the case with services businesses ranging from graphic design to even house moving. However this is relevant to every kind of organisation.

Gardening and worm farm retailers Wiggly Wigglers in UK, Caminito Argentinean Restaurant in the US, Brasserie Bread in Australia (Speaking at SME Technology Summit!), Martell Home Builders in Canada and many thousands of others around the world are examples of companies selling highly tangible, everyday products that have built outstanding success through the use of online social media.

There are six key ways in which technology is changing the very nature of how smaller companies operate today.

1. Findability
Customers look for and find businesses in very different ways than just a few years ago. Search engines, recommendations from friends on social networks, and online services exchanges are now how most companies are found. Marketing has completely changed.

2. Customer communication
With over six million Australians on Facebook and usage of other social media soaring, communicating with customers is shifting from to email marketing and beyond. The companies in the vanguard are building the most powerful customer relationships.

3. Productivity
Email and mobile phones have made us far more productive but also are in danger of overwhelming us. New online tools, such as Australia’s global success story RemembertheMilk.com, are helping to make business owners and staff far more efficient.

4. Collaboration
With staff working flexible hours, often from home or in their cars, the ability to keep on the same page is critical. Technology allows easy coordination of far-flung teams working closely together.

5. Outsourcing
Anyone can tap talented workers from next door or anywhere on the planet. Outsourcing used to be the domain of banks and telcos, now any company can outsource personal assistants, graphic design, research, or a million other tasks around the world.

6. Online revenue
With Australians expected to spend over $20 billion online this year, virtually every company is shifting their attention to how they can sell products and services on the Internet. It is a level playing field, where small can readily trump mega-business.

All of these issues will be covered in depth at the SME Technology Summit (http://smetechsummit.com), held in Sydney on 1 December, which will provide the tools for small and mid-sized businesses to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Come along to learn how to use technology to grow your business fast, build profits and leapfrog your competition!

I was interviewed this morning on Sky Business Tech Report. Some of the things we discussed in the interview are:

* How social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many others change how companies engage with customers, become more efficient, and being competitive.

* Among the many Australian organizations applying social media, for example Westpac has been implementing blogging and other tools internally to improve effectiveness, and discount airlines and telcos are using Twitter to engage with customers.

* Online outsourcing platforms such as elance.com, Odesk, and freelance.com are giving the power of outsourcing to small business, enabling them to compete effectively with large companies.

* To begin to use online outsourcing, think about what tasks you want done, get bids, find new suppliers, and see what works best for you.

* It is important to recognize that the world is rapidly changing and that learning new tools and approaches is fundamental to business success moving forward.

* Managers and business owners have many resources to learn how to do these things. SME Technology Summit, other events, this blog and many other online resources are available.

* To get the most talented people to work for you, reward suppliers in ways more than financial, by making it stimulating, engaging, and fun to work and offering to share rewards.