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Serve real Social Media this Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is coming and, as I spend more and more time in front of my computer or with my cell phone — hopping between Twitter, Facebook and what feels like millions of blogs and RSS feeds — I'm careful to be thankful and not to lose track of what's really important (too easy to do in the race to keep up with the "media" world).

A quickie compare-and-contrast....

The real purpose of social media:

Connecting: I've made many friends, virtual and otherwise in the past year, either on Social Media sites, or around the topic of Social Media — at meetings, events, Tweetups. I'm humbled and grateful.

Providing value: It's a constant mantra — to be sure that what messages I'm sending, tweeting or posting have something to offer to someone. Intelligence on the media industry, news items, items I find quirky and worth sharing, a link to a great song or recipe (what's life, especially online, if you don't have a sense of humor?).

Creating community: Groups, tribes, clusters, pods of like-minded people who can share. Find them, join them, create them, link to them.

And then translate the above values into what my husband calls "wetware" -- real live human interaction....

Connecting: Pick up the phone instead of sending an email, go OUT to lunch instead of eating it at your desk, wander down the hall and talk to a compadre if you are destined to be in the office. Flesh -- press it.

Providing value: Donate time to a local charity, or give a few cans to the Boy Scouts food drive this year, read to your local kindergarten class -- and even if just once, explain once again to your dad what it is that you do for a living. Talk to people, talk talk talk.

Creating community: Invite two new people to dinner or for a glass of wine at your house who didn't know each other before (takeout food is OK; Martha Stewart is not taking notes). Extra points if they bring their kids (then pizza is really OK!). Happy Thanksgiving, both online and off. May the latter continue to prevail.

Want more detail or help on how to build a plan, using some or all of the above? We would love to help. — Elyse Tager

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Social Media is used to create community, engage with your customer, communicate brand messages, and carry on a dialog with like-minded folk. But if handled carefully — with respect for the cultures that each of the social media sites maintains — Social Media can also be a great vehicle for generating leads for your offer, demo, or product purchase. Sound counter-intuitive? Not at all! We will discuss:

About the Speaker: Elyse Tager, President - Elymedia, LLC
Elyse rarely toots her own horn at SVAMA breakfasts, but this time she's not just the host. Founder and principal of Elymedia (a media-strategy and -buying agency providing services in traditional, online, and Social Media marketing), Elyse has worked with many of the world's most recognizable brands, from Microsoft to PowerBar. She is the manager of SVAMA Morning Forums for Social Media Marketing; a frequent speaker on all things Web 2.0; a past columnist for ClickZ; a contributor to NetworkWorld's marketing e-newsletter; and a blogger at ElymediaFrenzy (www.elymedia.com/blog), a Twitter fanatic, and a Social Media evangelist.

When: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 8:30am - 10am
Where: Scott's Seafood Restaurant and Grill, 855 El Camino Real (Town and Country Shopping Center, at Embarcadero and El Camino Real), Palo Alto, CA 94301; (650) 323-1555
Cost: Currently $5 to SVAMA members, $15 for non-members
Note: Venue requires breakfast be purchased
RSVP: please email info@elymedia.com or call 510-912-2884

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Follow us on Twitter....
http://twitter.com/ElyseTager
(Twitter handle is @ElyseTager)

Check us out on Facebook....
http://www.facebook.com/people/Elyse-Tager/688964343

Join our network at LinkedIn....
http://www.linkedin.com/in/elysetager

We are also covering various aspects of Web 2.0 in our monthly column with NetworkWorld called "ITiki Marketing Newsletter":
http://www.networkworld.com/itiki/archive/itikiArchive.html

Check out our past articles at ClickZ.com!
http://www.clickz.com/3628330
New technologies, behavioral targeting, issues regarding cookies and privacy, and more.

Come join our blog ElymediaFrenzy: http://www.elymedia.com/blog. We are up to our eyeballs in Web 2.0, new technologies, and online concepts, and the blog presents snippets and full coverage. Come take a look, register, and leave a comment or even a critique!