"2008 is the year that marketing managers everywhere embraced social marketing as a key component to online strategy. The most intrepid are building unique, branded online communities. The potential payoffs are huge — long term engagement with your core customers and brand equity. However there is no reward without risk, and community building can be a challenge. In this session, you'll explore examples from real world online community projects, including Sterling Commerce, Intel, IBM and others. You'll come away with a clear understanding of how to approach social marketing for your company, and great ideas for both starting new online communities or reinvigorating existing effort by:

· Selecting the right social mix for "go to market" strategies
· Building an editorial calendar and content plan
· Managing multiple stakeholders and maintaining the right voice
· Flame wars; how — and how not — to respond to negative commentary
· Qualitative and quantitative metrics and tracking"