We would like to put together a list of ‘case studies’ of companies around the world (large and small) who have adopted a Social Media strategy and, here’s the kicker, successfully taken action on their plan.

It may not have been a completely smooth path for them to walk down, but they are making strides and their internal and external communities are all the better for it.

Who should we make sure is included in this list and why (short summary please)? And feel free to toot your own horn if you are proud of what you are doing.

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Here’s a bit of what’s going on in Social Media of late. Feel free to add your own links in the comments section, or send us you suggestions for the next issue of Social Media Now.

• Mike Sansone’s mantra is Reach with Intention, and he provides some great questions to ask yourself when considering the use of Social Media tools in your Marketing strategy. 
  
• Patrick Williams writes a nice article on How to write a Strategic Communications Plan. Having written a few of these in my lifetime, his 13-step  model feels pretty dead on.
• Mashable reports an interesting story this morning on a possible break in Gmail’s security if you use this service on a public hotspot. Thankfully, it is easily corrected by clicking on ‘Settings’, go to the ‘General’ tab and select ‘always use https‘ when accessing Gmail. Might run a wee bit slower for you then, but at least your data will be secure.
• Michelle Lamar just completed the White Trash Mom Handbook. Great use of her site to give me snippets of the content and dig into her blog to learn more. Thinking I know what to get my girlfriends for  Christmas now…
• Pandora is in trouble as the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is looking to almost triple the licensing fees for web radio sites. Note that under the new plan Internet radio stations would jump to 2.91 cents per hour per listener, satellite radio stations would pay 1.6 cents per hour per listener and traditional radio stations would pay…nothing. Everyone agrees royalties are due, it just seems to me there should be a more fair and balanced fee structure. More info, and how you can help here.
• via @ciaoenrico, Arizona Highways is having a photo contest to capture images of their great state. Smart way to engage visitors and locals alike and keep them coming back for more.

Bright Shiny Objects
Ok, these are not really so bright and shiny, but they are three services I find I cannot live without.

• Dopplr -For the folks who travel a bit. Easy to use interface with a great social element to help you connect with your community while on the road.  Dopplr is a free service.
• iContact - If you send mass email communications (i.e. newsletters and such) this is a great service to help you manage your contact database. Disclosure: We were users, and believers, long before they became a Social Media Club Small Business Member. You can try them out with a 10-day free trial.
• Survey Monkey. There are a lot of polling systems out there, but I find Survey Monkey is the one I go back to time and time again. They do offer a free version that would work for many.

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• Be The Voice: August 17, 2008 - David Spark talks with Chris Heuer, Social Media Club’s CoFounder and a Senior Partner with The Conversation Group and Peter Hirshberg, also of The Conversation Group and chairman of Technorati about engaging with your community. Heuer and Hirshberg offer some amazing insight with regard to developing your voice, caring about what your audience cares about, and NOT just being an agent to deliver a message for a brand or company.
• Marketing Voices: August 11, 2008 - Chris Heuer talks to Jennifer Jones about how Social Media Club got started, what should be most important to marketers today and explains what he means by ‘gisting’.

If you have a podcast that covers Social Media Marketing, Tools and/or Practices and think our members would find the topic of interest, please send a summary and the link to socialmediaclub [at] gmail [dot] com.

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[I posted this article on my blog yesterday, but thought it might help a few SMC members if it were reposted.]

Last week, I strategized and launched a pretty large social network in four days, with the help of a really amazing team. In some days, I have done jobs like this before, in that I’ve launched a hyper-local social network last year in a couple of hours, but in many ways, I entered uncharted waters this week with this particular implementation.

To learn 13 of the things that you’ll need to do as a social web strategist, in order to get a huge, robust social network up in a ridiculously short time period, just follow this link. Damn the torpedoes!

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Join well-regarded industry leaders such as David Meerman Scott, Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Chris Penn and Greg Verdino for the Inbound Marketing Summit on September 8th in Cambridge, MA to hear their insights on how to generate more leads and sales for your business.

There are less than 40 ticket lefts to this event, and thanks to our own Michelle Wolverton, you may now receive $100 off the price of the conference.  Just use code ‘8MCP1‘ when you register (thanks Chel!).

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