"Innovate or die"
The phrase, coined by Brian Solis, principal analyst at Altimeter Group, host of Pivot Conference, and author of What's the Future of Business, evokes a sense of social darwinism. It seems a little foreboding. How can I keep up in a constantly developing digital environment?
Here at Social Media Today, our goal is to answer just that.
We want to help you succeed, which is why we're hosting an exciting conference bringing together some of the best minds in social. Aptly called The Social Shake-Up, this conference will feature dozens of speakers as well as panels discussing a broad array of topics - from social media, to big data, to marketing, to mobile health and more.
The Social Shake-Up represents the fundamental shift businesses must go through in all aspects of their operations. It is an opportunity to introduce a new framework and new approaches to existing methods. If you're not shaking it up now, you might not have the opportunity to do so in the future.
Who better than Brian Solis, himself to talk about the need to innovate? An innovator in every sense of the word, Solis penned the recent book What's the Future of Business? (or as we like to refer to it, WTF). In it, he names some of his heroes in business - companies and people who see social's potential to create a better future. He'll be interviewed as part of the Social Shake-Up's Tuesday morning keynote.
Our goal is to highlight those innovative brands and thought-makers already taking risks and challenging boundaries to accomplish the future Solis describes.
MasterCard, for example, recently launched the MasterCard Conversation Suite, which allows for real time global monitoring and engagement across social media in 26 languages. Andrew Bowins, the man who headed the effort, is a Social Shake-Up panelist. Watch Bowins talk about the connectivity and the power of listening:
Dr. Alain Labrique will also speak at Social Shake-Up. He is the founding director of the Johns Hopkins University Global mHealth Initiative, a multidisciplinary consortium of mHealth research across the Johns Hopkins system
We will also be joined by Atlanta's own District 2 City Councilman Kwanza Hall who is a portrait in innovation within the political space. Kwanza is a trailblazer in his own right within social media, garnering national attention when, in 2009, he utilized his Twitter account to get emergency attention to a woman who had passed out on a street corner. He is passionate on ways that emerging technology can be utilized within urban environments.
In an ever-changing business world, innovation is key. At the Social Shake-Up, you'll learn what you need to do to not only survive, but to create a better and more prosperous future.
Make sure you're following along using #socialshakeup as we tweet out examples of innovative people and companies. And if you haven't already, register for the Social Shake-Up in Atlanta here.
Will you and your company maintain the status quo? Or will you experiment, innovate and shake it up?
We can't wait to see you in September.