On Thursday this past week I joined Peter Auditore, Head Business Influencer Group - SAP, as he accepted an AMI Partner's 2010 US SMB Social Media Marketing Award on behalf of SAP for their collaboration with MyVenturePad. SAP and MyVenturePad were recognized for leadership in Demand Generation- in our case developing actionable leads from a social media site.
As some of you may be aware, SAP has been instrumental in the development and maturation of the MyVenturePad community for the past three years. And as Chief Technology Office of Social Media Today-- owner and operator of MyVenturePad--I'm delighted with how this award reflects on SAP, and on Social Media Today.
When we started this company, we embarked on something of an experiment as one does with any new company. And with each additional community we've continued to address how specific business topics are enhanced and driven by social media extension. For the past three years we've put MyVenturePad to work for SAP, providing a forum for leaders of growing enterprises to access the insights and expertise of their peers. We've addressed the evolving nature of this business, and have evolved the community accordingly. So receiving an award for outstanding leadership in the area of Demand Generation speaks to something.
But to what?
I think it speaks to the power of the best-in-class minds in SME's contributing their insights to a vital, editorially independent community. I also think it speaks to the foresight and wisdom of a sponsor (yes, SAP) to recognize the inherent potential of this model to engage their target audience. This effort has required the consistent and dedicated support of SAP Business Influencers such as Peter Auditore (@pauditore), Margot Heiligman (@mheiligman) and Don Bulmer (@dbulmer). They've lent their expertise and insights as does a good client- but they've also been regular, popular featured bloggers on the site. It would've been far easier for them to place an ad page in a magazine, but they recognize the media landscape is complex- and that their customers demand and expect transparent thought leadership from a technology solutions provider. So in that respect, they've rising to the occasion and this award as just recognition.
We have our work cut out for us as we continue to evolve the site to meet the needs of SME's. In the coming months you will find a renewed focus on the technology and capital needs of SME's, and the launch of a video archive featuring the assets from our 'On-Demand: Soaring with the Cloud' Virtual Summit amongst other initiatives. And we're pleased to be doing this all with the sponsorship of SAP.
For a further details on the awards and the winners, please visit http://www.ami-partners.com.