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Last Friday, a steaming hot sunny day in Brussels for the 2nd Social Media Forum. In a freezing cold conference room at Hotel Le Meridien, 11 Belgian and European speakers gave their social media story or their vision on Social media, beyond the hype –the theme song of this edition. The forum welcomed speakers such as Pieter de Wit (PR consultant at Leads United), Geerlinde Pevenage (Senior Digital Strategist at Noyz –Isobar), Sofie Verhalle (Conversation Starter at Talking Heads), Evan Van Lissum (Managing Partner at The Parking Lot), Kim Leunen (Account Manager at S2 Media), Clo Willaerts (Business Unit Manager Conversity at Sanoma Magazines Belgium), Filip Van den Eynde (Account Director at Agency.com) & Michel Choquet (Digital Media Coordinator at Delhaize), Michaël Liekens (Online Expert at Kunstmaan), Stefan Vandegehuchte (Enchante Product Manager at Adhese), Anthony Slabinck & Kurt Vergult (Lost Boys at LBi) and last but not least Simon Mc Dermott (co-founder of Attentio). All attendees were there to become a social media expert in one day –to learn about the basics of a successful strategy, some commonly made mistakes & some uncommonly made successes. Moderator of the Day was Clo Willaerts, internet fanatic and social media addict.

But why the theme Social media –beyond the hype? Lots of self-appointed social media experts have emerged to the surface the past two years. It seems as though knowing how to set up a Twitter account and create a Facebook page is a must nowadays. A new and irreversible era has arrived and it scares the **** out of companies. The power has shifted to the consumer and companies know it’s sink or swim. As such, most companies use social media, because they have to, but can’t manage it. Social media are an ever-evolving field and there is still a lot to learn.

Pieter de Wit kicked off the forum with a presentation titled Revolution or Evolution – Social media adoption in Belgium. He stated that social media in Belgium is mainly used for 3 things –reaching target groups, visibility and product announcement. But, it doesn’t go beyond day-to-day use. According to de Wit, we can speak of an evolution, but no revolution. People are still looking to find their way professionally. Based on these findings, he gave us 5 concrete advices –1. Provide access to all the tools. 2. Set up a social media policy. 3. Make sure your communication professionals know the tools and know how to use them. 4. Monitor what is being said. 5. Use it for dialogue, not for shouting.

Geerlinde Pevenage spoke about Beyond social media: social CRM. Social media isn’t just setting up a Twitter account or creating a Facebook page –it is so much more. She stated that the real value of social media lies in the ability to collaborate –monitor, get insights and talk about what people are saying and learn from it.

Sofie Verhalle went into Something something something social media. Or, how tackle social media the right way? She gave us some pointers and hammered away at the importance of not only a social media strategy, but also a policy –guidelines for people in a company, on how to behave & react, because they are the image of your company.

Evan Van Lissum told us about the Blogger Wanted* campaign, an entirely social campaign for the new Sony Bloggie. He gave us an idea about what you can do with a tiny budget, or nougaballen niks (nougaballs nothing).

The only thing standing between us and lunch was Kim Leunen. She talked about Social gaming, social shopping. New trends, statistics, tips & tricks. Belgium is more Facebook social than its neighboring countries –we log in more often, spend more hours on Facebook and have more friends. This gives companies lots of opportunities on Facebook. In this context, she talked about Social gaming –or how you can get people to pay for games on your website with social media, but no budget.

After lunch, coffee, biscuits and Clo Willaerts on How to track and map consumer buying intentions using social media. Social Media Heartbreak causes many companies to suffer from social media disbelief and disappointment. Moreover, the end of the industrial era is making everybody very nervous –this because of the power & money shift. Willaerts told us that whatever you do “Don’t panic!”. There are 4 main steps that can help you overcome your fear: observation, conversation, conversion & inspiration. In her opinion, it’s time to get to business and focus on conversion. She roughly presented the conversity model that companies can use to apply social media in a way that serves their business goals.

Next in line, Filip Van den Eynde and Michel Choquet telling us something more about the hyped and award-winning Delhaize / Pixar campaign. This campaign used both a micro site and a social media platform, to increase the attention span. As we speak, this approach is reused for the Delhaize / WWF campaign, but refined and completed with Twitter.

Anthony Slabinck and Kurt Vergult unraveled Social Media’s Best Kept Secret: Empower your brand advocates! Opportunities & Cases. They triggered the audience attention by showing off a Veuve-Clicquot bottle, asking “Who wants it?” Next, the audience could decide which one out of four could get the bottle. The message: There are brand advocates for every brand –they have a passion for a brand and they have 5 times more conversion power on other customers. The secret of social media, according to Slabinck, is knowing how to empower your brand’s advocates for your profit.

Stefan Vandegehuchte showed us how Successfully integrating the blogosphere in your campaign by means of the Sony Music case. Why use the blogosphere as a channel? "Who reads blogs, anyway? When did the blogosphere really take off? How can you blog when you barely have some time left? Vandegehuchte offered useful advice and insights into how to integrate blogging into your campaign, with success.

Michaël Liekens spoke about Doelgroepgericht inzetten van social media (Social media deployment by target group). Reaching your target group is a difficult task in marketing because of the lack of information. Today, people are searching, buying, rating, interacting, and using social media in a pressure-free environment. This is creating a large amount of raw, yet accurate data about consumer preference. If you can detect this, you can intervene –this is what Clo Willaerts referred to as catching a lead in mid-air.

Finally, Simon Mc Dermott shared with us the Business benefits of monitoring social media. He states that there is a shift in people’s behavior towards online interaction –people use and trust social media or the online Word of Mouth. Because of this, companies are changing their tactics, spending more on social media and WOM marketing. According to Mc Dermott, it is important that companies monitor, track & understand what is being said and who is influential.

& some memorable quotes and Flemglish expressions…

“Keep it for the moment to awareness. Try not to sell via social media.” –Geerlinde Pevenage

“Who is responsible for social media within your company? PR, Communication, Marketing, Customer service, Internal communication, HR, IT,… You decide. But please… not IT.” –Sofie Verhalle

“Blocking information backfires. People have memories. There is Google cache. Don’t.” –Sofie Verhalle (on The Streisand Effect)

“You don’t have a poot to stand on” –Sofie Verhalle

”With a budget of nougaballen niks (nougaballs nothing).” –Evan Van Lissum

“Twitter is cool. Never heard anything so niche make so much noise.” –Clo Willaerts

“This model is called conversity. I just invented the word.” –Clo Willaerts (on the book she’s writing)

“You’ll fall through the mand” –Clo Willaerts

“What’s the first most successful brand in Western history? Jesus. And he had 12 brand advocates.” –Kurt Vergult

“Köttbullar før everybødy!” –Michaël Liekens

Follow the speakers on Twitter!

Pieter de Wit - @pietr
Geerlinde Pevenage - @Geerlinde
Sofie Verhalle - @lamazone
Evan Van Lissum - @Hotel111
Kim Leunen - @Kimleunen
Anthony Slabbinck & Kurt Vergult - @LBi_Belgium
Filip Van den Eynde - @fvandeneynde
Michaël Liekens - @MichaelLiekens
Stefan Vandegehuchte - @adhese
Simon Mc Dermott - @simonmc

Social Media Forum 2010 was definitely a must-attend event for everyone remotely interested in social media… & beyond. I no doubt had a geeky & inspirational day!

-by nele waelbers