New Podcast Launched to Bring Clarity to Social Media Strategy and Tactics

Experienced CMOs and Entrepreneurs to Dispel Myths on "Socializing Media,"
Starting April 23
SEATTLE--(Business Wire)--
A new podcast, hosted by experienced marketers, authors, industry pundits and
entrepreneurs, debuts Thursday April 23, to bring insight to marketers eager to
make sense of the noisy, often confusing discussions surrounding social media.
Socializing Media, which airs on BlogTalkRadio.com at 12:00 p.m. Eastern (9:00
a.m. Pacific), and is available for download the second and fourth Thursday of
every month, will feature lively debate on industry hot topics, upcoming trends
and timely examples of both best and worst practices to provide a holistic view
of social media.

"Socializing Media was born out of a desire to give marketers a venue to
collaborate and share ideas," said Steve Hershberger, principal and co-founder
of ComBlu. "The goal of the podcast is to take high-level conversations out of
the echo chamber and expose them to analysis and critique in a real and
unscripted way."

The podcast, free of self-promotion and insider jargon, will dispel myths and
highlight successful social media case studies. It promises to serve as a
reliable resource of information for both social media experts and novices.

"Companies of all sizes are rapidly making social media a business priority and
relying on it as an effective means to connect with a target audience," said
Blake Cahill, senior vice president of marketing, Visible Technologies. "As
companies continue to adopt social media practices, executives need to be well
versed in the new media landscape and drive compelling programs in relevant ways
to their customers."

The podcast`s panel is composed of four marketing experts from wide-ranging
backgrounds and opinions. The panel includes:

* Jonathan Salem Baskin is a brand marketing expert, author and blogger
(DimBulb) who writes a column on leadership for Advertising Age and a column on
brands and technology for InformationWeek. His book, "Branding Only Works on
Cattle," is based on his nearly 30 years working in the marketing trenches.
* Cahill, whose company, Visible Technologies, provides online brand management
solutions, is a longtime technology, communications and consumer industries
veteran. He is passionate about analyzing and exploiting the intersection of
customer experience, brands and technology.
* Hershberger, who spent his career specializing in advocate and influencer
marketing programs, has been instrumental in a number of important best-practice
initiatives for online communities and word of mouth marketing. He co-founded
ComBlu, a leader in community and influencer marketing and charter member of the
Word of Mouth Marketing Association, in 2003.
* Sean O`Driscoll is president and "Ant Advocate" at Ant`s Eye View, a
customer-collaboration company. He spent 15 years at Microsoft Corp., where he
helped developed social media and community-based support models and led the
global Microsoft MVP program, designed to award and recognize individuals in
technical communities around the globe.

The debut episode will feature Emanuel Rosen, author of the national bestseller,
"The Anatomy of Buzz." Rosen recently updated his much-praised 2001 guide to
word of mouth marketing to reflect today`s social media landscape and released
"The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited" in February 2009. Future guests include George
Neill, former senior director of worldwide marketing communications for Apple
Inc., and Dawn Lacallade, digital media practitioner behind Dell Community
Forums and Ideastorm and currently the SolarWinds communities.

The Socializing Media panel also will open the floor up to listeners via Twitter
and will also welcome guests from across the marketing spectrum to join in for
what is guaranteed to be a lively and informative discussion. For updates on
topics and guests, or to join in the conversation, follow Socializing Media on
Twitter at Twitter.com/SocializedMedia, visit the BlogTalkRadio show page and
also search for the hashtag #SocializingMedia for conversations relating to
podcast topics.

Related Links

* BlogTalkRadio
* Socializing Media on Twitter
* Visible Technologies Blog
* ComBlu Lumenatti Blog
* DimBulb
* Ant`s Eye View Blog
* BlogTalk Radio`s Listener Tutorial

ComBlu
Steve Hershberger, 312-649-1687
sthersh@comblu.com
or
Visible Technologies
Blake Cahill, 206-838-1178
blake@visibletechnologies.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009