J-P De Clerck  is Managing partner at Conversionation Consulting, a cross-channel interactive marketing consultancy without geographical borders. J-P is basically everywhere interactive media is discussed and you can find his posts and thoughts on over a dozen of blogs, online and offline media and publications about interactive marketing, mainly in Europe and the US. The list is really too long to publish. He is also a founder of Social Marketing Forum and Social Email Marketing blog. You can follow J-P on Twitter or Facebook. Read the full story

Joe Pulizzi is the Founder of Z Squared Media, a content marketing firm specializing in best practices, strategy, and execution planning. Joe’s blog, the Junta42 blog: Content Marketing Revolution, is recognized as one of the leading blogs on business content creation, marketing and distribution. Joe currently serves as a board member of the Custom Publishing Council and was voted as the “Custom Media Innovator of the Year” by American Business Media. Joe is also co-author of the book “Get Content. Get Customers”. You can follow Joe on Twitter or Linkedin. Read the full story

David Siteman Garland is the Founder of The Rise To The Top, the web show for entrepreneurs, forward-thinkers, business owners and marketers, as well as The Rise To The Top TV show on ABC. David contributes as a writer and business/entrepreneurial commentator to CNN, CBS Bnet, Small Biz Trends and Personal Branding Blog.  David is also the author of upcoming book – Smarter, Faster, Cheaper: Non-Boring, Fluff-free Strategies for Marketing and Promoting Your Business. You can follow David on Twitter or Facebook. Read the full story

Laurent Blondeau is the Founder and CEO of Buzzed-In, the business development and strategy consultancy in Paris. With 13 years experience in media business, previously managing the Business Development unit at Canal+,  he has become an expert in all kind of media activities in all kind of TV’s: Pay, Free, VOD and Web TV. Laurent blogs on Evidencesx’s World and BuzzedInlog, he also often takes positions on several top blogs like Social Media Today.You can follow Laurent on Twitter or LinkedIn.

G: How and why did you get into social media business?

L: I was definitely very curious and just wanted to “try” it. Some things happened to be interesting and weird: change was going on, I was a part of it, but I was not sure if I was there to “stay”. Then the magic happened: through fields and topics, I discovered “things” and “people” (we call them “friends”!), and I started to stare and listen: the whole social guide was rolling in front of me…I was always web oriented, but social web was expanding frontiers and capabilities. Finally, I was in, without any forecasted plan, and still continue to like social media, as it starts to improve people, relations and knowledge. Just think how Wikipedia changed the world…How could we live without it now?

G: What is it like to be a real Social Media Citizen?

L: I start the day by checking all the messages on my LinkedIn Groups publications, then browse through Twitter, Facebook requests and news; stare at interesting pictures on Flickr and ongoing mails and at the evening to I’m quite used to have a quite time to read, comment and share all my favourites on digital sites: All Things Digital, Wired, Mashable.
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I bet that you have already seen a few versions of these social media maps. Well I find them quite fun and I think it’s going to be interesting to watch how they are going to change with the time, so I decided to start collecting them and share it with you guys on this site. You can find the commercial copy of this particular map at xkcd.com.

Nick Baggott is the Founder of Navigate Consulting, world class CRM, data & digital marketing consultancy. Previously, Nick was the Group Client Service Director at Chemistry, where he led the team that won the Microsoft, Diageo and Transport for London pitches and worked with clients of the calibre of Kodak, Toshiba, Unilever, Nestle, Yell and Manchester United. Nick is also the Course Director at CIM and a Fellow of IDM. You can follow Nick on Linkedin or his blog.

G: How and why did you get into social media business?

N: I have always been fascinated by how brands can engage more effectively with their customers. I started my own CRM focused agency with 3 colleagues back in 1993 and the agency evolved as the marketing environment changed. By the time I left Chemistry and set up my own training and consulting business (Navigate Consulting) in 2007, social media was being used but not really understood by marketers. It was natural therefore, for me to focus my new venture on enabling brands to build engaging relationships with their customers using digital channels. I was appointed by Microsoft to run training programmes for their marketing teams in EMEA and LatAm, covering CRM and digital, and that was the springboard I needed. It was also natural for me to use social media to promote my business and built my reputation though thought leadership on my blog and Twitter.

G: What is it like to be a real Social Media Citizen?

N: You need to be alert and inquisitive. I am always switched on to the social media channels that I use (blog, Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Linked In). I reply quickly, try to stimulate thoughts and debates and share best practice from the many experts I meet in my day to day work. I work with so many great global brands and they all have experiences and challenges that I can learn from and share.

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Adam Broitman is a recognized wizard in all aspects of the ever-changing digital media + marketing landscape and Co-founder of Circ.us, award wining communication agency in New York.  A thought leader in the industry, Adam is known for devising cutting edge, attention-grabbing marketing strategies for Kraft, The New York Times and Panasonic to LVMH.You can follow Adam on Twitter or Linkedin.

G: How and why did you get into social media business?

A: I have always been in media and marketing—social media is a natural progression. You cannot be in the media+marketing and not be in the social media business—that is not possible.

G: What is it like to be a real Social Media Citizen?

A: As far as consistency goes, I am not doing so well with that these days. Prior to starting Circ.us I had a daily regiment—my blog was A Media Circ.us and my day always started with scouring wires and talking to friends about new advances in social technology. Today, I am doing my best to run a business and keep my social head above water. Seesmic Desktop helps a lot with that.

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Barry Furby is the Co-Founder of techMAP, the online and offline community for Marketing, Advertising and PR professionals which derived from one of the biggest social media meet-up’s in UK. He is also  the Founder of Fresh Resources, the digital recruitment agency which  provides a specialist service that is truly passionate about social media and digital marketing. You can follow Barry on Twitter and Linkedin.

G: How and why did you get into social media business?

B: My background is in recruitment so I’ve always been in the business of connecting people in the digital space. The recruitment business is typically a great training ground for entrepreneurial folk, where sales is the focus but customer service and relationship management is equally important. I’ve always loved technology and right now I love the way this industry is shaping up. My particular interest is to leverage online tools and community to create valuable offline connections. I’d love techMAP to connect great people and shape the way we do business – big statement, but I’m up for the challenge.

G: What is it like to be a real Social Media Citizen?

B: I treat each platform differently in terms of messages and conversation that take place but across all of them I treat mentions and direct messages like my inbox, responding as soon as possible – although it’s easy with all these things to get side tracked. I try to manage short bursts of work to get things done (30-45mins at a time). It’s important to find a balance of being social AND getting the day job(s) done! iTunes is my saviour, it allows me to sink into my own little work hard world one song at a time!

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Gemma Went is the Director of Red Cube Marketing, a communications agency integrating Marketing, PR and Social Media. With 10 years experience in Marketing and PR, Gemma is working collaboratively with businesses, large and small, to ensure their communications activities help them to achieve their business objectives, engage with their communities and build brand awareness. You can follow Gemma on Twitter or Linkedin.

G: How and why did you get into social media business?

G: I’ve been in the comms game for over 10 years. I started my career in-house, heading up the Marketing and PR at a number of businesses within the creative sector (an industry I simply love) and later as a consultant. My grand plans to set up Red Cube started in the summer of 2008, originally as traditional comms agency. That plan soon changed as I became immersed in social media. By the time I launched in January 2009, I had started to integrate social media into my offering. Being a bit of a social animal at heart, it seemed a natural extension to me, plus the opportunities it offered my clients excited me, particularly SME’s who get the chance to level the playing field. The transparency and ‘realness’ of social media appealed to me greatly, it works perfectly with my own values and Red Cube’s ‘no fluff, no jargon, just common sense’ focus

G: What is it like to be a real Social Media Citizen?

G: Well, being social is as easy as being ‘me’. However keeping up with social media as part of a daily routine can be tricky to manoeuvre when client work takes over. I start the day by browsing Google Reader, digesting posts that keep me abreast of news and developments. When I find great content, I schedule it to be published on Twitter throughout the day through Hootsuite. My primary goal for social media is to help people, so this content tends to be around Brand, Marketing, PR and of course, Social Media.

I tend to check in on Twitter throughout the day, responding to people, answering questions and retweeting anything I find interesting. I also pop in to LinkedIn and Facebook once or twice a day and engage there. As I run a blog, The Cube, I regularly work on my editorial calendar (which usually runs two months in advance) and know what posts I’ll be writing and publishing that week. I tend to publish 2 per week and book in 3 to 4 hours once a week to write and edit those and any other guest blogs I may be doing. Doing it this way is the only way to keep me consistent (otherwise I’ll just forget).

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