Community the Foundation of a Social Business! #CMAD

Do you know what #CMAD is? If not you should and don't say you haven't been warned as it will be trending and filling up your twitter feed all day on January 26th.

The 24 Hours of G+ Hangouts kicks off at Midnight ET on January 26th as CEO's, entrepreneurs, Industry Thought Leaders, Authors, Social Media Rock Stars and Community Managers around the world will be participating in 1 hour events throughout the day. These 1 hour events are made up of a host and panelists all who volunteered to be a part of this great day. They will be covering topics from social influence to community crises to engaging communities with a purpose to employee advocacy to the importance of humanizing your brand (full schedule here).

"I enjoyed this event so much in 2014, participating on twitter and watching the live hangouts that I added to my calendar that day: "Must Take Off CMAD 2015." - Brian Fanzo @iSocialFanz

How did this whole thing start? On the home page of the event CommunityManagerAppreciationDay.com they have the following message sharing Jeremeiah Owyang original vision:

Jeremiah Owyang initiated this international event in 2010. People are encouraged to send sincere Thank You notes to their online community managers. People using Twitter include the #CMAD and #CMGR hashtag in their tweets about this event. Many online community managers and vendors in the social media marketplace post blogs in appreciation of their community managers. Cities with large concentrations of Social Media focused businesses, such as Boston, Austin, and San Francisco hold in-person meetup events to celebrate and honor those who represent and support their online communities.

Not only has this one day event grown each year, including last year when it made

the jump to 24hours of live video hangouts, but a celebration of community actually occurs every friday at 2pm Et. The amazing team over at My Community Manager puts on #CMGRhangout a weekly twitter hangout discussing community focused topics that include different panelist each week hosted by Jonathan Brewer and Sherrie Rohde a community and brand founded by The Purveyor of Purpose and Community Visionary Tim McDonald. Brew, Sherrie, Dominick Garrett and others will be hosting & staying up for the entire #CMAD 24 hour event broadcasting from the Attention Area Studios in Chicago.

As if the organization of the #CMAD 24 hour celebration and the weekly #CMGRhangout events weren't enough, CMAD also includes the Community Manager Appreciation Day Awards that cover 8 unique categories. Only 8 people will be awarded the #CMAD prizes but the awards are really a celebration of community managers everywhere, including the more the than 75 nominated, as they believe and live daily with the focus that together we can each make a difference. (Full disclosure this was my first year being nominated as I was nominated in two categories "Fastest Fingers" & "CMGR Choice Award and I'm beyond honored and humbled)

How can you get involved?

The hashtag #CMAD is being used as the conversation glue for the 24 hours of questions and comments you might have for the panelists or the community in general. Also the great people at Zoomph sponsored a Social Hub where you visit and view all of the conversations around #CMAD across all the social channels.

As for me, as I said earlier I found so much value in this event in 2014 I scheduled the day off in 2015, although I'm now the partner at Broadsuite and not working the enterprise job I was before, I plan on being a part of the fun both on panels and using the hashtag throughout the day. I also took on the challenge of hosting one of the more difficult hours of the 24, the 2am ET hour.

Getting my friends and my community to participate on a panel at 2am might sound difficult, but I truly have the most amazing community, and I knew I'd have no issues and wow did they come thru!

Watch the Live broadcast that we recorded at 2am ET / 11pm PT

We will be covering the topic "Employee Advocacy: Community, The Foundation of a Social Business" a topic that I could talk about for hours. Social Business is a broad topic that covers everything from employee advocacy to social selling to digital innovation to social data. To cover this broad topic and to provide as much value as possible, I reached out to some of the biggest and brightest leaders in each of these spaces from around the world, that are not only great at talking about this subject but are doing these things each day! (Read more about each panelist below:)

More About the Panelists:

Brian Fanzo Chief Digital Strategist & Partner at Broadsuite

Technology Evangelist focused on turning digital signals into Social Intelligence. 8 years of experience as a power user of social business and social media tools. 2 years ago Brian moved from power user to advisor for enterprise size companies integrating software solutions. User on multiple social networks & a big twitter chat fan! Proud Dad of 3 girls. Connect with Brian on Twitter at @iSocialFanz or on Google+.

Nick Cicero Founder and CEO at Delmondo, Content Marketing Manager at Percolate

Nick works with ad agencies, brands and startups improving their digital strategy, content marketing, social media and branded entertainment marketing efforts. He put the first Instagram Video on TV for Oprah, and built content strategy around the PS4 launch in North America. He is a frequent speaker and writer, having given talks at at SXSW, iSummit, Syracuse University, Pace University, San Francisco Hacker News as well as writing for Social Fresh, the Next Web, Convince and Convert and others. Connect with Nick on Twitter at @nickcicero or on Google+.

Jacob Curtis Owner at Branding by Jacob

A digital native, Jacob has studied and participated in the evolution of social media as a preferred method of communication for both companies and individuals. A big fan of video production, Jacob produces video tutorials on social media on his personal website. Connect with Jacob on Twitter at @jacobkcurtis or on Google+.

Stephanie Dobyns Digital Marketing Manager at Dynamic Signal

Marketing #EmployeeAdvocacy at @Dynamic_Signal.@UCLAfootball season tix holder. @UCSanDiego alum. #StartupLover Connect with Stephanie on Twitter at @stephaniedobyns or on Google+.

Ally Greer Director, Community & Content at Scoop.it

Ally Greer is the Director of Content & Community at Scoop.it, a San Francisco-based content marketing platform that helps anyone from SMB to enterprise manage and execute impacting content marketing programs. There, she leads the development and implementation of content strategy with the goals of lead generation and brand building as well as a building a multi-tiered community management system. For musings on the Internet, sports, and eyeroll-worthy puns, follow @allygreer on Twitter. Connect with Ally on Twitter at @allygreer or on Google+.

Tim Hughes Social Selling Evangelist

Top 35 UK Blogger, Speaker, #Socialselling Pioneer and Innovator – Prefer Algebra to Sets. Connect with Tim on Twitter at @Timothy_Hughes or on Google+.

Rachel Miller Chief Listener at Pipeliner CRM

Rachel is the Chief Listener at Pipeliner CRM where she manages all digital communications including social selling initiatives and influencer, advocate, and partner programs. She is a frequent contributor to MillennialCEO.comand co-hosts Social Business Hour (#SBizHour) with Brian Fanzo.

Connect with Rachel on Twitter at @rachelloumiller or on Google+.

Discussion Questions

1. What role does community play in a company becoming a social business?
2. What are some unique challenges when managing an internal employee only community?
3. What roles do employee advocates and industry influencers play in managing a social business community?
4. Where should brands start when building or extending an employee community externally?
5. How can employee advocacy empower social selling, social media marketing and other business strategies?
6. How can #CMGR get leadership and executive buy-in to get them to lead by example?
7. What data can businesses measure to link community to paid, owned and earned media?

Originally posted on MillennialCEO.com