DE PERE — The combination of snow and ice caused a major crisis this morning on the east side of town.

To Element’s surprise, its weekly Corona delivery was delayed several hours because of a traffic back up and a flat tire around the Claude Allouez Bridge that crosses the Fox River.

Traffic was especially congested for several blocks leading to the double-lane roundabout at Broadway and Main Avenue at the east side of the bridge.

Police urged Element not to become alarmed and allow extra time for their Corona delivery, especially since it was scheduled before noon.

“This occurred one other time,” Director of New Media Kiar Olson said this morning. “We have a limited amount of beer to drink, but if we ration accordingly, we should get through this.”

The morning snowfall slowed traffic and contributed to the congestion, but it was ultimately the delivery truck’s flat tire that caused the delay, he said.  Employees should plan for such events and consume other brands of beer in these situations.

“I wasn’t worried, I have a secret stash of Leinenkugel’s Berry Weiss that I keep for situations just like this,” said Web Developer Ross Atkinson.

No serious vehicle crashes or low employee productivity was reported this morning.

Social media combines the effectiveness of word of mouth marketing with the limitless power of the Internet. Fostering word of mouth with social media can help market to prospective customers, building strong customer relationships along the way. B2B social media also improves search engine ranking, assists in generating sales leads, helps identify company issues early on, and develops brand awareness.

Relevant search results typically include social media content from social media websites. Rankings are becoming more social, as users are generating fresh content daily. Including links to your website within social media content can also increase organic search engine rankings. That linking offers web traffic growth, which generates leads.

There are currently one billion people online, a figure that is predicted to double within one year. Over 98% of purchasing agents use the web to search for products and services their business needs. Reaching out to this vast audience and marketing promotions directly to social media followers can not only increase brand loyalty, but also drive sales.

The most important social media outlet in a B2B market is LinkedIn. It allows you to find communities of professionals who share a common experience, profession, or interest. It also allows you to strengthen and find new business connections, relationships, and partnerships. Over 30 million people are on LinkedIn, and by being a part of that group, the more likely someone will find you when they are looking for someone to do business with.

Other social media websites, such as Twitter, are useful to share industry trends, identify customer service opportunities, and build brand awareness. In conjunction with these websites, creating a blog to openly discuss industry trends, issues, and inside company information will position you as a thought leader and will be a single source to integrate all social media outlets.

Besides interacting with potential and current customers, you can also monitor the online conversations that are happening about you and your competitors. This will allow you to extinguish rumors, identify customer service opportunities, and receive valuable information about other companies in your industry.

Heading into our second year, we’re really on top of things with an event schedule and our first social media breakfast of the new year on Jan 19th!

The The New North Social Media Breakfast, a local networking group for New North business professionals, announces their schedule for 2010. The updated program includes locations at various influential local businesses throughout Northeast Wisconsin, sponsorships and a formal RSVP system.

We’re also going to be focusing on a specific industry each month to highlight the great things happening in social media on a per-industry basis, featuring new speakers and businesses from each respective industry sector.

New 2010 schedule and topics:
January 19 (Green Bay) – topic: Restaurant and hospitality
February 16 (Appleton) – topic: News Media
March 16 (Green Bay) – topic: Education
April 20 (Appleton) – topic: Manufacturing
May 18 (Green Bay) – topic: Tourism
June 15 (Appleton) - topic: Small Business Owners
July 20 (Green Bay) – topic: Finance, banking
August 17 (Appleton) – topic: Healthcare
September 21 (Green Bay) – topic: Sports
October 19 (Appleton) – topic: Political campaigns
November 16 (Green Bay) – topic: Retail
December 14 (Appleton) - topic: City government & Holiday party

All events are scheduled from 7:30 – 8:45 a.m.

Our first breakfast of the year will be held at Republic Chophouse in Green Bay on January 19th and features a focus on social media in the hospitality industry.

Join our January sponsor, Republic Chophouse, on Facebook

To RSVP for the event (required) get your free tickets here.

With 2010 quickly approaching, Ravit Lichtenberg, founder and chief strategist at Ustrategy.com, recently posted an article, 10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010, to forecast his predictions of where social media is headed.

Did you know Facebook reached 350 million users last month, 70% of which are outside the US, and it accounts for 25% of the Web’s traffic? Nearly one in five people on the web use Twitter, and 94% of enterprises plan to maintain or increase their investment in enterprise social media tools. The social media conversation is no longer considered a Web 2.0 fad. It is taking place in homes, small businesses and corporate boardrooms, and extending its reach into the nonprofit, education and health sectors. From feeling excitement, novelty, bewilderment, and overwhelmed, a growing number of people now speak of social media as simply another channel or tactic.

So what will social Web bring next? What will being connected mean? What will the next experience be for the two billion people who are connected to the Internet? Here are five of the ten ways Ravit Lichtenberg feels social media will evolve in 2010.

Mobile Will Take Center Stage
Worldwide, the iPhone alone accounts for about 33% of mobile web traffic and IDC predicts the number of mobile web users will hit one billion by 2010. As the technological barriers come down, people will increasingly use their phones on the go to access social networks, search, read content and find location-based information. Our phones will be used as a central hub and beacon, enabling a slew of new capabilities and experiences.

Expect an Intense Battle As People and Companies Look To Own Their Own Content
2009 marked the year of open Web, and divergence of content, making content available anywhere, anytime, by anyone and to everyone; it was the year content exploded across the web, platforms and devices. The issue Google solved so magically, content find-ability, will become all but moot in the coming years. Instead, content relevance and quality will become the key focus.

In 2010 we will start to see convergence as companies take measures to own their own content, its location and its cost. Last month, Rupert Murdoch announced he may opt News Corp out of Google, instructing it to de-index its publications from the search engine and giving exclusive rights to Bing for a fee. This means that content publishers will be able to determine where they make their content available and at what cost.

Enterprises Will Shape the Next Generation of What We’ve Called Social Media
It was easy to forget that enterprises and large institutions are the originators of some of social media’s pillars: listservs, forums, intranets and collaboration tools. As social media became a public domain, enterprises have been cautious participants, predominantly in the product space. With a reported average of 25% increase in funds allocation toward social media activities, in 2010 we will see a surge in adoption of social media across product, services and solutions companies.

Having the need and the funds, enterprises will determine the next generation of social experiences. They will push enhancements that meet their needs, specifically around monitoring, automation, alignment with the sales cycle and integration with existing systems, expanding social “media” to encompass the ecosystem of social computing across solutions, and making them actionable for the company.

Real, Cool and Very Bizarre Online-Offline Integration
Virtual worlds, games and avatars were just the beginning of the online-offline integration. In 2010 we’ll see a greater push on this front as distance and physical walls will matter even less. Augmented reality will allow users to find relevant information and people depending on their location; Twitter360 will help people find each other, connect and see updates by location all while on the go through their mobile device. People will be able to scan products on shelves but process the sale online; you’ll never need to ask for a business card again at events, and you may actually get promotions and discounts that match your interests.

Many “Old” Skills Will Be Needed Again
An economic downturn coupled with the surge of social media eliminated many traditional marketing and PR roles. But this year, we’ll see the return of professionals to the field. Enterprises will turn back to marketers who specialize in understanding customer psychology and who are experienced in addressing these both offline and online. Research and development divisions will turn to customer experience professionals to draw on user needs and ideation as part of their product improvement and innovation process, and sales and support will continue to deliver services online. Expect to see job postings for social media managers, social media psychologists and social media executive administrators to help manage the infinite tasks involved with communities and social media campaigns.

See all 10 ways social media will change in 2010.

In honor of Element’s new Kegerator stocked with New Glarus Brewing Co. Spotted Cow, here are six reasons why you should have a beer at work:

1.    It encourages carpooling
2.    It helps save on heating costs in the winter
3.    The janitor’s closet will finally have a use
4.    Suddenly, burping during a meeting isn’t so embarrassing
5.    It eliminates vacations because people would rather come to work
6.    Employees work later since there’s no longer a need to relax at the bar

Last night marked the 39th Annual Downtown Appleton Christmas Parade and Element’s own Kelly Lemmer had the privilege of getting up-close and personal with Santa Claus.

“Oh we go way back,” said Lemmer. “We haven’t seen each other in a long time, so it felt really good to be one of the six people riding his float. Our schedules are so conflicting, but when we get together, it’s amazing.”

The parade started near State Street and headed east on College Ave. The line-up featured many beautifully decorated floats and vehicles, but the most concerning part was seeing Mrs. Claus 70 units ahead of Santa. Luckily this subtle hint of a possible separation went unnoticed by the majority of children attending the event.

When approached about the separation, Lemmer became unusually defensive. “Are you implying that I am to blame for their separation? I don’t think so. They spend 364 days together each year. That’s a lot of time to spend with just one person, especially with no one else to talk to but eight pathetic reindeer. And lets just say the recent lawsuit is not exactly helping his relationship with the elves.”

After 45 minutes of rambling about wrapping paper, glass ornaments, and massage oil, Lemmer went on to say, “He’s entitled to a little fun, and I can’t help it if he wants to include me in on that. Has Santa ever given you a ride on his sleigh? If he had, you would know what I am talking about. But in no way am I responsible for their marital problems.”

Other sources say that Lemmer has recently purchased a condo near the Claus home in the North Pole and has already secured a job managing the toy train department.

The Northeast Youth Livestock Show will take place this year at the Brown County Fairgrounds Sept. 12–14.

While educating Wisconsin’s youth on how to responsibly raise a market-ready animal, the show instills important life and business values, along with providing the community with fresh cuts of meat at a great price.

The livestock weigh-in will take place Saturday, Sept. 12 from 8 to 11 a.m., with the livestock showmanship competition taking place Sunday, Sept. 13 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Auction bidding will take place Monday, Sept. 14 starting at 9:30 a.m., and will conclude with the sale of the show’s grand and reserve champions at noon. Hog, beef and lamb will all be auctioned.

“We’ve made the entire auction process as easy as we could,” said Rob Larsen of Northern Concrete, one of the show’s board members. “We even have a really easy resale process for those who would like to support the kids, but do not want to keep the animal.”

Professionals will also be available to do the bidding if anyone is interested, but are unable to attend.

Maplewood Meats, Otto’s Meats, Village Meats, and Dalebroux Meats will be available to assist with processing.

Banks, builders, professional organizations, farmers, insurance companies, design firms, and restaurants have all previously attended the Northeast Youth Livestock Show.

Companies have many options once an animal has been purchased,” said Larsen. “I’ve seen companies use the processed meat as a bonus or incentive reward for employees, or even use it to cater a company picnic.”

For more information on the Northeast Youth Livestock Show, or to reserve a professional bidder, call (920) 609-8554.

In an effort to promote a healthy lifestyle within its employees, Element has recently created the Bike Everyday with Element Routine (BEER), which is an after work bicycling program. The group meets weekdays from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and typically covers about six miles each day. Please contact Element if you would like to join this program, and we can arrange to pick you up along the way.

Taken from the What the Tweet blog, originally posted on 8/12/09.

Be a Social Media Rockstar Twitter session, featuring Element’s Kiar Olson.

A very relaxing session here with Kiar! It’s a full-house and I am currently sitting on the floor, but that’s just how relaxed it is.

We started out the session by helping people setup their Twitter accounts. I’m glad that I am not the only one who can never read the messed up word phrase when you sign up for a new account! Just about everyone is all set up now, so there will be a whole new group of Northeast Wisconsin Tweeps to start following. I’ll try to grab some of their @twitterhandles by the end of the session.

On a related topic, a question from the crowd… “How do we find our audience that we are looking for on Twitter?” @macdesign13 suggested using Twellow and Search.Twitter, but also reminded the everyone that one needs to ‘promote’ your own Twitter handle if you are reaching out to one large targeted audience, like the students of St. Norbert College.

We’ve moved on to a little bit of a random tangent including how to RT, what hashtags are, explaining #smrockgb, and a few of the related Twitter programs like Tweet Deck and HootSuite. Another good question from a young lady from the back row… “who makes the hashtag and how do they become the known hashtag?” The answer: Go to hashtags.org to find what hashtags are being used for a particular event or topic. Anyone can make a hashtag, just make sure there isn’t one already and just start tweeting it! Like #kiariscool.

Random side note: my legs have fallen asleep, and have started to do that pin needle tingle thing.

New topic: 140 characters, or ’short attention span theater.’ Explaining how to get your message out in a short phrase by including links and getting to the point of things. “It’s like a text message, but not really.” There are no Twitter specific short codes, but some Twitter language you should know. Check out this Mashable post.

ALRIGHT! It’s time for everyone to get tweeting! Here are some tweetbies and Twitter veterans who you can checkout and to start following:

@bobbiann1953, @advanceincubato, @StruesRxBay, @michelleschlies, @bigelowCO, @optivision, @oplan, @kvandenhouten, @wfrv5, @coinopgames, @colcantwell, @fratellosresturant, and @aloftgb