Last Thursday was a busy evening in the industry,but those of us who attended Justin Levy's book launch party, hosted by MITX, enjoyed an intimate evening of casual conversation, book-signing, and a few cocktails. While there may not have been an official toast, Justin took a few minutes to speak about his new bestseller, Facebook Marketing. Check out what he had to say about Facebook Marketing in this brief interview with a rep from his publisher, Eric Garulay:

• Determining what you have permission (from your audience) to provide, in terms of content, is critical; establishing where you can innately provide value will facilitate authority in your content.
• Creating identity versus filler makes more of a difference than trying to be all things to everybody.
• Pumping out tons of content to your target audience isn't any better than pumping out messages to the public in general - figure out what is useful and where.

• Determining how to design your content delivery has 2 paths: Decision Support vs. Discovery Support; it's important to understand and consider what behaviors you target audience may practice.
• Remember that related content should be consistent from any entry point - not everyone will be entering through the front door (every page is essentially a landing page).
• Create value in your content by helping people find whatever will help them - even if it's not your own content.

• Take a step back - people love data...until they don't love data anymore. Whatever reporting you do, make sure it will stay relevant and usable.
• Every piece of content has its own unique DNA; Determine what role each bit plays in your strategy and how people will use it.

Social media generates awareness - it builds brand awareness and loyalty, creates brand advocates and helps build networks.  Social media helps companies and organizations measure and track the effectiveness of marketing plans and event messages. And most importantly, gives you another channel to connect with prospects. Though widely adopted in many industries, social media has not fully caught on in B2B technology companies and healthcare; at last week's Designing Social Experience for Healthcare and B2B Technology Companies, Nick Allen and Amy Cueva shared their thoughts and experiences on how implementing social media strategies has impacted these two tricky industries. Why is that?

Facebook has been on a remarkable journey - from a dorm room at Harvard to the computer screens of over 500 million users - and now they are making the web more personalized and viral than ever with their new Open Graph.  On Thursday, June 10th, MITX hosted John Maver and Jamie Tedford's discussion of the unique possibilities this new platform at Facebook Open Graph - Living in a Personalized and Social Web World.

• HabitatUK, a furniture and décor retailer, got consistent negative feedback after using misleading hashtags on their Twitter account (such as #iPhone on tweets for their new line of spring furniture) - Don't mislead! Whatever you say, be true to who your company is.
• Starman, played by Jeff Bridges in the 80's sci-fi, attempted to drive a car by doing exactly as his human companion did, and failed miserably - Don't try to copycat. Social media campaigns will be on all different levels for different kinds of businesses.

• Editorial calendar: To note all the various touch points with your audience, and schedule accordingly
• Social media operations matrix: To track the kinds of interactions you have on each social network - he cited the CMO's Guide to the Social Landscape as a good start
• Content prioritizing scorecard: As Dean stated, "One content idea can lead to many content artifacts...to generate more buzz"; keeping a scorecard of all the great content concepts can multiply your content by showing opportunities for cross-channel communications

• Create a slideshow. Use any content you want with important tidbits for your audience. Guy Kawasaki's rule is great here: 10-20-30 (10 slides, 20 minutes of talk time, 30 type size).
• Make a YouTube video of you presenting your thoughts. There are plenty of chances to edit, so no pressure.
• Share the video throughout networks. Embed the file in your blog, tweet about your blog post, link your Facebook, etc.

We took a few minutes to speak with some of our gracious winners. You can see what they had to say in the brief clips below.

Daily Grommet (winner of the Innovative Business Strategy award) on why being involved with MITX, and the Tech Awards, is important to them

Episend on how it feels to be a winner of a PricewaterhouseCoopers Promise Award

VisibleGains (winner of the Best of Usability award) on why New England is a great place for innovation to grow