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

Richard Sedley is the Director of Customer Engagement unit at cScape, an experienced digital agency that delivers highly successful solutions for the clients like Microsoft, Sony, Barclays and Peugeot. Richard is also the Course Director for Social Media at the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He is the co-author of “Winners and Losers in a troubled economy” and blogs at Loopstatic.You can follow Richard 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

Saul Colt is the founder of Saul! – The Idea Integration Company specializing in online and offline experiences, branding/communications and social media. Currently working with Ebay.com, Ziplocal.com, FreshBooks.com, Upstack.com and ChickAdvisor.com. Saul was named to the 2009 iMedia list of iMedia 25: Internet Marketing Leaders and Innovators. He is also a professional speaker  who has spoken at over 200 conferences, covering the topics of Entrepreneurship, Customer Service, Startups, Community Building and Word Of Mouth Marketing. You can follow Saul on Facebook,Twitter or Linkedin. Read the full story

Paul Dunay is Global Managing Director of Services and Social Marketing for Avaya, a global leader in enterprise communications, and author of 3 Dummies books: Facebook Marketing for Dummies, Social Media and the Contact Center for Dummies and Facebook Advertising for Dummies. Paul’s blog Buzz Marketing for Technology  has been recognized as a Top 20 Marketing Blog for 2009 and 2008, a Top Blog to Watch for 2009 and 2008, and an Advertising Age Power 150 blog in the “Daily Ranking of Marketing Blogs”. You can follow Paul on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin. Read the full story

Mary McKnight is the Consumer Marketing Director at Where.com, one of the leading location based applications which helps three million users to discover the world around them. She is also an editor of Sacrilicious Marketing, the blog which has a bit different approach to social media. You can follow Mary on Twiter or  Facebook Fan Page.

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

M: I don’t really consider myself “in the social media” business. I’ve worked as a marketer since the mid nineties and regard social media as a new tool to add to my marketing bag of tricks. Social media and social commerce are most interesting when they can be leveraged to reach and engage an audience more personally in a brand or product. Those are the primary reasons I use social media in my marketing campaigns.

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

M: Consistency is key! But being consistent on social media is often at odds with being productive in my life and job. I don’t plan my life around Twitter or Facebook or Foursquare or any other social networks… I use smart technologies like Ping.fm and Friendfeed that take the information they aggregate from my entire social lifestream of Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, blogs, Foursquare, Last.fm etc and push it to my other social profiles so I can easily and automatically share what I am doing or find interesting at that specific moment. That helps me be consistent on each network while being efficient and effective at sharing. I would never plan my life around social media – social media just becomes a part of what I am doing at the moment and the technologies I use simply assist in sharing those moments.

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Jo Porritt is communications specialist whose career has spanned the evolution of marketing, from traditional – to digital – to social. She is the Managing Director of BrandGuardian , a social media agency based in UK which prides itself on education, engagement and forward thinking strategy that can be applied to any business sector; from start-ups to global brands. You can follow Jo on Twitter – @BrandGuardian.

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

J: How? I was previously an Account Director with a web development company, managing brands online presence. The shift a few years ago to Web 2.0 and the whole concept of “Read, Write, Share” meant is was impossible to ignore! Why? Because way before social media was coined as a buzz-word, I worked on the same principles that underpin social i.e. open, transparent, collaborative, high integrity, no smoke and mirrors. I yearned for the time when businesses could see how much value there was in “participation” and not just “broadcast”. Essentially, those ethics are in my blood – it was a very natural progression from my personal life to my working life. I guess with the advent of social and my experience to date, I finally feel like things are now aligned.

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

J: Being a Social Media Citizen is basically easy for me! As described above, it has been how I have worked with clients and brands for many years. But now that this has become “mainstream” I plan my day by making sure I start it with a quick review of the news across all of the SM sites. I also plan ahead for both clients and my own social media personal branding projects. I try to weave a thread of consistency by posting on certain topics, interspersed with the organic, real time nature social now gives us. In truth, every day is different. I am constantly learning. For me, everything we do as professionals within this industry is always in beta. Being flexible and learning when to stop are also very important strategies.

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Jonas Klit Nielsen is co-founder and Managing Partner of Mindjumpers, a leading social media agency based in Denmark. Jonas works with various companies developing strategies for implementing and creating value through the use of social media. As a blogger it’s his aim to share the strategic insights and thoughts, generated through his agency’s work. You can connect with Jonas on Twitter here.

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

J: I were fascinated by the human aspect and how it seemed like something that would in general change the world of communication and interaction between people, brands and companies.

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

J: Especially in the beginning I did not refer to myself as a social media citizen, I am a generation x and before I started working with social media, most people would define me as a person who did love changes to much – you know who moved my cheese 😉 But by hard work in the beginning I got to see the possibilities of an open mind when it comes to social media. I have probably spend about 8000 hours over the last 2-3 years reading, exploring, playing and talking about social media, I have put a lot of effort into becoming a person for whom it’s a natural thing to get news, clients, information and new friends through social media.

G: What are your favourite social media hang out sites?

J: My time on social media through an average day is probably spend with:

• 30% Facebook,
• 30% Blogs,
• 20% Twitter,
• 10% Linkedin and then 10% for all the other great stuff.

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Chris Hall is the head ‘Bell Ringer’ at Cow Bell, the digital marketing agency in UK which is predominantly focusing on social media, and how it integrates into an organisation’s overall marketing plan. Chris’s aim is to ‘rethink marketing in the digital age’ , to educate and inform whilst developing clear strategies that bring results. You can follow Chris on Twitter – (@Chris_Hall1)

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

C: I have always been in communications across the on and offline worlds and at the beginning of 2009 I started to feel and see the impact that Twitter was having around me. Although it’s impact was relatively small, as a marketer I just felt I had to get inside it and see for myself what it was all about. From that day in January I spent focussed on listening and understanding rather than too much direct engagement. I quickly saw the power and potential of social media as a communications tool and from that started to integrate it into my working day.

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

C: The reason so many are using the social networks are exactly that – to be ‘social’ and to ‘network’ – whether that’s personal or business. It feels like the right place to be for all those reasons, but it must be controlled and managed. I’m sure we’ve all suffered from those times where we realised we’ve been in too long and there’s our jobs to be done. I like to wake up and engage with my friends/followers and then as and when time allows across the day. I like to think of social media as my coffee break or water cooler sometimes. Being social and making connections are what I love to do. It was an easy transition (if at all).

G: What are your favourite social media hang out sites?

C: Twitter (Tweetdeck) is my favourite because of its immediacy. I can hold conversation and listen to what’s going on right now. It also in some ways can manage time too. I can decide after DM’s or replies whether to take the conversation to another place like telephone or Skype.

G: How are you keeping up-to-date with social media environment ?

C: For me it’s about a trusted network (something everyone should have) of Twitter followers and then also my invaluable RSS links. My top sites include:

• www.redcubemarketing.com
• www.chrisbrogan.com
• www.treypennington.com
• www.brasstackthinking.com
• www.conversationagent.com

My days include time in Tweetdeck, Social Mention, Google Reader and visits to LinkedIn and Facebook.

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