Privileged to be chairing a day at Social Media World Forum for 23rd September in Singapore.

Will write more about it- though for starters- here is my Introduction note for the day:

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Welcome to the second day of immersing within the Social Media environment.

The Media and Marketing industry is undergoing a paradigm shift, and a quick and clear understanding of the opportunities available today and those shaping tomorrow is extremely important and challenging at the same time. In the course of this two day immersion schedule, you will surely get a flavor of what are some of these opportunities and how to make maximum use of them.

I am excited at chairing the second day of this conference. Social Media has moved beyond the initial introductory stage and has fast climbed the ladder of new media adoption hierarchy. The wide scale interest is converting into adoption and business impacting processes are being developed and deployed regularly.

This discipline has fast become a part of mainstream marketing and the ‘social’ thinking within marketing now spans beyond customer service and ‘buzz’ to more marketing functions like CRM and even demand generation. The social media discipline is also disrupting business models- especially on the agency side. It is redefining the traditional agency outlook and is forcing everyone to ‘think digital’.  Or rather ‘think social’.

The Media industry is obviously feeling a ‘shake-up’ at this point of time, and many media companies are transforming themselves to better incorporate the social element. The ‘social media’ aspect has had impact on technologies too and newer ‘social’ led technologies are to be seen in the near future with integration with television, mobile and across multimedia content platforms.

Asian markets are at a forefront of this revolution. Asian users are creating content and participating in group and personal communication in their own unique ways and across mediums. This landscape is unique – and some models are now shaping global adoption and business models.

From my perspective, the interplay of various elements within the marketing mix is what excites me and understanding the impact of each new medium on overall marketing objectives is my pet topic.

We will discuss all of this in today’s conference. I look forward to hearing thoughts and opinions from industry thought leaders and young executives. Their opinions and understanding shapes the future of this medium and so do your opinions and understanding.

Wish you all the best in sharing and indulging in meaningful conversations throughout the day.

Shalabh Pandey

@shalabhpandey