Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Brian S. McGowan, PhD, is a research scientist and author of the forthcoming fall 2012 release of #SOCIALQI: Simple Solutions for Improving Your Healthcare.

Healthcare in the U.S. is provided across a frighteningly broken and fragmented system of providers and institutions. As a result, the quality of American healthcare is consistently ranked among the worst in the developed world, and costs incurred per patient are 2-5 times higher than in comparable countries. Our problem isn’t that we’re incapable of providing high-quality care – in pockets throughout the country, we provide the most effective care in the world. Our problem is that for every five-star healthcare system we support, there are a dozen systems struggling to stay up-to-date.

Our healthcare system is broken because it’s fragmented. Information fails to flow freely, and best practices are treated as competitive, proprietary elements. In a healthcare culture that spends millions advertising “We’re #1,” it comes as no surprise that someone else has to be #2, #3, or even #50. This is entirely intentional. This situation is created by the restriction of information – and it can be salvaged, in turn, by improving information flow. This is where social media can pay big dividends.

The Value of Social Learning

If you ask physicians what they like best about the continuing education courses they take, they’ll tell you that they enjoy engaging with other doctors in the hallways; they love the interactivity of the sessions. If you followed those same physicians back to their workplaces and asked how they answer the questions that are raised over the course of a normal workday, they’d tell you that they consult with a colleague. What they won’t say, probably because they lack the perspective, is that the majority of learning that occurs over a medical career is social learning. My proposition is that social media applications, like Twitter, are the natural evolution of the social learning that takes place in hallways and lecture halls throughout the country. The added benefit is that social media can extend learning across time and space so questions can be posed, and answered, by broader audiences of healthcare professionals.

How Should Medical Practices Utilize Social Media?

Social media applications have three primary uses for physicians and healthcare systems. The first is the provision and coordination of patient care. Here the general, open applications like Facebook and Twitter should not be used, or should be used only in very narrow circumstances, because of issues pertaining to privacy and liability. There are new enterprise platforms being developed that add a social layer to the workflow of healthcare professionals to enable a collaborative care model. The second use is as a vehicle for engaging the public in a broad conversation about preventative health and disease management. Here the general, open applications like Facebook and Twitter are the perfect vehicle to disseminate new information about health and wellness. These channels also help the practice or institution promote itself across the community. The third use is as a vehicle for education and staff development. Here a combination of general, open applications and enterprise platforms ensure that information flows across the organization and that novel best practices and latest advances are integrated quickly and effectively into the organization as needed.

Of the three uses, it is the first that offers the greatest upside, but also the greatest challenge; the second may not have the greatest return for the effort. For this reason I advise organizations and healthcare professionals to embrace bucket #3 – to implement a model for effective learning and professional development through social media. This is a safe and relatively simple first step to extract the greatest value from the first and second buckets.

How Should Patients Use Social Media?

Patients’ perspectives on health are, understandably, very different from their doctors’. One of the first questions that patients ask themselves after being diagnosed is, “Am I alone?” Being a patient is frightening, and feeling isolated in your diagnosis makes the experience much, much worse.

Image via CrunchBase

Social media ensures that patients can find one another, they can offer support, and they can offer counsel. Facebook groups allow patients to support a cause. Hashtags and tweetchats on Twitter allow patients to share, to curate, and to engage in dialogue. Platforms like ACOR and CaringBridge allow for more in-depth conversations when Twitter character limits just won’t suffice. Importantly, patients may just want to lurk or they may want to remain anonymous in their plight or affliction, and many social media applications have been developed with that need in mind.

In closing, I offer a few words of caution: what you share online may never be truly protected. Data breaches happen, and information can live in “the cloud” forever. Regulations have been slow to protect health-related information that’s shared through social media channels. My advice is to be protective of your personal information, but to not be paralyzed – the benefits of supporting health and wellness through social media far outweigh the risks.

Brian S. McGowan, PhD, is a research scientist who has worked as a medical educator, mentor, accredited provider and commercial supporter. McGowan is author of the forthcoming fall 2012 release of #SOCIALQI: Simple Solutions for Improving Your Healthcare. Connect with Brian on Twitter: @BrianSMcGowan

Next Tuesday I’ll help Spredfast kick off a neat webinar series that is focused on helping you “Spruce up your Social This Spring.” The social media management solution provider has gathered myself, Michael Brito, Jeremiah Owyang, Kristen Sussman of Social Distillery, Amy Kalm from Intuit and Tom Carusona of Aramark, along with Spredfast’s awesome team of social strategists and marketers to help you learn more about three key topics over the course of the next five weeks.

Tuesday, I’ll co-host the opening webinar on Creating and Using Great Social Content with Sussman and Spredfast’s Ellen Westcott. We’ll talk about content strategies, how to repurpose content and go through the list of questions and ideas you can use to inspire yourself to produce content that produces natural engagement from and with your audience. Sign up for Tuesday’s opener and join us!

On June 5, Brito, the EVP of Social Business for Edelman Digital and author of the book Smart Business Social Business, Kalm and Spredfast’s Director of Social Media Jordan Slabaugh will tackle the topic of knowing and delighting your customer. This webinar will be focused on helping you consistently produce a compelling social experience for your audience, to keep them hooked and your brand top of mind. Register for that session and learn!

On June 26, Owyang, Carusona and Spredfast CMO Jim Rudden will dive into Organizing and Creating Social Program Processes. This will help you take the theory to activation and show you the steps to help guarantee success in implementing your social programs. Register for the June 26 webinar as well!

All the sessions are free and open to anyone. For registering, you’ll also get a copy of Spredfast’s 7 Whiteboard Sessions for Every Social Strategist whitepaper.

Go ahead, register and join us so we can all Spruce up our Social!

The early bird deadline for Social Media Examiner’s Social Media Success Summit is April 19, so you’re going to want to register this week! This is a virtual event where you get to learn from industry-leading thinkers from the comfort of your own office. There are no travel expenses, the lessons are archived so you can access them later and the like. It’s a really great value, regardless of the price, but the cheapest price goes away soon.

Why am I pimping it? (I conduct live events called Explore). Because I’m one of the speakers and I know many of the others and know that you’re going to learn a ton from them. These virtual events are solid. You’ll get a lot out of it and the value really is worth the time and money.

The 2012 Social Media Success Summit speakers will dive deeper into the social media tools, tactics, and strategies that can push your business to succeed and grow. You’ve got brand-side practitioners (Scott Monty from Ford, Frank Eliason from Citi), industry analysts (Jeremiah Owyang, Brian Solis) and consultant types (me, Chris Brogan, Jay Baer) and more. And yes, you get hour-long or half-hour long sessions with all those folks for the one price. Pretty kickin’ if you ask me.

Physical conferences can only accommodate so many great speakers because of location and timing. What makes this conference different is that it’s held entirely online over the course of 4 weeks to fit inside your (and the speakers’) schedules. Not only that, but when you register you also get recordings and transcripts of each session so that you can listen to them at your leisure and even share them with your team.

I don’t always encourage my fellow marketers to attend things like this because they can be a waste of time and money, but if you’re a business owner or marketing manager, this is the kind of high-level event that gives you a big bang for the buck. And speaking of bucks, for a limited time you can reserve your spot for only $297. That’s 27 sessions for less than $300, and 50% off the full ticket price. It’s a steal for this caliber of speakers!

The Summit starts on May 1st, so reserve your spot soon because this event will sell out! Hope to see you there!

Note: Links are of the affiliate kind. I like cheeseburgers.

Web 2.0 users seem to have an obsession with sharing news about the digital misfortunes of people and brands.

Nowhere do the mistakes, poor practices and questionable judgement of individuals, organizations and brands get exposed with such glee as they do in the sphere of the social web. It’s no wonder some CEOs or senior decision-makers entrusted with the stewardship of brands break out in a cold sweat at the simple mention of the words “social media.”

Mark Schaefer wrote a great post about Negativity Bias as it relates to the social web and how this phenomenon has created a playing field rife with PR land mines for anyone active in the space. Schaefer sparks dialogue at the end of his post by posing the following question:

“In a world where Negativeity Bias is gasoline on a viral fire, and one misstep can overwhelm years of positive work cultivating raving fans, why would anybody take a risk on the social web?”

The answer to that question depends on the culture of your organization.

Closed organizations that try to control the flow of communication and are punitive when it comes to mistakes will play it safe. They may still use social media but not in ways that color outside the lines. On the other hand, organizations that encourage more open communication and empower employees to make decisions will take risks. They will continue attempting to be innovative in the ways they communicate with their audiences using social media.

I prefer to look at the social web as an opportunity to elevate your organization above the competitive fray. Consequently, the question I like to ask is “How do you mitigate and/or understand the risks of social media innovation within your organization?”

Governance

Implementing the following social media governance initiatives will help mitigate the risks of digital missteps and reduce the level of collateral damage to your organization:

• Guidelines – Outlining acceptable uses of social media, how it fits into the organization’s communication mix and how it benefits the organization serves to educate employees about the conduct parameters and purpose of the social web.
• Education – Training is a great way to introduce employees and strategic partners such as agencies to social media best practices while simultaneously reinforcing guidelines.
• Support – It’s important to implement a support infrastructure to help embed and reinforce initial training. Identify a support person on the social media team that can act as a resource when it comes to employee questions/concerns to help cut potential issues off at the pass.

Emergency Preparedness

Social Media Rules of Engagement (Source: David Armano, Edelman.com; Click to Enlarge)

Assume you will have social media missteps and be prepared (ahead of time) to deal with them.

It’s not the mistakes made using social media that cause brands the biggest problems, it’s how poorly or slowly they deal with them. How your organization addresses criticism or mistakes speaks volumes about your brand and can impact the level of audience vitriol and the time it takes for an issue to subside.

Have a plan in place that outlines:

• the communication process
• social media team roles & responsibilities
• deliverables
• the issue resolution schedule

Risk Perception

Understand the real risk of a misstep when considering new social media ideas and campaigns.

No organization likes bad press and would prefer that customers and prospects are always happy with their products, services and policies. But the reality is that managing negative audience feedback, opinions and expectations is a part of business. Tough decisions are made by organizations everyday knowing full well that  minor percentages of their audience base will voice their disagreement. Why shouldn’t the same attitude apply to social media?

We are equally quick to forget about an issue and move on to the next thing as we are to retweet a mishap.

It seems that with the glut of information that passes over us everyday most people’s attention spans are so fractured that they simply don’t have the time or interest to ruminate on an issue. If your organization handles social media missteps authentically and honestly those issues are likely have a shorter shelf life.

Social media is like any other strategic business channel – your organization will need to push the envelope and take risks in order to progress, evolve and gain a competitive advantage. Do you think the risks are worth the rewards? How much real damage will brands sustain if social media missteps are managed properly? The comments are yours.

Have You Registered For Explore Nashville?

Don’t miss a day of intensive learning with some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the digital marketing and social media marketing space. H&R Block’s Scott Gulbransen, The Now Revolution co-author Amber Naslund, Edison Research’s Tom Webster, Return on Influence author Mark Schaefer, Edelman Digital’s Zena Weist and more headline one of the leading digital and social media marketing events of 2012, Friday, April 13 in Nashville, Tennessee! DON’T WAIT TO REGISTER! Seats are filling fast! Reserve yours today!

Explore Nashville is this Friday at the Embassy Suites Nashville Airport. We’ve still got a few seats left, so register now (and use the code ILOVESME to get $150 off the ticket price!). This promises to be one of the best digital marketing events this year thanks to an incredible lineup of speakers. We’re excited to bring some “push the thinking” talks to you to help elevate what you’re doing in your digital marketing.

The day really is well worth the ticket price. Amber Naslund, Mark Schaefer, Tom Webster, Scott Gulbransen, Nichole Kelly, Tim Hayden, Sam Ford, Zena Weist … and that’s just part of the lineup. We’ve got breakfast, lunch and a cocktail hour planned, as well as a brand case study panel and lots of great networking.

But instead of going on and on, I thought I’d spell out 10 things you’ll probably only see at Explore Nashville so you had a little extra incentive to come. Buckle up:

1. Ike Pigott singing.

Ike has handled social media for both the American Red Cross in Alabama and for Alabama Power. A non-profit and a utility company. So his talk is entitled, “How to make the unsexy, sexy.” And he’s dropped a few hints that some dramatic vocals may be involved.

2. A unique look inside making a buttoned up company cool.

My “Fireside Chat” will be with Scott Gulbransen of H&R Block, incredibly available just three days before the tax deadline, and will focus a lot on how he’s led an effort to put some personality in the tax company. Its support of the American Mustache Institute and the Million Stache March for April Fool’s Day was probably the first time a tax company ever made people laugh.

3. Yummy free bourbon

A lot of you know I got my start in the social media world working with a big bourbon maker. Well, my old client contact there is now leading the charges for Angel’s Envy Bourbon, a premium spirit finished in port barrels. So they’re going to be doing a tasting at our cocktail party.

4. Digital Marketing Mud Wrestling

Okay, not literally, but we’ve got some folks in the room who don’t necessarily agree on everything, including Sam Ford and Mark Schaefer who have some opposing view points on influence and Klout. I’ve threatened to cancel a talk or two just to let them arm wrestle over it all in front of everyone.

5. Tom Webster’s pithy nuances

Every time I’ve seen Tom Webster speak, he’s cracked me up while making me infinitely smarter. The dude is just funny in a very unexpected way.

6. A sorta trade show with vendors that matter

Our sponsors at Explore Nashville are awesome and, as usual, we’ve screened them to ensure they know their main purpose there is to help you, not just sell you something. And we’ve got quite a few competitors in the room, too, which means for a company shopping for some software to help your social media efforts — particularly those looking for social media management solutions — we’ve got the options you’d see at a trade show without the constant sales pitches.

Our sponsors include Expion, Raven Internet Marketing Tools, Netbase, 44Doors, Edison Research, Spredfast, Vitrue, Visible Technologies, Argyle Social, Que Publishing, uberVu, RedEApp, Angel’s Envy Bourbon and MarketingProfs.

7. Free Books

I’m not quite sure on the number, but Que Publishing, my publisher, is bringing a wad of copies of No Bullshit Social Media to give away to attendees! COOL!

8. Amazon Kindle Fire Giveaways

Since we’re talking books, attendees at Explore Nashville will get two chances to win an Amazon Kindle Fire! First, if someone registers and lists you as the person who referred them to the event, your name is entered. If you refer 10 people, you get 10 entries! The other Fire will be given away to a drawing from all attendees who snap each QR code on the sponsor signs around the exhibition space. Stop by and chat with the sponsors, snap all the QR codes and you’re entered to win that one, too.

9. Eric Bogg’s Argyle Pants.

He always wears them. If he doesn’t this time, we’ll hold him down and draw some on whatever pants he does wear.

10. I’m gonna call some brands out

My talk is entitled “Brand Vacuum.” And I’ll give you a hint: It’s about brands sucking. Don’t miss this.

Seriously, though. Register for Explore Nashville. We’ve got a great speaker lineup, awesome sponsors to meet and get to know, we’re bringing together some folks in Nashville you don’t know to network with and we’ll end it all with a couple of drinks and some fun time together.

What are you waiting for? Register now!

The hot new book on the market this spring is undoubtedly Mark Schaefer‘s first major label offering, Return on Influence: The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring and Influence Marketing. With the identification of influencers and the often ego-driven game of social clout high on the need-to-know list of marketers, the time is right for an in-depth look at the subject. And Schaefer nails it with this book.

Now, this just so happens to coincide with Explore Nashville on April 13 which will feature, among other all-star speakers, Mark Schaefer. So I caught up with Mark this week to talk about the book, social influence’s long-term prospects, why Klout is the big focus right now and then what Mark will talk about in Nashville.

Wanna learn more from Mark? You can buy his book (affiliate link). Or you can take advantage of two in-person chances. First, Explore Nashville is April 13. Until Friday of this week you can get the first-100 pricing of $250. Sign up at GoToExplore.co now.

But on April 27, Mark hosts his own event, conveniently right down the road in Knoxville, Tenn., his hometown, called Social Slam. Learn more about his event over at the Social Slam website. Frankly, I’d sign up for both if I were you.

You won’t want to miss the business insights Mark has to give at Explore Nashville. He’ll be speaking there, along with an all-star lineup that includes H&R Block’s Scott Gulbransen, The Now Revolution co-author Amber Naslund, Edison Research’s Tom Webster, Edelman Digital’s Zena Weist, Nichole Kelly of Full Frontal ROI, Tim Hayden from 44 Doors, Sam Ford from Peppercom and more. The event will also feature a number of excellent software providers and companies to help you navigate the waters of digital marketing. They’ll bring their knowledge to share as well as their products. This is a must-attend event, so register now!

The full day’s content, breakfast, lunch and a cocktail reception is $400, but THIS WEEK ONLY, the price is just $250! Can’t beat that! Go reserve your spot!

Explore is a five-city conference event series from Social Media Explorer and presented by Expion and Raven Internet Marketing Tools. Learn more and sign up for email updates for the city nearest you at GoToExplore.co.

Get ready Music City! Explore Nashville tickets are now on sale. We’re thrilled to open ticket sales for the second in our five-city event series this year. Explore Dallas-Fort Worth was awesomesauce and we plan to rock Nashville in a big way.

Amber Naslund headlines the day with our opening keynote. Our fireside chat will be with Scott Gulbransen of H&R Block who will give us the low-down on The Stache Act among other brand activities just a couple days before Tax Day (how we got him that time of year, I’ll never know). And then the roster of speakers beyond that is mind-boggling. Someone told me it was like having a day full of keynotes in every session.

Mark Schaefer (author of The Tao of Twitter and the soon to be published Return on Influence), Tom Webster from Edison Research, Sam Ford of Peppercom, Zena Weist from Edelman Digital, Nichole Kelly of Full Frontal ROI, Tim Hayden of 44Doors, Ike Pigott from Alabama Power, John Morgan (author of Brand Against The Machine), Courtney Seiter from Raven Tools, Kevin Magee of Expion and Nashville’s own social media guru Dave Delaney round out an awesome speaker lineup. We’ll also have a full brand case studies panel that features real brands with real results to help inspire your social media marketing.

See the full agenda and more and register for Explore Nashville tickets on our new event website.

The event, presented by Expion and Raven Internet Marketing Tools, takes place Friday, April 13, 2012 at the Embassy Suites Airport in Nashville. We’re anticipating the event will sell out. So get your tickets quickly!

The full day includes breakfast, lunch and a cocktail reception featuring an Angel’s Envy bourbon tasting. Plus, you’ll be invited to Explore’s exclusive online community for ongoing collaboration and connection. The total cost is $400, but buy your ticket now and get $150 off — just $250 for the event! That price is good for the first 100 tickets.

Our first Explore event in February was awesome. One person in the audience — Robert Madison of Spiral16 said, “If Apple built a social media conference, this is what it would look like.” That was pretty high praise (and we’re checking to see if he was under heavy medication) but we pride ourselves on delivering keynote-quality talks throughout the day to stimulate your thinking and help you move the needle on your business using digital and social media marketing.

We’re going to have fun, get to know one another and learn. And YOU need to be a part of it.

And don’t forget to refer a friend. If someone registers and drops your name in the referral question, you’ll be registered to win a Kindle Fire at the event!

Explore Nashville is not possible without awesome sponsors. Make sure you drop these folks a note on Twitter to let them know you’re excited about coming! Our sponsors are: Expion, Raven Internet Marketing Tools, NetBase, Spredfast, Edison Research, 44Doors, Visible Technologies, Vitrue, Argyle Social, uberVu, RedEApp, Angel’s Envy bourbon, Embassy Suites Hotels, SMC Nashville and MarketingProfs.

Get your seat! Can’t wait to meet!

See you April 13 at Explore!

A common thread ran across several Explore Dallas Fort Worth conference sessions: pay attention and listen to your customers and your audience.

I know, I know …

BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious) from the Big D.

Thanks a lot.

Unfortunately, that same thread keeps getting pulled because so many businesses do NOT listen, or if they do ask questions, their head is not open to hearing the answers or acting on them.

Over and over again, Explore speakers explained why something so simple is vital to business success.

A Jedi Listens

—> Step One is to know your audience - the people you are trying to reach. Not prospects, not targets. Audience. Understand and pay attention to the people you want to pay attention to YOU.In the opening conference session, Brian Clark of Copyblogger Media shared his “3 Steps to Jedi Content Marketing.” Listening is the linchpin for all three steps.

—> Step Two is to be very nimble about changing direction, based on feedback. That means you must spend time listening to get that feedback.

—> Step Three is to “accelerate” – create new products, partnerships and services based on listening to people’s needs, and then making things that meet those needs.

I’d like to be able to draw a giant ear next to each step, because they all rely on closing your marketing mouth and opening your business improvement ears.

Breakout Sessions Touch on Listening

Mike Merrill’s Digital Strategies for Small Business session was a deep dive into local search. Part of the answer to those “how do I get found?” questions is that a high level of engagement with your audience is seen as a positive sign by search engines. Yes, high engagement levels are not only warm n’ fuzzy, they’re good for SEO.

How do you get there?  Listen … then respond.

Kevin Magee‘s discussion of big brands trying to “go local” emphasized that the closer you can be to your customers, the better, because then your feedback will be more unfiltered and immediate. Of course, even if your customer is sitting on your head giving you feedback with a bullhorn, if you are not listening and reacting to it, you’re wasting everyone’s time.

The session with Arienne Holland on proactive, rather than reactive, listening was full of examples of companies taking the seemingly unremarkable step of watching and listening, then truly thinking about how to act on what they were hearing. She said that to succeed at listening at a higher level, “You need a brain and you have to use it.”

Put On the Brakes

It’s a competitive, go-go world out there. We’re all busy and often overloaded, but listening thoughtfully, carefully and broadly takes time. It takes quiet. It takes concentration and effort.

It’s the antithesis of go-go.

To top it off, you may end up hearing things that are not very pleasant, from customers who are not happy with your products or services. Can your ears be honest? Can you accept what you’re hearing – as it is – without trying to deny or justify or fluff it up or dismiss it because the customer is “clueless?”

Put on the brakes. Carve out that listening time, and then take even more time to reflect on what you’re hearing. Dial back the go-go hamster wheel for more listen-listen.

Your reward will be a much clearer picture of how your business is doing now, and the direction it should take in the future, directly from the customers who make your business possible.

As you know, today is the kickoff of Social Media Explorer’s five city event series as Explore Dallas-Fort Worth gets underway at Union Station in Dallas. We’ve put a lot of thought and work into shaping an event that will serve professional marketers with rich, strategic-level content to help enhance their digital marketing efforts. (Notice I didn’t say just social media.)

And while these events (learn more about the four other cities and sign up for email notifications for the city of your interest on our Explore events page) are not yet being live streamed or offered up on a virtual format, you can still follow along.

Thanks to our friends, and Captain Sponsor for Explore, Raven Internet Marketing Tools, you can jump over to ExploreTweets.com and follow along with the entire event (using the #Explore hashtag) or you can jump into each session room and follow Tweets during that particular talk from others talking about that speaker.

Here’s a little video to show you:

Hopefully, this will allow those of you who may not have been able to join us in Dallas pull some good insights and learning, plus be able to engage and ask questions of those at the event. And yeah, I hope it gets you excited enough to want to come to Explore Nashville, our next stop on the tour on April 13.

Big props to Brannan Atkinson and the team at Raven Tools for building out something nice for us. Jump over to ExploreTweets.com and follow along throughout the day!

Explore is a five-city conference event series from Social Media Explorer and presented by Expion and Raven Internet Marketing Tools. Learn more and sign up for email updates for the city nearest you at socialmediaexplorer.com/explore.

We’re in the stretch run before Explore Dallas-Fort Worth on Friday. And over the past month or so we’ve interviewed several of the speakers who will share their knowledge and expertise with the audience in Dallas. But there’s one speaker I haven’t been able to interview: Me.

I’ll present a new talk on Friday at Explore, one that I’ve been working on for a bit now. It’s focused on the most important thing in your marketing. Sure, we’ll have a day full of awesome advice on listening, engagement, strategy, measurement, optimization and more. And yes, all those facets of your marketing are important. But none of them are the most important thing.

Here are some more of my thoughts heading into the event Friday:

What are you waiting for? Sign up right here: (Use the code ILOVESME to save $150!)

We’re going to have a blast and I truly want you to be at Explore Dallas-Fort Worth. We have an all-star lineup that includes AT&T’s Chris Baccus, Intuit’s Adrian Parker, Zena Weist of Edelman Digital, Tom Webster from Edison Research, Nichole Kelly of Full Frontal ROI, Tim Hayden from 44 Doors, DJ Waldow from Waldow Social and more. The event will also feature a number of excellent software providers and companies to help you navigate the waters of digital marketing. They’ll bring their knowledge to share as well as their products. This is a must-attend event, so register now!

The full day’s content, breakfast, lunch (by Wolfgang Puck Catering) and a cocktail reception is $400, but you get $150 off if you use the ILOVESME code. Can’t beat that! Go reserve your spot!

Explore is a five-city conference event series from Social Media Explorer and presented by Expion and Raven Internet Marketing Tools. Learn more and sign up for email updates for the city nearest you at socialmediaexplorer.com/product/events.