SocialMedia.org Board Chair Bob Skwarek on his membership experience

Speaker: Bob Skwarek, SocialMedia.org Board Chair

Bob Skwarek: The thing I enjoy most about SocialMedia.org is all the great people I've met. I've been part of SocialMedia.org since probably about 2010. At four organizations, one shape, form, or fashion or another, I've been lucky enough to be part of what I would call my friends at SocialMedia.org. The colleagues, the experts in the industry that we meet with regularly from all the different brands from around the world and around the country, but also the people behind the scenes -- those folks at SocialMedia.org that keep things happening. I remember when it was "Social Media Business Council" and there was a little thing called BlogWell. That first meeting back in whenever that was, 2010. I knew that there was something special here, and I feel very fortunate to still be a part of it to this day.

Bob Skwarek: There are so many times the community at SocialMedia.org has helped me out, that it's hard to list them all. One particular time does come to mind, and that's in 2020, that summer, when there was so much going on in social media. The landscape was just alive with so much going on specifically in the United States, around the social movements that were happening, the boycotting of Facebook, etc. I just remember that's when SocialMedia.org really stepped up. The community stepped up to come together and to figure out how to approach this. It was not an easy time by any means, but having the colleagues to council with, and the SocialMedia.org organization putting together the calls, the surveys. Still to this day, it's so helpful to go back to our leadership and say, "Hey, here's what other experts in the industry are doing and saying and thinking." It's just so, so valuable, and I appreciate that so much. And beyond that, of course, all of the one-on-one conversations I've had with folks within our industries to leverage best practices and find out how they're doing things. It's been such a great opportunity to have that relationship in that community by my side.

Bob Skwarek: What sets aside SocialMedia.org from the rest? It's pretty simple to me: It's the focus on social media and bringing experts in the industry to the table to talk about nothing but social media. It's the lack of vendors at events, so you can just focus on the matters at hand and not feel like you're getting a sales pitch. On the flip side, it is those opportunities when we get to grill the vendors and have them come in and talk to us, and we can ask them very specific questions. I know this might be a little bit of a funny one, but it's the mandate that you have to introduce yourself and what company you're from. I find myself at other events, even internal work events, and wishing, "I wish that person would have introduced themselves, because I don't remember where they're from or what they do." So I think that that DNA Is something that I bring to all these different meetings, conferences, and just trying to follow the blueprint of SocialMedia.org.