June Professional Development Meeting

Does Social Media Work Anymore?

Social Media was the darling starlet of the marketing world, but as time and technology move on, people have begun to wonder if the luster has worn off.  CMOs have questioned its role in the marketing mix, ROI calculations still prove to be elusive, audiences continue to shift and the direct connection to incremental sales is just not there in many cases.  Which leads us to ponder…has Social Media lost its way?  Brian Cross from Elasticity and Rally Saint Louis will discuss new ways of looking at Social Media as part of the communications landscape and reset expectations of the medium as a valuable communications tool.  He will also go over new ways of collecting and analyzing data to help provide quantitative results to know that the time and energy put into Social Media are paying off.

About the Presenter

Brian Cross: Brian is the Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Director of Rocket Science at Elasticity, a modern communications company based in Saint Louis.  Brian is also the co-founder of Rally Saint Louis—a non-profit focused on citizen-led crowdfunding and social sourcing of ideas for a better region.

Prior to his role at Elasticity, Brian was Senior Vice President and Global Practice Group Leader of Fleishman-Hillard's digital communications practice.  Brian has more than 18 years of experience leading online marketing and outreach strategy, mobile programs and Social Media campaigns for Fortune 500, government, NGO, and NFP organizations.  Projects ranged from being on the team to launch the first iPhone for AT&T to launching the first text messaging campaign on a mobile platform for the United States Department of the Treasury.

He is frequently called upon by the media or conference planners to speak on emerging communications topics, crowdfunding and entrepreneurial development as he is actively engaged in startup factors including market feasibility testing, capital sourcing, vetting of business models as well as creative development of business ideas to help jumpstart the entrepreneurial community in St. Louis.

Mr. Cross holds board positions with EO (Entrepreneurs Organization) and is on the board of trustees for Marketing EDGE--the only national nonprofit of its kind solely committed to acquaint professors and college students with - and to engage and involve them in - the thriving business of marketing.