Contact: Beth Ranson, Accolades Public Relations
ofc. (512) 795.2353
cell (512) 619.5904
beth@accoladespr.com

June 19, 2008 – Accolades Public Relations is participating today in the first ever Interactive Austin 2008 event, “Putting Social Commerce to Work,” a regional forum to discover how to integrate social media, Web 2.0 tools and digital media into the corporate marketing plan to improve profitability. The sold-out event, which is being hosted by Business District Magazine, is educating Central Texas businesses on the power of social commerce.

Accolades PR, a leader in providing their clients with exceptional public relations, branding strategies, and optimized public relations, is excited to be a part of this forum as they are on the forefront of utilizing social commerce within their own and their clients’ public relations strategies. Accolades PR has a proven track record in social media with regional and national clients, such as FG SQUARED, US Insurance Online, Mercury Mambo, CACH Capital Management, Yum Brands, Inc., St. Jacques, and RefreshWeb.

“In a time when many fear recession, social commerce is putting companies on an even playing field and the companies that aren’t getting on board will find themselves falling behind the competition,” said Cynthia Baker, President & Founder of Accolades PR. “Interactive Austin was established to educate companies on the advantages of social commerce and how to harness its power for profitability.” Baker is a Panel Moderator at today’s event and will lead an informative discussion on how marketing and PR have had to evolve to incorporate social commerce.

The conference is the first of its kind in Austin and will highlight the social media and interactive professionals in the Central Texas area. The one-day conference is being held at the JJ Pickle Research Campus and includes keynote speakers Steve Guengerich, Chief Learning Officer, nGeneraTM Corporation, formerly BSG Alliance; and Pete Hayes, VP of Corporate Marketing & Communications, AMD.

Representatives from Accolades PR, AMD, Apogee Search, Austin American-Statesman, AvenueA/Razorfish, BazaarVoice, BusinessWire, DexterityMedia, Digital Voodoo, Every Dot Connects, GigaOM, MashBrain, Mercury Mambo, Mosasaur Marketing & Technology Consulting, nGeneraTM, Tom Parish Inc., PIPO Management Consulting, Pluck, Polycot Associates, ProAce Technologies Services, RefreshWeb, Small World Labs and Social Media Power will be providing thought leadership at the conference.

For more event information, visit www.InteractiveAustin2008.com

MULTIMEDIA:

CYNTHIA BAKER PHOTO

Accolades PR Capabilities

About Accolades PR: Austin-based Accolades PR is a results-oriented communications firm committed to progressive strategies in public relations and marketing. The agency focuses on building and protecting its clients’ most valuable asset – their brand. With expertise in brand management, media relations, corporate communications, product launches and special events, the firm’s capabilities encompass a variety of practice areas. As a team, Accolades PR delivers more than 45 years of experience in garnering media exposure and developing effective marketing campaigns. Accolades’ mission is to set the standard in what carefully executed public relations and communication strategies can do for sales, lead generation and the bottom line of ROI.

More information on the firm is available at www.AccoladesPR.com.

TECHNORATI:

Technorati tags: Cynthia Baker, Accolades PR, Panel Moderator, Interactive Austin 2008, Social Commerce, Social Media, Social Interaction, Interactive, Austin, Public Relations

Gone are the days of closed communication and here are the days of wikis, blogs, podcasts, tweets, FaceBook and Flickr – completely open and completely personal. Social media is how the world is communicating with each other; and if companies aren’t willing to play they are going to find themselves falling behind their competition.

Social commerce, the use of social media in business, is putting companies on an even playing field; and that is why major corporations, like Austin-based Dell and AMD, are adding social networking feature to their sites daily

In an effort to get companies in the game, Austin’s social media experts have come together to create Interactive Austin 2008: Putting Social Commerce to Work. The conference, which takes place on Thursday, January 19th, is dedicated to educating companies on the advantages of Social Commerce, its importance in the rapidly changing corporate environment, and how to harness its power for increased profitability.

Interactive Austin 2008 will feature two prominent keynote speakers. Pete Hayes, the Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Communications for AMD, will speak on “Get into the Click Stream: An Alternative to Driving Traffic to Your Site.” While the Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of nGenera Corporation, Brian Magierski, will speak on “Social Commerce and It’s Impact on Business.” Aside from the keynote speakers, this will be a day full of educational and informative panel discussions and case study presentations from Austin’s social media experts.

If you are in business, you need to attend Interactive Austin 2008 so you don’t get left behind. Get in the game and register at http://www.interactiveaustin2008.com.

The Accolades team will see you there!