Social2B is a marketing consulting and product development group of top industry marketing, media, publishing, and information technology professionals, dedicated to helping clients (B2C and B2B brands) leverage the explosive growth of Social Media Marketing (SMM). Social2B is about making Social Media Marketing a valuable tool for the Enterprise and the Value Chain, by demystifying not easily understood aspects of Social Media, and to advise clients on the latest strategies and marketing tactics in brand building, reputation management, social media and content monetization strategies, application of tools and metrics, and business intelligence and analytics.
About Social2B Blog
According to comScore research on Social Media, the ‘Social’ audience is approaching 120 million, or more than three quarters of the entire Internet population of almost 160 million in the United States. And whereas some brands are still trying to figure out exactly what these ‘Socialites’ are doing, and how they behave, many are already reaping the benefits by directly engaging with their communities, customers, and partners. While Social Media Marketing is not necessarily a replacement strategy for traditional marketing and advertising, it certainly presents a conundrum for brands mostly conducting their business traditionally.
Social2B Blog is also about Social Media Marketing as it pertains to the Enterprise. No, not the Starship Enterprise, although we do respect and love Gene Roddenberry very much, but the ‘corporate franchise’ seeking better solutions and a more optimized brand experience with their audience, consumer and companies alike. We have come from the best companies in the world (many Fortune 100), in a variety of industries, only to go back to them and to present more compelling, more ‘Socially rich’, and more optimized marketing and information strategy messaging and solutions.
Social2B Principals
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Alex Romanovich
Founder, Senior Managing Director – Social2B
Chief Marketing Officer, Board Member – EuroSpaClub International
Advisory Board Member – The CMO Club
Alex Romanovich has more than 20 years of leadership experience helping build domestic and international B2B brands, bring service and product innovators into new markets, and guiding top-tier companies. His senior-level marketing and demand generation executive leadership is always driven by innovation and results. With combined background in marketing, technology, analytics, and international business development, Alex has deep experience in software, media, online marketing, social media, and professional service segments. With strong ability to identify and capture new business opportunities and revenue streams through digital and social media marketing (SMM), CRM, business intelligence, and internet technology solutions, as well as joint ventures and industry partnerships, Alex has proven himself as a key performer on functional and executive teams that created in excess of $200Million of new value for IBM, Bertelsmann AG, Silicon Graphics (SGI+Cray), UNIFIED Technologies, and media/marketing agencies.
Currently, Alex is advising businesses globally on development and optimization of social and mobile marketing strategies, as well as execution through brand and ‘digital footprint’ development, online traffic growth, monetization strategies, and overall user experience. Alex is also one of the founding members of the Advisory Board for The CMO Club – the first ‘Social’ Professional Network for over 800+ Chief Marketing Officers nationwide. Alex is a co-Founder and Chief Marketing Advisor for EuroSpaClub International, a Wellness Tourism Innovator, helping US and Global population realize the value of the traditional and complimentary medicine, as well as Spa Culture, practiced and available in multiple European destinations.
Alex is a regular speaker on topics of international and multicultural marketing and business strategies and has appeared on CNBC and CNN International. He has been interviewed by and quoted in a number of publications including Business 2.0, Economist, Aviation Weekly, Prague Post, Forbes and others. Alex has a degree in Engineering and Computer Science from Brooklyn Polytechnic and did postgraduate work in marketing and management at Fordham and Harvard Universities. He is fluent in three Slavic languages and enjoys international travel.
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Ytzik Aranov
Senior Managing Director, Social2B
CEO, ARKO Enterprises, LLC
Ytzik’s strategic role at Social2B is to provide eBusiness Consulting in Online Marketing, Branding, Customer Experience, Social Media (Community/Network) Strategy and migrating a variety of business models and legacy processes to the Web to accelerate growth and sales.
Mr. Aranov’s career is primarily focused on eCommerce, Web platforms, Online Marketing, Social Communities / Networks, CRM, Merchandising, Branding & Brand Architecture, etc., and how these interact with Legacy corporate data, processes and marketing strategy – accelerating the Online Business Model and sales. He also spent a number of years working in the Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Finance, Investment Banking, and Enterprise Strategic Planning disciplines, IT/MIS Management and PMO / Project Management, creating shareholder value for public and private companies globally. Ytzik has been an entrepreneur several times, founding numerous startups in eCommerce, technology, healthcare, logistics, consulting, investment banking, a technology fund as well as Internet startups. His most recent entrepreneurial venture (was taken public then private) was CRSX, a global Nurse Recruiting company & Social Community.
For the past 3 years, he was Head, Web & eCommerce at B&H Photo Video in NYC – a landmark business and the world’s largest Pro-Electronics Retailer in addition to being one of the retail world’s most comprehensive and busiest retail websites. His role in leading the group included to proactively assess and propose enhancements and strategies to different parts of the company supporting the goal of achieving world-class Web & Social Community integration, E-Commerce and Web platforms efficiency, develop an Enterprise Knowledgebase and increase Online sales. Prior to this, he has held senior positions at leading firms such as Motorola, Inc., where he led the technology group for the US Southwest region; Coopers & Lybrand, where he led Strategy & IT management consulting engagements while developing the firm’s technology venture incubator group; and A.T. Kearney, Inc., where as Principal, he led Fortune 100 Strategy & IT efforts and M&A Integration; Managing Director – Corporate Finance at Eisner & Co., he developed M&A and Investment Banking opportunities; and Managing Director – Capital Markets at both ITF Global Partners and at Wellfleet Partners where he developed Capital Markets/Merchant Banking relationships worldwide.
Ytzik was until recently; Co-Director of New York Polytechnic University’s Executive MBA programs in Management of Technology (MOT) and Telecommunications & Information Management (TIM), a Member of the Board of Directors of ITAC (chairing it’s New York Technology Advisory Council (TAC –advisors to the New York City Council), a Member of the Board of Directors of NYSIA-The New York Software Industry Association; and Secretary-General of the Billion Minds Foundation, a global not-for-profit. He is a current member of the AMA – American Management Association and a number of professional business organizations.
Ytzik received a Computer Sciences CSAA (equiv.) from Midrasha LeMinhal, Tel Aviv, Israel, a P.D. Designation from University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Systems Engineering & Management Degree from Motorola, Inc. and is a certified Primavera Project Management Professional.
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Marina Shapiro
Senior Managing Director, Social2B
Founder, Target Marketing Associates, LLC
Marina Shapiro is an expert in niche and multicultural marketing and has spent over 15 years enabling companies of all sizes develop solutions to effectively reach global communities and targeted consumer segments. She is passionate about working with emerging brands and empowering them with new media tools, social media strategies, and traditional marketing tactics, while placing high importance on the strategic relevance of digital media and its integration with other marketing disciplines.
Marina is also a Founder of Target Marketing Associates, LLC – a boutique marketing advisory with capabilities that include strategy development, multicultural digital media and social media marketing, traditional media planning and buying, grassroots outreach, business development, public relations and more. She has been instrumental in helping global brands and small.medium size businesses effectively integrate traditional marketing and advertising techniques with the latest digital and online marketing strategies, including Social Media Marketing. Marina is an expert in marketing analytics, targeting and segmentation strategies, and media relations and buying strategies.
A former stock broker, Marina also has deep understanding of the Financial Services Industry nuances and has successfully applied them to multimillion dollar projects involving M&A transactions, business planning, management consulting, and new market entry strategies.
Marina is a New Yorker and received her Bachelor and Graduate Degrees in Marketing and Management from Baruch College in Manhattan. She blogs at www.targetingyourmarket.com and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Social2B Advisory Board
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Chief Marketing Officer, BearCom Wireless
Social2B Advisor
Kent Huffman is an accomplished marketing executive and the father of Systemic Marketing, an empirical, best practices-based model for business-to-business environments. He has built a reputation as a corporate marketing turnaround specialist, having achieved significant, measurable results in several turnaround situations during the past ten years.
In late 2008, Kent was selected by Thomson Reuters to author a chapter for Aspatore Books and its latest C-level title, “Inside the Minds: Maximizing Your Marketing Efforts,” as well as an electronic report for its “CMO Leadership Series,” both of which were published and made available worldwide in February 2009.
Currently serving as the Chief Marketing Officer for BearCom Wireless, Kent is responsible for expanding the company’s presence in its target markets, as well as driving all marketing strategies and tactics. Prior to joining BearCom, Kent held the position of Vice President of Marketing for CompuCom Systems, a $2 billion computer hardware and software reseller, where he managed the entire corporate marketing function, including partner, media, and industry analyst relations.
Before CompuCom, Kent led the global marketing communications team at Perot Systems, a Fortune 1000 IT services company, where he received a number of national and international awards for the quality and performance of the company’s various integrated marketing initiatives, including the Perot Systems Web site and annual reports. Previously, Kent founded and managed his own boutique marketing consulting firm, Marketek Media, which focused on helping technology companies increase revenue and market share by applying innovative Internet marketing strategies.
In the early 1990s, Kent held several marketing leadership positions at AT&T Capital, a large division of AT&T that leased computers and electronic test equipment to other enterprises. While there, he developed a sophisticated marketing communications system, played an instrumental role in helping the company achieve profitable status, and was appointed to the Board of Directors for NCSL International. Prior to that, Kent held various marketing and advertising management positions with Hensley Industries and Penton Media.
Kent has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Texas State University. He has written a number of marketing-related articles and blog posts for technology publications and Web sites, is recognized as one of the pioneers of business-to-business marketing on the Internet, and is accredited as a Certified Business Communicator (CBC) by the Business Marketing Association. Kent serves as a thought leader in integrated marketing and search engine marketing for international research firm Frost & Sullivan and is a member of its Executive Advisory Board. He is also a member of The CMO Club, the CMO Council and sits on its newly formed Customer Experience Corporate Advisory Board.
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Pete Krainik
Founder, The CMO Club
Social2B Advisor
Pete is founder of The CMO Club, a peer to peer network of over 800 CMOs (www.thecmoclub.com), and brings over 28 years of experience in Marketing, Sales, IT, and Product Management within the Consumer Goods, High Tech, and Software industries. His leadership has been marked by successful efforts in creating the first true professional and social network of Chief Marketing Officers plus leveraging innovative technologies within integrated marketing, aligning IT with Marketing and Sales organizations and combining the “Art of Customer Experience” with the “Science of Hitting Your Numbers”.
Prior to The CMO CLUB, Pete served as AVAYA’s Global Vice President of Marketing. Prior to joining AVAYA he was Chief Marketing Officer for DoubleClick, the industry leader in online ad serving, permission based email and catalog list management and GM of the Consumer Goods division of Siebel Systems. Before Siebel Pete spent 15 years at Mars, Inc. in numerous executive roles including VP Applications Development, VP Sales and Chief eBusiness Officer. Pete has also held executive positions at QD Technology, i2 Technologies, Deloitte & Touche and Gulf Oil Corporation.
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Jarvis Cromwell
Managing Principal, Reputation Garage
Social2B Advisory Consultant
Jarvis Cromwell brings twenty-five years experience as a corporate chief marketing officer, agency executive and consultant. His career has spanned Fortune 50 companies, startups, and nonprofits. His sweet spots include building new markets, accelerating sales growth in complex selling situations, creating communications that achieve influence and advance goals, and improving organizational trust with stakeholders.
In 2002 Jarvis founded the Reputation Garage, a consultancy and open source collaborative that focuses on helping organizations and senior management teams improve reputational performance with important stakeholder audiences. Since 2007 he also has served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Storm Exchange a VC-backed company building out what could become the 21st century’s biggest financial and information market: the weather.
Previously he served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Global Marketing for Thomson Financial, as global head of public relations for Citigroup’s global transaction bank, and as an agency executive and advisor to CEOs on corporate reputation issues at J. Walter Thompson. He began his career as a credit analyst for JP Morgan.
Sought after for his ability to synthesize disjointed business issues and turn them into revenue-leading marketing strategies, Jarvis has helped create successful programs for clients such as Visa, Reuters, Harvard Publishing, Australian Government, Citigroup and others.
He serves as a founding member of The CMO Club and participates in several other professional associations. He is a frequently featured speaker at marketing and communications conferences, including Marketing Sherpa, PRSA, CMO Club, AMA and IABC. He is a contributing author to the 2005 book: The Chief Marketing Officer: CMOs from the World’s Leading Companies on Building a Team, Setting Goals, and Making a Financial Impact. A graduate of Tufts University, Jarvis lives in Connecticut with his wife and children.
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Jasmine Alexander
Social2B Advisory Consultant
Managing Director, JA Enterprises LLC
Jasmine Alexander is a senior executive with 20+ years of Technology and Operations experience. She has led development, systems operations, warehousing, fulfillment and customer services teams in media, online commerce and publishing. She specializes in streamlining organizations and systems and has worked in a number of turnaround situations.
Ms. Alexander has worked with notable Retail brands, such as Bluefly, Inc., assessing its technology and operations and created a number of recommendations for improvement in technology and process to reduce costs and improve turnaround. Prior to that, she was Executive Vice President for WRC Media, responsible for all of its Technology and Operations.
She served as Senior Vice President, Sales and Technology Operations for Ziff Davis Media where she was responsible for sales operations, technology and research. While at Ziff Davis she implemented CRM, Content Management and List management systems.
Previously, she was Vice President of Operations at OpenGlobe, a leading entertainment-services and media device-technologies provider delivering home entertainment. Prior to her position at OpenGlobe, Ms. Alexander was Chief Technical Officer at Musicplex.com, responsible for leading the company’s technology efforts, including the launch of its e-commerce and streaming media solution, development of order processing, customer support and operations. Prior to that, Ms. Alexander was Vice President, Product Management and Development for CarParts.com, directing the company’s online strategies and its online store. She was also Vice President, IT at Americast, where she started the company’s IT department and participated in the development of digital cable services.
Ms. Alexander started her career at Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. as a programmer/analyst. During her 12-year tenure at ABC, she held various positions including head of information systems at the Times Leader, a daily newspaper, where she developed and managed information systems for sales, circulation, production, financial and editorial departments. She was also Vice President, MIS and New Technologies with ABC Radio Networks, where she implemented the company’s technology infrastructure and developed IT strategy, developed software applications and sales operations procedures.
Ms. Alexander has a B.A. in Computer Science from New York University and an M.B.A. from UCLA.
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Dr. Algirdas J. Lukosevicius
CEO, The Cadogan Group
Social2B Advisor
Throughout Dr Lukosevicius’ 20+ year business career, he has consistently achieved success in building businesses and unitizing
technology – from coordinating drug disposition for more than 80 new drug clinical trials at Yale New Haven Hospital to launching and building two successful entrepreneurial companies in the United States and Europe. Dr Lukosevicius has created nearly a half of a billion dollars in value for the businesses he developed.
As a former executive with Merck & Co., Pharmacia, and as a CEO of Overture Pharma, Inc., Dr Lukosevicius led major initiatives to enhance patient protection, maximize product lifecycles, and create new technology and business development tactics and strategies, resulting in client retention of over $1B per year.
Currently, Dr Lukosevicius is Chief Executive Officer of The Cadogan Group in Vienna, Austria a advisory firm to mid-size companies that are scientific or technology based, and is consulting and fund raiser to numerous Boards of technology and scientific companies in the US and Europe on a variety of strategic as well as operational issues that small to mid-size companies face in the quickly changing global marketplace.
Dr Lukosevicius holds a Doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an undergraduate degree in the Sciences from St. John’s University, New York.
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Herman J. Sperling
Vice President, Global WEB Strategy and Development, Harman Electronics
Social2B Advisor
Herman Sperling is the Vice President of Global Web Strategy and Development Marketing for Harman International Industries. He has global responsibility for all Internet, Intranet and Extranet strategy, architecture and development including e-commerce, social networking, affinity and affiliate relationships for all of Harman’s 16 storied brands.
Mr. Sperling has over 30 years experience in consumer electronics including: strategic planning, research, product development, training, merchandising, retail sales, national sales, and international marketing. In addition to nearly twenty years in general management and marketing positions at Harman International Industries, he formerly held positions as National Sales Manager and Marketing Manager at BOSE Corporation, and consulted to Pioneer Electronics.
As a National Merit Scholar, Sperling earned his BA in Psychology and Sociology from Emerson College, and pursued undergraduate and masters studies at Tufts University in Electrical Engineering and Guidance and Counseling. He has been published in numerous industry journals including the American Psychology Journal, and recognized for his technical, strategic, business and organizational leadership in others. In addition, he has served as a distinguished guest lecturer at Sloan (MIT) and the Anderson (UCLA) business schools, and spoken on behalf of eBay and Microsoft at several conferences.
Sperling’s awards include: “Best home theater system under $2,500” by Video Review Magazine, “Best product of the year” by Business Week Magazine, “Audio product of the year” by CD Magazine, IDEA Award by Business Week Magazine, Industrial Design Society of America, the Apex Award by the Appliance and Machine Design Magazine, Management Roundtable and the Design Review Winner by ID Magazine.
Mr. Sperling currently serves on the Consumer Electronics Association’s Board of Industry leaders, Communication and Research committees, and on two Product Divisional Boards. Further, he serves on the board of advisors for 4 commercial firms.
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