My twitter handle @SocialVenture was listed in the top 50 most connected tweeters in the world of social enterprise, commissioned by The Guardian Social Enterprise Network.

Original Article on Triple Pundit: Expert Editorial on Sustainable Business

Joey Shepp, founder of Earthsite, a self-described new media company for sustainable brands, spoke on the subject at the LOHAS conference. Engagement is the basic strategy of social currency. Companies must 1) respond, 2) participate, 3) share and thank their communities. These strategies lead to user-generated content (UGC), which is one of the main objectives of any social media campaign.

It’s so powerful, says Shepp, that if you engage your customers in this way, you can turn your entire brand (and company) around. When Intuit, for example, went online in the social media sphere, 80% of comments were negative. It was a function of the fact that many of their customers had felt they were not being listened to. Within 3 months, they were not only able to turn it around, they were able to improve their product in many ways with feedback they’d received.

Having customers feel more ownership over your brand gives it more stability. Figure this: if they like you, and someone else attacks you (whether it’s on a Yelp review or your Facebook page), it’s like that person is attacking them. And, as Shepp says, “You’ll start to see people defending you…you won’t even have to respond.”

In the media world, there’s four basic outlets for small companies: earned media (PR), owned media (website), advertising (paid), and social media (community). As a small company with a limited ad budget, it makes an active engagement in social media a pretty strong case.

As Shepp likes to add, though, social media can be quite a sustainable option. There’s reduced travel, many to many communications, reduced paper use, and perhaps most importantly, it helps to hold the feet of companies to the fire….secrets are getting harder and harder to keep.

From the GreenSmith Sustainable Business Consulting Blog:

“My first guest is Joey Shepp, who has been involved in the sustainable business realm in some form or another for the better part of a decade, and presenting engagingly about it at innumerable events. Whether it’s leading the technology efforts at Green Festival, running web, design, and social media strategy firm EarthSite, Joey has a lot to say on how technology and green meet, and how to do it effectively. We had a far ranging conversation, largely anchored in the social media realm, Joey sharing interesting perspectives on privacy, Facebook, how he sees geolocation based businesses being of use to you and I, and more.”

Listen to the Complete Interview Here:

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Cohn & Wolfe is a global public relations agency that moves quickly, making it singularly-suited to the new era in communications. Across 50 offices in major markets worldwide, we offer a powerful combination of breakthrough, brand-building creativity and pioneering digital and social media strategies.

Earthsite’s founder Joey Shepp will be speaking at the San Francisco Green Festival on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 2 pm on the Mezzanine.  For complete Green Festival program/schedule information, download the SF Program Guide here.

Social Media + Sustainability

Social networking, blogs, and online video are open, transparent and collaborative, allowing innovation to grow at unprecedented speeds. Learn how consumers, activists, and entrepreneurs are leveraging the power of the social media to create a sustainability revolution.  Hear breaking stories on how the Internet is being used for microlending, localization, citizen journalism and corporate accountability. Shepp, a new media expert, will help you see a vision of the near future.

This will be an interactive session.  Bring your smart phone/mobile device to participate.

After Joey’s talk there will be a Green “Tweet Up“ at 3 pm.  Come meetup and get to know other Bay Area Green Tweeters, Bloggers, and social media mavens.

Closing Keynote at Green Careers Conference LA 2009

“Earthsite’s CEO Joey Shepp described why Twitter is useful in the overall picture when it comes to social media and business.” Source Article: Solar Living Institute Keeps Its Eye on the Prize

Joey Shepp will be speaking on a Green Search Engine panel at the second annual AltSearchEngines Day conference on Monday, March 30th at San Francisco’s Intercontinental Hotel, from 9:00AM – 5:00 PM. If you are in town for Web 2.0, this is a perfect compliment to the week!

For those of you who may not have attended last year, this one-day, grassroots event brings together the best and brightest minds of the “alternative” search engines.  Practically every alternative to the big “G” will be represented, from Microsoft / Powerset and the Yahoo! BOSS team to key vertical search categories: Green Search, Health Search, Image Search, and Semantic Search, plus several special presentations.

This is a unique opportunity to meet some of the most influential names in Search face to face!

Participating Engines will include Powerset, Taptu, Truevert, GreenMaven, GreenPlanetSearch, TheFindGreen, GazoPa, Viewzi, Cooliris, Mednar, SearchMedica, RightHealth, OneRiot, Tazti, SurfCanyon, Worio, Yottalook, TextDigger, StanzIQ, Yahoo! BOSS, and Kosmix, talking about everything from Green Search to Health Search, Image Search, Mobile Search, Vertical Search, and more.

Products hyped as ‘green’ often fall short

By Craig Guillot • Source: Bankrate.com

Despite a plethora of materials and organizations dedicated to green products and services, the definition of “green” can vary between organizations and between consumers. Mic LeBel, a partner at Planet Friendly Public Relations, a firm that represents clients with green products, says “green” is often defined in the minds of the individual consumers. In general, green products uphold the values of fair trade, protecting the environment, supporting sustainable resources and paying workers a living wage.

Each interview covers a visionary’s
personal story, which is the pursuit of health and spiritual
well-being, not only for the visionary, but for family and community,
emphasizing how that effort evolves into a larger program benefiting
many soul-minds.