Frost and Sullivan’s GIL (Growth, Innovation, Leadership) conference takes place next week in San Jose and is focused on connecting executives and engaging on topics that foster innovation, shape corporate strategy and help companies and individuals prepare for the future.

On Monday, I’ll be joining Melanie Turek of Frost and Sullivan and several other smart people for a discussion on Using Social Media to Get Closer to Your Customers. This is a topic that I’m extremely passionate about because I believe the best way to communicate with someone is to use the channels they prefer. Let customers contact you their way -- not yours.

Social media is quickly becoming a favorite channel for customer communication. ReadyTalk staffs several official Twitter handles plus another two dozen handles used by employees to support communication efforts. You can find us on Twitter here:

@ReadyTalk – the latest news and updates from ReadyTalk. Plus, a ton of webinar tips and industry news.

@RTWebSem – Demand generation manager, Simone Verhulst, shares upcoming webinars and tons of knowledge. She’s got entertaining content to share.

@ReadyTalkGeeks – Find out what ReadyTalk’s engineers are hard at work on. Topics often include trends, AGILE, Scrum, Java and beer.

@ReadyTalkCare – ReadyTalk’s customer care team is standing by to answer customer questions and provide guidance.

Of course, ReadyTalk is also on Facebook. We don’t get a lot of customer support questions on Facebook but have found it to be a good venue to share best practices and tips with customers.

If you’re going to be at GIL next week, please be sure to say hello or share below;  I’d love to hear how your company is using social media to engage customers.

As the marketing communications and PR manager, Bo gets to wear many hats (but her favorite is a race car helmet). When she isn't tackling branding, messaging, social media and collateral, she enjoys skiing with her husband, running with her dog and playing board games with friends. You can find her on Twitter @bo_knows_.