Finalists Announced for 2012 Social Media Leadership Awards, Organized by Knowledge@Wharton and Social Strategy1, Supported by Ernst & Young

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. & PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Social Media Leadership Awards, presented by Knowledge@Wharton and Social Strategy1, and supported by Ernst & Young, today announced the finalists in the running to become a “2012 Category Champion.” The Vanguard Group Inc., Girl Scouts of the USA, Adobe, Fidelity Investments, McCann-Erickson and the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) are among the high scoring organizations in the global competition. Finalists will be highlighted in a Best Practices Workshop session on Thursday, November 8 at the Wharton School.

“…and look forward to the best practices that will surface during the workshops.”

The workshop, followed by luncheon keynote Barry Libert, will discuss best practices in social media to navigate organization-wide challenges, and feature industry leaders such as Shayna Beck, Social Media Retail Marketing at The Vanguard Group, Inc., Michael Lewis, Chairman & CEO ILD Corp., Jeremy Kagan, CEO & Founder of Pricingengine.com and adjunct professor at Columbia Business School and Ted Rubin, Social Media Marketing Strategist and Chief Social Marketing Officer at Collective Bias.

“We congratulate all of the finalists of this global competition,” said Steve Ennen, CIO and President, Social Strategy1, “…and look forward to the best practices that will surface during the workshops.”

The awards luncheon will recognize champions in 11 “2012 Category Champions” and one “Grand Champion.” Workshop and luncheon tickets are now available through our Ticket Leap page.

For the list of category finalists, visit www.smlawards.com. Follow @smlawards, #smlawards or join our LinkedIn group for related news.

About Social Strategy1

Social Strategy1 is a managed services and business intelligence firm specializing in social media and online intelligence. Supported by teams of analysts that provide clients actionable insights for managing online presence and strategy, SS1 serves multiple industries and business functions. For more information, visit www.socialstrategy1.com or follow “@sstrategy1” on Twitter.

About the Wharton School and Knowledge@Wharton

Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. Knowledge@Wharton is the online business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

About Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 152,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential. For more information about our organization, please visit www.ey.com.