Mike May

I connect communities of people around content.

Sometimes I do this through conferences and events, which I have programmed and/or produced for many trade associations (who begin with community and need content) or publishers (who do it the other way).

At times it is through social tools online. As a strategy and communications consultant specializing in social media, I help companies build social media strategies, create proprietary content to spark conversations (bylined articles, white papers, etc), and make the most of their communications channels.

And it's always with a clear revenue strategy in mind. Community around content needn't be mercenary, but it certainly can be profitable.

Recent clients include:
- Shop.org / National Retail Federation
- Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association
- Interactive Advertising Bureau
- IAB Canada
- Hitwise
- Freewebs, Inc.
- Turn, Inc.
- Gigya
- Appssavvy
- Zango
- MSN
- Bell Canada
- MediaPost
- Digital Media Wire

Before starting The Acorn Group, I built the events business at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and ran that for two years. I ran Jupiter Events for a year prior to joining the IAB.

I was a Jupiter Senior Analyst and Research Director before that, covering marketing, commerce and advertising. I was considered an "expert" then, and appeared on CNN Power Lunch, MoneyLine and Street Sweep, Bloomberg TV, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, The CBS Early Show and other programs. And I’ve been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Economist, Business Week and many other publications not impressive enough to list here by name.

Before joining Jupiter I was a Marketing Manager at Avon Products, part of the small team that launched Avon.com and responsible for all of the site's advertising, promotion, search marketing and email.

I have a B.A. in English from Colgate University, a M.A. in English from the University of British Columbia and a MBA in Marketing and Management from NYU. But I'm a fan of the Arkansas Razorbacks. Go Hogs.

My greatest skill is the ability to look past convention and precedents and develop entirely new ways to market, grow a business, or communicate. Please ask me for examples.

When I'm not working I'm playing XBox with my sons Gavin and Max, trying to convince my new daughter Kyra that I'm funny, grilling anything I can find in the fridge for my wife Katya, or riding a bicycle at a break-necking pace. In my spare time, I run a vertical advertising network on amateur bicycle racing at GamJams.net. I live in Bethesda, MD.