ConvergeSouth 2011 Five Questions: Lauren Polinsky

This post is part of our ConvergeSouth Conference series. Today’s five questions are with Lauren Polinsky. If you haven’t yet registered and would like to attend, you can sign up [here]. Earlier posts in the series: Sue Polinsky & Rob Ainbiner, Jeff SanGeorge, Katie Morris, Brandon Burke, Phil Buckley, and Kristen Daukas.

Lauren Polinsky is not only an online and mobile marketing pro, with almost a decade of experience, she has garnered quite a reputation as a craft beer aficionado . Lauren’s worked with several organizations in developing social media marketing efforts and ongoing SEO. Her recent work has been integrating social and mobile technologies for business. We caught up with Lauren in between rounds to answer five questions home brew style.

Five Questions with Lauren Polinsky:

Q1: What are you you speaking about at ConvergeSouth and what can people expect to get out of attending your session?

I’m speaking about mobile websites and the building blocks that are necessary to build an effective mobile-optimized site. It’s going to cover everything from URL structure to shopping cart issues to what and why you should include social media tools to the site. The smartphone is much more personal and valuable to a person than their desktop computer and their browsing habits reflect that difference. Hopefully people will be able to identify the different habits of mobile users vs the traditional desktop users. Now that the users are on the go, websites need to be too.

Q2 : What is the the next big opportunity for businesses on the web?

It would be a toss up between Facebook Ads and mobile optimization – whether that be an app or website. Both of these are big buzz areas that are getting a lot of backing from users. With over 800 billion minutes a month spent on Facebook and about 35% of all cell phone owners having a smart phone, people are spending more time and money on both devices. In the end, I’m gonna put my money on mobile, since the technology is only getting better and more advanced. Who knows where Facebook will be in a few years?

Q3: If you could have any super power what would it be and why?

I want the power of teleportation. I mean, aren’t we all tired of getting groped by the TSA?

Q4: If you could have dinner with two people from history, who would they be and why?

I was just thinking about this the other day…I would love to have dinner with Marilyn Monroe and I wanted to say someone important and interesting, but I think I have to go with Bradley Cooper – purely for eye candy. It sounds like an interesting dinner party, doesn’t it?

Q5: Higher Klout Score: Terrapin Pale Ale, Fade to Black, or Pliny the Elder?

Oh, wow. That’s tough. Pliny the Elder is widely known for being a fantastic, hoppy beer. You can’t put that glass on the table without being able to smell the hops. And well, Fade to Black is exactly great in exactly the opposite way. It’s dark, smooth, and delicious, but nowhere near as well known. And of course there’s Terrapin’s Pale Ale which is widely available but definitely doesn’t have the following that Pliny has (no matter how much I talk about it wherever I go!). So I’m going to have to say Pliny the Elder…it’s definitely the most influential and farthest reaching.