Langstraat is the Associate Director for Advancement for Whatcom Community College.  He appreciated the opportunity to attend the event, as he is charged with helping to determine how best to leverage Social Media for the school and its programs.

Nate also now sees the value in utilizing Video as a key part of their Social Media initiatives, after seeing speaker Aaron Booker of Varvid.com’s presentation on Online Video.

Whatcom Community College: http://whatcom.ctc.edu/
Varvid.com: http://www.varvid.com

AND THE WINNERS ARE…

BARLEAN’S ORGANIC OIL

Barlean’s started their social media efforts in 2009 when their sales and marketing team saw a huge potential in social media. While setting up, truly understanding what customers and fans wanted took time, Barleans now has a strategy in place. They’ve figured out that their fans want to be engaged in conversations. So their social media efforts are oriented towards stimulating two or three way communication. Social media has allowed them to gather information about their customers, which they would not have been privy to previously. It has also made it easier for them to reach new audiences and target the “right” customers. They currently have presence on the blogosphere, Facebook and Twitter. Here’s a look at one of their videos that we thought was a great viral video that they shot during the Olympics using a Flip camera.

Thank you Barleans and Congratulations again!

BELLEWOOD ACRES

John and Dorie Belisle are the owners of BelleWood Acres. We were really impressed with their story and its best read the way Dorie wrote it. So here it goes –

“The Novice – that is us at BelleWood! Thanks to Jason Glover of Baron and Co. we were set up with a web site 6 years ago. It was a great web-site! Thank you, Jason. Did we ever touch it? Not on your life! I don’t know how to do that! Maybe it was fear… maybe lack of strategizing to give ourselves time to do it ….but mostly it was stubborn resolve that this too will pass and it did not justify my energy. I think I considered it just “Hip” enough to be on the Web – whatever the “web” was.”

After a drop in business they decided to change their business model.

Dorie goes on to say “Enter our friend (web page) Jason, who continues today to be our mentor. He called one day, “I’ve been thinking, maybe you should have your business be on Facebook. On What? Panic attack.”

They heard their family members talk about connecting with cousins on Facebook, finding restaurants and connecting with grandkids! That’s what caught Dorie’s attention!

They opened BelleWood’s Facebook site for the fall apple season, 2009. While Dorie is still shy about it, John has found his voice. They have about 774 fans. They talk to their visitors and fans. They share information about what is happening in the orchard, plans for new products and fans share their excitement and their ideas. They share plans for growth and they send us their energy. It has become a friend and an important segment of our business. They want to use social media to share their products, philosophy, their love for their farm and the community.

So if you are impressed with BelleWood today, fan them on Facebook!

Thank you Dorie! Congratulations!

Jonathan was impressed to learn just how important Video will be to leverage Social Media moving forward.  He also reiterates the importance of remembering the effect your web presence has on how new and existing customers perceive you- professional or not

iTelework: http://itelework.com/

June is the author of twenty six inspirational books and is also a publishing consultant.
She is attending SMCNW 2010 to learn more about Social Media, as the book publishing industry has been encouraging authors to learn more about the medium as a way to leverage authors work and drive readers to books and events.
Cotner is an enthusiastic adopter of Social Media and also looks forward to integrating YouTube! Into her professional endeavours.  She also is a member of her local library in Poulsbo and will be setting up workshops on keeping up with technology as a way of giving back to her community.
June spoke with Aaron Booker, founder of Varvid.com
http://www.junecatner.com

Wendy DeFreest from Avenue Bread discusses Social Media 101 with Drew Graham from Varvid at the Social Media Conference NW 2010.

Wendy is a co-owner of Bellingham’s popular bakery and breakfast/lunch cafes and found Derek Johnson’s Socia Media 101talk engaging and impressive.

Interestingly, up until now DeFreest has delegated Avenue Bread’s Social Media initiatives to employees rather than doing it herself.  She has been reluctant to engage in participating in Avenue’s Social Media due to time constraints, but learned that she really should make the time to do so, to get the most out of the medium.

visit Avenue Bread at: www.avenuebread.com/

Connie Shannon from Fairhaven Village Inn at Social Media Conference NW 2010 chats with Drew Graham from Varvid

Connie had the concept of having a plan and sticking to it “Don’t look at it as an experiment, have a strategy”. 

Shannon also had some candid comments about dealing with dissatisfied customers and the two-way personal connections that Social Media enable as opposed to traditional media/advertising and business practices.

Fairhaven Village Inn: www.fairhavenvillageinn.com

Caplin said repeatedly that he was really impressed with the turnout at this event and is working hard to leverage Ford Motor Company’s tremendous success with Social Media.
 
He also really appreciated Plenary Speaker Aaron Booker of Varvid.com’s presentation on “Online Video as Part of Your Social Media Strategy” and completely agrees with Booker’s concept of ‘record once, play many times’.
 
Gary shared that one of the testimonial videos he produced for Diehl Ford has been adopted by Ford Motor Company of America and was viewed over 5000 times over the past several months.
 
Diehl Ford: www.diehlford.com
Varvid.com: www.varvid.com 

Hilary is the Managing Editor of a ‘traditional’ print media outlet, NWB Monthly.  Her organization is testing the waters as far as how to best leverage Social Media, as well as utilize their experience and resources for new and continued opportunities.

Northwest Business Monthly: www.nwbmonline.com

Scott shares the ‘ah-ha’ moment of “Everybody is a publisher” – all business people are running two businesses: their main business and the publishing of content for their business to Social Media.

Scott was speaking with Drew Graham of Varvid.com

Beast Nature: www.beastnature.com

After a satisfying lunch of chicken salad with some delicious local greens,we are buckling down for the remainder of the afternoon sessions. The morning was filled with great information, regardless of the level of expertise (or interest!) in social technology. Derek Johnson gave a great presentation on the basics of social media for those who were here exploring these channels and wondering how they might fit with their business and/or personal goals. Warren Sukernek discussed the importance of listening to your customers via social channels and shared some case studies on the progress some companies have made in engaging their customers. Aaron Booker shared his expertise in creating videos and how they will help you connect closely with your audience and create a two-way communication channel. Pivot Labs’ Shari Burk and Matt Barnhart gave some tremendous information on how to align social media approaches to fit with your business’s goals and objectives by using your existing core messaging to fuel your approach to social media. You couldn’t come away from these breakout sessions not feeling full…

The second keynote session was presented by James Burnes of Mobiltopia, who also spoke with the Bellingham Social Media group last night as a sort of ‘pre-party’ discussion for today. James talked about developing business strategy based on making connections and building relationships via social channels. He discussed the real importance of brand perception and how this will affect potential customers’ decision to interact, and do business, with a company. James is a great presenter and a firm believer in the importance of relationships when it comes to business strategy, and this was certainly reflected in the message he shared.

Our post-lunch keynote came from Clay McDaniel of Spring Creek Group. He shared some monitoring tools and ways to keep track of what your customers and competitors are saying about you. He reviewed some great tools for conducting “free” research on brands, trends & keywords and stated the importance on having your finger on the pulse of your image by doing so. He reminded us that with the existence of a company website, regardless of location, we conduct business globally. (You can download Clay’s presentation here on SlideShare.)

Stay tuned later in the day for the wrap-up, and make sure to catch instant conference play-by-plays by following the #SMConfNW hashtag!