Social Media Conference 2010

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

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!

Jordan works with Matthew Dunn of Sayitvisually.com and shares how posts and links from this event have already been seen and reacted to through Social Media connections.

Say it Visually!: www.sayitvisually.com

The first Plenary Session of the Social Media Conference Northwest 2010 was presented by Matthew Dunn of Sayitvisually.com and in this piece articulates the main points he made: Business owners are in the publishing business, that the quality of content you put up matters, as well as the number of relationships you have.

Dunn also clarified how you cannot count on ‘weak links’ – people in your network may or may not be the conduit to new business, but you have to allow them the opportunity.

Say It Visually!: www.sayitvisually.com

Derek engaged us with an excellent nuts and bolts social media ‘how to’ discussion.  Nearly half of the audience owned their own businesses, and were eager to hear this Bellingham local social media veteran’s advice. He outlined and explained the most important things to focus on in your social marketing campaign:

1.  Talk with people, not at them.
- Connecting with your customers is a two way street.  You add value to the conversation, when you are not just blowing your own horn (which is typical for traditional mass marketing techniques: television, radio, printed publications)

2. Different Networks require different content.
- Each social stream is different and reaches a different audience.  Your messages should be written accordingly.  Embed photos and videos on sites such as Facebook, where it is an option, and write your Tweets, to reach your Twitter audience.

3. Don’t jump on the bandwagon.
- Don’t waste your time to post on every new social marketing channel. There are dozens of Facebook clones, but many of them will have little or no value to you.

4.  Include your social marketing links and tags everywhere.
- Your business cards, advertisements, email signature, and other business marketing materials should all include your Facebook page, your Twitter channel, your LinkedIn page, and other important points of contact.

5.  People do business with people.  Build a personal brand first.
- If you are planning a social marketing campaign for your small business, build your personal Facebook page first.  Include your interests, and hobbies, photos and so forth.  You’ll next build a Facebook for your brand (Your company’s page).  Clients who are thinking of doing business with you will find you.  People like to do business
with people.

6.  Don’t create many personal Facebook accounts to reach different groups of people.
- When someone searches, they will find more than one, and it can be confusing.

7. Your return on investment (ROI) is probably bigger than you think.
- Tools like Google Analytics will tell you a lot about where your web traffic is coming from.  But due to the very nature of ’social’ each blog post or tweet will also have a residual effect, which you can’t track.

8. Copying someone else’s successful formula is not bad.
- Find someone else in a similar line of business who is really doing it well.  Don’t feel bad about using some of the same techniques.  Chances are that other person did the same thing.

9. Don’t ask ‘How much time will I waste on this’
– Social marketing IS the new way of reaching your audience.  Your efforts will pay back.

10.  Your posts should ‘add value’ and be relevant to your customer’s
needs.
–  Don’t blog about just anything.  What do your potential clients needs?  Can you provide some valuable information.