Entries from November 2008 ↓

Recap: Social Media Breakfast San Diego #2

San Diego’s Social Media Breakfast #2 was held on Wednesday, November 12th from 9:00am -11:00am at The Bank of America Building.

The theme to SMBSD #2 was Social Media Case Studies: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly with an extra special focus on the GOOD. Becky Carroll of Brickfish and the “Customers Rock” blog led us through a great set of Social Media Case Studies from Zappos to BlendTech to Human Societies.  She offered the “MUST KNOWS” to any social media campaign and insights to the examples she offered.  She also drove home the idea that we need to “LISTEN” to what custoners and users are saying to drive a campaigns efforts.

For any phone or iPod users check out clips from SMBSD #2 here on Veoh.

Visit the SMBSD Ning for more information about the group and the upcoming events.

Thank You Again to our Sponsor:
Brickfish is a social media advertising network that engages consumers with brands in an ongoing dialogue. It provides a brand platform that turbo-charges viral sharing among consumers via the social web

Upcoming: Social Media Breakfast Ottawa 5

With our American friends getting ready for their Turkey Day this week and old man winter bringing us some ten centimetres of snow today, we know that the holiday season is almost upon us. So, before the end of the year, Rob, Ryan and I thought we’d squeeze in one more Breakfast. Here are the details:

Social Media Breakfast Ottawa 5: The 2008 Social Media Year in Review

Thursday, December 11, 2008 from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM

At the offices of our season sponsor, Gowlings – 160 Elgin Street (26th floor) in downtown Ottawa, Canada.

RSVP at http://smbottawa5.eventbrite.com

Official event tag is SMBottawa

We’re happy to announce that our guest speaker will be Social Media Breakfast founder (and LiveWorld Social Media Evangelist) Bryan Person! Bryan will be interviewed by James Lewis (Executive Director of the Canadian Interactive Alliance) about the broad trends in social media during 2008 with a look ahead to what 2009 may have in store for us.

We hope you can join us on the 11th!

P.S. Can’t wait for the 11th for your Breakfast fix? Join us on Sixent, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Tim Walker headlines program at SMB Austin 4 on Tuesday, December 2

Tim Walker from Hoover’s will present an informative and entertaining history lesson on media and human communications at Austin’s Social Media Breakfast 4, set for Tuesday, December 2, from 7:30-9:30am at Genuine Joe Coffeehouse.

Here’s the overview of Tim’s talk:

Those of us active in the social media realm sometimes talk about it as though it’s all-new and all-different, an unprecedented development in the history of human communications. But for all the new technology that the social media employ — and all the unique opportunities they bring — they’re not quite unprecedented. In fact, in many ways today’s social media parallel the earlier development of other media, from books and radio to the mimeograph and the fax machine.

This short talk will take the SMB audience on a funny (and painless!) tour of the history of modern media, reaching as far back as town criers and Gutenberg’s press to unearth some important lessons that we can apply to our own day. As we discuss similarities and contrasts between older and newer media, we’ll gain new insights into the use, finances, control, technological limitations, and social impact of all types of media.

Austin’s Social Media Breakfast 4 event information

When

Tuesday, December 02, 2008 from 7:30 AM – 9:30 AM (CT)

Location

Genuine Joe Coffeehouse
2001 W. Anderson Lane
Austin, TX 78757

Registration

Click for details and registration information on our Eventbrite page

SMB NYC 2 wrapup

This morning LiveWorld sponsored New York’s second Social Media Breakfast and brought together a sold-out crowd of social media types for the accustomed mix of coffee, conversation and camaraderie.

Liveworld’s Bryan Person, the founder of the Social Media Breakfast movement, flew in from Austin to spark the event, and also followed up with a great video reflecting on the morning from NYC’s beautiful Bryant Park. The video is below, and to get a real time feel for the event, check out all the live tweets.

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A huge thank you to Paul Borgese from the Associated Press who gave a thought-provoking presentation that sparked a great deal of questions from the audience. Aaron Uhrmacher and Selina McCusker also put a great deal of time and effort setting up the event. Finally, an important thank you to all the New Yorkers who dragged themselves out of bed on a drizzly Manhattan morning to join us.

Further SMBNYCs are in the pipeline. If you’re a New Yorker and you’d like to assist us with planning, speakers or sponsorship for future events please feel free to reach out directly to myself or Aaron Uhrmacher. After this event sold out in a matter of hours it’s seems like the SMB are even hotter than the Knicks (thankfully we’ve also got a better record…).

San Diego Social Media Breakfast #2: Social Media Case Studies

San Diego’s Social Media Breakfast #2 will be held on Wednesday, November 12th from 9:00am -11:00am at The Bank of America Building.

SMBSD #2 Theme: Social Media Case Studies: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

When discussing Social Media in businesses from large to small, profit to non-profit or even local to international one thing always comes up…Are there examples of this working? Not Working? Building the brand? Destroying the brand? Getting attention? Not getting any attention at all?

The answer is: YES!

For SMBSD #2 we will cover Social Media case studies.  We will learn about companies that have made it work and companies that have tried without success.  Becky Carroll of Brickfish and the “Customers Rock” blog will lead us through this interesting discussion of Social Media: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

Register for SMBSD here and join the conversation.


About the Sponsor:
Brickfish is a social media advertising network that engages consumers with brands in an ongoing dialogue. It provides a brand platform that turbo-charges viral sharing among consumers via the social web

Boston’s Social Media Breakfast 10 Set for Wednesday, November 12th

Boston’s Social Media Breakfast 10 will be held on Wednesday, November 12, from 8:00am -11:00am, at the Ryles Jazz Club in Inman Square, Cambridge.

—> Register here.

SMB10 Theme: Getting ROI Out of Social Media

SMB10 will feature three, eight-minute presentations on examining new ways to evaluate and measure the success of social media engagements and community building programs.

The hard line ROI analysis that have traditionally been used in Marketing – sales leads, conversion rates and reach metrics – don’t easily translate to social media engagement driven programs – where you’re no longer buying your way into the conversation to influence potential customers.

Today’s visionary companies are engaging their customers directly – realistically, authentically and transparently – sharing ideas, spurring conversations, responding to industry trends and developing valuable digital content that helps propel their brand as an engaged trusted source.  This strategy can also dramatically improve SEO rankings and inbound marketing efforts leading to great findability and sales opportunities.

The Presenters

Brian Halligan, Founder and CEO at HubSpot

Andrew McAfee, Associate Professor with Harvard Business School

Matt Cutler, Vice President, Marketing & Analytics at Visible Measures


Sponsor
Boston’s Social Media Breakfast 10 is sponsored by HubSpot, an Internet marketing system that helps your company get found online, generate more inbound leads and convert a higher percentage of them into paying customers.

HubSpot Logo

As a Sponsor, HubSpot has offered to provide the attendees of SMB10 with a Website Grader analysis that measures the SEO and marketing effectiveness of your website or blog.  If you would like an analysis conducted – please just include the URL of your site as part of the Eventbrite registration.   HubSpot will also have a few Internet Marketing Consultant available to answer questions about your Website Grader reports.


Links

Directions to the Ryles Jazz Club (Nearest T stops: Central Square and Harvard Square on the Red Line). Free and metered parking is available.

* Official Social Media Breakfast website

SMB FriendFeed room

Creating Content / Making Media?

* Please use the tags #SMB10.

Questions?

Boston’s Social Media Breakfast is organized by Bob Collins and brings together social media experts and newbies alike for a morning of eating, meeting, sharing and learning.  It is free to attend.

Please contact Bob Collins at Bob – AT – SHIFTComm – DOT – com.

Social Media Breakfast 9 – Recap

Bryan Person originally started this breakfast series, which has exploded to cities all over the world, and has left some really big shoes for Bob Collins to fill now that Bryan has left for Austin, TX and passed the torch.  Thankfully our fearless leader stepped up to the challenge and put on another awesome event.

The theme for the October 16th breakfast was “Starting Community Building Programs with a Reluctant Executive” and brought together Jaime Pappas of EMC, David Alston of Radian 6, and Peter Kim of the stealth Dachis Corporation to share some of their experiences dealing with executives and community building programs.

Thanks to EMC for sponsoring the event and keeping us all fed!

(Left to Right: Jaime Pappas, David Alston, Peter Kim and Bob Collins)

(Left to Right: Jaime Pappas, David Alston and Peter Kim)

Via Steve Garfield

While I have always been very impressed by the lineup of speakers that Bryan Person, and now Bob Collins, puts together for these events, it is connecting with familiar faces in the crowd that makes these events so popular and successful.

Via Steve Garfield

There is yours truly hanging out right in the front row during the presentations.

The two things that stuck with me most were from David Alston and Peter Kim.

David talked about relating to executives by asking them what they would do if someone was on the street outside of your company’s building yelling into a megaphone “This Company Sucks!” How long would it take for your PR guy (or security) to come down and deal with them?  Ignoring the online community is just like ignoring the guy on your lawn, except when online, your megaphone is a whole lot bigger and louder.   David also reminded us that Google was everyone’s new home page – and that when people search for a Company – the first or most interesting search result may no longer be the Company website.

Peter Kim talked a lot about making business sense of social media and the short lifespan of CMOs. CMO tenure is down to almost 23 months, about half that of an average CEO’s tenure.   He also talked about the extra pressure on CMOs to justify the results of their spending and prove that marketing is actually delivering value to the business.

To check out other’s reactions to the event and what they got from it, check out the twitter stream for #smb9 or check out these posts from Peter Kim, Bryan Person, Gina, and Tangyslice.