As with all 1st events in a new year, you hope that you not only see loyal faces, but new faces. In San Diego, we’ve been having such great turnouts from both loyal and new folks; that I know 2010 is going to be a year to grow. I hope everyone out there reading this feels the same way, no matter what geographic area you reside. This session we took the opportunity to thank Erin Levenson for all her hard work in helping organize speakers, sponsors and content for SMBSD. She has officially started her new role as mommy and I know she’ll be back soon! So Social Media Breakfast San Diego #11 featured our same session framework:
- Good Morning Message – introducing new attendees and how they heard about the breakfast
- Top 10 in 10 – Ten newsworthy trends, apps, services, products, technologies, celebrities that fall within the social media sphere
- Featured Speaker – 20-30 minutes of sharing their story, case study, how-to’s, lessons learned and time for Q&A
- Active Social Project Updates – Our group donates its time to a local nonprofit to help them understand and define their social media strategy; sometimes building tools they need as well
- Feedback in 5 – A time to ask questions, talk about your challenges; leveraging the knowledge of the group to identify solutions
Session #11 featured Jimmy, founder of CARBONita Detail based in La Jolla, CA. What struck me about Jimmy, was his passion for making “green” a part of his business as well as his mission for helping families enjoy their vehicles all over again. Jimmy talked about how social media took him from door-to-door salesman to doubling his customers just from Twitter. His success came from:
- Educating customers
- Providing a clear value proposition
- Offering a sustainable business model that embraced “environmental-friendly” operations
- Not just entering, but creating conversations via Twitter
- Being real and having a voice within a defined niche like auto detailing
CARBONita is an eco-friendly auto detailing company, based in La Jolla, California. The best part is it’s mobile. If you’re in La Jolla or the surrounding area, at your home or office; you can rest assured your vehicle is getting the love it deserves while keeping a minimal carbon footprint. Connect with Jimmy at twitter.com/CARBONitaDetail
After Jimmy answered questions, we started the infamous TOP 10 in 10 and here is some content from that:
- Foursquare – How many of you checked in today? Now it’s not city-specific. GPS-enabled phones can enter new venues easier. So some nice marketing features baked into the app right? Unlocking badges, which potentially could be event-specific, sponsored, etc. City Leaderboards. Potential gold mine for local marketing and advertising? What do you think?
- Dell – So just because Twitter has no revenue model, doesn’t mean Dell is missing out. Revealing they made $3M via their DellOutlet Twitter account. So they started off by “listening” and ended up moving the sales process to a channel that offered quicker access. Is that good for Dell.com? Does that cannibalize their sales?
- Powered purchases the competition – The acquisitions of Crayon, StepChange & Drillteam cover mobile marketing, strategy, branded online communities and social networks like Facebook. As the market picks up, will consolidation and acquisitions continue? Who’s next? Is there a super group in San Diego in the near future?
- Pimp Your Page – If Facebook marketing starts with having a Fan page, what apps are critical to have? Here are 2 I found useful:
- Flashplay – lets you add any Flash elements to your page
- Static FBML – Adds box to your page where you can render HTML and FBML to customize experience.
- Hootsuite raises $1.9M – Founder says it’s on its way to becoming the leading social media dashboard. What do you think? @MrsKutcher uses Tweetdeck though …
- Tila Tequila Too Far? Tila tweeted over 160 times after her fiance past away, sharing intimate personal stories and having Larry King segment canceled.
- Jersey Shore – A lesson in content marketing or bust? From video spoofs, Jersey Shore name generators, tweets, events; MTV package characters, controversy and conversation to create a buzz. (http://www.unlikelywords.com/2009/12/08/jersey-shore-nickname-generator/) (http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/4d2ebc8f52/alyssa-milano-s-evolution-jersey-shore)
- CES Gets Social – Skype and Panasonic ink a deal to have video conferencing on your living room HDTV. Toys controlled by iPhone featuring augmented reality game. The buzz/conversations were endless. Anyone at CES? What was the most interesting new toy?
- Twitter provides keyhole into 7.0 earthquake in Haiti – With hundreds of photos captured and shared via Twitter and Facebook; people saw glimpses of the destruction. Is this type of usage a predecessor for apps that can help during disaster relief from pinpointing the worst areas to locating loved ones?
- Coca Cola’s Social Media Policy – 3 pages and to the point.
Updates about our Active Social Project: Think Together
- Social Media Strategy & Planning Sessions completed
- Porting blog over to Wordpress platform
- Connect with ThinkTogether on Twitter
SMBSD will be taking new nominations for its Active Social Project in February.
You can connect with SMBSD via: Twitter | Our Community | UStream (every session is live & recorded)