Attend The Best Parts of BlogWorld for $25

Blogworld is the best networking event of the year in the social media industry. Come out and mingle on the opening night party this Wednesday night. Network with the who’s who of social media, the NY agency scene, bloggers, tech and more.

The opening night party, and all the parties, are free for Blogworld ticket holders.

But if you are not already attending, just buy a Blogworld exhibitor pass ($25 with coupon code SFVIP) to attend this opening night party, all other Blogworld parties, and get access to the Blogworld exhibitor floor. Register with coupon code at BlogWorldExpo.com.

BlogWorld NY Opening Night Party and Mixer

Join Us Wednesday Night at BlogWorld NY!

Sponsored by Ford Motor Company, Social Fresh, #CMMeetup and Social Media Club.

WHEN:
Wednesday, May 25th from 8:00pm-11:00pm

WHERE:
Hudson Terrace
621 West 46th Street
New York, NY 10036
(212) 315-9400

The ULTIMATE Blogworld NYC Cheatsheet For Marketers (2011)

I put together a Blogworld Guide For Marketers last year. It got tons of response and many people thanked me for pointing out some great sessions. So why not do it again?

The genesis of this post series came from Schneider Mike’s take on SXSW in 2010. Many people complained about the content, but Mike thought they just needed to work a little harder to find the good stuff. He was right.

In the spirit of making everyone’s Blogworld NYC 2011 experience better, here is my suggestions for “the good stuff.”

PS. If you do not have your tickets yet, head over to Social Fresh for our Blogworld free ticket giveaway.

9 BlogWorld Sessions For Marketers

These 9 sessions should fill up your notebook. Also, most of these sessions are focused early in the day. So if you need to get in late afternoon meetings, an early happy hour, some nice networking or all three, this should work for you just fine.

Make sure to sign up and save your schedule on the Blogworld Sched site.

And fair warning, I am highly recommending and highlighting my two sessions at Blogworld. I mean, it is my list after all.

TUESDAY, May 24th

1. Building Your Content Bubble
9:00AM to 10:00AM | Room: 1A08

David Murray of Regroup

Building your content bubble. This will help you understand the value of becoming a resource, and not just a news bulletin of your own messaging. This exercise will also get you thinking about not only what kind of content you should be providing, but how that content will really connect with people.

Takeaways:

1. How to increase traction and readership to your content
2. How to effectively communicate with people through your content
3. How to build a solid content foundation that will continue to grow

2. A New Influence, Anyone Can Become A New Media Giant
10:15AM to 11:15AM | Room: 1A08

Jason Keath of Social Fresh

Influence – a tricky topic that is definitely not new to marketing. From celebrity endorsements to modern blogger outreach, finding people who can help sway the consumer choice is a key toolset in advertising and public relations. What is new is the once gradual, and now rapid, shift in power from the few to the many, from the corporation to the consumer, and from the old media giants to the new media moms.

Takeaways:

1. Why you are thinking about influence wrong: influencers matter in more ways than you think
2. 12 influencer types and how to find them
3. How to build long term relationships with influencers that produce business results

Agencies and consultants need to take note of this shift, as new media relations will be a major product for social media service providers moving forward.

3. So You Want to Hire a Community Manager….
11:30AM to 12:30PM | Room: 1A06

Daniel Brostek, Lauren Vargas, Jim Storer, and David Spinks

Finding the right person to build, nurture and grow your community can be a challenge. Depending on the type of community and your goals, the necessary skills can vary widely. This panel of community strategists and practitioners will share their experiences and uncover strategies for hiring the right community manager for your community.

WEDNESDAY, May 25th

4. The Social Habit
9:00am – 10:00am | Room: 1Ao6

Tom Webster of Edison Research

This session will present new, unreleased data for 2011 on America’s adoption of social networking sites and services, with a detailed look at Facebook and Twitter usage, mobile social behavior, and location-based apps and services.

1. Attendees will be the first to learn new data on social networking, location-based services and mobile behaviors from one of America’s most credible national research series.
2. Attendees will also learn how the changes in mainstream adoption and usage of social media are going to impact the future of content creation and distribution, and will be presented with a number of actionable recommendations.
3. Particular attention will be paid to mobile social usage, and attendees will leave with specific strategies to take advantage of mobile social behaviors from one of the leading analysts in consumer research.

5. Leads, Subscribers, and Sales: Bringing Action to Business Blogs
10:30AM to 11:30AM | Room: 1A08

Paula Berg of Linhart PR, Kipp Bodnar Hubspot, Josh Hallett Voce Connect, and Tom Martin of Converse Digital

Many businesses create blogs with little thought, planning, or thought to how their content will drive business results. Blogging is often much more difficult than using platforms like Twitter and Facebook, but can still produce big business wins with the right planning and resources. Join this expert business blogging panel to discuss how to get the best traffic to your business blog and how, once you have them on the blog, you can funnel that traffic to the right calls to action.

6. Game Mechanics And The Future of Loyalty
2:30pm - 3:30pm | Room: 1A06

Chris Mahl of SCVNGR, Schneider Mike of Allen & Gerritsen, Rajat Paharia of Bunchball, and Jason Keath of Social Fresh

Gamification has taken off over the last couple years as much more than a gameplay toolset and is increasingly being used in marketing campaigns and online communities. This panel will pull together agency and vendor thought leaders on the topic and will answer these questions and more:

1. How have game mechanics been used in marketing to date?
2. What are the top business results that game mechanics can help drive for a business?
3. Does a business need to invest heavily in a large community or new tech to use game mechanics?
4. What types of businesses can benefit the most from integrating game mechanics?
5. What are the most common mistakes by marketers trying to leverage game mechanics?

7. Why Facebook News Feed Optimization (NFO) Matters to Marketers
3:45PM to 4:45PM | Room: 1A06

Bryan Person of LiveWorld, Chad Wittman of Edgerank Checker, Helen Todd, Dennis Yu of Webtrends

Stats show that 96% of Facebook users “Like” a fan Page and then never return. Instead, fans rely on the News Feed to show them the most relevant and interesting updates from the friends and businesses they’re connected to. As a marketer on Facebook, that means you HAVE to grab your fans’ attention in the News Feed to stay relevant. We’ll explore how you do just that in our panel discussion.

THURSDAY, May 26th

8. Developing a Digital Crisis Communications Plan
9:00AM to 10:00AM | Room: 1A08

Justin Levy of Citrix

During this session, attendees will understand why developing a digital crisis communications plan is vital for their businesses, even if not on an international scale, and how social media measuring tools can be used as the centerpiece of
their planning.  Topics that will be discussed include:

1. Forming your Digital Crisis Communications Team – who should be included
2. Developing an Escalation and Contact Flowchart – determine who needs to be notified and when
3. Developing guidelines for what constitutes a crisis, sample responses and what should not be responded to
4. Building teams to support in local language(s)
5. Developing a monitoring schedule
6. What needs to be reported, when and how often
7. How a digital crisis communications plan integrates into an overall communications plan

9. The Brand Guide to Facebook’s New iframe Tabs
11:30AM to 12:30PM | Room: 1A06

Justin Kistner of Webtrends

The tabs on fan pages are an essential Facebook marketing tool. They are not only great for adding custom content for fans to discover, but they are ideal landing pages for Facebook ad campaigns. Now that Facebook has updated tabs to be iframes, it provides new opportunities and challenges for marketers.

—-

What sessions did I miss?

Add your sessions or sessions you think would be valuable for marketers in the comments.

Look forward to seeing you at the event. If you want more tips from me, run into me at Blogworld by following my Foursquare checkins or Twitter updates.

Vinyl album sales are up 25% in 2011

Milestones Matter But Not That Much

It is easy to get addicted to numbers. Especially in social media. And reach milestones is an important part of staying motivated and inspired. Even if your goals are arbitrary, it is better than having no goals.

In the last week Social Fresh has reached quite a few milestones.

• 5,000th fan on Facebook
• 10,000th follower on Twitter
• One of the top 50,000 websites in the world by traffic

I am psyched about these numbers in a lot of ways. A year ago, when Social Fresh decided to not just be an event company and relaunched our blog, these types of numbers were not in my sights.

A year ago we wanted to move our growing community from physical events around the country to a bustling online community that helps individuals to help each other through education, networking and inspiration. And these numbers are a big sign that we have traveled a long way toward that goal. I would say, about halfway.

Why Milestones Are Not Everything

But milestones are pretty meaningless if the business itself is not sound. If these numbers are not making you money or saving you money or somehow getting you awareness for your business, then they might as well be Monopoly Money.

I have learned a lot in the last year of running Social Fresh. Here are some of the lessons that I am very cognizant of today, all thanks to the thousands of community members that support our growing Social Fresh community every day.

Lessons Learned

Do business with people you like

I trust my gut instinct on people more than anything. I am not right 100% of them time. Nobody is. But more times than not, if you like someone, you are better off doing business with them than someone you dislike.

I have had opportunities to do business with companies and people I did not like personally. People that I may have had a bad gut feeling about. These were all professional relationships that would have been profitable for me, but I turned down. I think, in the long run, doing business with people you like is more profitable.

Email is king

Social networks abound and getting followers and likes and fans are worthy goals if gone about in the right way. But social networks can come and go. RSS is fleeting and a small audience.

Teach people something

People are willing to pay for education. They want to advance their own learning, their business, their community. Teach them something unique from proven lessons and they will return the value.

Partnerships are everything

Your own business and your own ideas can only get you so far. Teaming up with the right strategic partners, even competitors, can accelerate everything you do.

Have an online product from day one

If you are producing content or doing anything in social media connected to your business, give people a way to support you with money. Even if it is just a donation. If people like what you are doing, a percentage of them will want to help you out. Let them.

Let people know how you make money

Social Fresh makes money from our events mainly. From attendees that pay an average of $250 to $300 to attend and our sponsors who pay between $1,500 and $20,000.

We sell sponsored listings on our new social media directory from $300 to $1000 a month. And we are launching a paid social media training community later this month, prices TBA.

All of our revenue channels are tied to training and networking, helping other professionals better their businesses.

This builds trust. When I meet people that I am unsure of how they make a living or how their company makes its money, there is a trust barrier. I become suspicious. Even hiding your pricing can do this.

—-

Milestones are nice little rewards and reminders along the way. We never get tired of them. And we are never satiated by them. The larger lessons are more important to keep top of one’s mind.

Sometimes brilliant creative tells the whole story

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