Creating an inclusive social media event
Jan 30th
A few years ago, I was speaking at a social media event in New York. A student wrote me and said, “I would love to come to meet you but I can’t afford the $375 ticket!”
I ended up working out a “scholarship” for this young person to attend but I started thinking about the chronic problems on the social media event circuit:
- The tickets are so expensive, excluding many students, young professionals, and those in career transition who really need to attend the event. And because the events are usually in New York or L.A., the travel and hotel costs can also be significant.
- Networking opportunities were limited. The speakers took the stage and then escaped to their lounge or the airport.
- It seemed like every event had the same people over and over again. Chris Brogan. Guy Kawasaki. Gary V. Aren’t there any new voices we need to be hearing from?
- There is a “glass ceiling” on the circuit. Unless you are an A-Lister or conduct an aggressive popularity campaign to get voted on to a SXSW panel, you simply had no opportunity to be invited to speak at a major event, no matter how worthy your ideas.
I just don’t think that all social media events should be so elitist. So I decided to do something about it. With the help of dozens of volunteers and the extraordinary efforts of the Social Media Club of Knoxville, I helped found Social Slam, an inclusive social media event. It has been a tremendous success. In our inaugural year we sold out three weeks before the event and had 430 attendees from 17 states and Canada. This year we are raising the attendance level to 600 — and I don’t want you to miss this event on April 27!
This is what is different about Social Slam:
- This is the best social media educational value in America. By far. Every person involved in the event — including the speakers — is volunteering their time. That allows us to keep our costs low and offer a rock bottom ticket price of $79, a fraction of what you would pay anywhere else. This is a conference built from the heart, not to fatten a wallet.
- But that’s not all. With the help of our sponsors, for that low ticket price you also get breakfast, lunch, an after party, a free book, and other valuable benefits. We’ve even created a special $99 hotel deal. So you can literally drive or fly to Knoxville, stay over night to enjoy our parties, and attend this event for less than it would take to buy a single ticket to any other event!
- Networking is a priority. The speakers are generally available to meet all day. Time is built in to the program to meet new friends and share ideas.
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Knoxville TN, Home of Social Slam 2012
We are featuring world-class speakers including Mitch Joel, Gini Dietrich, and Tom Webster (and you might even hear from me!) but we’ll also feature some amazing, fresh new voices like multi-media whiz Stephanie Wonderlin, blogging sensation Stanford Smith, and content marketing tornado Marcus Sheridan. Where else will you hear inspiring presentations on the spirituality of social media, or how social media saved a bankrupt business?
- The event is held in a park-like setting (actually it IS a park) at the beautiful Knoxville Convention Center. Everybody gets an electrical outlet and the wifi will work!
The Internet was built by volunteers. Our favorite apps like Wikipedia were built by volunteers. Now, the best social media conference in America is built by volunteers too. Come see for yourself. I can’t wait to meet you there!
Everything you need to know is here: www.soslam.com
A glimpse of the next generation of social media entrepreneurs
Nov 1st
By Neicole Crepeau, Contributing {grow} Columnist
One of my children attends a private school that is offering a new class called “The Evolution of Society.’ I recently had the opportunity to sit in on this class and if the kids in this course are any indication, watch out! The next generation of entrepreneurs is going to rock the world!
The idea was to create a class that would give students the tools to understand the current baseline for technology and where technology could take society in the next 30 years. As the instructor pointed out, when we were growing up, “The new ideas weren’t so different from what our parents experienced. Now, there are big differences between the lessons our parents learned, the concepts they understood, and the current world.” In other words, what kids see as de facto, we don’t.
Among the topics covered in this class of ninth through twelfth graders:
- The freemium economy. You can get a lot for free these days, like a gmail account or an online game account. To kids, free is just part of life. They still need to understand the hidden costs, like advertising or the inevitable upsell. Likewise, while free, distributed media is their main source of content, ideally, they understand how that content is shaped and what influences the messages it conveys. Why do companies give you these free services? What’s the business model? When and where does it begin to cost you?
- The class went through, in detail, the recent Netflix letter apologizing for their pricing change, to analyze the real agenda behind the letter. They asked questions such as was it preplanned, and what were the business and marketing strategies behind it?
- The history of open source and how open source techniques are being used.
- The new currency of the web: attention and reputation.
- Social media tools. What originally attracted me to learn more about the class is that students were required to open a Twitter account and tweet daily as part of their homework. The last third of the trimester, these kids are exploring social media, including specific social networks like Facebook and Twitter, how they are changing, and how they are used by business.
The final class project is to propose a solution, using social media and technology, for the question “How might we redesign the work students do outside of class time to be more interesting, balanced, effective and engaging?” (a question the kids came up with). To do that, the students work in groups of three to create personas of their target users, do research to understand the users’ goals and needs, and then brainstorm solutions to come up with a proposal.
Let’s think about what these kids are learning in high school:
- That you start designing solutions by gaining a deep understanding of your customers and their goals and needs. That’s a lesson that many of today’s marketers are still struggling to learn.
- How to conduct user research and develop personas: the basics of user-centered design taught in college programs.
- The most current and cutting-edge economic models for online content and programs. I.e. how to make money on the internet.
- How companies target customers, how they gather information about people via their actions online, and how they shape and distribute their messages to reach those customers.
- Social media and the directions the various networks are evolving.
If you could design a class for young entrepreneurs, this would be it. These kids are going to walk into college understanding how businesses design and market products. They’re starting their college career with the basic tools of the entrepreneur. I can’t wait to see what happens when these students hit the marketplace!
Neicole Crepeau a blogger at Coherent Social Media and the creator of CurateXpress, a content curation tool. She works at Coherent Interactive on social media, website design, mobile apps, & marketing. Connect with Neicole on Twitter at @neicolec
7 Ideas for Advanced Social Media Education
Oct 18th
For the past three years I have been teaching college or graduate level classes in social media marketing. Executives are clamoring for the next level of education in this area and so I’ve been wondering … what would an Advanced Social Media Class look like?
What new skills and ideas would go into the next level of social media education? Where do we go beyond the basic frameworks and strategies?
This is a real, live opportunity and I would love to have your input. In fact PLEASE help out with your ideas in the comment section. Let me prime the pump … here are some ideas I might include in an advanced social media class:
The politics of social media. Many companies are “checking a box” and doing social media (i.e. “we have a Facebook page”) but they are not being social because they have not adapted their traditional broadcasting culture to one that is real-time and reactive. Making the cultural change to really connect with stakeholders at the point of need is extremely difficult and it has to start at the top. Tactics to do this would make for an interesting class, don’t you think? How do you organize to optimize?
Internal applications — Last year I predicted that internal applications for social media would be the next big wave of opportunity for large companies and based on some of the successes we’re seeing this is probably coming true. Yet, this is an under-developed topic in most traditional discussions on social media. I think an exploration of how companies are realizing measurable returns on these programs would be energizing.
Exploring the Digital Divide — I’ve been touring North America with a new speech about the digital layers between companies and customers. A few years ago, every customer interaction was only between real people. Then as we started dumping customer self-service functions on to a website, we created the first digital divide between ourselves and our customers. Today, many customers prefer to be met in the social space instead of a website, creating a second digital divide and further fragmenting marketing efforts. In my speech I articulate four more layers beyond social media and we will need to meet customer needs in all these spaces. I’m working on a blog post on this topic but am having trouble keeping it short!
Return on Influence – In the post “Why Klout Matters” I presented an argument that the ability to create content, move it virally on the social web, and measure reactions to that activity represents an unprecedented opportunity. In the history of sociology, psychology, political science, and marketing, we have never been able to measure this thing called influence. Current measurements like Klout are imperfect, but they are good enough for companies like Disney, Audi, and American Express to use in new word-of-mouth influencer campaigns. This is a big deal and certainly something that should be included in an advanced class.
Integration — Combining social opportunities with traditional advertising seems like the next evolution in marketing but for reasons I don’t totally understand, it’s not gaining traction as fast as I thought it would. I remember watching the Super Bowl ads last year and thinking, “OK, this is going to be the breakthrough event for social and traditional integration,” but there was nothing. Literally nothing. In fact, has there been anything that comes close to the brilliant Old Spice initiative? Are companies keeping these efforts siloed? What are some case studies and best practices?
Beyond Business Marketing — I think it would be interesting to examine social media best practices in areas like HR, PR, politics, government, education, and non-profits. Could probably spend a whole day just on that. There are enormous opportunities in all of these areas.
International — The biggest brands are leaning hard into regional social media platforms such as Renren, Grono and Mixi. How do you navigate the increasingly complex world of fragmented national, regional … even local … sites?
OK, it’s your turn! If you attended a class in advanced social media considerations, what topics would you want to explore?
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