As companies everywhere dive headfirst into their 2013 marketing plans, I’m sure a social program is included on everyone’s agenda. How do you get your message out effectively, via which social platforms and how do you get your audience engaged in conversation? What should you be tracking and what tools should you be using to make it a success? Whether you’re a beginner or a veteran, social platforms are developing so quickly it can be hard to keep up. Check out the events and conferences coming up in 2013 that could help with your social media endeavors, and feel free to comment with others that we may have missed. After all, it’s about being social, right?
Social Media Marketing World – April 7-9, San Diego, CA
Social Media Marketing World 2013 will combine high-quality 
sessions with an amazing social experience. You’ll rub shoulders with the biggest names and brands in social media, soak up countless tips and new strategies, and enjoy extensive networking opportunities in San Diego, California. Connect face-to-face with top social media marketing experts while breaking bread with like-minded peers from around the globe.
Event Twitter Handle: @smexaminer
Event Hashtag: #SMMW13
BlogWell – April 17, New York, NY
BlogWell features 8 great case studies on the best social media programs at large corporations. This year’s case study presentations will be given by:
- Verizon: Learn how Verizon uses social media to connect with their customers.
- Walgreens: Learn how Walgreens builds internal collaboration and employee relationships through social media.
- ComEd: Learn how ComEd used social media to turn one of the hottest summers ever into the “Coolest Summer Ever” in 2012.
- TD Bank: Learn how TD Bank is becoming a social business by engaging employees and connecting customers with experts.
- Wendy’s: Learn how Wendy’s uses social media listening to make business decisions.
- Corning: Learn how Corning is getting the attention of their fans using social media.
- Sanofi: Learn how the U.S. affiliate of this global pharmaceutical company engages diabetes patients through social media.
- Walmart: Learn how Walmart uses data to build better social media strategies.
Event Hashtag: #blogwell
The Social Media Strategies Summit – April 23-24, Chicago, IL
Social Media Strategies Summit has been designed to apply to a variety of industries. In an effort to meet attendees’ learning objectives, it is built in six tracks, each outlined to focus on a particular industry. Each track includes sessions focused on the following categories: corporate case studies; community engagement and customer service; measurements, including analytics, ROI and tools; sales approach; legal risks & strategies; and marketing strategies & tactics.
Event Twitter Handle: @GSMIonline
Event Hashtag: #smssummit
iStrategy Global Digital and Social Media Conference – April 23-24, Miami, FL
Join North America's most forward-thinking digital marketers, social media mavens and online experts as they converge on Miami in April 2013 to discuss the future of digital marketing and share strategies for improving customer engagement, driving conversions and developing campaigns that positively ring with authenticity, relevancy and significance. Speakers, panelists and workshops will be lead on the following topics:
- Social media
- Mobile marketing and applications
- Display advertising
- Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC)
- Email marketing, database marketing and customer relationship management (CRM)
- Web analytics
- E-commerce
- Content strategy including video, viral and blogs
Event Twitter Handle: @iStratBuzz
Event Hashtag: #iStrategy
The Social Media Strategies Summit June 12-13, New York, New York
Social Media Strategies Summit has been designed to apply to a variety of industries. In an effort to meet attendees’ learning objectives, it is built in six tracks, each outlined to focus on a particular industry. Each track includes sessions focused on the following categories: corporate case studies; community engagement and customer service; measurements, including analytics, ROI and tools; sales approach; legal risks & strategies; and marketing strategies & tactics.
Event Twitter Handle: @GMSIonline
Event Hashtag: #smssummit
Pivot Conference – October 15-16, New York, New York
Pivot is not a social media conference, or even a traditional conference at all. Pivot is as close to a true social community of powerful leaders as a physical gathering can be. In our incisive on-stage conversations, the speakers contribute to the audience, the audience contributes to the speakers and everyone contributes to one another. All Pivot’s participants are leaders of social initiatives from major brands and the organizations that serve them. The result is a singularity that defines the heart of social for the year ahead.
Event Twitter Handle: @pivotcon
Event Hashtag: #pivotcon
Posted by
Ali Smith on Wed, Feb 01, 2012 @ 08:03 AM
When faced with one minute on the internet, how much can you get done?
This week I came across a great infographic from web design firm Go-Globe.com (see it full size here) on things that happen on the internet every 60 seconds. It is AMAZING how much happens in such a small amount of time – there are almost 700,000 Google searches, 60 new blogs started and 13,000 iPhone apps downloaded.
They got such a great response to their first infographic they put together part 2 that shows that 232 computers are infected with malware, 38 tons of e-waste is generated and 1,100 acres of land are farmed in Farmville!
It’s amazing to see the number of useful (and time wasting) things we do in one minute – could you imagine being the recipient of all 168 million emails?
– Ali Robinson
Yesterday was my two year anniversary on Foursquare.
Two years in, I'm a "Level 1" Superuser, I've accumulated 2230 check-ins, 59 badges and my seven day high for points is 285. I currently hold five mayorships, at prestigious places like my local Starbucks and bank, and a couple random places I've only visited two or three times (perhaps underscoring that I'm the only person to have ever checked-in there). I lost the mayorship at my dry cleaner a couple weeks ago, which, as you can imagine, was pretty upsetting.
Two years in, I've realized I've never once received a tangible benefit from using Foursquare.
On its homepage, Foursquare lays out its key benefits:
- Keep up with friends
- Discover what's nearby
- Save money and unlock rewards
Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, two years in, even as a regular user with 186 "connections" (94 "friends," 92 "brands") on the app, I really haven't seen any of these come to fruition.
Sure, I can scroll through my list of friends to see where they've checked-in recently, but I've yet to see a friend's check-in that caused me to go meet them someplace. Sure, I might read "Sally is @ Ray's Hell Burger" and think to myself that I too should go there soon for one of Ray's famous burgers, but I wouldn't stop what I was doing to go find Sally there. And in my experience, Foursquare is nowhere near as powerful as Facebook or Twitter for keeping up with my friends (including knowing where they are). If I'm at a conference, it's pseudo-interesting to see if anyone I'm connected to is also there, but truthfully I'd rather use the conference hashtag on Twitter to see who's there and have viable conversations with other attendees.
I've also never "discovered" a new place nearby because of Foursquare. If I'm in a new city or looking for a new place to go, I still fall back on Google Maps (searching for things like "restaurants near [insert location]"), Yelp, or other local review sites to help me find new places. And going back to a place like Ray's Hell Burger, if I really want to know which burger people recommend as best, I'll again go to Yelp or check out a food critic's opinion before I even think to scroll through tips on Foursquare.
All that aside, saving money and unlocking rewards sounds like it should be the best part of Foursquare! Foursquare even has a robust Merchant Platform that makes it simple for businesses to offer specials. According to Foursquare, some of their most successful merchant promotions include:
- A discount with purchase (something like, 'spend $50 and get $10 off'). A great way to push your sales higher.
- Something for free (for example, 'enjoy a free dessert if you buy an appetizer and main course'). These are often low cost and high impact.
- Special treatment (one of our favorites at a zoo: 'check in on foursquare for private access to the penguin feeding'). These have no cost and create a great connection.
- Reward your best customers (the classic Special is, "free coffee on your fifth visit'). It's like a digital punchcard.
These all sound great. But from the user point of view, obtaining these benefits isn't exactly easy. Easily, 90 percent of the time I've tried to cash in a Foursquare special offer, the employees on hand have never heard of the special offer, and look at me quizzically when I try explaining what Foursquare is in the first place. And I'm not the only one who's had this issue. There's probably an easy way to "report" vendors who don't honor their promotions, but that feels like a lot of effort and I actually have no idea how to do that.
Of course, Foursquare has a long roster of merchants who have benefited from special offers, and there are folks like Scoble who absolutely love Foursquare.
I'm not going to give up on Foursquare completely, but if I'm checking-in I'll probably be doing so for vanity instead of trying to find any tangible benefits. Obviously, I'm hoping to get the mayorship at my dry cleaner back ASAP.
So, what say you, Foursquare fanatics? What am I missing and what should I do differently before my third anniversary?
-Stephanie