Social Media Events

Feb 24

What I learned from Guy Kawasaki

Sharing new concepts learned at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration – Part 1

Picture credit to Jeannet Kaplun

Holy Kow!
I must admit that I’ve had an admiration for Guy Kawasaki but always knew that he didn’t have the style I wanted to pursue for myself nor my clients. However, I was genuinely curious to hear about his ways of using Twitter. Guess what? I ended up learning a ton from Guy and totally changed my perception of him. Here’s what I found most relevant:

It’s ok to use ghosts as long as you’re transparent. Often we’re under the impression that we must do it all when it comes to our social media presence for the business. At that point it’s better if we close the shop and stay on our pajamas writing blogs and engaging with every single comment that comes our way. Then come the bills!! It’s ok to delegate and be transparent about it. Guy gave excellent examples of what he delegates: The staff will do the research, look for killer content relevant to his communities and target audience, edit some publications, manage his brand accounts, monitors traffic, sentiments and so forth. Not ok to make people believe your secretary is actually you!

Take a practical approach: I’m in love of Guy’s definition of the CyberNazis: “poor SEO expert who goes in life telling people that he knows how Google works and really has no clue about what he’s doing” the he added: “most likely still leaving with his mom and spends most of his time playing video games and dictating to people the right way to use social media”. I found that to be so true. It’s ok to have the humility to know that people are not waiting for your little tweet all day long. So set-up some automatic tweets. Guy uses Objective Marketer and TwitterFeed to do that. Here I’m not too sure about the numbers, Guy sends 25 links 4 times a day. I’ve done it twice since the conference and my traffic has actually gone from 540 to an average of 1010 per post. So it really works. I have the temptation to go up to 3 times, but it totally embarrasses me. The best idea is to do it at different times of the day. Usually the people who are around 7 am are not the same folks who join the evening Twitter parties or chats. So the same applies to the afternoon crowd, usually young moms who have their toddlers napping or business owners who have already taken care of morning business and are managing email inboxes, @replies, LinkedIn connections and so forth. Give me your advice on this one.
Use of powerful tools. I love it when the pros share their secret tools. Here is a list from Guy: Stumbleupon, Prosterous (I just started that one today. Check it out) MyAlltop (love the one created for LATISM) and Friendfeed. If you remember any other I might have missed, please add it here.

I ended up learning so much that I’m even harvesting some fruits already. I hope you can also put some of these lessons into practice. And please share your thoughts about how often we should push our own content to the networks.

Feb 08

Social Media Event – Disney Conference for Moms

Case Study, Large Business, Social Media Events, Social Media for Business 11 Comments »

As you know, I try to cover social media events on Mondays since I strongly think these are corner stone to any business owner and consultant who is taking social media seriously. Today will be special since I will talk about the Social Media Conference for Moms at Disney World. While I’ll be covering the actual details in a fun way from my new personal blog: Fantasticos4, I would like to talk about the actual conference from a business and branding perspective here.

The Target: what better target audience than the social media professionals who are moms. You know what that means right? it’s an automatic buzz. The Disney message will be spread in words, pictures, videos and all kinds of human interaction.

The Message: I find really important that the message is not Disney, instead it will be social media. Here is a company gathering a group of mavens with their families and instead of asking each one to write a blog review, they just let them experience the magic.

The Messengers: here is what made me go crazy about this event. The speakers aren’t only the mommy bloggers (who I love and respect highly). The speakers here are Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki. These are high level social media professionals well respected in the field.

There is no doubt that Disney is bringing value, giving value and sharing value. The investment on this event probably costs a third of a typical TV spot. However the impact will be really significant. I think this is a great case study and example of how a brand uses social media to spread the message, increase engagement around its products/services and create a relevant buzz that not only is genuine but will also last the entire year.

Disclosure: I will be part of the conference for a symbolic prize and also have development relationships with the Disney Company. However, the opinions expressed here are my own.

Tagged with: Social Media Events

Feb 01

The Workforce and Social Media

Community, Social Media, Social Media Events 9 Comments »

Today I’ve been invited to participate in a blogtalk discussion about the current reality of the work/life situation in Latino families. I would like to invite you all to join me if you are a Latino(a) or if your business has a Hispanic target and/or Latino(a) employees.

This discussion is part of a “Wake Up” series organized by Fem2.0 where different work/life realities are being discussed every day for two weeks. Mine will take place at 1:00 PM today and you can join us by clicking here:

Why is this important? Mainly because the Latino workforce has been affected the most du ring the recession. Read more in this excellent article written by Jose E. Cruz and Jackie Hayes at State University: Workforce Development and its impact on Latinos in New York State

As a consequence, the Latino workforce is changing face. Now many “Latinas are bringing home the bacon” (which is the title of today’s episode). But as Herman Guaracao, the CEO of Al Dia News told me “No solo de Bacon vive el hombre” (Man does not live on “bacon” alone). So we must find a proper work-family balance.

Finally I would like to share my two cents for those who are still looking for work. Social media can be a great tool. 3 out of every 4 Americans uses social media in some form or another, as does 2/3 of the world’s population. That’s a big audience and if you are willing to put yourself out there, you can really make a splash! However, there is more to promoting yourself on social media than simply posting “I need a job”. Here is how you can sell yourself:

Step One: Connect

Chances are you have a list of places you would love to work. See if they are on Twitter or Facebook and then follow them. Often, when a company is looking to hire, they will put out feelers before actually posting a job and if they are active in social media, you’ll be the first to hear about it. Don’t just follow the company . . . look at the main players and follow them.

Instead of just jumping in and asking for a job, build relationships. After all, who would you consider hiring to mow your lawn, the kid next door who hangs out at your place every Saturday or the perfect stranger who shows up on your doorstep? Take the time to get to know people before you ask them if there are any openings in their company.

Step Two: Show Them What You Can Do

Even if you are the best qualified applicant for the job, you have virtually no chance of getting it if you can’t prove that. By letting potential employers know that you are indeed an expert in your field, you’ll get ahead of the competition.

This can be done in several ways. First of all, you should make your knowledge known on social media sites by interacting with others in the same field and linking to interesting and relevant articles. On Twitter, re-tweet people who make good points about your profession.

A blog can also be useful for showcasing your talent. If it doesn’t come across that well in writing, start making videos and getting them up on YouTube, then have friends bookmark them, tweet them. The same applies to inserting pictures in your blog to show you “in action”. You’ll soon realize that your blog places you on top of the competition who only have a resume to share. And speaking of resumes, don’t forget to add your blog link to your resume, business cards, personal website, twitter account and everywhere. You’ll be surprised how employers prefer to look at a blog before they move on to read the 70th resume on their pile.

Step Three: Ask for the Job

Once you have established yourself as someone who is confident and knowledgeable, it’s time to move in for the kill. By this point, you should have established relationships on social media sites with several potential employers. Now is the time to start asking them for work.

When you do this, make sure it’s a personal message, don’t just send out a mass mailing. You’re far more likely to net a job if you target the specific person you are asking to hire you.

Selling yourself on social media might be a little frightening at first, but the truth is, it is very similar to networking face to face. Play your cards right and you could have a new job sooner than you think.

JJZDYX5TUMAZ

Tagged with: job hunting in social media • latino workforce • Social Media

Jan 04

2010 Social Media Events

Social Media Events 8 Comments »

As many of you know, every Monday I try to focus on social media events. I cannot say enough about the importance to attend conferences and events. The earlier you plan your attendance, the easier it will be to find a good sponsorship deal (for businesses) or a sponsor (for consultants). So start planning your 2010 event participation now.

Since this is the first Monday of the year, I would like to point you the Big Four. Yes, by the Big Four I mean the top social media events that happen throughout the year. If you are serious about investing on an event for sponsorship, learning or speaking opportunity, you will want to consider one of these:

South By South West: This is the largest web conference in the US. They have three sections: Music, Film and Interactive. This year, the Interactive will take place from March 12 to 16 in Austin, TX

Where 2.0: If you want to be on the edge of social media, this is The Conference to attend. Most of the new ideas, concepts and technologies are first introduced here, then to the world. This year, it will take place from March 30 to April 1 in San Jose, CA

BlogHer: This annual conference brings together the most influential women of the nation. It is also a fantastic opportunity to make great connections and bond with bloggers and brand managers in your niche. This year BlogHer will come to New York City from August 6 to 7.

BlogWorld: The name here doesn’t describe the essence of this conference. It has evolved beyond blogging to pod-casting, vlogging, mobile technologies and everything related to empowering the individual to own and manage his or her space. It provides an amazing learning opportunity and guaranteed fun. They haven’t announced the 2010 dates, but it usually happens in October in Las Vegas. I’ll keep you posted.

Once you select among your Big Four, don’t forget about the smaller conferences throughout the year. Again, I try my best to keep a comprehensive list here. If you know of any, please share the information. You can add the event yourself and indicate if you are looking for speakers. I also encourage you to become active in your local social media clubs, local blogging communities, and meetups. The best way to be efficient online is when we combine our relationship building capacity with off-line activities.

Did I miss any big event? Would you recommend any other?

Nov 10

Journey to #SM2DAY

Social Media Events 3 Comments »

Here is the story about #SM2DAY and how it came about. I am also using Whrrl for the first time and think it’s a great tool. You can update Twitter and Facebook while you create your story. It gives an amazing sense of continuity, solving the feeling of disconnected thoughts that I often find in micro-blogging. The best part is their iPhone application, where you can create real-time stories on the go. Great job guys, you just gained a new fan here.

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