Feb 24

What I learned from Guy Kawasaki

Social Media, Social Media Events 40 Comments »

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.

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Feb 08

Social Media Event – Disney Conference for Moms

Case Study, Large Business, Social Media Events, Social Media for Business 12 Comments »

I'm Going: Social Media Moms Celebration

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.

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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.
More stories at Memorial Art Gallery
Powered by Whrrl
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Sep 01

Social Media Events in 2009

Social Media Events 6 Comments »

I would like to introduce you to the Social Media Event List. The main scope here is to gather in one place all the social media events, summits and conventions taking place out there. This list can be used by event organizers who can add their own events, call for speakers, provide a brief description of the event and much more. Social Media professionals from beginners to the more seasoned folks can sort (by clicking on the column title) events by speakers, location, date, organizer and price. You can even rate events based on past experience with the organizer or speaker.
Thank you all for submitting your events. Just like before, this new list only makes sense if you keep adding and rating the events.

Here is the list:  http://premiersocialmedia.com/?e=view
So, what do you think of this list? What else should I add to it? Have I missed an event?

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Aug 04

Social Media Events

Social Media Events 4 Comments »

I am one day behind on the guide since yesterday, I spent the day working on the blog. I am still changing to Disqus comments and in the meantime, I have lost all previous comments (thank God I saved them all).   There will be new changes going live today so I hope you will notice them.

We have 7 new Social Media events added to the list.  Thank you all for sending me information about your events.  This list is made possible thanks to your contribution.  As always, if I missed any event, please feel free to add a comment to point it out. You can also @tweet me, or send a facebook/email/linkedin message. 
This week, I would like to highlight the Hyatt4Good Tweetup Tour events organized by Mashable. I think the best use of Social Media is when it used for a greater cause. These events are an answer to this. Please join them when they stop near your city and support the cause.

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Jul 27

Great Social Media Events To Participate

Social Media Events 4 Comments »

Loyal to our Monday tradition, here is a renewed list of Social Media events for the remaining of 2009.  There are 8 new events on the list so if you are a usual reader, please update your download with this one.  The highlights of this week are:

1) LATISM Heritage Tour: The first national conference that will bring the best Latinos in Social Media together with private businesses and non-profit organizations that target the hispanic market.  If you are a Latino Social Media professional or a marketing professional, you must be a part of this event.

2) On Wednesday, Trivera Interactive will have a “Full day of hands-on learning” in Milwaukee.  The Keynote Speaker will be Jay Stinfeld, CEO of Blinds.com who turned a start up window business he built with $3000 into a $50 million company using social media best practice.  If you are in the area, this is a must go.

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Jul 20

Social Media Events Update

Social Media Events 3 Comments »

Thank you for holding up the traffic while I took a little time off to have my baby! We are now back on track and ready to roll.
Our Monday Post is always related to the Social Media Events out there. If you are a Social Media Professional, or a Business Marketer, you certainly want to participate in one event at least every couple of months to “sharpen the saw”. Social Media is such a new field that constant learning and networking is a must.
Today, I would like to highlight two events this week:  

First The Social Communications & Healthcare – Case Studies & Roundtables. It will take place on Thursday in New York City. A must for Healthcare Professionals and marketing managers in the pharmaceutical arena. 

Second The 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference in Napa & Sonoma, California.  This is a great opportunity for Winery Bloggers & New Media Innovators who work int he world of blogging and social media.  The Open Wine Consortium is offering a discount to citizen bloggers and wine-industry bloggers.  This event will take place on Friday so you still have time to register.

I have added a new event this week: The Elite Retreat which is open to virtually anyone but you need to submit an application to be accepted.  The purpose of the event is to help you bring your business to the next level.  The prize is higher than the average but when you look at the speakers, you will see that the investment is worthy.  The keynote speaker is Seth Godin and it’s focused on a small group of Social Media Professionals.  If you can afford it, go for it.

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Jun 15

Social Media Events From June 15th

Social Media Events 1 Comment »

Thanks to all those who are contributing to the Social Media Events compilation.  This week there are 14 new events for you to consider. As promised last week, every Monday I will talk about an upcoming event or invite an event organizer to talk about his/her event.  Today, I’ll talk about Jeff Pulver and his upcoming events.  This week, he is hosting the famous 140 character conference.  People from all over the word will be attending and there are a few last minute tickets left so don’t think about it twice if you need to be on the Twitter loop.  In September however, he is hosting SocCommII.  I went to SocCommI and it was just amazing.  From the level of the speakers to the networking opportunities there, it was more than worthy.  So plan for September, you will not regret it and see you there.


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Jun 08

Best Social Media Events

Social Media Events 4 Comments »

As I mentioned before, this blog should continue to gather the best of Social Media in order to continue to be a central stop for Social Media professionals and companies.  In the spirit of sharing, I will update the list of all Social Media Events every Monday.
You no longer have to randomly jump from site to site to find an event by location, date or organizer.  Here you can find them (ideally) all.  I only ask two favors: 1) If I miss an event or entered the wrong link, please let me know and I’ll update the list. 2) If you are aware of the quality of an event or have attended one, please give us your feedback.  That way it will become easier for the reader to make an informed decision.

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