Today, Crowdcentric, the organization behind SMW globally, are partnering with crowdfunder to open the CROWDFUNDxNYC Challenge and invite you submit your business.

The challenge is open to small businesses, social enterprises and startups with a grand prize of $25k available for the winning company, plus in-kind services to help grow your business.

Finalists will be selected on July 1st and will be given the opportunity to present to an illustrious panel of judges at the July 17th challenge finale.

Important Milestones:
Submission Opens May 15th
Finalists Announced July 1st
Challenge Event July 17th

Ways to get involved

Create a personal profile
This gives you the opportunity to back companies that you interest you and stay up to date with the crowdfunding movement.

Create a company profile
This gives you and your company the chance to connect with investors and build relationships with individuals in your community.

Why CROWDFUNDx?

As the peer-to-peer economy grows, businesses are increasingly able to break traditional barriers, forging more personal relationships between consumers and companies. As part of the business community we can help their visions become realized, which leads business growth and job creation.

CROWDFUNDx is a powerful online + offline accelerator for local entrepreneurial ecosystems that helps connect entrepreneurs with investors and build a network of supporters for small businesses. It taps into the power of crowdfunding to transform local communities through its collaborative nature by engaging local backers and supporters through online + offline challenges.

By participating in CROWDFUNDx Challenge or by joining us for the full-day conference on July 17, you can learn more about how to back companies or develop or refine your own business pitch.

So, if you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, create your company profile then rally your community and show off your work. We’ll be looking at how much the community responds to your ideas as part of the selection. We look forward to supporting our community of entrepreneurs and seeing all the amazing business ideas.

Sign up here and join us!

The post CROWDFUNDxNYC Open: Submit Your Startup, Social Enterprise, or Small Business for a Chance to Win $25k appeared first on Social Media Week.

You may recall The Adventure Project’s founder, Becky Straw, from SMW12. She took the stage in SMW London as part of Nokia’s Social Innovation Lab. From there, her organization has only gotten more recognition, being featured in Forbes, Good, Fast Company, Aol.com Impact, About.me, and in 2012 received the Stay Classy Award for “Best New Charity” on the East Coast.

Now, in one week, she’ll be throwing their annual gala in NYC — and you don’t want to miss it. Last year, more than 300 New Yorkers came together to celebrate an amazing evening at the Gansevoort Park Avenue.

This year, once again, 300 friends from NYC Tech, Business and Social Enterprises – like Social Media Week, General Assembly, Patch, Centre for Social Innovation, Sandbox, Holstee and HOK – will come together to host and celebrate The Adventure Project, as they raise funds to create jobs in developing countries.

The evening will be an adventure itself – complete with a silent auction, cocktail and whiskey tastings and DJ Khalil will be spinning.

In case you need more information, The Adventure Project “adds venture” capital to create jobs in developing countries by identifying low-cost, high-impact solutions. In their first two years, they have created jobs for 500 entrepreneurs in India, Kenya, Uganda and Haiti. These entrepreneurs will go on to serve over 700,000 people in their communities to provide better health care, food and water.

If you want to join us next Monday, you can get tickets here.

The post Adding Venture: The Adventure Project’s Spring Gala appeared first on Social Media Week.

Do you take your social media efforts seriously? Seriously enough? Almost 100% of small businesses use Facebook and nearly 75% are on Twitter. But not all of these businesses are getting the quantity or quality of consumer interaction they can be. To make sure your efforts aren’t being wasted, consider adding these elements to your social media campaign.

Track Your Results

This should go without saying, but in order to determine how effective your strategy is and which social media platforms are paying off, you need to track results. Fortunately, there’s an app for that. HootSuite, for example, allows you to track and analyze traffic on a range of platforms and costs only $9.99 per month after a 30-day free trial.

Resist the Urge to Automate

Automating your social media marketing campaign is convenient, but isn’t always a good idea. If your posts appear too automated or look like spam, your efforts could actually drive consumers away. Software that lets you post to multiple sites at once can be a good way to get your personal message out to a wider audience, but automating your social media strategy further can be dangerous. The reason social media is so effective is because of its human touch – lose that and you could just be spinning your wheels.

Strive for Compelling Content

If your content isn’t compelling, you’re just going through the motions. What you’re looking to post is relevant, accurate, and useable information that will inspire readers to respond, share your brand, and ultimately become new or repeat customers. What is it that customers and prospects like about your business? It could be expert knowledge or shared interests or something else entirely. Capitalize on that.

Make the Conversation Interactive

Even if your content is compelling and interesting, you still need to give readers that extra nudge to respond. Post questions for them to answer, or conduct surveys. Another great way to enhance your presence is to conduct “tweet chats,” where a pre-set topic is announced and the conversation begins at a scheduled time. Don’t forget to offer modest giveaways for those who respond to questions, participate in your surveys, or post product reviews. Even if it’s just a small discount or free shipping, social media customers love freebies!

Hire a Specialist

If all this has your head spinning and no one else in your organization can take on the job, hire a specialist to streamline and maximize your social media efforts. To find someone reputable, ask peers in your industry and other business owners outside of it for recommendations. Also ask the candidate to provide detail on specific campaigns run for other businesses, including results.

Final Thoughts

Social media, these days, is where it’s at – pure and simple. If you’ve been in business for a while, making the adjustment may be a stretch, but it’s a necessary one. Marketing via social media is intrinsically different from outdated forms of marketing, such as direct mail and the yellow pages. It can be less expensive, and with the right approach, readers will not only become customers, but will also share your business with their social networks. Think of it as word-of-mouth marketing gone viral. If you pair an intelligent approach with the time and effort, marketing via social media will launch your business to new heights.

How has social media improved your business’ bottom line?

The post 5 Ways Small Business Owners Can Maximize Social Media Marketing Efforts appeared first on Social Media Week.

CROWDFUNDx: Pitch Contest

The contest will feature a community challenge and live pitch event to give businesses a way to gain visibility in their community, unlock access to capital, prize money and provide exposure to potential future investors. To participate, there are some important dates to remember:

Challenge launches: May 15
Submission deadline: June 15
Finalists Announced: July 1
CROWDFUNDxNYC event: July 17

CROWDFUNDx: Conference

CROWDFUNDx NYC will also feature a one-day conference providing thought leadership and education around crowdfunding for businesses. Over the course of the day, attendees will have the opportunity to learn from crowdfunding experts, ask for advice and problem-solve together, find talent and look for mentors and thought leaders with whom they can collaborate.

Speaker and initial program announced: June 3
Tickets go on sale: June 3
Conference: July 17

In addition to pitching your business idea or company, there are other ways to get involved in CROWDFUNDx. If you are interested in speaking at the conference, partnering to help us reach a broader community of participants, or sponsoring the event itself, please contact crowdfundx@crowdcentric.net.

We can’t wait to have you join us. Get a head start now by registering your company or yourself on Crowdfunder.

Want more on what is CROWDFUNDx?

Launched in partnership with Social Media Week and Crowdfunder, CROWDFUNDx is a powerful online + offline accelerator for local entrepreneurial ecosystems that helps connect entrepreneurs with investors and build a network of supporters for small businesses.

It taps into the power of crowdfunding to transform local communities through its collaborative nature by engaging local backers and supporters through online + offline challenges.

Outside Silicon Valley, if you’re the owner of a startup or small business and you don’t already know any wealthy investors, it’s extremely difficult to get the capital you need to start or grow your business.

In CROWDFUNDx companies gain visibility from their local communities, helping them succeed in crowdfunding their businesses within Crowdfunder and Social Media Week’s global network.

To date CROWDFUNDx has provided over $525,000 in tech investment through CROWDSTART LA and CROWDSTART LV, with an additional $100 million in investment capital through CROWDIMPACT. More than 8,000 participating investors, advisors and entrepreneurs have taken part, with over 700 companies joining.

The post Pitch Your Business at CROWDFUNDx and win up to $25k in Prizes & Access to Millions in Investment Opportunities appeared first on Social Media Week.

This Social Media Week February, our New York team had the pleasure of working with Offerpop, a fan-marketing platform for Facebook and Twitter. Thousands of companies use Offerpop to run promotions, sweepstakes and fan engagement programs – launching campaigns in minutes and tracking performance in real-time.

Mark has previously shared with us his research on holiday buying. Today, we talk a bit more about how OfferPop has grown and where marketing platforms are heading.

Mark, Offerpop boasts an impressive client list, including MTV, Skype, Disney, and Etsy. Can you share with us the history of Offerpop and your evolution?
My co-founders and I have been forming tech businesses since the late 1990s, so we’ve seen a lot of trends come and go. When social media started exploding, we saw that it was more than a trend; it was a disruption. So we launched Offerpop in mid 2010 to help brands keep pace with these shifts.

We introduced super easy-to-use apps for Facebook and Twitter that helped brands build an active social audience. In January 2011, Audi used us to launch the first Twitter campaign ever promoted during the Super Bowl. Since then, we’ve evolved our platform to include 20 campaign apps, full mobile support, and powerful features that leverage social data. These days, our customers run around 4,000 to 5,000 campaigns on our platform every week.

You recently released a set of new tools that help provide more information about a brand’s Facebook users and fans. Can you tell us more about that?
We built these features to help brands understand who their fans are and what they care about. That way, they can serve up more relevant content.

Our new Categories feature allows marketers to add multiple category tags for each post they send to their Timeline, then track metrics like reach, click-throughs, and engagement for each category. This helps marketers discover trending topics and optimize content across all channels.

Our Fan Database automatically creates detailed social profiles for anyone who interacts with a brand’s Timeline. We capture high-value data like email addresses and opt-ins, engagement metrics like Fan Loyalty, influence and engagement, as well as segmentation data based on the categorized posts they interact with.

Marketers can then use these features to create more targeted, relevant campaigns and offers across social, email, online advertising, and more.

Offerpop’s new tools have been found to boost engagement by 84% and loyalty by 195%. What is behind this drastic jump and how does Offerpop accomplish this?
Marketers are discovering the content their fans really love, and using their findings to refine their social strategy. As a result, they’re seeing more likes, comments and shares, and creating better brand advocates. Our customers can also measure fan loyalty, so they can see the people who keep coming back. This helps them know who to engage and reward.

How and why did Offerpop decide to take part in SMW13?
We wanted to open a dialogue about a topic we found fascinating – the challenges of marketing to today’s consumers. People today are more social, mobile, and savvy about products. Social Media Week gave us a great forum to discuss the issue with a relevant audience. Our panelists included journalists from Advertising Age and AllFacebook, and customers from Saks Fifth Ave., Viacom’s Logo TV, and Rent the Runway. It was a very informative discussion! You can watch it here.

What trends do you see emerging for 2013 in relation to engagement?
You can’t just buy your way to a bigger audience. This year, we’re seeing user-generated content playing a larger role in brands’ social strategies. And we’re seeing marketers use social data to track customer relationships and identify brand advocates.

What key takeaways do you feel arose out of your SMW NYC session this February?
Consumers are savvier than ever before. They know when they’re being marketed to, and aren’t fooled by an ad dressed up as a story. Marketers need to focus on creating authentic engagement campaigns that deliver real value to their customers.

And marketers can’t expect consumers to come to them. They need to actively connect with consumers where they already are – on social networks and on their mobile devices.

The post 5 Minutes with Offerpop’s Co-founder, Mark Cooper appeared first on Social Media Week.

In the words of Lean In‘s Sheryl Sandberg:

“Women are held back by many things: bias, lack of opportunity and lack of flexibility. We also hold ourselves back. We don’t sit at the table; we don’t raise our hands; we don’t raise our voice. I believe our world would be a better place if half our companies and half our countries were run by women.”

I recently read Sheryl’s book Lean In. I thought it was easily the most refreshing take on gender equality issues that I’ve come across, and Sheryl’s honesty and personal story struck a chord with me. The statement above is a powerful one, but rather than simply think of this challenge as something that women need to take on by themselves, I felt a strong desire to also support, participate and join the movement.

Basically, I was inspired. But Sheryl’s book was only one factor that lead me to think about this. Everyday I am reminded how lucky I am to be surrounded by incredible colleagues and inspiring cheerleaders who champion and support gender balance every single day. Two people in particular come to mind: Andrew Rasiej and Deanna Zandt, both of whom have lead the charge in regards to fighting for stronger representation of women at conferences, either as attendees, or even more importantly as speakers.

Deanna and Andrew, and many others, have been consistent forces of influence for me, my team, and the industry as a whole, and they have urged us to work hard over the past four years to achieve diversity across all of SMW globally. With support from our global partners Nokia and our local city organizers, we literally host thousands of events every year in more than 18 countries and have always strived to capture and share fair and balanced perspectives of how technology and social media is shaping our lives, changing society, culture and economies around the world. However, I’m afraid to admit that we have largely failed in our efforts. We do not have fair representation, and we have not achieved a 50/50 balance in men and women participating in our events.

The reason why is less important than our desire to address the issue, and my team and I are 100% committed towards making a fundamental change to how we approach diversity, starting with gender balance.

Gender 50/50: It starts with all of us.

Today is an important milestone in preparation for our next Social Media Week, which is scheduled for September 23-27. Today, we open event submission for the thousands of event partners around the world who help to shape the experience for SMW in 10 or more cities. Today, even more importantly, we are making a commitment that by the end of 2014, SMW — together with our community — commits to striving for a 50/50 balance in all our activities and in all cities. From our Advisory Boards to event hosts to speakers, we want SMW to be truly balanced in our representation of women and men.

We invite you to join Gender 50/50 to help us move towards our goal of 50/50 representation this September. As we open event submission, we challenge you to ensure your events have half or more female participation. We’ll feature the best events and work with our media partners to highlight the most balanced. We will also document and share our experiences as we take on this challenge, including when we have been unsuccessful.

By increasing the diversity of the voices represented, we are building a more Open & Connected World, which is central to the mission of Social Media Week and our global theme for 2013.

So, when you submit your event today, rethink the balance of the participants. Encourage differing views to join you; nominate female speakers — or submit yourself as a speaker, encourage others to do the same; and help us have the vibrant dialogue with all the voices that represent our amazing community. Take it one step further and tweet our commitment with others using #Gender5050.

We hope you join us and take the challenge.

The post Announcing Gender 50/50: Striving for Balance Among Social Media Week’s Global Community of Men and Women appeared first on Social Media Week.

As part of a new international strategy to attract new business and tourism, the Colombia Country Brand wants to showcase the positive changes happening throughout the country. Colombia is in a process of renovation, in a growing economy with ample possibilities of business, travel and investment.

So, between April 18 and April 28, Colombia will be the center of attention in the heart of New York City’s emblematic Times Square. To kick off festivities yesterday, two-time Latin Grammy winner, Fonseca, presented along with coffee legend mascot Juan Valdez, Queen of the 2013 Barranquilla Carnival, Daniela Cepeda Tarud, and 5,000 Colombian flowers, to auction off six unique cultural experiences the country has to offer, giving the winner of each auction the chance to live it out. The crowds loved it, and it brought a taste of Colombia to the Big Apple. You can see what all took place by following @BrandColombia on Twitter.

But that’s not all — you can still take part! Each day until April 28th, between 3–5p.m., visitors and tourists passing through the area of 46th Street and Broadway will find an interactive billboard, where videos of these six experiences will be shown. On the ground, Comedy Central comedian and cartoonist, Craig Baldo, will be guiding the contest, inviting people to join the competition to win one of the six trips to Colombia.

What are the experiences you could win?
1. Sighting of Humpback Whales in the Colombian Pacific
2. Bogotá, through the eyes of the Ibero-American Theater Festival
3. Live the Coffee Route and its cultural landscape
4. Relive the historical magic of Cartagena, Mompox and the Colombian Caribbean
5. Get to know Medellín, the most innovative city of the world in 2013
6. Discover the largest group of megalithic religious monuments in San Agustín and Tierradentro, department of Huila

So, show up at 3pm EST, scan the QR code or register at www.theansweriscolombia.co. You’ll have 30 minutes to register and get your friends to vote for you. Then, stay put because you have to present to win. While there, make sure you say hi to some of our SMW Bogotà team!

Let us know how it goes — and Good Luck!

The post Colombia Steals the Show in Times Square appeared first on Social Media Week.

Today marks an important date for businesses around the world. On the one-year anniversary of the JOBS Act in the USA, we’re excited to let you know that Social Media Week, Crowdfunder, and SBE Council are joining forces to launch CROWDFUNDx. Through this partnership, we will give you more opportunities to engage and support one another, allowing you to be a part of something bigger.

As a free and open accelerator for local entrepreneurial ecosystems both online and offline, CROWDFUNDx will engage communities in multiple cities throughout the US and globally to connect businesses to investors in local communities through online challenges and live pitch events.

WHERE YOU COME IN

We invite you to join us! Support small businesses in your area and social enterprises connected to your passion; help someone realize their dreams; spur innovation in your community. You can take part in 3 ways:

Create your Company Profile
If you have a business, you can create a great profile for your company on Crowdfunder. With your profile, you can:

+ Build Followers for your Company
Invite your network and local community to join your CROWDFUNDx Community and Follow your Company Profile.

+ Get noticed via CROWDFUNDx Challenges
As part of a CROWDFUNDx Community, you’ll get to enter your company when they launch their challenge and get the benefits of getting noticed by your entire community online and offline.

+ Create your Crowdfunding Campaign
Leverage the collaborative power and committed support of your local CROWDFUNDx Community. Create your Crowdfunding Campaign, and rally your community to help fund your business.

Join your local CROWDFUNDx
To get involved, join your local CROWDFUNDx. There are active communities already in LA, NYC, MIami, Utah, Houston, DC, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Austin, and Mexico City. If your city is not yet on the map, you can indicate your location on your Crowdfunder profile and rally your community to do the same. With enough interest, we’ll create our next CROWDFUNDx Community near you.

Share our announcement with your friends and rally more support for crowdfunding
Tweet about it! Share it on Facebook! Let your friends know they can now throw their support behind their passions and interests and fuel startup innovation.

CROWDFUNDx NYC

In New York? We’re excited to also announce that Crowdcentric, SMW’s parent company, will be leading CROWDFUNDx NYC. For updates on when the first challenge will go live, follow us at @Crowdcentric on Twitter. If you would like to learn more about pitching, partnering, or joining the local leadership board in NYC, please email us at crowdfundx@crowdcentric.net.

This is a space our team couldn’t be more excited to venture into, and we are thrilled to do it with Crowdfunder. We hope you join us.

The post Fueling startup innovation and small business growth – SMW partners with Crowdfunder appeared first on Social Media Week.

SMW believes in a culture of lifelong learning — and we continually seek out opportunities to bring that to our community. So, we’re excited to hear about our partners Fast Company’s annual Innovation Uncensored event. Taking place April 23-24 in New York City, you can join leaders of the most innovative businesses in the world, including Jack Dorsey, David Karp, and SMW NYC’s own Jessica Lawrence. You keep up with the conversation by following #IUNY13 on Twitter.

What’s more the SMW community can use the code “Connect” to save $50. Learn more and register here.

These are some of the events during Innovation Uncensored that have us excited:

The Future Of The City
Digital media has made municipal government and services more transparent and more responsive. How did New York City authorities communicate during Superstorm Sandy? What can citizens expect from their government the next time around?
FEATURING Rachel Haot, Chief Digital Officer for the City of New York; Jessica Lawrence, Executive Director for NY Tech Meetup; Emily Rahimi, Social and Digital Media Manager for the New York City Fire Department; and Nigel Snoad, Product Manager for Google Crisis Response.

Something New From The Sandbox
Mashed-up and re-mixed: more than ever, culture is a hybrid of the high and the low — and no, the world hasn’t fallen apart as a result. A conversation between two of the visionaries blowing up the old sandbox and building a new one.
FEATURING Jonah Peretti, Founder & CEO of BuzzFeed; and Steve Stoute, Founder & CEO of Translation.

The Conversation
The founder of two of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies chats with a legendary fashion icon to riff on apps, wraps, and hashtags.
FEATURING Jack Dorsey, Co-founder of Square and Twitter; and Diane Von Furstenberg, Founder and Co-Chairman of DVF Studio.

Future of Retail
A decade ago, the only way to buy something on your phone was to send a text message to a shady 5-digit number. These major players hint at where retail will be 10 years from now.
FEATURING Rachel Schechtman, Founder of Cube Ventures; Gibu Thomas, Senior VP of Mobile & Digital for Walmart; and Steve Yankovich, VP of Innovation & New Ventures for eBay.

We hope to see you there! Make sure you say hi to our team and then share your highlights with us.

The post Innovation Uncensored: Push Your Boundaries with Fast Company appeared first on Social Media Week.

Bringing in Paul McGinniss, Director of Training & Delivery for NeuroLeadership Group, we started the week with a neuro-scientific perspective on how to work with your brain to get the most out of your day. Basic information like two hours of highly cognitive work is really possible for each of us each day. Then, we looked at how you structure your day, including the best strategies for it.

Taking the concept further, the team then brought in a panel to discuss work/life balance. Looking at the balance from the angle of our connections, management of time and engagement with social media. Finally, the series capped out with a look at why work sucks for many people, discovering why it is magic for others and inventing ways to make it better for everyone. In our most practical event of SMW13, our teachers took to helping each attendee reconsider their workday and what productivity obstacles are hindering their advancement.

See the whole series below:

The post SMW13 Recap: Get Productive with Nokia@Work appeared first on Social Media Week.