Taking on Social Media Week NYC for the first time was everything I expected and much more. Nonetheless, I could not help but noticing that there was an obvious lack of college students at the events I attended. I am both a current college student and new to the entire #SMWNYC experience. As a result, I inferred that the lack of college students might be rooted on the fact that they don’t know what to expect or that they are unaware of how insightful it is into any kind of career path to be a part of this conversation.

Social media is not just a tool to communicate with your friends or to find out what your favorite celebrity is doing, they actually might not even be the one tweeting figured that one out in the Ghostwriter panel. If used to its fullest potential social media has the power to change our world, think Arab Spring or OWS, but on a smaller scale it can also change the amount of networking connections we establish. Social Media Week really helps to put this power in perspective regardless of the event you attend. I attended events that varied from Sports, Gaming, and Social Media to an event focused on Education, and I learned something from each of them.

There is a lens through which you are able to see different industries and their use of social media that you are just not able to get in a classroom. Listening to different panelists speak on how essential it is to market yourself as a brand and to really use social media as a leverage to establish connections is valuable advice. The tips and facts I learned throughout SMW resonated deeply because they were all techniques I could implement in the present to help me become a well-rounded candidate when it comes to entering the workforce.

College students might think it is a little too early to be attending events that are filled with established social media personalities, but I personally believe that this is the best time for that. Being exposed to so many successful people is not only motivation itself, but it is also an opportunity to network and pick the brains of those that have already traveled the path. It might be slightly intimidating at first to be the youngest and probably only student in an event filled with experts in a specific area, but it is also eye opening. By attending these events as a student or a person in the industry you really show that you are interested in learning more and have a true desire to experience social media first hand and to its full potential.

To see people speak on their experiences with social media and just exactly how it has helped them get to where they are is inspirational. Even more interesting and insightful is to learn how social media is implemented in everything from fashion to politics. All the events really build on the fact that social media is not only here, but it’s here to stay. I think it would only benefit students to take part in these events because they will be able to handle their online brands appropriately, learn how exactly social media affects their career of interest, and ultimately enjoy meeting such incredible experts in social media.

• Keynote: Scott Belsky, CEO of Behance, followed by GOOD Panel: Beyond Crowdsourcing: Using The Community To Report: Behance CEO, and Cornell grad (Go Big Red!), Scott Belsky kicked off the full-house session with a keynote addressing many his company’s initiatives to organize and empower the creative world to display and find talent every month. Named one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business”, Scott kept packed audience compelled by sharing dynamic examples of how companies can harness their creative energy to yield the optimal output. The ensuing “Crowdsourcing” panel was a more broadly focused discussion on media’s relationship with its community – addressing media’s failures and successes to get authentic, meaningful anecdotes from its communities directly.

• Creating community around your blog: Savvy self-promoting bloggers and freelancers alike came out in droves to the quirky Gershwin Hotel to enjoy an animated and refreshingly candid debate, hosted by Blogads, addressing ways bloggers can build strong communities. The discussion benefitted from each of the panelists’ divergent backgrounds and their keen willingness to offer very specific, actionable advice to the hyper engaged audience they were speaking to. Big kudos to the bloggers at GalaDarling.com, JessicaHarlow.com and ConcreteLoop.com for a job well done.

• A Quizzical Evening in Social Media, hosted by BuzzFeed: Closing the day at JWT meant an early evening of light-hearted panel banter, a highly entertaining, rapid-fire game of Pub Quiz, and free T-shirts, food and booze to boot! Relevant thought leaders from BuzzFeed, OMD Word, GE and AdAge engaged the audience with a brief debate on how good social content is almost always surprising, unexpected, and – of course – quizzical.  The open bar and prizes that followed were just delicious icing on top of a very scrumptious #socialmediaweek cake.

Related articles

• Social Media Week NYC: Top Trends that will Shape Social in 2012 #SMWJWT #SMWNYC [Summary] (othersidegroup.com)
• SMWNYC Day 1 Recap: Global, Authenticity, Party (thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com)
• Top 10 Events for Social Media Week NYC 2012 (thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com)
• Attendee Tips for Planning Your Social Media Week Schedule (thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com)
• SMWNYC Day 2: Best Practices, Real Stories, Ghostwriting (thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com)

Before we bring this year’s festivities to a close, we wanted to post a little throw back to a Monday night and Tuesday morning not too long ago.  We began #SMW12 with two epic SocialVibe collaborations; the first being our #SMW12 opening party which took place at Greenwich Village Country club and was hosted by Nokia and sponsored by Social Vibe.

The evening was centered around engaging activities, like miniature golf and pictures with animal statues, epitomizing the social nature of SMW12- and SocialVibe. Surprises littered the evening from Nokia’s special room to the SocialPix photobooth immediate upload to Facebook.

Then on Tuesday at our Advertising & Marketing Hub JWT, SocialVibe hosted a panel entitled Why Engagement Should Be Spelled A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N that featured Digital Editor Michael Learmonth, SocialVibe SVP of Sales Mike Barbeau, Head of Planning at SocialVibe Adrian Barrow, VP of Integrated Marketing at Fuse Vanessa Montes, and CEO of Deep Focus Ian Schafer

The panel focused on consumer engagement in digital advertising and consumer “exchanges.” Looking at services, R&D, and creativity as critical aspects to earn value and enhance engagement. By creating opportunities to do social good, giving your community attention or creating unique experiences will increase the likelihood that consumers will do things for you.

Citing case studies from companies like HP’s use of consumer forums to DuoLingo for translation services, SocialVibe really highlighted what you can do and the type of thinking that truly resonates with consumers. “If you have to ask your consumers to pay attention, you’re not doing it right,” just may characterize the views of the event. And with over 600 views on their Livestream and more than 15 comments, we think they get the hang of engagement and meeting people where they are, making this one event you’ll want to see if you missed it in action.

Many thanks to SocialVibe for partnering up with us at this years #SMW12! Partners like them are what make Social Media Week everything that it is.

You can check out more photos from the opening party by clicking here or here! 

• Managing Social Media on a Global Scale: This first Opening Day session found hosts Syncapse and Amway discussing, debating and sharing their best practices for managing a global social media presence across multiple countries and languages, with multiple stakeholders, distributors and marketers involved. The key takeaway centered around the idea that ”social media fosters horizontal collaboration” within businesses. The speakers affirmed their tremendous support for this idea, and conceded that – while it’s an ideology that can be difficult to embrace at first – in the end is for the better good of the company.

• Keynote: Valerie Buckingham on The Importance of Authenticity followed by Panel: Beyond Borders: Impact of Social Media in a Global Economy: Head of North America Marketing for Nokia Valerie Buckingham kicked off this noon event by focusing on the importance of authentic voice, asserting the idea that what you bring to the social media conversation can be enhanced by examples from around the social sphere. The panel that followed aimed to explore key trends, cultural behaviors and opportunities beyond American borders, especially in light of the accelerated pace of both innovation and appetite for interacting with brands in emerging markets. The key takeaway from this discussion was that – from a marketing perspective – as you move from market to market, you ought to ask yourself one question: do the digital tools you are utilizing tap into the regional social venues of interest? If so, then proceed.

• Social Media Week’s Opening VIP Reception Hosted by Nokia: Crowdcentric, title sponsor Nokia, and SocialVibe hosted this lavishly awesome kick-off, invite-only opening party at the trendy Greenwich Village Country Club. Passed appetizers, complimentary libations from Heineken and Bulldog Gin, and – most importantly – exceptional conversation with engaged thought leaders made this the ideal way to properly kickoff the week.

Related articles

• Attendee Tips for Planning Your Social Media Week Schedule (thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com)
• Social Media Week NYC: Top Trends that will Shape Social in 2012 #SMWJWT #SMWNYC [Summary] (othersidegroup.com)
• Social Media Week 2012 (beingyourbrand.wordpress.com)
• Social Media Week launches today (conversations.nokia.com)
• Nokia Sponsors Social Media Week, Hosting Reception Party Feb 13th (thenokiablog.com)

Below you’ll find a list of solid events that, as of publication, still have some slots left!

9-11am at JWT Panel: Why Engagement Should Be Spelled A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N hosted by SocialVibe

9-10am at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness Keynote: Frank Moss on The 2012 MIT Health and Wellness Innovation Hackathon

9-11:30am at Thomas Reuters Interview: John Katzman and Jeremy Johnson on The Future of Higher Education: Will Colleges Survive? followed by Panel: The Classroom of The Future: How Social Media Can Better Our Education System

10-10:45am at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness Keynote: J.C. Herz on Unpacking the Quantified Self followed by Panel: The Sensor Continuum

10-11am at Hearst Digital Voyeurism: How Sharing Real Homes in Real Time is Changing the Way We Decorate

12-12:30am at Big Fuel Jon’s Fireside Chat: Joseph Jaffe and Social Media 2.0

12-2pm at Thomas Reuters Keynote: Rachel Lloyd, Executive Director & Founder of Girls Educational & Mentoring Services

12-2pm at JWT Beyond the Like: Using Real People’s Real Stories to Drive Brand Awareness

1-2pm at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness Fireside Chat: The Rise of the Patient Platform

2:30-3:30pm at Big Fuel Connecting disruptive business models with innovation in business

3-4pm at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness This game will make you healthier

3-5pm at Hearst The New Ghostwriter

3-5pm at JWT Social Media for Social Good

4:30-5:30pm at Hearst Social Syndication in 2012: Experiences First, Networks Second

5:30-6:30pm at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness Women, Money & Social Power: What Made The Komen Debacle A Win For Women

6-8pm at JWT Deep Focus Presents: An Evening of “Connectedness”

Note that events are listed in chronological order based on the time of day they occur. 

Art & Culture: 9-11pm: Keynote: Chris Kaskie, President of Pitchfork Media followed by SoundCtrl’s Creating Music for the Social Web

Advertising & Marketing: 9-11am: Keynote: Ben Kaufman followed by Marketing is Ruining the Internet hosted by JWTArt & Culture: 12-2pm: How Street Style Blogs Affect Retail and Design

Business & Innovation: 9am-12pm: Keynote: Dave Gray & The Connected Company: An Inventory of the Possible followed by Panel: Social Business by Design, hosted by Nokia

Social & Environmental Change: 9-11pm: Keynote: Alex Bogusky followed by Social Innovators Collective’s Innovative Models for Social Good Collaboration

Social & Environmental Change: 1130-1230pm: Consumer Engagement and online Community in Social Media

Global Society: 10-11am: The Socialization of Television: Opportunities for Broadcasters & Advertisers

Health & Wellness: 10-10:45pm: How We Did It: The Sanofi Open Innovatino Challenge

Advertising & Marketing: 12am-2pm: Keynote Scott Belsky, CEO of Behance, followed by GOOD panel: Beyond Crowdsourcing: Using The Community To Report

Business & Innovation: 12-2pm: Retail Banking Redux: Can Social Media Create a New Paradigm?

Global Society: 12-12:30am: Jon’s Fireside Chat: Joe Fernandez on Klout

Health & Wellness: 1-2pm: Keynote: Michael Roizen, M.D. Chair, Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute and Chief Wellness Officer, The Cleveland Clinic

Global Society: 1-2pm: Social Love: The Future of Social Media and Relationships

Art & Culture: 1:30-2:30pm: Reflecting on the 54th GRAMMY Awards—Digital Partnerships, Social Media & Innovation

Global Society: 2:30-3:30: Can Media Companies Get Social?

Art & Culture: 3-4pm: @HAHAHAHA: How to be funny in 140 characters or less

Advertising & Marketing:3-5pm: Keynote: John Winsor, CEO of Victors & Spoils followed by Panel: Building Community: Combining Real World Experiences with Online Social Networks

Business & Innovation: 3-5pm: Radical Collaboration 7 Entrepreneurship

Global Society: 4-5pm: The Future of Sharing

Art & Culture: 4:30-5:30pm: The state of curation: An examination of the human element and the promise (and drawbacks) of algorithms

Global Society: 530-630: A Film Screening: Twittamentary

Advertising & Marketing: 6-8pm: A Quizzical Evening in Social Media

Health & Wellness: 3-4pm: The changing face of technology: Click Here for Beauty

Health & Wellness: 4:30-6pm: Let’s Crowdsource! FDA Social Media Guidelines + Sunshine Act Comments

Health & Wellness: 8-10pm: FastForward Health Presents: Stories of Global Health Innovation Film Screenings

Interested in a particular Hub? Click on the following links to browse events according to content area;  Art & Culture,  Advertising & Marketing, Business & Innovation , Global Society , Health & Wellness , Social & Environmental Change. 

You can also view the full #SMW12 Schedule by Clicking HERE. 

Art & Culture: 9-11am: Digital Voyeurism: How Sharing Real Homes in Real Time is Changing How We Decorate

Advertising & Marketing: 9-11pm: Talk: Screw Earning Media and Start Earning Value with BBH Labs followed by Panel: Why Engagement Should be Spelled A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N hosted by SocialVibe

Advertising & Marketing: 9-11am: Panel: Why Engagement Should be Spelled A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N hosted by SocialVibe

Art & Culture: 12am-2pm: Keynote: Kevin Slavin, Entrepreneur, Provocateur & Raconteur followed by Panel: Are We in a Post-Consumer Age? How E-Commerce is blurring the Lines between Creator and Consumer, hosted by Shapeaways

Advertising & Marketing: 12am-2pm: Beyond the Like: Using Real People’s Real Stories to Drive Brand Awareness

Art & Culture: 3-5pm: The New Ghostwriter

Art & Culture: 4:30-5:30pm: Social Syndication in 2012: Experiences First, Networks Second

Advertising & Marketing: 3-5pm: Social Media for Social Good

Advertising & Marketing: 6-8pm: Deep Focus Presents: An Evening of “Connectedness”

Business & Innovation: 9-10pm: Keynote: Gabe Zichermann on The Business of Fun: Gamification Will Change Your Organization followed by The Future of Gaming, hosted by PSFK

Business & Innovation: 12am-2pm: Maintaining Authenticity and Transparency: How Financial Advisors Are Using Social Media to Build their Business, Hosted by Actiancen

Business & Innovation: 3-5pm: Getting to the Meat of the Tweet Redux (The Meatier and Tweetier Sequel): Applying Big Data Analytics to Social Media Data, Hosted by Opera Solutions

Global Society: 10-11pm: Global Brand Management: Best Practices in a Social World

Global Society: 12am-12:30pm: Jon’s Fireside Chat: Joseph Jaffe and Social Media 2.0

Global Society: 1-2pm: Social Love: The Future of Social Media and Relationships

Global Society: 4-5pm: Do it for Love AND Money: The Social Media Week Valentine’s Day Guide to Riches

Health & Wellness: 9-10pm: Keynote: Frank Moss on the 2012 MIT Health and Wellness Innovation Hackathon

Health & Wellness: 10-10:45pm: Keynote: J.C. Herz on Unpacking the Quantified Self followed by Panel: The Sensor Continuum

Health & Wellness: 1-2pm: Fireside Chat: The Rise of the Patient Platform

Health & Wellness: 3-4pm: This game will make you healthier

Social & Environmental Change: 9-11:30am: Interview: John Katzman and Jeremy Johnson on The Future of Higher Education: Will Colleges Survive? Followed by Panel: The Classroom of The Future: How Social Media Can Better Our Education system

Social & Environmental Change: 12am-2pm: Keynote: Rachel Lloyd, Executive Director & Founder of Girls Educational & Mentoring Services

Social & Environmental Change:4:30-6:30pm: Supercharging Your Love for Facebook Marketing

Interested in a particular Hub? Click on the following links to browse events according to content area;  Art & Culture,  Advertising & Marketing, Business & Innovation , Global Society , Health & Wellness , Social & Environmental Change. 

You can also view the full #SMW12 Schedule by Clicking HERE. 

Art & Culture: 9-11am:  The Mobile-Social Living Room: How Emerging Media is Reviving the Live Television Experience

Advertising & Marketing: 9-11am: Keynote: David Eastman, CEO of JWT North America, followed by Top Trends that will Shape Social in 2012

Business & Innovation: 9-11am: Keynote: John Bell, Global Managing Director at Ogilvy, on The Insidious Plot to Socalize Enterprise

Global Society: 10-11am: Managing Social Media on a Global Scale

Health & Wellness: 10-12pm: Keynote: Carol McCall, Chief Strategy Officer of GNS Healthcare

Health & Wellness: 10-12pm: Keynote: Michael Graves on People First: Redesigning the Hospital Room

Advertising & Marketing: 12-2pm: Beyond Borders: Impact of Social Media in Global Economy

Business & Innovation: 12-2pm: Keynote: Jeff Dachis, CEO, Chairman & Founder of Dachis Group Followed by Panel: Big Data and Bigger Conversations: Measuring Your Brand’s Social Performance

Global Society: 12-1230pm: Jon’s Fireside Chat: Social Listening with Patricia Gottesman, CEO of Crimson Hexagon

Social & Environmental Change: 12:30-2:30pm: Global Keynote: Don Tapscott, Speaker, Consultant & Author of Macrowikinomics on Re-Civilization: Empowering Change Through Collaboration

Global Society: 1-2pm: Global Social Media Listening

Health & Wellness: 1-2pm: Fast Forward Health presents 73 Cents followed by Q&A with Regina Holliday

Health & Wellness: 2-8pm: The Walking Gallery: An Exhibit

Art & Culture: 3-5pm: Keynote: Jermaine Dupri on Building Community

Advertising & Marketing: 3-5pm: State Your Case: Research vs Social Analytics

Business & Innovation: 3-5pm: Keynote Howard Lindzon followed by Panel: The Evolution of Reg-FD: How Social Media Has Changed Investor Relations, Hosted by StockTwits

Social & Environmental Change: 3:30-5:30pm: Is it Getting Hot in Here? Considering Social Media’s Impact on Climate Change

Global Society: 4-5pm: 10×10 Educate Girls, Change the World. Accelerating social change and leveraging media, technology and innovative strategic partnerships to get there.

Art & Culture: 4:30-5:30pm: Social Sharing and The Art of Doodling

Health & Wellness: 4-6pm: Designing for Desire

Health & Wellness: 6:30-8:00pm: Networking Cocktail Reception, Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson

Global Society: 6:30-9:00: Meet the Afropolitans: Digital Media + Culture In Africa

Interested in a particular Hub? Click on the following links to browse events according to content area;  Art & Culture,  Advertising & Marketing, Business & Innovation , Global Society , Health & Wellness , Social & Environmental Change. 

You can also view the full #SMW12 Schedule by Clicking HERE. 

Our global team of sponsors, curators, staff, event partners and volunteers has been hard at work to get to this point. With a week left, we’re excited to spend the next few days highlighting everything you’ve got to look forward to right here on the blog.

Additionally, we’ll also be posting daily Hub events and Keynote spotlights. To keep up with the latest news, check back here regularly, follow us at @SMWNYC, on Facebook, or with #SMWNYC.

Also, if you haven’t yet, be sure to check out the New York Schedule here and our Frequently Asked Questions here. Share your excitement and spread the word!

Susan Halligan, twitter: @srhalligan

A familiar face at Social Media Week, Susan moderated 2011 panel, “The Inner Workings: Social Media Success Through Coordinated Staffing,” and co-keynoted “The Connected Network” at the Arts Marketing Association’s Digital Marketing Day in London in November 2011. On February 14, she will moderate Literature Unbound: Radical Strategies for Social Literature at NYU during Social Media Week New York 2012. I spoke with Susan to learn more about her work and experiences.

You have quite an impressive biography.  How did you become involved in social media?

Thank you, Lisa. I began to explore Facebook and Twitter in the early fall of 2008. Honestly, I originally started playing around with the platforms, because I had a very small marketing budget and was lured by the fact that the platforms were free. It was very much a “let me see what we can do with this” undertaking. I had no idea, actually, what I was doing, but spent a lot of time exploring and learning, and began to see that social could be integrated into traditional communication channels and that it was an opportunity to take the library’s brand and initiatives to entirely new audiences in a very powerful way. I became very passionate about social and remain so. While paid media remains an important component in any marketing campaign, the trend for marketers is to spend more resources on social and less on paid.

You established the first-ever marketing department for The New York Public Library.  What changed?

Most of the library’s outreach efforts prior to my hire were concentrated on print advertising. I was hired to create and implement an integrated marketing effort across multiple channels.

In 2010, you helped The New York Public Library win the PR News Non-Profit PR Award: “Use of Twitter, Success through a Coordinated Staffing Model.”  What went into this work?

I built a teamapproach to content marketing at the library. Non-profits have limited resources (i.e., people) to push messaging. But a big organization like the library has multiple message points: programming, customer service, circulation, collections, to cite just a few. It’s a matter of coordinating outreach. Though internal education and training, a regular working group of key stakeholders, the creation and implementation of polices, including a Crisis Plan, Best Practices and an Editorial Calendar, we were able to dedicate staff throughout the organization to message on a daily basis using team tools like HootSuite and Socialflow.

What kind of metrics were used to determine that The New York Public Library is #1 public library in the world on Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare?

Community growth, brand mentions, interactions and referrals. We published a monthly Metrics Dashboard using Facebook Insights, the HootSuite and Socialflow Twitter clients, Twitter Counter, Radian6, AddThis and Google Analytics. We shared the data with key stakeholders and examined it closely for insights about messaging, engagement and content.

How does social media for a library differ from social media from other companies?

It doesn’t. Like any business engaged in social, we had a long-term customer-centric vision. One of our major goals was discoverability. We wanted social users to be to be surprised and delighted to find us online (and to discover online and offline resources, like free databases and thousands of programs) and to think “Wow, I didn’t know you could do that at The New York Public Library.”

Have your ideas ever been challenged?  Which ones and how did you overcome resistance from others?

If an idea isn’t challenged, it may not be that good.  The first step in social media iteration is to identify the organizational challenges: internal resistance (turf, legal, security), lack of resources, lack of skills, an ever-changing technology space and the ongoing challenge of measuring ROI.

Alignment is key: the ability to rally internal resources and stakeholders is the #1 skill in successful social media integration. Evangelizers must be able to maneuver adeptly within an organization and rally the “deciders” for support.

Does Foursquare have any real purpose in relatively remote towns with a maximum of 30 retail businesses?

As part of its 2011 Centennial, NYPL was the first in the world to secure a Foursquare badge. The badge was yet one more way to introduce the library to new audiences and it proved a very successful partnership in terms of unique users, check ins and check outs.

AdAge recently did a post about Foursquare’s connection to “mainstream” retailers. Chris Copeland wrote: “Foursquare is a regional play that masks what it is not – a middle America, mainstream tool.” He suggested that Foursquare needs to continue to educate businesses about the benefits of its platform.

What do you think is Foursquare’s future?

Mobile location-based social networking will continue to be adopted.

Of all the campaigns you’ve led, which was your favorite?

The Centennial of NYPL’s flagship Fifth Avenue building in 2011. It was a perfect storm of owned, earned and paid media: there was an exhibit; a microsite; multiple programs; an advertising campaign that included print, radio, outdoor, transport and online; publications; signage; ecommunications; and a deeply integrated robust social effort across Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube. I secured VIK sponsorships from The Wall Street Journal, Titan Outdoor and the MTA to support the efforts. One interesting metric from the campaign was the incredibly high level of engagement with the library’s social content.

What is the most innovative use of social media that you’ve seen?

I am a big fan of Coke’s social strategy and tactics. I love that their Facebook Page is governed by regular fans, not “experts.” At the library, much of its social success is owed to the contributions of its staff. Power to the people!

Lisa Chau has been involved with Web 2.0 since graduate school at Dartmouth College, where she completed an independent study on blogging. She was subsequently highlighted as a woman blogger in Wellesley Magazine, published by her alma mater. Since 2009, Lisa has worked as an Assistant Director at the Tuck School of Business. In 2012, she launched GothamGreen212 to pursue social media strategy projects. View her online portfolio or follow her on Twitter.