Tag: big fuel

Never Stop Learning: 10 Masterclasses You Can’t Miss

Posted on by Nicky Yates

Gandhi said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

And we think it’s a good rule for life and business. Which is why we started bringing hands-on, practical classes to Social Media Week. This year, we’re giving you even more opportunities to leave SMW14 with practical skills that will advance your career or bolster your personal goals. These are ten you can’t miss next week:

  1. Navigating Internet Subcultures: Reddit, Tumblr, Snapchat, and Twitter
    If you want to get in, you got to be friends with the band. And the band so to speak of the Internet are the subcultures of Reddit, Tumblr, Snapchat, and Twitter. These subcultures can be some of the best sources of inspiration for real-time social media posts — but you need to understand them first. In this Masterclass, you’ll get the unwritten and incredibly nuanced rules of these communities and gain a playbook on how to use these sites as sources for real-time marketing.
  2. Build an Effective Email Newsletter (From Scratch!) with Basic HTML & CSS: Turn Likes into Sales
    Ok, we all know that email is one of the most effective ways to reach your audience (and we’ve been using and abusing that these past few weeks…), so that means knowing how to create campaigns and newsletters that people will open is critical to your marketing. So, we have two options on Tuesday and Friday for you in this Masterclass designed for beginners to learn how to create an e-mail newsletter from scratch.
  3. The Power of Hashtags: Case Studies and Mechanics for Both Users and Brands
    Oh, the hashtag… We love it in all its glory. But do you know how to really use it? In this Masterclass, Tagboard CEO Josh Decker will provide the do’s and don’ts from both the user and brand perspective, including case studies from some of the world’s biggest brands and professional sports teams.
  4. Building Wearables: A Hands-On Intro to Open-Source Interaction Platforms
    Put your phone down, it’s the year the wearable computing. And we’re teaching you how to be ahead of the curve. You’ll have two opportunities on Wednesday and Friday to create a basic wireless soft fashion cuff using an Adafruit Gemma.
  5. Data-Driven Channel, Content, and Campaign Intel, Presented by Unmetric
    Data, data, data. Decisions should be based on data to determine what content works best, and you’ll have two opportunities to learn how to use it. Unmetric is showing you the three C’s of social media intelligence and how social media marketers can use them to gain a competitive advantage on both Wednesday and Thursday.
  6. Your Spine Online, Rejuvenate and Reconnect with Breathe Repeat
    It’s not all work at SMW. Happy workers are more productive workers, and your health plays into that. So, that’s we’re bringing in Breathe Repeat to educate us all about our backbones and how being virtually connected can affect the natural flow of their own circuitry.
  7. Lean Marketing: “Think Like a Brand. Act Like a Startup.”
    Lean marketing is enabling brands, corporations and startups to accelerate speed to market, increase conversion rates, and improve customer engagement. It’s all about your ROI. In this Masterclass, General Assembly will share insights from this approach and how your brand can implement it.
  8. Making Longform Videos That People Will Watch
    Video is still king. But it’s not just shortform. Brands like VICE are seeing great success with more in-depth stories and longform content. In this Masterclass, Motherboard’s team will look at all aspects of video production, including finding story ideas, shooting, and editing.
  9. Winning The Participation Economy: Understanding Global Conversations and Developing a Social Strategy
    2014 brings us two global events that marketers can really capitalize on to create global conversations. How can brands stand out? Marketers of all sizes are welcome as Big Fuel shares the evolution of social media marketing and how it is changing once again in the context of global conversations. At the end of this Masterclass, you’ll have developed a sample social strategy.
  10. Programming For Non-Programmers
    Web development can no longer be relegated to an elite few. If you’re running a tech start-up, it’s essential that you know the fundamentals. Ultimately, knowing how to “talk to the talk” will help you communicate better with developers, and in this Masterclass, we’ll tackle development principles to get you on the right path and the differences between front and back-end development.

Masterclasses are a special offering for our attendees with a Campus or Insider Pass only and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. So, get your pass here now before sales end on Friday and join us, Nokia, and MKG for what will be our best SMW14 yet.

A Student’s Perspective: The Future of Social Technology

Posted on by smwnyc

Mehrunnisa Wani is a student at Columbia’s School of Journalism. She is one of ten students providing on the ground coverage of SMWNYC- all from the student’s perspective. She is providing her report from Future of Social Technology.
 
Every day there are emerging social platforms, startups, which marketers are adapting to and focusing their campaigns on.

Time and time again, almost since its very inception, people expounded about the idea of too much engagement, that they aren’t interested in hearing about where their Facebook friend is headed, or what time they woke up. The conundrum is that designers are still discovering or defining the fine line between innovation and overload.

Kincaid’s worries are that social technology will penetrate too much of society and encroaching on privacy and life – and that there should be a cessation. When do we know to stop? For the future, with this oversaturation people are likelier to embrace niche networks and disconnectedness.

Ogince’s contention was that social technology needs to be humanized. He’s disappointed in it, saying it’s failed to a certain extent. It needs to be personalized and aim at assuaging to the general public with social health programs (for example, have physicians advise patients, or an app that encourages people to quit smoking).

If not that, at the very least, the programs that now exist should sharpen skills, or built on them.

Social technology is still in its infancy and it has a long way to go but both Ogince and Kincaid articulated the need for a shift in the direction that its heading towards.

http://vimeo.com/37374940

 

Mehrunnisa Wani hails from Kashmir, India. She is currently a masters candidate at the Columbia School of Journalism learning to report stories in various mediums, all the while familiarizing herself with the digital media boom so she can utilize those skills to connect the world one story at a time. In the future she hopes to cover conflict zones, learn to code and change the world – simultaneously. She resides in Queens, New York. Follow her on @mehrwani.

Friday Finale… Finally For Me

Posted on by smwnyc

This is a guest post by Anna Choi.

 

While the end was near for dedicated attendees of Social Media Week New York City, Friday was just the beginning of my experience. There was no time to waste and after debating over the serious line up of various events, I was ready for my first SMWNYC gathering.

 
What Real Time Marketing Really Takes
Emily Steel from the Wall Street Journal led the panel discussion including Beth Waxman-Arteta of JWT, Ryan Davis of Blue State Digital, Bill Wolff of Primetime Programming, and Mike Sommers of Viggle at the Advertising and Marketing Content Hub at JWT. Topics from preparing for and challenge with real time marketing were touched on with much talk about the type transition period social media is fueling.

And what did I take away?

  • HR/human power is essential behind real time social media, real thought processing and relevance is needed to sustain engagement.
  • Every brand could use real time marketing, how it’s executed may differ.
  • Advertising agencies will transition into “brand content” agencies so the meaning of CMO may be defined as editors of content. Simply put, “real time” marketing will be just marketing in the future.
  • People/consumers are looking for substance and authenticity.
  • Filtration of information is diminishing, as communication is becoming more real/raw.
  • Currently real time marketing is a mixture of PR, social media, and brand management.
  • The thing about authenticity is that it’s imperfect sometimes. Mistakes happen.

 
Future of Social Technology
Michoel Ogince of Big Fuel and Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch discussed their predictions/opinions on the future of social networks/technology at the Global Society Content Hub at Big Fuel Headquarters. The conversation circled around the topic of humanization and the complex human behavior that social technology has yet to mirror perfectly. It was great to hear the opposing sides that Michoel and Jason brought especially when Path was brought up. They did agree that this is still the early stage of social technology and that if we think it’s really social right now, we’re wrong.

But the discussion also touched on:

  • Facebook: is it a place to dump a ton of content?
  • Social gaming (Zynga in particular): gamers invest a lot of money and time in the beginning but it dies off, they hit a wall.
  • App Store’s future: currently it’s a challenge to find/access specific apps.
  • Far future: social technology will be penetrated in every aspect to “friending” objects such as your fridge.
  • Advice for entrepreneurs: be driven by passion, don’t cling on to every “success story advice”.
  • There will be “niche networks” for social media/technology in the future.

 
Left Brain Meets Right Brain –The Blueprints for a Sophisticated Social Marketing Campaign (hosted by Shoutlet)
Jason Weaver, the CEO of Shoutlet, led this discussion including David Armano of Edelman Digital, Doug O-Reilly of MWW, Chris Eichman of Rayovac, and Brenda Schmerl of Reader’s Digest. The hour-or-so long conversation revolved around the controversial topic of left brain, right brain, or both. Planning and organizing people who are left-brain dominant among those who are right-brain dominant seemed to be key in finding the balance for a company. There was a debate over people who were both, or a hybrid, and if this category even existed. David Armano walked everyone through what he called a community engagement blueprint when touching on the subject of scenario planning. Improvisation seemed to be a theme for reacting effectively, with the main focus on being able to utilize the strengths of those who are creative and those who are analytical.

My overall impression of Social Media Week NYC was great. (especially since is FREE!) Being a student that is always seeking for more real world information, besides a textbook or some year-old case study, these events left me satisfied. Actually, I take that back, SMW has left me hungry and on the edge of my seat in excitement for what’s next. Being a part of the generation that really digs deep into the data of this social realm is fresh and transformational. I truly can’t wait to see how what’s trending now transitions into traditional.
 

Anna is a quirky senior at Virginia Tech studying Marketing and International Business. She is curious and thirsty for anything related to social media and brands. Anna aspires to work in an environment that’s constantly battling between the trending and traditional. When she’s not geeking over new digital happenings you can find her working on her new healthy lifestyle and obsessing over froyo. Follow her on twitter @achoi12 or dig deeper on her personal blog, achoi12.tumblr.com, or marketing blog, annanciate.tumblr.com.

My Day as a Social Media Week Speaker

Posted on by smwnyc

This is a guest post by SMW veteran Joyce Sullivan.

This is my 2nd year as a Social Media Week NYC speaker and attendee. After getting my feet wet last year curating and moderating a panel on the emerging world of social media for financial services, I thought I’d dive in again talking about Social Media Strategy for Financial Services.

We finished our setup work on Monday with our live event on Tuesday, Feb 14th – and yes, I wore red on stage for Valentines Day! The planning and prep paid off, as we had a full house at @NYITManagement Auditorium. We had good feedback in person, and via our Twitter feed using our hastag#SMWFinServ. If you missed us, and want to know about all the fun facts on how to do social media in the highly regulated financial services industry, this link’s for you!  We also Storified our tweets! You can also catch me on Livestream or on Twitter @JoyceMSullivan and @SocMediaFin.

My Day as a Social Media Week Attendee

With my SMW presentation complete, it was now time to enjoy the talks from the other side of the stage. I had a full day starting at Big Fuel bright and early listening to Rachel Stearne (whom I met in the elevator on the way up!). So great to hear what’s going on in the NYC digital space with Rachel at the helm as Chief Digital Officer for Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Free wifi in the parks is today a reality but just a beginning. It may be a bit longer before we have it on the subways, which Rachel mentioned was one of the biggest requests. However, the city will be providing lots of support for the NY Tech start up community. Rachel encouraged all to check out all the NYC Digital happenings.

As part of her first 90 days with the City, she created the Road Map for the Digital City outlining a path to build on New York City’s successes and establish it as the world’s top-ranked Digital City. They make it easy to keep up with these news making and news breaking innovators: @rachelsterne @edpilkington @nycgov @NYCDigital.

I had planned to head over to another venue but since I had a front row seat at Big Fuel (check out my pics of the stage!) I thought I’d hang a bit longer and see what’s going on with social TV. Yahoo! kicked off the event with Patrick Albano on stage introducing the next talented panel for Social Television: Opportunities for Broadcasters and Advertisers. I absolutely loved the Into Now app demoed by the sartorially resplendent Edwin Wong of Yahoo!.

Though I’m trying to stay neutral (for now!) with the upcoming 2012 US election, the talk by Edward O’Keefe of ABC News demoing their new OTUS News app they developed with Blue Fin Labs is a game changer. And for the finale we had Beth Reilly of Kraft Foods showcasing the success and fun of engaging their audience with their latest Cheesy Skillets Liquid Gold spots. Who would have thought Velveeta could get this much of a rise out of folks.. well, the Liquid Gold Blacksmith guy has a little bit to do with it!  Keep up with these app makers: @intonow and @OTUSNews and @kraftfoods.

Next up was my fave Joe Fernandez of Klout interviewed in front of a digital fireplace by Big Fuel CEO Jon Bond. I’ve been an early adopter of Klout and have watched them soar and swoop down – a bit – in the last few months. They continue to be the digital global influence leader. It was interesting to hear after the US, the next biggest countries for Klout are #2 Brazil and #3 Japan.

Joe told some inside tales about the handlers of the rich and famous coming to see him and asking why some other big star had a higher Klout score. For such a successful global influence disruptor, Joe is very down to earth and approachable. See what I mean: @JoeFernandez and catch Jon Bond at @JonBond57.

Time to walk around and check out the rest of the goings on at Big Fuel. Yummy (and free!) food from @wholefoodsNYC in the back was a good way to refuel. The charge stations throughout the floor gave me a chance to charge up my devices and meet others. As I turned around to say hello to the folks around me, I met @BeVisible, whom I have followed for the past year but had never met in person. Always great to meet old school in real life.

It was a double header day for Joe Fernandez who was also on the Global Influence panel. Along with Joe, we got an insightful and fun perspective on how this group influences their online community from Funk Flex aka @FunkMasterFlex, along with Brandon Evans of CrowdTap, moderated by Ben Luntz of Big Fuel. It was especially fun to have Funk and Joe sharing their views on how to be influential. Joe said he started following Funk right before this event to get to know him. This Livestream is definitely worth another listen. It’s on my replay list.

It was time to get some fresh air and check out another venue. I decided to go to a non-hub event to check out the ‘indie’ SMWNYC scene. I picked “Can We Tweet Yet, Social Media in Financial Services” hosted by Joanna Belbey of Actiance a few blocks away. It was a nice sized group and with a slide show, and some handouts, Joanna took the group through the ins and out of social media regulation in a clear and approachable manner.

This was great live theater; no livestream for this one, folks, though you can follow more of Joanna’s insights on twitter: @Belbey  and on BelbeyBlogs.

I wanted to also attend Email and Social Media up at Thomson Reuters taking place at the same time uptown. I had heard Wendi Caplan-Carroll of Constant Contact speak at other events and wanted to catch her latest insights. Next best thing?.. watch it on Livestream and find out what Fanbruary is all about! Great intro by Brady Hahn of Crowdcentic introducing Nick Hahn (any relation?), Wendy Caplan-Carroll, Noel Descalzi, Gabby Bernstein, and Josh Mendelsohn. So many great insights of how to use email marketing as part of social media to reach your target audience. Being authentic is key, and you can see all the insights here.

And my day is done! Being on the Social Media Week stage and watching the events on stage, are both exhilarating AND exhausting. Everyone have fun out there!

 

Joyce Sullivan is a recognized industry expert in social media networking through emerging social media networking tools. A financial services industry veteran, Joyce speaks frequently on the convergence of social media and the financial services industry. She’s been recognized for her social media networking expertise through seminars, and you can watch Joyce’s interview with CNBC anchor and journalist, Maria Bartiromo, on career reinvention and the use of social media networking on “Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo.” Keep up with her online.

Beyond The Like: Microsoft and Bazaar Voice Introduce “People Powered Stories”

Posted on by kimberly reyes

During a Social Media Week 2012 panel at JWT on Tuesday, Jennifer Creegan, General Manager, Brand Advertising Business for Microsoft Advertising and Brant Barton Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer for Bazaar Voice announced an ad platform partnership dubbed “People Powered Stories.”

Recent research by Microsoft’s Bing shows that consumers trust sources outside of social networks when making purchasing decisions – mainly online reviews. Based on this research, Microsoft will soon introduce a new ad format for brands and publishers aimed at providing consumers with the purchasing information they need, when they need it – all around the web. Think Facebook sponsored stories outside of the Facebook domain.

In order to do this, they’ve enlisted the services of Bazaar Voice, a “a Software as a Service (SaaS) company that turns social media into social commerce by enabling authentic customer-powered marketing.” In simpler terms, Bazaar Voice is the preeminent source for customer reviews, powering the review platforms for many of the top Global brands.

Starting soon, Microsoft’s ad publishers will have the option to activate this new type of targeted display ad featuring a brand message and highlighted consumer reviews. The initial test campaign was for Windows 7 and was targeted at college students. The ad ran across Microsoft properties that offered audience targeting capabilities to assure college students would see the Windows 7 reviews at sites they visited frequently online. The results Microsoft reported back were impressive:

Ad believability increased 20 points above the market norms for technology ads

6.3% lift in purchase intent

13.5% lift in unaided brand awareness

Example of "People Powered Stories" creative

Despite the encouraging sales pitch and test results from Microsoft and Bazaar Voice, there are some still some pending questions about the product. For example, will consumers trust that the advertiser and Bazaar Voice are serving up authentic customer reviews? Bazaar Voice prides themselves on this very concept, but consumers tend to be wary.

Further, there isn’t any connection to the social graph within the ad unit. If someone decides to click on the ad, they can’t easily share what they’ve learned with their own social graph. Although Microsoft is trying to “go beyond the like,” it is important to recognize the importance of the social graph and layer it across all media properties.

Finally, the quality of review curation remains to be seen. The reviews will be contextual, based on the interests of the consumer being targeted. But will this targeting have as great of an impact as Yelp’s “highlighted reviews,” which take the most mentioned terms in a database of reviews and bring them to the forefront? That might be a feature that is integrated in the future, but in the Windows 7 example, reviews weren’t curated in that manner.

Leave a comment if you’ve come across any of these ads yet, or what you think of the idea.

As Brand Channel Manager at pure-play social media agency Big Fuel, Ross Sheingold focuses on trying to keep the “social” in social media by creating lifestyle content that consumers actually care about. Aside from the four years spent at Penn State University, Ross has been a New Yorker living in Manhattan for the whole of his nearly 30 years on the planet. When he isn’t staying up to date on the current digital and social media trends and “geeking out” on the latest tech gadget, he spends time on his fan advocacy cause as the man behind @StadiumInsider. You can follow Ross on Twitter @RossSheingold and on Google+ http://gplus.to/RossS

 

 

 

Creating Music for the Social Web

Posted on by kimberly reyes

Social Media Week’s Creating Music for the Social Web panel, hosted by SoundCtrl, took place this morning at Hearst Magazines, the Art & Culture Content Hub for this week’s events. Pitchfork Media President Chris Kaskie kicked off the morning with a keynote speech, where he talked about Pitchfork’s role as a kind of music discovery curator.

In the evolving world of music, where listeners are not only discovering songs and artists through their friends, but also through automated listening processes like Pandora, Pitchfork is using social media in conjunction with its website as a means of maintaining contextual relevancy and trustworthiness for its fans.  Kaskie pointed out how the definition of “music ownership” is changing, and that some day he’ll leave his kids with “logins to cloud accounts and not record collections.” And while it isn’t Pitchfork’s responsibility to figure out how musicians can continue to generate revenue in light of this change in music consumption, he feels it is Pitchfork’s responsibility to cover music that their audience is interested in.

At present, Pitchfork finds that Twitter and Tumblr are two social media networks that augment their audience’s music discovery experience–as platforms to have conversations (Pitchfork.com does not allow user comments) and also to find content that is re-contextualized from Pitchfork.com.

Creating Music for the Social Web
The panel included a range of industry professionals: Jessie Kirshbaum (Nue Agency and SoundCtrl), Maura Johnson (Music Editor at Village Voice), Josh Deutsch (CEO at Downtown Music), Asher Roth (rapper) and Chris Kaskie (President at Pitchfork Media).

The panel, lead by Josh Deutsch, discussed the role that the web has played in the music business. Asher Roth, the only musician on the panel, gave insight into how the musician is tasked with not only creating music, but also navigating the social space in a way that is effective and efficient. Because, as he remarked, it seems that right now there are “so many tools…I just need a knife and a fork.”

Creating music for the social web, however, can be a liberating process. The creative freedom that comes from being unbound by the expectations and constraints imposed by traditional record labels can be a major reward for an artist. Kaskie also pointed out that although there are many record labels doing great things, today people don’t pay as much attention to record labels. The production, distribution and success of an artist all come down to the audience’s interest level in the music and the artist. Fans are often artists’ greatest promoters, taking it upon themselves to tweet, share and blog about the music.  So in essence, all musicians are on the same playing field. There are varying degrees of popularity and production quality, but because musicians now have the ability to create and release songs from their bedrooms, critics like Pitchfork, will treat the music the same.  To quote Maura Johnson, “If the craft is there, it’s there despite the business side.”

Take-Aways From the Panel
The social web continues to create opportunities for musicians. Artists need to be able to find out what works for them. They must be mindful of focusing on those networks that will help achieve their specific goals. As Josh Deutsch answered when asked what the top things an artist should know to get their music in front of the right music curators and editors, “it all depends on who you are as an artist and what you want to accomplish.”

Laurie Amodeo is Senior Community Manager at Big Fuel, where she has worked on social media campaigns for clients such as General Motors, Nutrisystem and H&M. She has also created marketing and social media campaigns for public and private sector organizations including the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade and Peeled Snacks. When she’s not executing innovative social programs for clients, Laurie can be found singing, writing, hooping and cooking with veggies. flavors.me/laurieamodeo

Avoiding The Pitfalls While Pushing Forward In A Brave New World

Posted on by kimberly reyes

As Brand Channel Manager at pure-play social media agency Big Fuel, Ross Sheingold focuses on trying to keep the “social” in social media by creating lifestyle content that consumers actually care about. Aside from the four years spent at Penn State University, Ross has been a New Yorker living in Manhattan for the whole of his nearly 30 years on the planet. When he isn’t staying up to date on the current digital and social media trends and “geeking out” on the latest tech gadget, he spends time on his fan advocacy cause as the man behind @StadiumInsider. You can follow Ross on Twitter @RossSheingold and on Google+ http://gplus.to/RossS

Social Media Week 2012 NYC started strong on Monday morning with a keynote by David Eastman, CEO of JWT America and a thought-proving presentation by Ann Mack, JWT Director of Trendspotting. Both Eastman and Mack touched on the fundamental shift in the ways consumers are connecting with brands, while providing marketers with ways to prepare for potential pitfalls that lie ahead such as “Facebook Fatigue, “de-teching” and “hyper-personilization” pushback.

Eastman discussed the perils of lazy social marketing (the false notion that “nobody ever got fired for marketing on Facebook”) and the importance of tapping into consumer passion points. Much to the delight of seasoned social media professionals, Eastman urged brand marketers to have genuine conversations with customers – if messaging is uninspired or boring, people will doze off. And this doesn’t only apply to what happens on social media channels. Eastman argued that “social” media should roll up into digital and any other form of media, even suggesting that next year’s “Social Media Week” should just be called “Media Week.” Mack would later support this by touching on the opportunities that exist with social commerce and integrating interactive screens in brick and mortar retail.

Eastman also didn’t shy away from sharing strong opinions on hot button items such as Facebook’s frictionless sharing and the rapid growth of Pinterest. Engaging social experiences are key, and to Eastman, Facebook’s frictionless sharing almost feels like spam. In his words “sharing should be active, otherwise it is meaningless.” As for Pinterest, he recognized that “pinning” has hit the mainstream, but isn’t sold on the long-term value. To Eastman, “over-pinning” is something to look out for – Pinterest might make it hard to separate what people really care about, the same way “over-friending” on social networks has devalued friendship.

Ann Mack followed with a lively presentation touching on social media trends to look out for in 2012 and beyond. As she said, “conspicuous living” has reached an all-time high. Between social media, the advancement of mobile technology and location based services, there is a radical transparency in all of our lives. This way of life is actually leading to social angst, a result of FOMO (fear of missing out). “Radical transparency remorse” (did I really tweet that last night?!) is becoming more prevalent and people are starting to become wary of the opt-out data culture that companies like Facebook have embraced. All of this can lead to “Facebook Fatigue” and eventually “de-teching” a very real concept that will only grow stronger as fledgling social networks such as Google+ and Diaspora gain more mainstream exposure.

Mack also warned about user pushback against “hyper-personalization” while discussing what she called “The Filter Bubble.” From ads on Facebook to news stories curated through Zite all the way to search results from Google Search Plus Your World, personalization has become the norm in our digital world. In a recent JWT study, 69% of respondents stated that they felt this tailored content was useful, but 79% said they’d prefer to see things through an unfiltered lens. Meanwhile, 86% were curious about what is being left out when content is tailored to them. “Reengineering randomness” by providing different POVs and serendipity is a trend that has caught on with social services such as Meetup.com, Grubwithus, Yobongo and Turntable.FM. Consumers will continue to expect personalization, but also want the option of randomness – it’s a delicate balance.

Both Eastman and Mack made it very clear that none of this is going to end “social” commerce – it will only enhance it. Human beings are wired to socialize and will continue to do so with the means they are provided. The key for brands and marketers is to create a message that drives people to socialize and overlay the social graph across the digital experience. Brands should use social as a driver for good, advocate for opt-in instead of opt-out data and should experiment with social commerce, collaborative consumption and digital integration at retail.

Keeping SMW Healthy: Whole Foods

Posted on by Nicky Yates

It’s the small things that sometimes help move something from ordinary into amazing. Someone giving you their seat on the train. Free movies on a flight. Power charging stations at events. Snacks and beverages at Social Media Week.

You’ve seen them around. You’ve taken some of the fruit- admit it. So, today we thank Whole Foods. Positioning Food Carts at our Advertising & Marketing Hub at JWT, Health & Wellness Hub at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness and our Global Society Hub at Big Fuel, Whole Foods is keeping you energized with snacks on the go.

And that’s not all. They’re sharing their success stories. Be Global, Act Local at their Bowery location on Thursday, February 16, will provide accounts on how to have both a global and local presence to meet consumer needs. With Whole Foods’ online presence and incredible community engagement efforts, they tend to know this area pretty well. So, register today and chat with them about what you can do with your business.

But don’t forget to grab a snack after the session.

Announcing Social Media Week NYC’s Content Hubs & Partners

Posted on by Nicky Yates

Building on the success of SMW NYC 2011, we are excited to announce the initial lineup of Content Hubs which will serve as the primary locations for official SMW programming throughout the week of February 13-17.

Building off the Global Theme of Empowering Change through Collaboration, each Content Hub, will host programming at iconic institutions throughout the city and reflect key areas of focus for conversations on the societal, economic and cultural impact of social media.

These areas include Advertising & Marketing; Social & Environmental Change; Health & Wellness; Art & Culture; Music, Media & Entertainment; Business Innovation; and Global Society.

Advertising & Marketing


JWT will serve as our host for guiding conversations on the impact of the world of marketing through social media. The Marketing & Advertising Hub will focus on broad themes including Monitoring & Analytics, PR & Communications, Location-based Marketing, Community Management, Creative & Brand Strategy, Media Buying & Planning, and Crowdsourcing & Co-creation.

“JWT is delighted to serve as the advertising and marketing hub at Social Media Week for a second year,” said Social Media Week Board Member David Eastman, who is North American CEO and Worldwide Digital Director at JWT. “All brands need to consider the role of social media in nearly every aspect of their businesses, and through hosting and participating in this series of events, we can help to lead the conversation about this increasingly important part of our industry.” — David Eastman, CEO, JWT

Art & Culture

Stimulating dialogue centered around the arts, fashion and cultural shifts, Hearst Corporation will serve as our Art & Culture Hub. Content will focus on Art, Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty, Travel, Food, Theater, Luxury, and Comedy.

“We’re thrilled to be hosting the opening press conference and the Art & Culture hub for Social Media Week NY again this year. As a company, Hearst has embraced digital and social in a major way and we applaud SMW for creating a dynamic, global conversation about how it has become an integral part of all of our lives.” — David Carey, President, Hearst Magazines

Health & Wellness

Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness will lead the conversation around emerging changes and the future of wellness and healthcare as the host of our Health & Wellness Hub, with Luminary Labs lending their expertise to help curate events. Events will be centered around Innovations in Health & Wellness, Global & Future Wellness, Preventative Health & Medicine, Sports & Fitness, Emerging Tools, Healthcare & Health Plans, Nutrition, Sustainable Living, Mental Health/Enrichment, and Human Resource Management.

“Through social media, the world is becoming a smaller place and nowhere is this more apparent, or will it have a potentially bigger impact on people’s lives, than in wellness and healthcare. Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness is honored to host a forum where thought leadership will shape and empower a revolution in communications and marketing—welcome Social Media Week.” — Ned Russell, Managing Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness

“Luminary Labs is honored to curate the Health and Wellness Hub during Social Media Week in New York. We look forward to fostering collaboration between science, technology, the arts, and design to deliver change for one of society’s greatest needs- our own health,” — Sara Holoubek, CEO, Luminary Labs

Social & Environmental Change

 

Our Social & Environmental Change Hub will examine the role of social, digital and mobile media in affecting change for the greater good. Hosted by Thomson Reuters, the Social & Environmental Change Hub will explore Education, Energy & Climate Change, Non-profits, Social Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and Social Justice & Human Rights.

“I am excited to have our Reuters headquarters at 3 Times Square be a hub for this coming Social Media Week. I was lucky enough to moderate a Social Media Week panel on the role social media played in the Arab Spring earlier this year, on a historic day for Egypt. I’ve also been a captive audience member for many other great Social Media Week events over the years. Toby Daniel, Michelle Welsch and the rest of the Social Media Week organizers are a fantastic team we’re thrilled to be working with. We look forward to hosting some great events at our hub which we will be announcing soon.” — Anthony De Rosa, Social Media Editor, Reuters

Business Innovation
The way in which consumers and businesses interact and how business is handled has been deeply impacted by social media and technology. The venue for the Business Innovation Hub will be announced soon but will guide these conversations and examine E-commerce & Mobile Payments, Enterprise & Startups, Trading & Investment, Regulation & Legal, Business Systems, Business Information Design, Customer Relationship Management and Human Resource Management.
 
 
Music, Media & Entertainment
The Music, Media & Entertainment Hub will guide dialogue on the way in which we entertain ourselves as a culture and how the social, mobile and digital field has revolutionized this area. The host for the Music, Media & Entertainment Hub will be announced soon, and events will explore broad areas including Music, Artists, Television, Journalism, Publishing, Film, Radio, and Telecommunications.
 
 
Global Society

At Big Fuel, the Global Society Hub will be our central headquarters, providing attendees opportunities to interact with interactive installations, co-create with other participants, engage with other SMW international locations and presentations, and take in a fuller SMW experience.

“We are tremendously excited to host the Global Hub for Social Media Week New York in February 2012. The dialogues about social media that are taking place in this conference, all over the world, really excite us. We look forward to facilitating those conversations, across all the partner cities, and showcasing social media’s global impact.” — Jon Bond, CEO, Big Fuel

 
With these iconic institutions leading the way as platforms for content and conversation during Social Media Week, now is the time to submit your event ideas and help to shape and influence the experience for our attendees.  Submitting your ideas is easy and we encourage you to do so as soon as possible as submissions close on January 20th and the earlier you submit the greater the chances of having your idea chosen.

Event Spotlight: Fueling Passion for Music Discovery, Hosted by Pandora, Big Fuel and Social Media Advertising Consortium

Posted on by joannadeepfocus

It’s the second day of Social Media Week and we hope you are all enjoying the awesome panels and parties! Have you been meticulously and strategically planning out your agenda for this week?

Well don’t forget to pencil in this event hosted by Pandora, Big Fuel and Social Media Advertising Consortium:

What is this event called? Pandora Presents: Fueling Passion for Music Discovery

Where am I going? Entertainment, Sports and Gaming Hub at the Red Bull Space

When? Wednesday February 9th from 6-9 PM

What’s this all about? Join industry executives, social media insiders and bloggers to share insights and ideas in a relaxed setting fueled by good music, food and cocktails.

Don’t forget to register here!