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.
