Social Media Club: Weekly Chapter Call

Want to launch Social Media Club in your city, or have you started, but would like some advice on how to growth or manage the group?

We are getting requests daily to launch chapters in cities around the world, so we are scheduling a weekly call series for every Wednesday at 8:00am PST to review what it takes to launch a chapter and how to ensure success when you do.

As I mentioned in an earlier post today, one of the goals of SMC is to encourage the sharing of knowledge between the cities - I want Paris to know what is important to Chicago, London to know what Austin is talking about, New York to keep tabs on Kansas City, etc. - so you should keep in mind we are building infrastructure to help you not only manage the local chapter easily, but also to connect with the other cities and members. It is coming, I promise, but for now - things are done a little manually across various platforms (wiki, Facebook, Ning, the main SMC site). We will also invite local chapter leaders from existing Clubs to join in each week to share their insights of what has worked best and guide you along the way.

The conference call info is as follows:

Conference Dial-in Number: (269) 320-8400
Access Code: 509633#

We will be recording each call, so if you are not able to join us live - feel free to take a listen when time allows:

Playback Number: (641) 715-3445
Access Code: 509633#

We are also working on an official chapter launch guide, and have started to draft some items on the wiki. We encourage everyone to review these BEFORE you join the call so we all have a baseline to work from:

• Wee if your city is already meeting, also some good info if you scroll down to the bottom
• Suggestions from active chapters on how to ensure success in How To Run a Meeting

SMC Founder, Chris Heuer, also interviewed SMC Louisville Chapter Leader, Jason Falls, recently on Organizing a Local Social Media Club. This is a 30-minute podcast, please take a listen.

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Who Owns Social Media - SF 10/21

Join us on Tuesday October 21, 2008 @ CNet headquarters in San Francisco from 6-830pm for this important debate / conversation.  Professional members of Social Media Club (paid members in good standing) receive free registration, the general public is $5 in advance and $10 at the door if there are seats remaining.

Who owns social media? This is a question that really needs to be understood better. Of course, the first response of many people is that no one can really ‘own’ social media, everyone uses it. But enterprises around the globe are struggling with figuring out where social media fits within their hierarchical, org chart driven world. This is an important question that has significant consequences for how social media evolves.

In this sense, we are really talking about who is responsible for social media in the enterprise? Most social media ‘insiders’ would naturally say, everyone is responsible, but this is just not the reality for most businesses. Someone needs to allocate budget, someone needs decisionmaking authority over infrastructure and major programs, someone needs to rewrite job descriptions upon which employees are measured and many more people need to understand why, where and how to engage.

At the moment there seems to be an inclination that Social Media belongs in the communications wheelhouse, but others argue for support and others argue for Human Resources to be in charge while others think that this is clearly an IT issue. Can all of these people be right? In which situations is it most appropriate? How are organizations evolving to embrace the new conversational modalities of customer interaction? What about its use internally?

With the ever insightful Cathy Brooks from Seesmic joining Chris Heuer as co-moderators, we will explore these questions and many others to develop a deeper understanding of this issue that will hopefully help corporate Social Media Champions around the world. The debaters/panelists for this great event include Seth Goldstein from SocialMedia.com, Mike Manuel from Vocce Communications, Jeremy Toeman from Live Digitally and one other person still TBD.

The evening starts at CNet at 6pm with networking and informal conversation. From 7-8PM we will be digging into the question of Who Owns Social Media? The event will wrap up at 830pm.

Special thanks to our continuing Social Media Club event sponsor, Optaros, a development and strategy firm that designs, assembles and supports next generation Internet applications. If you are interested in sponsoring this or other Social Media Club events, contact us today.

Please do register in advance as we expect this event to be sold out.

In the meantime, lets get this conversation rolling.  Who do you think owns social media? why?

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Social Media Club: A short history, a long and bright future

When Chris and I started Social Media Club (SMC) two+ years ago, we understood growth was going to be more organically based as there were only two of us working on the organization on a part time basis, and we needed to set up each city with a baseline infrastructure to ensure we met our goals of sharing best practices, establishing ethics and standards, and promoting media literacy around the emerging area of Social Media.

We could have followed BarCamp by posting a wiki page and leaving it open to anyone to host an event, whenever - but we wanted to make sure these events happened more regularly (monthly), they were both informational and socially based, and at the end of the day - the learnings would then be shared back into our community for the betterment of all. We realized early on, we needed to set some guidelines and then oversee the chapters to ensure we were meeting our goals. We had to manage it.

Fast forward to 2008: we are now a handful of people managing the global organization on a part time basis, and actively working towards hiring full time staff as we file our 501c6 and push SMC further into the global space. Thanks to the efforts of our local leaders, we have grown to over 25 active chapters with 10’s of 1000’s of people gathering around the world. Woot!

Now, with all the woot! comes the reality we have fallen short on some of our goals - primarily, not connecting the chapters as well as I would have liked, and we need to ensure the knowledge shared at SMC chapter events is then pushed back into the system so all can utilize. A large part of this is the infrastructure behind the scenes. Wikis are tough for some, Ning and Facebook are not the best storage sources.

In order for us to continue to grow and show value to the community - we need to finish building out the new portal that will make launching new chapters easier, finding events in your local community faster, allow communications with other members, and harness the knowledge produced at each event.  The last piece (knowledge sharing) is critical to me - when chapters are talking about a certain topic, we need to ensure there are digital scribes in the room who are then responsible for bringing that info back into the portal so other chapters can then use it for their chapters or members can read up on what is hot in that community. This requires someone managing the global calendar and then following up with each city the day after to make sure this is being done - this is a primary role for me to fill, and I hope to have announcements on this shortly.

We are also working on our Four Missions Project and are gathering volunteers to drive them forward: Media Literacy, Sharing Lessons Learned, Encourage Adoption of Industry Standards, Promote Ethical Behavior. If you are interested in helping on one or more, please add your name to the wiki and the project leader will be in touch with you.

SMC has been extremely fortunate over the last two years to have people believe in the organization and support it via paid memberships to allow us to continue to grow. To all of you who have contributed so far, thank you, thank you, thank you.  It means the world to us.

Stay tuned for more to come. As Timbuk3 likes to sing - SMC’s future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades…

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Social Media News: September 2008

In this issue:

· Welcome New Members!

· Member Benefits Package

· Social Media Workshops: Starting the Conversation

· Documenting Election 08 Using Social Media

· SMC Gatherings Around the World

· Conference Discounts Available to SMC Members

· Local Chapter Leader Conference Calls

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Welcome to our SMB and Professional Members:

We’d like to acknowledge our new Co-Founders, Small and Medium Business Members, and Professional Members here. Thank you ever so much for opening your heart, and your wallet, to support the mission of Social Media Club.

· SMB Co-Founders: Janet Fouts, CJ Brasiel, Patrick Sellers, Roxanne Darling, Shane Robinson, Lee Odden

· SMB Members: Bradley Silver, Tom O’Brien, Laura Chavoen, Aaron Strout, Heather Strout, Matt Shandera, Regan Fletcher, Karen Greenburg, Ted Morris, Ashirwaad Badami

· Professional Co-Founders: Jackie Peters, Patrick Reilly, Steve Banfield, Jennifer McClure, Scott Schablow, Stephen Collins, Alex de Carvalho

· Professional Members: Douglas Pollei, Joel Richman, Ayelet Baron, Jeanne Meister, Jim Nieters, Chris Ray, Crystal King, Beth Harte, Eric Rochow, Tucker Carney, Jason Falls, Cyril Simone, Janie, Graziani, Jason Kintzler, Ziad Kane, Jeff De Cagna, Te-ge Bramhall, Allen Mireles, David Naumann, Steven Fish, Tim Eby, Kathleen Ferretti-Gambale, Andy Sernovitz, Michelle Brusyo, Heidi Proctor, Zoe Korstvedt, Tessa Horehled, JoAnn Peach, Kyung Han

Each of the members mentioned above will receive a Social Media Club Member Kit that includes a membership card, t-shirt and stickers.  We are also happy to announce that for the next few months, new members will also receive an Akoha starter kit.  If you don’t know what that is yet, you need to check out http://akoha.com/ to see this great concept for yourself. We will continue to beef the kits up as time goes on with other promotional items, discounts and various other benefits, so stay tuned for further announcements!

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Member Benefits Package

We have been working behind the scenes to define the value proposition to attract new members (and keep existing ones connected) to Social Media Club and work towards building out the member benefit packages that are a little light right now.

The committee members are Michael Brito, Serena Erlich, Chris Heuer, Aaron Strout, Des Walsh and Kristie Wells and some thoughts have been shared on the SMC website on what we are thinking of and we would absolutely love your feedback on what you think the should be included in your SMC membership. Please post a comment and/or connect with us directly. Thank you for continued support.

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Social Media Workshops: Starting the Conversation

If you are trying to understand why Social Media is such a hot topic and what your organization should be doing about it, this is your chance to attend a workshop hosted by SMC professionals from around the world.  Each workshop has a slightly different focus and flavor, and each workshop is hosted by a different group of leaders, but each workshop is designed with you in mind, so you not only learn from lectures, but through conversations and interactions with the leaders.

We have two workshops coming up this year (with more to come in 2009):

Honolulu Hawaii - October 23, 2008

• $295 Registration ($100 discount if you register before October 10th)
• 8AM - 3PM @ The Hawaii Prince Hotel
• Workshop leaders include Roxanne Darling, Beth Kanter, Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells
• More information on the Hawaii workshop including the agenda is available on the http://SocialMediaWorkshop.com Web site
• Register Now

Northern California - November 8, 2008

• $395 Registration ($100 discount if you register before October 31st)
• 9am - 5PM @ TBD
• Workshop leaders include Erin Kotecki Vest (QueenofSpain), Lauren Fitton (Pistachio), Adam Metz, Jeremy Toeman, Kristie Wells and Chris Heuer
• Erin will be leading off this workshop with a keynote on her insights from the 2008 Presidential Election from the prior Tuesday.
• More information on the Northern California workshop including agenda and venue details will follow shortly

SMC Members in good standing (i.e., paid up on dues) can receive an extra 10% off by using a special discount code, which you can receive by emailing events@socialmediaclub.org.

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Documenting Election 08 Using Social Media

The SMC Boston chapter, to encourage more hands-on social media learning, built a social network for people to document Election 08 from a Social Media perspective. In a little more than a week, there’s been a lot of great content, and from some very cool and smart people in the Boston area. But it’s not just a Boston idea. It can work everywhere.

Add your thoughts now and join the conversation.

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SMC Gatherings Around the World

We have a fresh round of local events coming up over the next month and hope you can join us at one of them:

• Dallas, TX ( USA) - September 25th
• Paris ( France) - September 29th
• Boston, MA ( USA) - October 9th
• London ( UK) - October 9th (planning meeting)
• Phoenix, AZ ( USA) - October 9th
• Isle of Man ( British Isles) - October 16th
• San Francisco/Silicon Valley, CA ( USA) - October 21st

More cities to announce upcoming dates shortly. Keep watch online for a gathering in your local city.

As for growth, while we would like to build the organization organically and just blindly say ‘go do it’ – we also know the value of the Club will be finding ways to get the cities to work with one another, so we are intentionally growing at a slower pace right now as we implement the technology to ensure that happens.

If you are interested in launching SMC in your local city, please sign your city up on the wiki so we can start collecting names of other people interested in attending in your area, and seeking out venues to hold each gathering.  It will make it so much easier when we get ready to launch to know what the dealio is.

We also ask that you listen to the following podcast and read the wiki material on things to consider, and then jump on our weekly call held on Wednesdays, starting October 1st, to discuss the requirements for launching Social Media Club in your city, as well as receive advice and feedback to ensure your launch is a success.

• SMC Founder, Chris Heuer, recently interviewed SMC Louisville Chapter Leader, Jason Falls, on Organizing a Local Chapter (30 minute podcast)
• Best practices and items to consider provided in the How To Run a Meeting guide (on the wiki)
• Weekly call on Wednesdays at 8am PST. Conference Dial-in Number: (269) 320-8400, Participant Access Code: 509633#. These will be recorded for those who are not able to attend the live call. Playback Number: (641) 715-3445, Access Code: 509633#.

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Conference Discounts Available to SMC Members

I am pleased to pass along discounts provided to members of the Social Media Club (SMC) community for the following events:

• AMA - Viral Marketing - Is it right for your firm?: September 25, 2008 in San Francisco, CA - Discount Available: $15 off standard non-member ticket price of $50. Use discount code fall08.
• Social Media Marketing Summit: October 1-2, 2008 in San Francisco, CA - Discount Available: Passes available for $495 (onsite reg. $1,295). Use discount code w3ace2.
  
• SMX East New York: October 6-8, 2008 in New York, NY ( USA). Discount Available: 10% off badges at all levels. Use discount code smx10smc (case sensitive)
• Executing Social Media: October 15-16, 2008 in Atlanta, GA - Discount Available:  $200 off the registration fee. User discount code ESM08SM.
• Social Media Summit: October 20-23, 2008 in New York, NY - Discount Available: $200 off registration. Mention Social Media Club when registering.
• Forrester’s Consumer Forum 2008: October 28-29, 2008 in Dallas, TX - Discount Available: Call +1 617.613.5905 or email events@forrester.com and mention SMC to save $400 off the full conference rate. Discount applies to new registrations only and cannot be combined with other offers.
• Searchnomics Social Media Strategies Conference: October 29-30, 2008 in San Francisco, CA - Discount Available: $150 off registration. Use discount code smclub.
• The Marketing & Online Communities Conference: November 5 in New York, NY – Discount Available: $100 off registration. Use discount code smcmoc9.
• Social Media for Internal Communications: November 17-20, 2008 in San Francisco, CA - Discount Available: $200 off registration. Mention Social Media Club when registering.

Other conferences happening around the world:

• BlogOrlando: September 25-27  in Orlando, FL ( USA)
• NCDD 2008 Conference: October 3-5  in Austin, TX ( USA)
• Social Media for Social Changes: October 10 in Boston, MA ( USA)
• BlogHer Reach Out Tour: October 11 in Boston, MA ( USA)
• BlogHer Reach Out Tour: October 13 in Washington, DC ( USA)
• New Marketing Summit: October 14-15 in Foxboro, MA ( USA)
• Mystic Meetup: October 17-18 in Mystic, CT ( USA)
• PodCamp Pittsburgh: October 18-19 in Pittsburgh, PA ( USA)
• Web 2.0 Berlin: October 21-23 in Berlin, Germany
• MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer: October 23-24 in Scottsdale, AZ ( USA)
• PRSA 2008 International Conference: October 25-28 in Detroit, MI ( USA)
• Blogwell: October 28 in San Jose, CA ( USA)
• Web 2.0 Summit: November 5-7 in San Francisco, CA ( USA)
• 3rd Annual Society for New Communications Research Symposium & Awards Gala: November 14 in Cambridge, MA ( USA)
• 3rd Annual Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference: November 19 in Phoenix, AZ ( USA)
• Web 2.0 Tokyo: December 3-4 in Tokyo, Japan
• SXSW Interactive: March 13-17 in Austin, TX ( USA)
  

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Local Chapter Leader Conference Calls

We are going to begin regular monthly conference calls with the SMC Chapter Leaders to ensure you are informed on the latest happenings within and around the Club.  Your feedback will ensure the Club grows strong and is meeting the needs of our members.

Watch your email for the details on each call.

Be well you Media mavens.

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More conferences to put on your calendar

In addition to the conference/events I just posted discounts for, there are several others we think are super and you should add to your calendar to attend:

• NCDD 2008 Conference: October 3-5, 2008 in Austin, TX - NCDD’s dynamic conferences bring together leaders and future leaders in public engagement, conflict resolution and related fields to share resources and strategies, build lasting relationships, increase the visibility and effectiveness of their work, tackle challenges we face, and initiate collaborative projects.
• BlogHer Reach Out Tour: October 11, 2008 in Boston, MA - One-day conference that will feature a broad range of topics and speakers, cocktail parties for networking and socializing, and a little bit of local flavor. We’ll be focusing on topics that seem to resonate strongest in these cities, and looking to local bloggers to help lead the discussions.
• BlogHer Reach Out Tour: October 13, 2008 in Washington, DC - One-day conference that will feature a broad range of topics and speakers, cocktail parties for networking and socializing, and a little bit of local flavor. We’ll be focusing on topics that seem to resonate strongest in these cities, and looking to local bloggers to help lead the discussions.
• Blogwell - How Big Companies Use Social Media: October 28, 2008 in San Jose, CA -Unprecedented insight on social media from Cisco, Intel, Wells Fargo, Walmart, UPS, Kaiser Permanente, Graco, and Home Depot. Measuring ROI, managing teams, legal issues, BtoB, working with agencies and creating great content. This is the best opportunity available for anyone looking to get started or improve their corporate social media efforts. Learn from the world’s top companies who are already doing it well. Get practical, how-to advice, a lesson on tricky disclosure issues, and loads of ideas and examples for just $200. From GasPedal and Blog Council.
• 3rd Annual Society for New Communications Research Symposium & Awards Gala: November 14, 2008 in Cambridge, MA - This very special event will feature the presentation of the Society’s Fellows’ latest research projects and winning case studies from around the world through the Society’s Excellence in New Communications awards program.

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Conference Discounts Available to SMC Members

I am pleased to pass along discounts provided to members of the Social Media Club (SMC) community for the following events:

• AMA - Viral Marketing - Is it right for your firm?: September 25, 2008 in San Francisco, CA - The right viral campaign can turn a small company into a household name and can even generate coverage in traditional media. Indeed, the successes of viral campaigns by companies such as Ford, Kodak, Trojans, and BigFix have triggered the rise of hundreds of viral marketing companies in recent years. But not all viral campaigns succeed. How can you evaluate whether viral marketing is an appropriate tool for your firm? Discount Available: $15 off standard non-member ticket price of $50. Use discount code fall08.  Side note: I am moderating this panel, which should make for an interesting evening as this is the first time I have ever been handed the microphone to lead a session.
• Social Media Marketing Summit: October 1-2, 2008 in San Francisco, CA - Yamaha, Best Buy, Cisco, Ticketmaster and Wells Fargo are just some of the major case studies to be presented at Social Media: The Marketing Summit, along with presentations by some of the biggest names in the industry: Charlene Li, Shel Israel and Brian Solis among them. If you want to know how to get results with blogging, YouTube or Facebook, don’t miss this event. 12 in-depth sessions, 23 experts, over two days. This is the only new media marketing summit you need. Discount Available: Passes available for $495 (onsite reg. $1,295). Use discount code w3ace2.
• SMX East New York: October 6-8, 2008. SMX East delivers the most comprehensive educational and networking experience conceivable — whether you’re just starting in search marketing or you’re a seasoned expert. Your All Access registration pass gets you in to the more than 50 search marketing sessions. See the complete agenda. Discount Available: 10% on their badges at all levels. Use discount code smx10smc (case sensitive).
  
• Executing Social Media - Interactive Conference & Roundtables for Internal and External Communications: October 15-16, 2008 in Atlanta, GA - In two, jam-packed days, you will learn the business opportunities and risks presented by the new technologies, including blogging, podcasting, RSS, YouTube, Twitter, social networks, and virtual communities. You’ll learn how each of these work and how to put them to work in your organization. Discount Available:  $200 off the registration fee. User discount code ESM08SM.
• Social Media Summit - How To Use Blogging, Podcasting & The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Engage Your Employees, Reach Your Customers & Build Your Brand: October 20-23, 2008 in New York, NY -Attend this conference to learn how to use Social Media, and leverage the latest interactive tools and techniques to advance your organizational goals. Discount Available: $200 off registration. Mention Social Media Club when registering.
• Forrester’s Consumer Forum 2008: October 28-29, 2008 in Dallas, TX - Join Patricia Seybold, Vivi Zigler, Paco Underhill, and other marketing experts for “Keeping Ahead Of Tomorrow’s Customer.” Through keynotes, track sessions, and one-on-one meetings with Forrester analysts, you’ll learn proven strategies for winning customers’ dollars and loyalty today and in the future. Discount Available: Call +1 617.613.5905 or email events@forrester.com and mention SMC to save $400 off the full conference rate. Discount applies to new registrations only and cannot be combined with other offers.
• Searchnomics Social Media Strategies Conference: October 29-30, 2008 in San Francisco, CA - Premier event for CMOs, Social Media Managers, Online Community Managers, Corporate Communications, PR, Marketing, Advertising, and Recruiting Professionals. This Conference will focus on how organizations can leverage Social Media to achieve their business goals by using technologies such as blogs, micro-blogging, wikis, podcasts, video, RSS, forums, social networks, online communities, and social bookmarking. Discount Available: $150 off registration. Use discount code smclub.
• The Marketing & Online Communities Conference: November 5, 2008 in New York, NY – The Marketing & Online Communities Conference is an invitation-based event that will bring together thought leaders from the marketing and online community sectors to discuss marketing challenges and unprecedented opportunities - in online communities. Discount Available:$100 off registration. Use discount code smcmoc9.
• Social Media for Internal Communications - How To Engage Employees, Drive Change & Improve Your Bottom Line Using BLOGGING, PODCASTING & The Latest WEB 2.0 Technologies: November 17-20, 2008 in San Francisco, CA - Attend this conference to learn how to use Social Media, and leverage the latest interactive tools and techniques to advance your organizational goals. Discount Available: $200 off registration. Mention Social Media Club when registering.