The Social Media Club Member Badge++

I am very excited to publicly announce this great new member benefit, which we produced with Chris Carfi and his excellent team from Cerado.  Chris calls it a “Ventana” but I think of it as a “nano-site”, being about the size of an iPod Nano, but also being smaller then what you would call a “mico-site”.  Some other folks think of it as a “site in a widget”.  However you think of it, we think you will call it cool.

As a benefit for Professional Members and business members, we are able to use this new member badge to help promote you.  In particular, we go through all of the blog posts written by members each weekday to select the most relevant posts on social media related topics, which then get featured inside the badge.

We also have included a members directory of professional members and above with links to each members blog.  In essence, it is a blog roll of our members, helping drive traffic to those who are working to support our common missions. If you have been holding off on joining as a Professional member, now is a great time to join us and help Social Media Club become the foremost organization of Social Media professionals and those seeking to learn.

Perhaps of greatest interest is the addition of our Social Media Club Events Calendar in which members can feature any social media related event you want to promote by simply filling out the form offered on the bottom of the events calendar page.

Finally, we are also featuring books written by our members along with a few other very important social media books that we believe every social media professional should read.

This is just the first of many more member’s benefits to come, and we think it is a terrific one that is right in the spirit of what we have always tried to do, work together to promote the good works of each other.

So if you want to stay up on all the latest and greatest from Social Media Club and our members, simply check out their sites.  Or if you prefer, you can read the best blog posts from our member’s each day on your iPhone by visiting http://iphone.socialmediaclub.org/

Members, please note, if your name links to an incorrect blog, please send us an updated address to socialmediaclub [at] gmail.com so we can correct – simply reply to the email I sent you last week with the correct info, or leave it here in the comments – this is why I asked for your current address a short while ago.

Five For Sharing: Social Media Case Studies in the Valley

We have some terrific case studies that were submitted for our event in SIlicon Valley tomorrow night, Five For Sharing.  It was hard to choose, and indeed we had to pass on a couple of really great one’s just due to time constraints.  In the end, we have a great balance that will be really informative and entertaining.

In addition to Shashi Bellamkonda who will be presenting an overview of the integrated social media programs being produced at Network Solutions, we will also be joined by:

• Mike McGrath of McGrath/Powers will be presenting on how his agency used social media as part of a product launch for Nero
• Dave Peck will be sharing how he promoted this video on YouTube, how he drove traffic there and how they engaged in the conversation that ensued.
• Cathryn Hrudicka will be talking about the new social media program underway at Sutter Health about building a new medical center.
• Cory O’Brien will be talking about how they used social media for a Dwell Magazine conference.
• We also may have one other remotely presented case study, which I will simply call our surprise guest for now….

In short, we have case studies on the use of social media for: an event, a product launch, promoting content, engaging with community and as part of a broader marketing initiative at a high tech company. Wow! You just gotta love how we can all do things like this together.  Thank you all for agreeing to participate and share what you have learned.  So now that you know what we are going to be discussing, go register today so we can have an accurate head count

Social Media Club: Chapter Launches

Are you interested in launching Social Media Club in your local city?  Need a little help growing your existing chapter? On the hunt for interesting topics?

Join us on our weekly chapter call where we answer questions around what is needed to launch Social Media Club in your local city, how to develop awareness campaigns, discuss topics/conversations that have worked well in other chapters, securing sponsorships, and so much more. The calls take place every Wednesday, and alternate weekly – between 8am PST and 5:30pm PST. An updated schedule is available online in the Social Media Club events calendar. We know these times are not ideal for the International crowd, so feel free to email kristie [at] socialmediaclub.org to schedule an alternate time as needed.

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: (269) 320-8499
Access Code: 509633#

We recently launched an official chapter launch guide, and encourage everyone to review these BEFORE you join the call so we all have a baseline to work from:

• See if your city is already meeting
• SMC Chapter Guidelines
• 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.

We have seen a bit of of pick up in requests to launch Social Media Club chapters as of late, and we will start posting a monthly update on what cities are ‘in the works’ to keep everyone posted. To get us current, here is where we are:

OCTOBER:

• Chapter Launches: Chicago, IL (USA) – Indianapolis, IN (USA) – Las Vegas, NV (USA)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): Charlotte, NC (USA) – Honolulu/Waikiki, HI (USA) – London (UK)

NOVEMBER:

• Chapter Launches: Atlanta, GA (USA) – San Diego, CA (USA)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): Jacksonville, FL (USA)

DECEMBER:

• Chapter Launches: London (UK)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): Detroit/Ann Arbor, MI (USA) – New Orleans, LA (USA) – Orlando, FL (USA) – Portland, OR (USA) – Tampa, FL (USA) – Toronto, ON (Canada) – Tucson, AZ (USA)

JANUARY:

• Chapter Launches: Salt Lake City, UT (USA)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): TBD

To find out information on your city launch and/or planning meetings, please visit the SMC Wiki and click on the city nearest you.

Social Media Now 11.15.08

Here’s what’s been going on in Social Media over the last week or so. Missing something? Email me or add your news in the comments section!

Louis Gray wonders Does Anybody Care About Non-Blog Commenting Anymore?

Francine Hardaway points out that Obama’s decision to put his weekly address out on YouTube might very well be a game changer, and of course everybody is talking about the website, Change.gov and how it will affect the way America reacts to politics. At the same time, Caroline McCarthy wonders if it’s time for a digital reality check.

Andy Sernovitz wrote about how to get bloggers to write about you, and Michael Martine tells PR people how to pitch to bloggers.

Jennifer Leggio contends social media will not kill PR, but it does expose industry weakness.

Media giant Gannet purchased social media development company Ripple6 for their social media technology and analytics. Ripple6 will continue to develop  communities, operating as an independent entity-according to VP of Marketing Rich Ullman.

The fires in California are still raging, and Paul Glazowski shows us how to get the latest news in real time or darn close, and many added their favorite resources to the comments.

Bright Shiny Objects:

• There was a lot of buzz when the rumor came out that TwitteRank was a hoax, set up to steal your login information for Twitter and do something dastardly with it. Although it turned out to not be true there may still be some security issues to think about with Twitter.
• CrowdStatus and Tweetworks offer ways to create smaller more focused groups of Twitter users to communicate with.
• Twitter/Readburner RSS -Tracks the most shared topics from RSS feeds and then posts them to Twitter.
• 12second.tv seems a like a Twitter version of YouTube, but there are people creating some pretty interesting channels already.
• Ever wonder what personality type is reflected in the voice of your blog? Typealyzer.com is your answer, just for fun.
• 29 Travels is a Google map generator that lets you color and highlight all the places you’ve traveled to. Go ahead, show your map off on Google Earth.

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• Cracking the Boys Club in Web 2.0: Ten Women Pioneers of Web 2.0

Social Media ‘Creeping’ Into Universities

This past Sunday Chris Heuer led a session on Social Media at the California Phi Beta Lambda Fall Business Conference at the UC Berkeley campus.

The room was packed with suited college students wanting to know what this fella in a sport coat and jeans was going to share all the buzz about Social Media was about.  A quick survey of the room informed us of the 30+ there, not a single one was being taught Social Media practices in their Marketing classes. Needless to say, this was a surprising fact to learn. Things are moving fast in the Marketing/PR world and it is clear Universities need to modernize their curriculum by bringing in industry leaders to help teach the tools of the trade to ensure these students have a fighting chance when they graduate.

I do know of a couple of Universities offering Social Media/PR 2.0 teachings in their curriculum; Professor French at Auburn University and Alex de Carvalho at University of Miami.  Sad that I can only name two off the top of my head right now, so if you know of more, please leave a comment here as I would love to keep track of what happening in our schools as this is a large part of our Media Literacy project.

Chris took them through his 4 C’s presentation and set the stage for WHY they wanted to integrate Social Media into their Marketing plans of the future. Also encouraged them to read the Cluetrain Manifesto to dive into the whole ‘markets are conversations’ ideology.

The slides are available here and there was a short video interview with Chris about his participation in the Future Business Leaders of America and helped to shape who he is today.

Five for Sharing: Social Media Case Studies Event in SF/SV

It seems that the one thing we never have enough of are case studies about how companies have used Social Media effectively and how companies have failed spectacularly. So for this month’s Social Media Club event in San Francisco/Silicon Valley, we are going to start working to remedy this.

Join us on Tuesday November 18, 2008 in San Mateo for “Five for Sharing” a night of five 10 minute presentations of social media case studies. To kick the night off, we are very pleased to announce that we will be joined by Shashi Bellamkonda from Network Solutions to share their experiences with social media and what they have learned thus far.

Other than this great kick off case study though, we haven’t selected the other four.

At this time, we would like you to submit your ideas for a case study you would like to present (or perhaps one you want to see presented) in the comments on the blog post. The local leadership group will make the final selections at the end of next week and get in touch with everyone to make sure they can make it. We will then make the final announcement for the case studies we will be seeing here on the blog, through Twitter and Facebook and everywhere else appropriate.

The event will cost $5 in advance or $10 at the door and is free for Professional or Business members of Social Media Club. It will take place at the offices of Re/MAX in San Mateo, located at 1700 El Camino. Complete details are available on EventBrite, where you can register right now. Due to the venue this event is limited to 70 people this month, so please do register early if you are planning to join us.

Austin Real Estate Company Uses Social Media

An article in today’s Austin American-Statesman relates how Benn Rosales and Lani Anglin-Rosales, members  of SMC Austin, use social media in their real estate company. Their Agent Genius blog-magazine, which features 37 contributors from across the nation, won an award from real estate news agency Inman News for most innovative blog.

SMC Austin co-founder Connie Reece and program chair, David Neff, were also interviewed for the article. David took the unusual step of making a Facebook page for his house, which Benn and Lani are helping him sell through social media efforts.

Read the complete story: Social media help Austin agents sell homes.

NO Local Chapter call this week

Based on feedback we received around the Chapter Launch Guidelines documents (at the bottom of the Local Team wiki page), we would like to make some changes to it before we jump on another call.

This means there will NOT be a call tomorrow (Wednesday, November 5th).

We will resume our weekly call schedule NEXT week, starting on Wednesday, November 12th at 8:00am PST.

We will post the new document to this site once it is ready along with the conference call information and appreciate your understanding and your patience.

Democracy at it’s finest – TwitterVoteReport.com

(Reposted from the Harbrooke Group Blog).

This post is party-neutral, but 100% American. Here is an example that DeTocqueville would have been happy to report on, had he lived several hundred years.

Twitter Vote Report has enabled people to directly report on their voting experience, including if they had issues with machines, polling places, how long the line is.

Look at the Americans, from all over the country, letting people know that they have voted, and more importantly, pointing out the flaws so they can be quickly fixed to ensure fair elections. I’ll be Twittering my vote report today.

Twitter Vote Report » Spread the word

On November 4th 2008, millions of Americans will go to over 200,000 distinct voting locations and using different systems and machinery to vote. Some voters will have a terrific experiences, and others will experience the same problems we have been hearing about for years – long lines, broken machines, inaccurate voting rolls, and others will experience problems that we haven’t heard about before. That’s why a new citizen-driven election monitoring system called Twitter Vote Report (www.twittervotereport.com) was just launched. Using either Twitter.com, iPhone, direct SMS, or our telephone hotlines, voters will have a new way to share their experiences with one another and ensure that the media and watchdog groups are aware of any problems.

And YOU can help! Be a citizen journalist! Submit a report about conditions at your polling place.

Clients sometimes ask what value Social Media brings to our society. This is a great example of collective, mostly de-centralized action for a cause. Imagine what your company could do for its customers if some percentage of them had a reason to care this much about something.