I was recently asked to speak on a panel for WISE, a leading voice and resource for professional women in the business of sports and events! The networking event took place on March 23rd at Roe here in SF and the topic was Social Media and the latest trends and information. The two other panelists were Katie Zacarian, an account executive at Facebook, and Rick Farman, Co-Founder and Partner of Superfly Productions, a marketing agency for Fortune 500 Corporations and prime force in the creation of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The moderator, Kerry Lange SVP Operations and Managing Director of Ammo Marketing did an incredible job and was an honor to be a part of this discussion.

My main purpose was to talk about how ABCey Events has effectively utilized social media to help grow our business and to spread the word about the events we’re working on. Here’s a brief recap:

When the economy took a turn for the worse in late 2008, I must admit that I was a little nervous. Companies were firing people, let alone having lavish events. So, we took to Social Media to save the day instead of making grueling cold calls. Our objective was to really grow our online presence and visibility utilizing the 3 essential networks- Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In. Aside from the fact that it is an easy way to connect with old friends, for small business, social media allows you to build your brand, connect with potential new colleagues and customers, share your expertise, and learn. The fact that it is practically free makes it exponentially better.

Facebook is a great place to connect with people and informally share updates but can also be an essential business tool. Make new friends in networks that your company might be targeting and directly connect with them. Don’t just add them to your list of friends. Take a look at what they are doing and comment – get involved! Kevin Kelly of Wired Magazine wrote an article titled “1000 True Fans” and basically talks about maintaining direct contact with your fans. You don’t need a million fans or followers. You need quality ones and you need to actually interact with them.

A common question is how do you know what to post about and what should you post on? My answer for that would be to know your target audience and to discuss engaging topics such as news or trends in your industry. Think about the law of attraction and test it out. We started posting about technology this past year in hopes of gaining more tech clients and it’s working out pretty well for us! Show that you are an expert in your field and write about topics you are passionate about- others just might be too. Also, try to pose your posts as questions so that they will illicit a response.

One of our favorite sources to gather ideas for posts is Alltop.com, Guy Kawasaki’s online magazine rack which gives you all the most popular headlines from topics around the web. The Alltop directory is very useful (which reminds me of the origins of Yahoo! – a directory of websites) in finding the best blogs on a particular topic, which is a harder problem than I imagined. You can also create your own personal Alltop, called MyAlltop. Delicious is also great to use for social bookmarking.

Twitter can be thought of like a conversation which you can join or leave any time. The most important thing you can do is again, Interact! You can post interesting articles, news, and trends here as well but really take advantage of  this tool to get involved with your community and possible leads. Check out the Twellow Directory and search for people by area of expertise, profession or other attribute listed in personal profiles. Find the people that matter to you and engage them. Tell them you like their recent blog post, or that you like what they are doing. People love compliments- I know I do! All of a sudden, you’ll be having a dialog with Craig Newmark from Craigslist about his favorite sushi joint in the city and now you’re on the radar!

Update your blog frequently. We use WordPress, but there are tons of other good ones that you can get started on and fully customize yourself. Make sure your blog is hosted on your website and not an independent page, as this will help build content for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes. Try to post 4-5 times a week so that you can gain a readership and following. Remember, consistency is key! Use the inspiration that you gather from your daily posts to elaborate upon and formulate blog topics. Try something fun and different to keep people coming back and create a theme for your blog. We started a weekly “TV on Tuesday” with video clips from around the web. As we are targeting the tech industry and hope to gain more social media projects to promote the events we do, ours is “Setting the Standard for the Event Industry and Empowering Entrepreneurs Through the Use of Forward Thinking Technology.”

Linked In is a fantastic site and you can really build a solid professional network on there. You can do a search by company to find out who the best contacts are that you are you trying to reach out to. I also have a bunch of PDF’s on our company, services and event specs up there on an application called Box.net where you can store and share your content. There are a wealth of
groups on Linked In, so join them and get involved in the discussions going on. You can post your own discussion and comment on ones that you are interested in. We post our blog to various groups on there as can tell through our analytics that we’re getting quite a bit of traffic directly from the site.

In terms of branding, make sure everything is consistent across your networks. Use your company colors and have a designer help you to create some templates for your newsletters or Twitter page. Be sure to also use a real picture of yourself- not one of you drunk or your half-naked Burningman shot! A company logo is not as good as a picture of yourself either; people need to associate a face with a brand. Facebook and other social networking sites are meant for people to share but keep it professional and modify your settings.

For promoting events for others, post information or event flier to all your networks. Share on facebook and create an event group. Post on Twitter and direct your posts to people that might be interested in attending. Write a blog about it beforehand to gain interest early on. Invite people to the event on facebook and get people talking about it. Create a forum where people can get involved and ask questions. Once the event is over, highlight it in your next newsletter. Post the photo album for the event on your website and create an album on your facebook fan page or event page. Recap the event on your blog and ask people to give feedback. Wash, rinse, repeat!

We’ll leave you now with that and just a few Social Media lessons and book recommendations from Mashable.com, our very favorite social media blog covering cool new websites and social networks!

Lesson #1- You Need to Build Trust: Trust Agents By Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

Lesson #2- Turn the Bullhorn Around: The Whuffie Factor by Tara Hunt

Lesson # 3- Learn the Pillars of Social Media Success: Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joe

Lesson # 4- Work Your Face Off: Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuck

Lesson # 5- Get Smart About the Tools: The New Community Rules by Tamar Weinberg

In this video, five simple rules are exampled on how to build trust, use the tools you already have to build and grow, as well as communicating and using feedback in a positive light.  There are many tips explained in this video, some are literally spelt out for you, while others are more “read between the lines.” It’s a short clip, but the abilities to help you are endless!

[Image from VatorNews]

There is a new controversial social media tool in town! Well actually, not really in our town, but the promotion of the social networking service dubbed “Bubbly” is making quite the splash in India even without the efforts of any real advertising. That, however, does not mean we will be seeing Bubbly in the US anytime soon. There is a marketing scheme to officially launch it in India, Japan, and Brazil first, which are faster growing mobile areas. This reason, however, is somewhat debated among critics who believe there might be other reasons involving literacy and cultural differences.

Bubbly is a fast networking medium that is based in about 30-second voice clips (there is a cap at a minute), instead of 140 characters like Twitter. The principle idea is you buy air space to listen to a new recording, after which you can follow it or post new messages for free. This was originally thought to be an application for smart phones, but when the social media boom occurred, they changed their take on the pilot.

At this point it is unclear if this idea will truly take off, especially since voice mediums like this are available entirely for free. Furthermore, listening to a 30-sec clip requires much more time and attention than reading a short sentence something. But in the end, you never know. For now at least, this bubble shows no sign of popping.

The prestigious Nobel Peace Prize is given to entities that exemplify peace and aid in the promotion of a more cooperative society: recipients include Princess Diana, Former Vice President Al Gore, and President Obama. This year, an unusual nominee has arisen, the Internet. The campaign video, shown below, explains the Internet’s role in bringing people together and creating an open environment for people to communicate. This allows for uncensored information to reach the masses in order to promote awareness and stop hatred. In that sense, we are all part of its peace effort and deserving of a Nobel too. Let us know what you think about this campaign and the Internet being a means to peace.

[via Wired]

Twitter allows you to give second-by-second updates of your day, FourSquare is a location-based game that lets you check in when you’re out and about, earning you points and badges, while Gowalla requires you to check in your exact location in order to log in and see where all your friends are. These are three of the most well-known social networking sites out of hundreds of thousands available right now.  No matter which site you choose to reveal your email address and name to, they all have one thing in common: stating your location as part of signing in to the site, or as the main reason to getting a username.  We’ve given up our privacy in the quest to become connected.

And then there is the original social networking site, “Facebook.” Ahh, we all have our memories of the first time joining Facebook. Whether you joined six years ago when the idea was just blossoming, or you joined yesterday, we each learned pretty quickly the ropes of Facebook; friending someone, poking someone (before you actually knew what it meant), tagging pictures, and sending/receiving bumper stickers. Through the last six years, there have been a few new face lifts with the lay-out of the website, some new additions, but the one aspect that separates this site in particular to the rest, is that you don’t have- although, you have the ability to- to blast your daily itinerary to all your friends’ mini feeds. We all have friends that update their “status application” as if they were texting themselves their schedule and to-do list for the day.

Well things are going to change. According to several anonymous sources who spoke to New York Times, Facebook will be unveiling geo-location features during their annual conference in April. The details are very limited and very hush-hushed, but the Times are confirming the Facebook’s geo-location application will have two main components: for users to directly share locations amongst their friends, and the second is for a third-party to build location sharing into their Facebook applications.

Geo-tagging/location capability is starting to become the future of social networking. Whether you choose to embrace it or not, is it a step in the right direct, allowing people to connect without any communication? Or is it invasive and allows for trouble to increase and privacy to vanish?

On February 24th- March 3rd, ABCey Events produced and managed an 8 day PR and Media Event for L’Oreal/ Skinceuticals here in San Francisco and Los Angeles for 10 of the top editors from major publications in China such as Elle, Marie, Claire, Vogue, Bazaar and Femina. Next year, L’Oreal is launching Skinceuticals in China, an advanced skincare line used by dermatologists, plastic surgeons, medi-spas, and other skincare professionals in the United States and in over 35 countries worldwide. We worked closely with the L’Oreal NYC team to coordinate air travel, hotels, transportation, meetings, activities/tours, and helped them get into the hottest restaurants that both these cities have to offer. The gala dinner was held in the back room of Quince at their new location on Pacific Ave. in downtown SF and featured a wine tasting, a jazz soloist, and some beautiful orchids and lighting created by our team of creatives. The event began here in SF at the W Hotel, then moved down South to the Mondrian in LA, and concluded back in SF at the St. Regis. It was a pleasure to work with on this event and hope the editors had an amazing journey to California. Thanks to all of our incredible vendors who made this all possible!

Check out a short video on the event, created by Jeff Steinmetz of Urge Productions.

L’Oreal / SkinCeuticals San Francisco PR & Media Event from Urge Productions on Vimeo.

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With SXSW currently underway, there is a giddiness in the air about the newest toys in technology. This excitement does not stop with the latest new gadget in the show, but also in new applications of technology in the medical field. The stethoscope is becoming obsolete, as vital signs can now be monitored and sent to a smart phones via a special band-aid. With this feature you can check more than just your email on your phone, rather you can check your blood pressure, cardiac rhythms, respiration rate, sleep patterns, and more. This wireless technology is helping free up more hospital beds, is keeping people safer, and becoming as easy as an application you simply download on your phone.

It’s that time of the year again…time to slide on your cowboy boots (only the most fashion forward ones, of course – we’re talking about Austin here), and perk up your listening ears, because SXSW is here.  We’re so excited to be attending the Interactive Conference in Austin, TX for our first time ever. We’ll be seeing all of the new films, listening to all the live bands, and checking out all the new gadgets and technology available, and of course, reporting back on everything that’s going on to you guys.

Each year South by Southwest (SXSW) conquers the film and music screenings by providing viewers with the most desired gadgets, eclectic music, and exposure of the hottest, up and coming creators. A staggering expectancy of over 12,000 people to attend the festival leads it to be single handedly one of the largest and highest revenue-producing music festivals in the country.  With the availability of listening to new bands, seeing new films, and testing out the newest technology…what’s holding you back from going?

Here are a few of the most talked about and anticipated events of the festival:

The Official SXSW Interactive Kick-Off, Sponsored by Ustream – Limited to the first 500 badge holders; experience the live performance of the Gym Class Heroes, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, and other special guest appearances.  The atmosphere itself is enough to want to attend…so get there early and see the show!

Mozilla SXSW Happy Hour Party – only available to the first 250 guests – so hurry up and don’t miss it!  Join Mozilla for drinks and appetizers at Cedar House and learn what’s going on in the world of web today.

Diggnation LIVE at The Bigg Digg Shindigg – Digg and Revision3 are performing live and for free at the well-known Stubbs BBQ on Saturday, March 13.  It’s going to be a combo of old school beats with new age rhythm.

All the events are within the same eight days with 1,400 reported artists playing in over 80 venues.  The overall focus of the festival is new directing talent which goes hand and hand with creative technology and innovative ideas.  Having the creative talent meet the potential consumer of film, song, album, video game, or website.  Click here to find out more information about each event; including times, places, and who is involved in each performance. Are you going to SXSW this year?  If so, what are you most excited for?

Today’s TV on Tuesday is a TED Talk by James Surowiecki, finance writer for the New Yorker and author of The Wisdom of the Crowds. He pinpoints the moments that social media became as relevant and informational as traditional news (such as the 2005 tsunami or the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes) and how it may even trump traditional media in its ability to preserve personal stories in their most direct form.  How do you get your news these days? Is it from social media (tweets, Facebook updates, and the like) or more traditional sources (such as the New York Times)?