We love to report on event happenings around the city, and this one is definitely one we’d like to spread the word about. If you are reading this post it probably means you recognize the importance of social networking for business success.“The Art of Active Networking” brought to you by “The Box SF” will take place every other Monday from October through December, 2010. Here you can participate and learn about some alternative forms of social networking, while increasing your business and online capabilities. Each guest is allowed 30 seconds to give a speech on the discussion at hand or to share new information for others to enjoy. So, put your thinking caps on and get ready to share some of your techniques and expect to learn something in return.

This event brings together an active cross-section of the Bay Area including business owners, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, dancers, artists, sales folks, designers, architects, bankers, wine lovers, marketing folks, media folks, doctors, singers, musicians, trainers and coaches. Their network includes everything from techies to trekkies. This is a great place for small business owners and entrepreneurs to make stronger active connections, and to help each other.

Bring your cards, laptops, i-Toys and smiles and be prepared to meet an interesting, outgoing, cross-section of cool people! Bring your ideas, add new friends on your social networking sites, with their high-speed free Wi-Fi, and build a new kind of network!

Shop. Sip. Listen. Taste. Learn. See. Connect

Cost is $7 online or $10 at the door.

What are some topics that you would like to hear discussed?

Yelp, as many of you know, is a user-generated website that allows people to write both negative or positive reviews for local restaurants, hotels, stores, nightlife scenes, and more. Users rate and leave comments about establishments for other consumers to review.

However, recent websites, like Yelp-Sucks and IHateYelp, have popped up in response to Yelp policies and reviews. These sites are used by angry business owners who have received negative feedback and complaints on Yelp, which has resulted in a loss of business. Many business owners have turned to Yelp for competitive reasons and are now frustrated with the site’s lax comment policies.

One major complaint is over the issue of negative reviews and how businesses can’t get rid of them. Another is that good reviews are often deleted from business pages by Yelp due to infrequent logging in by the owner. The site also allows users to review a business, even if they never used the service. Many business owners feel that they are not getting what they paid for, and that the site ultimately hurts their business.

Boris Levitt, owner of Renaissance Furniture Restoration, has actually sued Yelp for its “unfair and unethical conduct in promoting, marketing and advertising its website as maintaining unbiased reviews.” Levitt argues that the site is unlawful, and believes that Yelp has hurt his business. Yelp has had previous claims for similar issues in the past.

Do you think Yelp maintains its mission to promote companies in an unbiased fashion? How could Yelp change its policies to best serve business owners while providing consumers with truthful and relevant information?

In case you haven’t already, the last day to submit a blog for the 2010 Eventprofs Blog Awards is August 20. Back for its second year, the Eventprofs Blog Awards will acknowledge and celebrate the pioneers in the event community who drive our industry forward. The awards will be presented at Event Camp Twin Cities in Minneapolis, MN on September 8^th and 9^th, with the winners announced live at 5 p.m. on the 9^th.

Feel free to submit your event blog, another blog you can’t do without or as many as you think serve the events community. All nominations will be reviewed by a panel of judges to ensure each blog fits the criteria of the awards, is in the right category or if required, to re-categorize any entry. Nominees will be announced on August 23^rd, and then voting will open until September 9^th.

Follow this link to submit and good luck! Which blog do you want to see win and why?

Naked Pizza, a pizza company based in New Orleans, has recently decided to expand their markets and open up locations all over the world, from Miami to Dubai! Only 10 months after their franchise operations were launched, 300 Naked Pizza stores are now under development. What is the secret behind their success? Co-founders  Randy Crochet and Jeff Leach frequently claim that Naked Pizza is a “social media company that sells pizza.” In fact, they say that their entire business plan is to use social media to promote a healthier alternative to fast food.

And, they didn’t stop there. Naked Pizza has used Twitter to raise awareness for global problems with obesity while marketing their health-inspired pizza. The company then rented out a New Orleans billboard and posted their twitter handle on it. They started tweeting more about diet and health, and as they gained fans they created a facebook page and gave out promotions and coupons. Naked Pizza also has several YouTube videos that introduce viewers to store and the pizza that will hopefully help change the world.

It’s great to see a small business growing and becoming a bigger name with the help of social media, and pizza companies aren’t the only ones that can use this technique. Any industry, including event planners, can broadcast their business and grow with the use of social media.

What can you learn from Naked Pizza to support your business?

What: Supper Club will host an event with keynote speaker David Meerman Scott, to showcase his new book The New Rules of Marketing & PR. Learn new strategies about marketing, PR, Blogs and more, while you enjoy great food, music and company!

Who: David Meerman Scott is a Marketing Strategist, seminar leader and author of the number-one bestseller The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

Where:
The Supper Club,  637 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA.

When:
Wednesday August 18, 6:00pm – 8:30pm.

For more informatiton, check out the Facebook event page.

Have you read the book? If so, how can these new strategies be useful?

Want to see where you’ve tweeted from in the past? Or maybe get a global view of a specific hastag? Twitter has some cool mapping tools that show real-time streams of relevant tweets and topics.

TrendsMap
This service displays hashtags, @mentions or keywords in a real-time mapping of Twitter trends across the world. Follow trends from various cities or focus on a trending topic and watch it worldwide.

Tweography
With a geo-location-enabled Twitter account, Tweography maps all the places you have tweeted from. This app is perfect for jet-setters to keep track of where you’ve been in the world.

TwitterMap.tv
TwitterMap.tv lets you hit “play,” sit back and watch the tweets roll by. Search a keyword or name and see all related tweets play across a regional or city map. This service also provides a profile picture and some basic user info about each tweeter.

MMMeeja’s Twitter Google Maps
This service will show you the locations of the people you follow on Twitter. That is as long as they have given their locations. If you follow more than one person in a geographical area, you can zoom in and hover over a particular person to see where they are tweeting from.

Do you use any of these mapping tools? Where was your most recent tweets sent from?

#luxurychat is a new live chat on Twitter hosted and organized by seven tech-savvy women. The site was launched in June 2010 and addresses the connection between social media and luxury. On the third Wednesday of every month followers can discuss how luxury brands can and have effectively used social media in marketing strategies and campaigns. Last month #luxurychat featured Mr. Simon F. Cooper who is not only the president of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, but a social media pioneer and travel industry expert. The site plans to feature more high-profile industry experts in the coming months, so search #luxurychat and get ready for the next live discussion on August 18.

Are you going to tune into the discussion? Who do you think they should feature next?

For some organizations, creating an online brand presence can seem daunting. However, many managers have realized the affect of their employees and are now actively looking for ways they can use social media both personally and professionally to generate hype.  While this is both cost-effective and clever marketing, there are a few simple rules needed to ensure a positive brand reputation.

1. Don’t Force It

In its early stages professional social media use created mixed signals and communication, resulting in cautionary policies within companies. These days, most employees have a clear understanding of what is considered professional and or inappropriate when interacting online.  Encourage your employees to mention the company on social media platforms but don’t create a formal policy outlining the do’s and don’ts.

2. Show Them How

While this might contradict the rule above, not every employee engages in social media. Make sure you demonstrate how to use each platform and provide resources that explain the best and most interesting ways to interact online. If you provide good tools for your employees, you will receive good feedback.

3. Identify Your Internal Brand

This basically means that if customers are supposed to identify with your brand shouldn’t those marketing your brand also be connected? Social media use under the company name will engage employees, creating advocates who understand and promote the brand in a relatable manner.

What other ways can employees generate brand recognition through social media platforms? Which platform do you think is the most useful?

VEVO and YouTube have once again partnered with American Express to launch a five-concert series of live performances this summer. “Unstaged: An Original Series from American Express” will kick off with a live-streamed performance by Arcade Fire at Madison Square Garden on August 5. Earlier this year YouTube and VEVO united with American Express to stream both the Alicia Keys and The National performances which contributed to the decision to create another concert series.

The summer series will feature the work of several acclaimed directors, and some cool social media features like “Choose Your Cam” which will allow viewers to control their experience by switching between camera streams. Other performances will include The Roots and John Legend.

Do you think this concert series will help establish YouTube and VEVO in the online music community? What performances would you like to see streamed?

Take a look at the teaser for the live-streamed concert by The Nationals in Brooklyn last May.