I had a chance to go to the Izeafest conference this past weekend in Orlando. If you’ve never heard of it you can check it out here. However in a nutshell it was a conference about social media and the best practices that are being used by some of the leading social media people in the industry. They showcased speakers such as Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, Ted Murphy, Aaron Brazell, Warren Whitlock, Sarah Evans, Liz Strauss and many more. Most presenters reviewed the best practices in the social media landscape and how you can apply those in your blog, business and life.
The Presentations
My goal for the event was to learn new ways for executives and companies to utilize social media and be successful. Most of the presentations were very well done and I both enjoyed and learned somethings from everyone. Brian Clark had a very well laid out plan that focused on creating blog traffic through content, social media and SEO. Ted Murhpy focused on branding and being consistent amongst your many channels. Aaron Brazell brought the most passionate presentation and it was a good reminder of being transparent, honest, creating alliances and using social media to create real relationships. Of course anyone who’s actively used social media for any length of time knows Chris Brogan and his presentation was chalked full of humor and insightful tips. One of the surprise presentations for me was Liz Strauss. She had a very thought provoking, honest and transparent presentation that made me really appreciate both her intelligence and humor.
The Best Practices
So what were the best social media practices? The reoccurring theme by most was in order to be successful in this arena you need to; show up, be helpful, focus on quality over quantity and be transparent. Certainly all very good suggestions.
Crocs was one of the sponsors and gave out free shoes to everyone. However the thing they do right is have an employee that is active in the community. Crocs blogs here as well as have an employee, George Smith, in charge of social media. To me this is a point many companies are missing. You must have an executive that is part of the social networking community. It cant just be the brand.
Something else of interest was the case study on how SeaWorld and Busch Gardens were able to use social media to launch a new ride and event. SeaWorld utilized social media and the blogoshpere to help launch their newest ride, Manta. The measurement of success was ticket sales and according to them the campaign was a success based on this.
Busch Gardens has used social media to promote the annual HowlOScream event. Since the event is still ongoing the results werent conclusive but the initial indicators were that social media was helping to increase sales.
The Most Interesting
One of the most interesting uses of social media was again by SeaWorld. They are going to allow riders of the ?? to create videos at kiosks set up at the rides exit. These videos will then post to the many social networking sites, such as facebook and twitter. This is a brilliant idea and a perfect example of how to implement social networking into your company. Getting your customers at the point of sale, the height of their experience so to speak, to make a testimonial is always a good idea. Posting it immediately to the Internet where it can be viewed and shared is brilliant. I met the CEO, Marcell Turner, of MindComet, the company that consulted with SeaWorld on this idea. Kudos to her and the team for a great idea, I look forward to seeing a case study on it down the road.
In The End, The Best Concept
So in the end, from an executives point of view, I think we have a ways to go to be able to convince companies that they MUST be involved in the social media landscape. I am a huge advocate of social media and while I did hear some examples of campaigns, concepts or practices that have had tangible results, I still think we have a long way to go. One of the best concepts I heard (I forgot who said it) was a comparison of social networking to farming, not manufacturing. You can’t just manufacture the harvest. You have to plant seeds today in order to reap the harvest down the road. It’s the same with social networking, it takes time and that’s something that executives and companies better understand.
You can see a good video recap of all of it HERE
