by Lindy Dreyer on June 24, 2009
Despairing about missing Buzz2009 because there’s no budget left for professional development? Check it out: Buzz2009 Scholarships.
Buzz2009 is a great value. Seriously, I know what it costs to hire a social media strategist, and Buzz2009 is a bargain by comparison. Not that we social media consultants aren’t a good investment, too ;-), but we get it. Belt tightening this year is a reality for a lot of us.
We’re creating this scholarship opportunity for two reasons:
- To help those who need to make social media work for their association — even during this budget crunch.
- To enhance the quality of the event by getting a few more folks with “social media stories from the trenches” into the room.
If you’d like to be considered for a scholarship, tell us your story in the comments box below (you can include a link to a blog post or video, if that helps you tell the tale) and tweet this post. We want to know why you need to attend, and what you have to offer to the other folks who will be in the room.
SmartBrief on Social Media and SocialFish have stepped up to offer two scholarships. But depending on how many good stories we hear, there could be more. So please share your story. Inspire us!
by Lindy Dreyer on June 23, 2009
If you haven’t heard about the WOM Slam, it’s happening the evening before Buzz 2009, and it’s a really cool experience.
Folks will be presented with a word-of-mouth dilemma to solve in teams over drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Each team will get 5 minutes to pitch their most remarkable ideas to the group, and a panel of judges will select winners who will receive a special prize. The pace will be fast and furious, and participation is key. Jeremy Epstein, the creator of the WOM Slam format, is facilitating the evening. And the problem we’ll be solving will directly relate to association management. Having experienced the WOM Slam format for myself, I can say it’s a really valuable process, and fun at the same time.
Ah, but there’s a catch. WOM Slam is sold out. That said, there may be some cancellations, so we’ve set up a waiting list for Buzz2009 registrants who really want to participate. So register today and get on the waitlist for the WOM Slam.
by Lindy Dreyer on June 23, 2009
by Rob Birgfeld on June 22, 2009
Between the SmartBrief and SocialFish families, we had a lot of interest from our partners and colleagues who were ready to share their great social media stories at Buzz 2009. For the sake of time, we narrowed that list to four– and I think they’re a very, very intriguing bunch that cover a lot of ground.
I’ll start by by introducing the very first member of the panel I spoke with, CEA’s Senior Director of Communications, Tara Dunion. If you’re an event marketer, or your organization depends on events for a big chunk of non-dues revenue– then the insights that Tara can share on utilizing social media to grow and build hype around the ultra-massive CES, will do you some good.
Can YOUR conference single-handedly shut down Twitter? Probably not– but whether you have a CES to work with or not, the lessons learned will be invaluable. I’m excited to see what Tara and the team at CEA have in story for CES 2010.
Later this week I’ll introduce the others on the panel– so stay tuned.
by Lindy Dreyer on June 17, 2009
Thanks to everyone who’s been blogging and telling their colleagues about Buzz2009. We’ve been listening, and here’s what we’ve heard…
Maggie McGary talks about why she wishes she were going.
“…the fact of the matter is, association social media is tricky. It’s like the classic wedding/marriage analogy. You make the big announcement ‘We’re getting married!” or, in this case “My association has agreed that we need to start using social media!” The wedding day comes and goes, as do the drafting of social media guidelines and strategies, of unveling your association’s page on Facebook or Twitter account. And there you are. Now what? How do you keep the momentum going? How do you navigate the silos? How do you measure success? Or failure, for that matter? These are the kinds of things I want to hear about and talk about, in the company of people who are dealing with the same challenges.”
Rick Johnston says if you can’t do Cannes Lions, do Buzz2009
“This may be the social media event of the year for associations and nonprofits in the Mid-Atlantic area.”
[*blush*]
Walter Roark of The Port called Buzz2009 a must-attend
“If you organization is looking to learn how they can begin using social media, or just wants to learn why they should be using social media, I’d strongly recommend checking out this event. The team at SocialFish is first class, and the speakers (Guy Kawasaki, Jeremy Epstein among others) are all compelling.”
Jeff Cobb called Buzz2009 the “be there or be square” event of the summer.
“SocialFish have teamed up with SmartBrief to create a one-day conference on July 9. A great list of speakers is lined up for this one, and Maddie and Lindy have pulled off at least two coups so far: Guy Kawasaki as a speaker and 6 hours of CAE credit for attendees. “
We’ve also gotten shoutouts from…
Elizabeth Engel
David Gammel
Wes Trochlil
Matt Baehr
Paul Schneider of Socious
Even our keynoter, Andy Sernovitz–whatcha doing there, Andy? Teehee
by Lindy Dreyer on June 16, 2009
As co-founder of Alltop.com, Guy Kawasaki oversees the ultimate online magazine rack. Seriously–pretty much any topic you can think of is up there with all the best, most recent blog posts and stories.
And now, you can get all the top association management news, too. Woohoo! That’s some serious street cred for us association bloggers. When Guy presents at Buzz2009, he’ll spend some time demonstrating the Alltop site, showing off the new association management section, the places where your association’s industry news is aggregating, and also the myAlltop feature where you can create and share your own custom Alltop page. He’ll also talk about how he builds buzz around Alltop, which is a story we can all learn from.
If you have a blog dedicated to association management issues, and you’re not up there yet, please submit your site to Alltop…and in the comments, tell them that you saw it on the Buzz2009 website.
by Lindy Dreyer on June 11, 2009
We’re using buzz to spread the word about Buzz2009. (It would be kind of disingenuous if we didn’t, don’t you think?) So here’s a living case study of our work on Buzz2009, organized using Andy’s 5 Ts of Word of Mouth Marketing Worksheet.
Talkers–Find people who will talk about Buzz2009
- Invite a prestigious group of advisors to ensure the program is something they’d talk about.
- Connect with association bloggers and give them link love and flair.
- Reach out to providers and partners working with associations and give them a reason to spread the word.
Topics–Give people a reason to talk about Buzz2009
- Put together a program that is so outstanding, people will want to talk about it.
- Get big names and recognizable brands on the program, like Guy, Andy, NatGeo…
- Keep adding content, like this living case study, to the Buzz2009 blog and see what sticks.
- Give advisors, speakers, and vendors their own discount codes (here’s ours) so they’ll have something extra to talk about.
- Make parts of the event free–like the webinar and the happy hour–to include more people.
Tools–Help the message spread faster and farther
- Blog–We’re posting regular blog posts with new content to feed our outposts. We’ve given readers RSS and email subscription options.
- Outposts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YAP)–We’ve set up a Twitter hashtag. We’re feeding blog content into our personal Twitter accounts, the SocialFish Facebook page, and the SmartBrief Facebook page. We’ve added Buzz2009 to LinkedIn Events, and the Buzz2009 Happy Hour to Facebook and YAP.
- Sharing Tools–We’re using Tell-a-Friend on the Buzz2009 website. Our registration system, Eventbrite, also includes links to share with social spaces online.
- Search Optimization–We’re looking at keywords that people might type to find Buzz2009, and trying to figure out how to get better ranking on Google for those keywords using the blog and inlinks.
- Email–Too old school for you? Email is an awesome tool for spreading the word. We’re using the email lists we’ve carefully cultivated to let our fans know about Buzz2009. And we’re making sure every email is worth sharing.
Take Part–Join the conversation
- Naturally, we’re commenting, tweeting, inviting, and talking to everyone in social spaces about Buzz2009
- Our participation year-round in YAP, ASAE, NTEN, and other communities makes it easy to talk Buzz2009 right now.
Track–Measure and understand what people are saying
- We’re monitoring conversations using Twitter Search and Google Alerts, and responding where appropriate.
- We’re also tracking link traffic using bit.ly and referral sites using Google Analytics, so we know which outposts are working.
We call this a “living” case study because it’s a work-in-progress. We’re open to ideas and suggestions. What do you think? Are we missing out on some important buzz?
by Lindy Dreyer on June 10, 2009
In January, I did an interview with Andy Sernovitz for Associations Now. It was the January cover story. I thought I’d upload the audio recording I did for the interview, but the quality was not great, and I sound like a chipmunk. *Blush*
But I did want to share this one part of the interview that I thought was especially compelling. I asked Andy about member-get-a-member campaigns. Why do some work while others fail. Here’s what he had to say…
“The more forced and difficult they are, the less likely they are to work. If you’re doing a formal membership campaign where members have to identify the people they’re recruiting and they get some kind of referral fee or some kind of bonus, it feels like work. And people are much less likely to participate if it feels like work. If it is incredibly easy, you’ll get a much better response. That’s one of the biggest rules of word-of-mouth marketing: You’ve got to make it easy. So create a message like, ‘Here’s an email ready to go, please forward this to two friends today,’ and you’re going to get a better response than an overbuilt, structured campaign.
Another interesting thing about word of mouth is that the more incentives you provide, the worse it tends to work. If someone genuinely thinks someone they know should join, and then you’re offering them some kind of bonus for bringing in their friends, it cheapens the referral. Here I am, just about to tell someone that they really need to become a member of this group, and then I think, “If my friend finds out I’m being paid for this, they’re not going to trust me.” I’m more likely to do nothing than risk making that referral. So the incentive actually killed the word of mouth.
You really want to focus on making that talker feel special. How do you make them look good? How do you give them status? Maybe by creating a special committee for top recruiters, giving them an award, or giving them some other special recognition. We participate, we volunteer, and we share because it makes us look good. Anything you can do to feed the ego is going to make a huge difference.”
Let’s think of more, tricky questions for Andy about how we associations can use word of mouth. Here’s some starter ideas…
- How can national organizations tap their chapter relationships to spread the word locally?
- What if you’re trying to reach new members who aren’t plugged in to the organizations’ social circles?
- How might an association pro convince their conservative leadership to try something creative and remarkable?
by Lindy Dreyer on June 4, 2009
Planning an event is one thing. Making sure it’s the right fit for the people you hope will come…that’s something else. We’d like to thank our awesome group of advisors for lending us their ears, giving us great insight–plus a good dose of reality when needed–and helping us to create a program that has just the right mix for the association community.
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Jeff De Cagna, Chief Strategist and Founder, Principled Innovation LLC
Innovation guru |
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Reggie Henry, Chief Technology Officer, ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
Technology guru |
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Jeff Hurt, Director of Education & Events, National Association of Dental Plans
Education & events guru |
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Susan Robertson, CAE, Executive Vice President, ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
Executive leadership guru |
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Jay Younger, Managing Partner & Chief Consultant, McKinley Marketing
Marketing and research guru |
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Merritt Colaizzi, Publisher, SmartBrief
Co-organizer and publishing guru |
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Maddie Grant, Chief Social Media Strategist, SocialFish
Co-organizer and social media guru |
by Lindy Dreyer on June 3, 2009
What do tortillas have to do with association management, you ask? The buzz is in the details, and Stacey Kane knows how to get creative with the details. I eat at California Tortilla all the time. In fact, there’s one right down the street from the Buzz2009 location. So when we had the chance to have Stacey Kane join the panel being led by Guy Kawasaki, I said “woohoo!” Together, the panel will put shape around the magic behind viral marketing, and discuss how they position themselves or their clients well for firestorms of buzz, sales and cred.
Stacey Kane
About Stacey
Stacey Kane joined California Tortilla as director of marketing in 2007 where her primary role has been to conceptualize and execute CT’s engaging, out-of-the-box promotions such as Rock, Paper and Scissors Wednesdays and Gobble Like a Turkey Day. She has spearheaded the company’s social networking initiatives including Twitter and Facebook campaigns. Previously, Kane spent 11 years as account executive on the Subway account and 8 years as president of Broadtalk Marketing, a promotional media buying firm. Originally from Oceanside, N.Y., she now lives with her husband, Cameron Gray, and daughter, Kendall, in Alexandria, Va.
