SMC of SLC

Announcing the first 2010 SMCSLC event, our 2010 Tweet Up and Open Mic evening at Pierpont Place in downtown Salt Lake City.  Join fellow SMCSLC members to get caught up, share stories, and talk about your year in social media: what’s working, what’s coming, what’s new and interesting, and what is boring or no longer useful.  Share experiences, client and personal stories, and new insights into the lightning fast world of social media evolution.

This will be the first in a great schedule of events for our club this year.  Upcoming highlights also include a panel of traditional media practitioners who’ve successfully made the jump to social media and a surprise lecture workshop event later this spring.

Need more encouragement to join us?  Free food.  Free drinks.  Wine & Beer. Giveaways.  Think of it as the pre-party for the Seth Godin luncheon.

Event Details:

Date:     Thursday, February 11, 2010

Time:    5:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Place:   Pierpont Place, 163 Pierpont Avenue, SLC (enter from West Temple between 200 and 300 South)

Spread the word.  We look forward to seeing you there.

What a great year it has been for the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City.

From our humble beginnings, planning meetings with six founders last fall, to our world record setting Utah Social Media Awards, our chapter has much to be grateful for this time of year.

Besides our events and networking, and in spite of the Great Recession, we even have a good financial foundation for 2010.

SMC of SLC Program Director, Pete Codella, outlined some of the chapter’s 2009 accomplishments earlier.

Year-End Event Details

For our final third Thursday meeting, we’re gathering again at SelectHealth for a Social Media Club holiday social.

Date: December 17, 2009

Time: 6 to 8 p.m.

Place: SelectHealth (4646 West Lake Park Blvd, SLC, UT 84130 - map it)

RSVP: none required, just come and have fun!

Food: it’s potluck, so bring something you’d like to share (sorry, no alcoholic beverages per our gracious host)

Hashtag: #smcslc

Help Us Support Toys for Tots

Since this is the season of giving, we’re encouraging all SMC of SLC members and friends to help us support Toys for Tots. All you have to do is bring a new, unwrapped toy for a child of any age/gender. We’ll collect them and the Salt Lake City Mommy group will deliver the donations to the Toys for Tots in Salt Lake City.

Bring Something to Snack On

We invite you to bring something to eat or drink to the party.

Join Us

We’ll socialize and share social media insights, successes and tragedies from 2009. You’ll have plenty of time to connect with fellow social media practitioners in the Salt Lake Valley at this informal, potluck social.

Come one, come all! Help us celebrate this season of family and friends and giving to others.

Utah’s best and brightest social media practitioners gathered November 6 to recognize excellence in new media.

The world’s *first* Social Media Club awards event was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, on November 6, 2009. The Social Media Club of Salt Lake City began efforts to present the Utah Social Media Awards earlier this spring. Those efforts culminated in presenting 20 Utah Social Media Awards to individuals and companies in Utah accomplishing great things in the social media space.

The Utah Social Media Awards, affectionately known as the USMAs (#usma on Twitter), recognized 18 people with awards for the best use of a particular new media platform and provided two overall awards, the People’s Choice and Best of Show Utah Social Media Awards.

“More than 140 people gathered at Noah’s in South Jordan for the awards networking, dinner, keynote address and program,” said Pete Codella, program director for the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City and chair of the Utah Social Media Awards. “We couldn’t be happier with the support we received and the outcome of the first annual Utah Social Media Awards. Congratulations to each and every recipient.”

The evening’s keynote address was provided by a man known as “the human Internet,” Utah’s own David Bradford, CEO of Fusion-io. The presentation of the awards was made by Codella and Angie Larsen, anchor of Good Things Utah on ABC Channel 4. The catering was by Culinary Crafts.

Best of Show was awarded to XanGo for its “impressive online and social media presence, from Web sites to blogs and podcasts,” according to the USMA judges, comprised of members of the awards planning committee with help from the Social Media Club of Phoenix. XanGo also received an USMA for XanGo.tv for Best Video Blog.

The People’s Choice recipient received an impressive 15 percent of the overall vote. It was clearly a crowd favorite. Comments included: “Tons of new content — podcasts, stuff to read, recommendations, Tweet stream and tips,” “A crisp layout, great navigation, right column showcase of ads, links to iTunes feed, RSS, Twitter, etc.,” “This is the cream of this crop,” and “I absolutely love this site.” The People’s Choice USMA was awarded to The FredCast by David Bernstein.

Utah Social Media Awards recipients received a custom-made acrylic trophy etched with the USMA logo, a printed certificate, an electronic Web banner to display online of their win, and a rose imprinted with the USMA logo, courtesy of Speaking Roses.

The complete list of 2009 Utah Social Media Awards recipients:

Best Blog (four recipients) — CraziBeautiful Women, Fat Cyclist, Today’s Mama, and World’s Strongest Librarian.

Best Video Blog (two recipients) — Provo Acoustic, XanGo TV.

Greatest Impact on Podcasting — PodCampSLC by Thom Allen.

Best Use of Twitter (three recipients) — @BigBags by Nate Bagley, @mozy by Nate Kartchner, and @sltrib by The Salt Lake Tribune.

Best Use of YouTube — Mormon Messages by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Best Facebook Fan Page (three recipients) — BabySteals.com, Utah’s Hogle Zoo, and PC Laptops.

Best Social Media Content Guru (two recipients) — Jordan Kasteler, and Janet Meiners Thaeler.

Best Integrated Social Media Campaign (two recipients) — Goldsmith Co. Jewelers Mother’s Day Campaign by Sprout Marketing, and Standard-Examiner.

People’s Choice USMA — The FredCast by David Bernstein.

Best of Show USMA — XanGo.

The call for nominations for the Utah Social Media Awards occurred this summer. More than 225 nominations were received by members of the three Utah-based Social Media Clubs — Salt Lake City, Utah Valley, and Cache Valley.

Members of the awards planning committee selected finalists, then with help from the Social Media Club of Phoenix, determined the 2009 USMA recipients.

To preserve the integrity of the awards, no members of the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City leadership team or USMA planning committee were eligible to receive awards.


About the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City

The Social Media Club of Salt Lake City is Utah’s first chapter of the worldwide Social Media Club organization which was founded in 2006. SMC of SLC launched in January 2009 and quickly amassed a membership of several hundred people. While membership in the local chapter is free, members may choose whether or not they join the worldwide organization with varying levels of membership. The nonprofit club holds monthly meetings, usually on the third Thursday in the evening, to foster camaraderie among local social media practitioners. SMC of SLC sponsors professional development seminars and workshops to teach social media skills and provide up-to-date information about happenings in the social media space. Attendance at most meetings is free with meeting facilities and refreshments provided by sponsors.

About the Utah Social Media Awards

The Utah Social Media Awards were presented by the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City, with support from the Social Media Club of Utah Valley and Cache Valley, to recognize excellence in social media practitioners and practices throughout Utah. SMC of SLC plans to build upon the success of this year’s event when it presents the second annual Utah Social Media Awards in 2010. This year’s awards were sponsored by Advanced Brain Technologies, eBay, Merrell Remington, Park City Mountain Resort, SelectHealth, Think Tank Creative Consortium, and UtahPulse.com. Members of the 2009 USMA planning committee include Pete Codella (chair; @codella), Roxy Cross (co-chair; @roxycross), Sarah Buhr (@sarahbuhr), Jack Hadley (@Jack_Hadley), Christopher Katis, Allen Parkinson and Marcus Perry (@marcusperry).

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Notes:

The awards program script, which includes judges’ comments, is available. To request the script, complete the online contact form at UtahSocialMediaAwards.info on the Contact page.

This release was written by SMC of SLC Program Director Pete Codella. Please contact him at 801/294-7188 with additional questions.

Photos of the event, courtesy of Cary Snowden, are available here.

Our dear @roxycross, USMA co-chair, has been working her tail off, with some assistance from @seethaler, next year’s SMC of SLC program director, to provide some pretty amazing giveaways for our inaugural Utah Social Media Awards.

Just *some* of the prizes for which those of you joining us on Friday night are eligible:

*$100 Amazon gift cards via Bungee Labs!
Bungee Labs is a local startup building a Cloud-based development platform to help companies move applications and data to the Cloud.

*Four $50 gift cards from eBay!

*Copy of I Need a Killer Press Release. $20 value!
This handy guide to online PR is by our own Janet Meiners Thaeler.

*Gift basket from Whimsy Clothing!

*BrainBuilder® from Advanced Brain Technologies and our sponsors and friends, Alex and Mandy Doman. $200 value!

*Thanksgiving Point gift box/membership. $275 value!
Thanksgiving Point’s mission is to inspire the minds and renew the spirits of young and old by providing unique learning experiences, family-friendly entertainment, and opportunities for discovery in a safe and beautiful environment. Its offerings include Thanksgiving Point Gardens, the Museum of Ancient Life, Farm Country, Harvest Restaurant, and the Emporium boutique.

*From PC Laptops: FULL version of Windows 7 Ultimate. $319 value!

Just how important is social media in today’s business environment?

It’s crucial, says Mark Ragan, CEO of Ragan Communications, in a brief conversation with SMC of SLC’s Program Director Pete Codella: Social Media is Survival*

Ragan visited Salt Lake City at the invite of SMC of SLC, to present a day-long social media workshop, “Social Media Boot Camp,” to a packed room of attendees.

*YouTube video

Think it’s your job to tell people which social media tools they should or should not use?

Think again, says Mark Ragan, CEO of Ragan Communications, in a brief conversation with SMC of SLC’s Program Director Pete Codella: Social Media Sheriff*

Ragan visited Salt Lake City at the invite of SMC of SLC, to present a day-long social media workshop, “Social Media Boot Camp,” to a packed room of attendees.

*YouTube video

In November, instead of our regularly scheduled third Thursday meeting, we’re getting together on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009 to recognize the best and brightest in Utah’s social media scene.

We have launched the world’s first Social Media Club-sponsored annual awards event honoring our own community’s social media strategists and gurus.

Complete information about the USMAs, as we affectionately call them, are available on the site UtahSocialMediaAwards.info.

We hope you’ll join us in November as we make history with the Utah Social Media Awards. And we hope, after the awards, you’ll congratulate the USMA recipients on a job well done.

Thanks to Drew Tyler (@Knite20), owner of BetaLoft Coworking (@BetaLoft) for this video of the SMC of SLC (@smcslc) October meeting at BetaLoft on 10/29.

Drew gathered a fantastic panel of professional video folks and experienced embedders to educate attendees. And learn we did, as evidenced by a tweet by SMCSLC member Josh “Shua” Peters (@JoshSPeters): “I learned more about video at tonights #SMCSLC than I have in my entire life of being online. HUGE thanks to @Knite20 & @BetaLoft!”

Woa, dude! That’s a HUGE compliment!

If you missed the event, fret not. Here’s the ENTIRE 40-minute discussion for you to dive into!

Video Power: SMCSLC Panel on Video Tips from Drew Tyler on Vimeo.

RealPlayer SP

Introducing RealPlayer SP. It’s social. It’s portable. And it’s perfect for playing and sharing video with your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. Now you can download and organize your favorite videos from thousands of web sites. Then watch them anytime, anywhere you want. Our new video converter makes it incredibly easy to copy online video to your iPod, cell phone, Xbox, PS3 or other favorite device. Download the free version of Real Player SP.

Using video with Social Media?

Here are some do’s and do NOT’s from a panel of experts.

Key takeaways:

Video CAN be done on the cheap. To do it right, make sure you have LTAA:
1.) a Light source (Google “3 point lighting”)
2.) a Tripod
3.) quality Audio. Use a real mic, not the on-board mic
4.) know your Audience

The Panelist:
Drew Tyler of BetaLoft Coworking (@Knite20, @BetaLoft)
Ryan Bradshaw of Surface9 (@ryanbradshaw, @Surface9)
Chad Booth of “At Your Leisure.”
Randall Bennett of TechVi.com (@Randallb)

Links:
http://betaloftslc.com
http://www.surface9.com
http://www.atyourleisure.info
http://techvi.com

It’s NOT too late to attend the world’s first-ever awards event recognizing excellence in social media! Tickets are on sale until Friday, October 30!

Why attend? How about networking opportunities with like-minded people, a keynote by David Bradford, the CEO of Fusion-io, and meeting the best social media users in the state? Plus a great dinner, great company and an overall great time!

When making your purchase, please be aware that we will NOT be sending out printed tickets. Just come to the registration table and tell us your name – you’ll be on the list.

Get your tickets now, before you hear about the USMAs on everyone else’s blog, Twitter, Facebook….

Some takeaways from the session:
• If you’re not using social media tools — because you think it’s just hype that will eventually fizzle or because you don’t think you need to listen in on your customers — you better plug in ASAP. Wait too late, and you’ll never be able to catch up to your competitors. “Social media,” says Mark, “is survival.”
• Right now, social media kinda feels like the wild, wild West. The rules are still being drawn up. Don’t, however, appoint yourself “Social Media Sheriff.” Allow people to use the tools that work for their individual businesses. “Social media,” adds Mark, “is all about being useful to your customers.”
• Content is king. Want people to care about your business? Then produce great content on your website, blog, videos, or podcasts. Great content, by the way, benefits your customer.
• Make use of Google analytics. “It’s the most amazing FREE tool out there,” says Mark, “and the more Google tools you use, the higher you rise in Google rankings.”
• Create a hub to integrate all of your social media platforms. One example: make sure your blog posts feed to your Facebook page.

The following links demonstrate how two companies, Mayo Clinic and Southwest Airlines, are excelling at social media — and pulling far ahead of their competitors.

Sharing Mayo Clinic Blog
Mayo Clinic Facebook Page
Mayo Clinic Podcasts
Nuts About Southwest Blog
Southwest Facebook Page


***Study them well – or you may just find yourself stuck in the muck like United Airlines. United pilots have created an unapologetic blog to gripe about United CEO Glenn Tilton.

Worse, musician Dave Carroll has given United a black eye with his YouTube video, United Breaks Guitars, which bemoans the fact that United did just that!