Rick Galan knows LinkedIn

We all know we should be using LinkedIn, right? We know that it’s a powerful business tool and something that we should be using regularly, but if you’re like most of us you use it infrequently and never feel like you’re getting everything out of it that you could. That is why the SMCSLC is happy to bring you Mr. Rick Galan. He knows LinkedIn inside and out, and will be giving us a presentation covering the myriad facets of this amazing business tool. He will be covering the how’s, why’s, shortcuts and what’s’ new with LinkedIn.

The event will be held at the Grand America and the cost for this event is just $10. Your $10 gets you the Grand America lunch buffet (usually $17) and the presentation by Rick. Seating is limited and the $10 price is only good for a limited time. The day before the event the price jumps to a still very modest $20. So tell your boss you’re taking a long lunch and get signed up today. You can bring your boss too!

Grand America's Lunch Buffet

Grand America's Garden Cafe

Grand America's Garden Cafe Patio

Presentation Abstract:

You have a Facebook page and Twitter account. Maybe you’re even using YouTube, Foursquare, Groupon or other social media outlets. But how many of those visitors are you converting in to customers? Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is how you turn more visitors into customers without increasing your marketing spend. Josh Summerhays and Robert Brady will lay out the basics of CRO and then show you how to apply those principles to your social media efforts to improve your bottom line.

Further DEETS:

WHO:  SMCSLC and SMCUV members and would-be members

WHAT:  July Meeting:  Conversion Rate Optimization

WHEN:  Thursday, July 29, 6 p.m.

WHERE:  Salsa Leedos, 9155 South Redwood Road, West Jordan in the UT.  There will be a “Make Yer Own” taco setup for the very low price of $7.50.

WHY:  Because we could all use some help and some new ideas for turning some of these crazy social platforms into more solid business and networking leads.

Questions?  Contact Brian Seethaler, 2010 SMCSLC Programming Director, via Twitter (@seethaler) or Facebook (facebook.com/seethaler).

You’ll hear how local public relations, marketing and news-media experts have overcome challenges with the new medium, and learn how they’ve successfully integrated social media into their existing area of expertise.

Admission is free; lunch is available for purchase.

April 8, 2010
Special Lunch-Hour Event
Social 11:30 to Noon
Lunch and Speakers Noon to 1 p.m.

Bohemian Brewery
94 East 7200 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84047

Social at 5:30.  Presentation and Discussion at 6!

Event Details:

Date:     Thursday, March 11, 2010

Time:    5:30 – 8:00 p.m.

Place:   BetaLoft, 357 West 200 South #201 Salt Lake City, UT 84101

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

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.

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).

#   #   #

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.

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!

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 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

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.