Posts Tagged ‘BDI social media conference’

Social media enthusiasts, mommy bloggers, small business owners, and corporate big shots alike all came out to The Graduate Center of the City University of New York early Wednesday morning to talk social integration. The agenda consisted of breakfast, an impressive line-up of guest speakers, and two round table discussions where we were allowed to chime in on the dialogue.

The overall message was clear: Social media can be a powerful and necessary tool. Instead of writing about tedious details, I’m going to boil all my learnings down to eight important key take-aways.

1. Within social media, consumers become producers – Michael Mendenhall, CMO of HP

• HP used social media to host an online contest that challenged people to express themselves creatively through video for a chance to win $300,000 in prizes. By doing this, HP allowed their consumers to generate the content of the contest and also promoted their brand as being cool and connected to the online community.

2. Marketing strategies have to move from making impressions to making connections – Joshua Karpf, Senior Manager of Pepsico

• Pepsico launched The Juice Campaign to promote Tropicana juices to mommy bloggers via BlogHer. Instead of a generic print/media campaign, The Juice Campaign engaged key opinion leaders in social media within the mom community to make genuine connections with their consumers and executive one of their most well-received campaigns.

3. When executing social media campaigns, companies must accept “authenticity factor” i.e. Do not censor – Brian Kenny, CMO of Harvard Business School

• Although Harvard Business School would like to hold a certain brand image in people’s minds, they will not censor their material for fear of being viewed as unauthentic (even if it results in online photos of their students dressed as drag queens and getting arrested by police officers for fighting).

4. Embrace the technology shift, but always pay attention to your brand in the social media realm – Brian Kenny, CMO of Harvard Business School

• The brand image of Harvard is very important, and although they will keep up with the shifts of technology and social integration online, they strive to preserve that image across all platforms.

5. Few can sound like many – Michael DiLorenzo, Director of Social Media of NHL

• The NHL decided to hold a tweet-up for the Stanley Cup, which is the most important trophy in the NHL, and although there were only a handful of people in the nation that actually participated, the event was widely recognized and brought a lot of publicity for the NHL.

6. Give people a reason to be excited about your brand – Michael DiLorenzo, Director of Social Media of NHL

• Michael is a strong believer in keeping his customers happy by giving them free stuff. From free tickets to free cup-holders, your company’s gestures will reach its consumers.

7. If you are not authentic, people will scream and run the other way – Lynn Mann, Director of External Communications at Michelin NA

• In a playful anecdote involving her nieces and the fake Michelin Man, Lynn conveys the importance of authenticity when communicating with customers.

8. Stop. Look. Listen. And then Respond – Richard Pesce, Social Media and Digital Communications with Sprint Nextel

• A company shouldn’t just communicate to their consumers when it comes to crises. Customer service is extremely important, especially in the service providing industry, and using social media allows companies to respond in real time.