Social Slam Archives - Page 2 of 2

Soulati Media On The Street With Shane Rhyne, Ackermann PR

05/01/2012 By Jayme Soulati

Thanks to Stephanie Wonderlin at Social Slam in her 10 impressive minutes of fame where she said that YouTube video got more attention from search engines than web pages or Vimeo.

That statement caused my mind to stray to my neglected YouTube channel and what wasn’t there — enough videos to be impressive. Stephanie changed my life right then and there; I resolved to fix my sheer laziness with snippets of <2 minute snips (another Stephanie tip) then and there at Social Slam.

New on the Soulati Media YouTube channel are 9 videos posted in Knoxville live from Social Slam. Within 10 minutes, I had product, I had launch, I had video all raw and in the moment on the street. Gotta love that takeaway; may I energize you to try the same?

Guest one is Shane Rhyne, director of digital with 30-year-old Ackermann PR in Knoxville. Shane wears a hat that distinguishes him in a crowd; sheesh, the guy is 6’4″ does he need to command any more attention?

So we bantered and got down to brass tacks — PR is all about integration and Shane offers a tip for newbie PR professionals not yet engaging in social media to “just get started.” See what you think about Shane’s commanding presence on camera; I’d say he nailed it, wouldn’t you?

Attend Social Slam April 2012

03/20/2012 By Jayme Soulati

Social Slam 2011

Last year I presented at Social Slam in Knoxville (see me at left with Ann Deeter Gallaher and Trey Pennington (RIP)); the inaugural regional blast-of-an-event you can’t miss this year. The event is going to be the best gathering of IRL social media mavens, rock stars, A-listers (yes, all the names you’re not supposed to use) you’ve been interacting with during the past year.

Please join me and so many others in this community and beyond on April 27, 2012 in Knoxville. We’re having a Tweet Up Thursday evening, so you can’t miss that, either! (Of course, it’s AFTER the VIP pre-party; 10:15 p.m. at a location TBD).

Tickets to attend are the lowest ever and quite affordable. Knoxville is a hop, skip and a jump from most states east of the Mississippi (I sang that as I typed it so I’d know how to spell it).

What’s more, the line up of speakers promises to be worth it so you can say you met them IRL. I’m so excited to see everyone this year, and you’ll get to meet up/tweet up with the likes of these keynoters:

Gini Dietrich — professional blogger extraordinaire who takes on all things PR, marketing, social media and more at Spin Sucks and Spin Sucks Pro.

Mitch Joel — keynoter and amazingly articulate “digital rock star” who founded Twist Image; he’s going to address the Six Pixels of Separation that define the social mediaosphere.

Mark W. Schaefer — my buddy from the earliest days of Twitter in spring 2009 when we launched together and became fast friends. It’s his expert tutelage that drives he behind-the-scenes of this fabulous event and he does a grand job as emcee, too. He’s over at his Grow blog beating the bushes with books, presentations, video, and lots of insight.

Also IRL and presenting lots of grand content in sessions are some of these you may recognize:

Jay Baer — author, blogger, social media rock star who writes over at Convince and Convert; we saw him last year and he did rock the house.
Tom Webster of Edison Research who is accessible @Webby2001
Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion
Stanford Smith, Pushing Social
Sean McGinnis of DotCoLaw
Billy Delaney

There’s tons of great content; the audience numbers ~400, and the chance to meet everyone up close and personal is the best opportunity ever. When you can only share words on a post with folks and no one gets to touch a hand or give a hug, something is missing. That’s the prime reason I’m going…so shake a leg and join me! Seats are still available!

Content Is Still King (via Social Slam)

04/15/2011 By Jayme Soulati

I attended Social Slam sponsored by the Knoxville Social Media Club April 13, 2011, and one thing was clear — content is still king in social media. We sat through various panels and 3-4 keynote addresses throughout the day.

On the panel I sat on (as a substitute presenter), my colleagues Trey Pennington and Anne Deeter Gallaher spoke with me about convincing the CFO that social media had incredible value. My analogy was to compare it to advertising — when you run a print ad, does it garner immediate results, leads, conversions, impressions, sales? Nope.

While everyone was touting ROI (my favorite statement was by Amy Howell of Howell Marketing who said ROI meant “risk of ignorance”) for social media and how to communicate its value add with measurable impact, the thread that binds all of social media is critically basic. It’s CONTENT.

Let’s think about that a sec. Businesses far and wide are jumping on the social media bandwagon, finally. Regardless of how large the company or organization is, each has one thing in common — the need to develop content, a tweet, a post, a blog article, an Internet press release, a website page, a landing page, tips series, white paper, case studies, and more.

Even prior to engaging and creating a community, the message becomes the only thing that matters. And, so, with my PR hat, I encourage each of you, regardless of whether you’re a solo practitioner, corporate communicator, not-for-profit, agency peep, or consultant to do the following:

Create a message map for your brand. Within this framework, tell your story much like Trey Pennington, one of the most impressive storytellers I’ve had the pleasure of meeting IRL (I learned that at Social Slam — “in real life!”).

Consider using a mind map brought to you by none other than Roy Grubb, my tweep king of mind mapping who runs a wiki Information Tamers on all things mind mapping. Using this tool, show the progression of your marketing path and where you want to push your message.

Knowing social media is a time suck, get in the habit of taking your iPad2 (I’m blogging on one right now while kidlet is in taekwando class) with you everywhere to jot a note about something that strikes you. (You can use the traditional method of pencil and paper, too, you know!) Content development is inspired at the oddest times; I come up with blog post ideas while hiking the trails, just before bed (that’s why I have to read sci-fi and fantasy before I sleep because there’s no chance I’ll think about business reading that crazy stuff).

Hire a junior person to draft 25 tweets on a topic oriented to your work. These can be basic and good filler throughout the week when you’re trying to buy some time back. At the same time, hire some people to research for you, too. I find research time a luxury I don’t have. If someone can pull the studies and review blog posts for me, then I can draft the copy.

There is an art and skill to Twitter and Facebook. If you’re naturally effervescent with words, and your personality shines through, then you can get away with engaging naturally. If you’re shy and have trouble with free speak, do a lot of reading, listening and testing the waters. Adopt a topic you’re comfortable with until you find your stride.

It takes a pretty seasoned public relations practitioner to be able to develop all variations of content as mentioned above. Not every department or firm or team is going to find that in house; it’s highly likely you’ll need to hire it out, and the best place to comb the field is at industry events the likes of Social Slam.

Mark W. Schaefer, the event emcee, announced next year’s event is at the end of April in Knoxville. Plan to attend; it was well worth it, and every age group was in attendance among the ~450; that’s darn impressive.

« Previous Page

Soulati-'TUDE!