And the winner is…

In the last late, hot days of June, over 100 people gathered at Digital Marketer in South Austin to celebrate Social Media Day 2017.  All were users of social media, some were thought leaders in the space, expert marketers, educators or entertainers who use social media daily to reach friends, customers and fans. They joined fans across the country in celebrating with Mashable the impact of social media on the world.  In North Austin and San Antonio fans also gathered at the Microsoft stores to watch what happened.

The event started with Christine Haas interviewing Serving Social’s Kristie and Elijah Whites on how they are going around the country developing smart cities marketing and engagement to help local business compete in the modern age. Alicia Dean, with the City of Austin’s Communications and Public Relations, officially proclaimed June 30th as Social Media Day…

Social Media Day Austin

“Be it known that whereas social media day Austin celebrates the technological advancements that allow us to connect with real time information, share ideas, speak and have our voices heard all over the world…” the proclamation began.

After the proclamation our first speaker was Lani Rosales who has built Austin Digital Jobs from 0-32,000 organically. She spoke on the usefulness of social media on finding jobs.

“The secret to any social media success is speaking the language of the people we’re trying to connect with… so at first this was really cynical developers that speak their own language… So we decided to speak in memes and we formulated overtime all of these rules and this camaraderie.”  She talked about how she grew the group through soliciting feedback. Lani would send out a message to the first 100 members of the group asking what they wanted from it and what would make it most useful – and adjusted the group to those needs.  She also asked for referrals when doing these reach outs.

Through the rest of the event we heard from David Edmonson of the Austin Tech Alliance, Joanna Vega of the Austin Child Guidance Center, and Virginia Rudnick with the Young Women’s Alliance about how they are using social media to promote their non-profit organizations on social media.

A few of the other highlights were:

1. Lindsay Marder speaking about the Social Success Cycle that Digital Marketer runs on and promotes
2. Scott Carson with WeCloseNotes on how virtual workshops have replaced in person workshops for buying and selling debt saving tons of money and creating more value for his guests
3. Jane Hervey taught us how #bossbabesATX grew without burning out on #socialmedia
4. Chelsea Collier worked with us on Digital Cities and using social media effectively to communicate citywide ideas
5. Jane Ko about growing A Taste of Koko and being featured on Oprah!
6. Prashant Sheth of MyOrgWorks, Jae Kim of Chi’Lantro, and Alexandra Wilson of Queens Conquer all shared how investing in social media was critical to growing their companies growth

Paul O’Brien, of our team here at MediaTech Ventures, and our good friend Pete Monfre, wrapped the day with a look at how technology that made Beatlemania possible and the requirement of presence for success in online engagements.  And he stumped us all with a picture of George Martin the 5th Beatle who reached out to him in 1995 because of an early article written on the Beatles!

Now during this event we partnered with Rivet.Works and BuildSong to create a partnership for one lucky social media user and attendee to win a song-making experience.  Throughout the presentation and the ensuing week we’ve invited attendees to post and vote on the best pictures using Rivet’s technology.  The winner will get a one of a kind, two hour music making experience for them and their friends courtesy of BuildSong.  The judges got together to compare our most active social media users and friends and found one whose social media use takes it to the next level:

Meet Alli Blotter! She’s a local marketer and copywriter with a surprising talent for comedic hip-hop! She uses social media to find clients, share experiences and photographs and get out the word about her latest shows and albums.

Congratulations Alli and thank you and everyone else for joining us for Social Media Day 2017! Keep up to date with the latest in media, technology and social media by following MediaTech Ventures and attending our next event!