SXSW Report

Today was the first day of the iMedia Brand Summit, and it’s only for brand marketers.  There are a ton of great folks here from brands like Dell, Procter & Gamble, Target, Bank of America, JetBlue, and more.  The discussions have been great, centering around how brands are utilizing Facebook to how their companies are organizing their structures to handle social and interactive media.

I walked away with several good insights, tips, and quotes.  I had a chance to talk with the person from JetBlue about their recent entry into location based deals and geo-fencing efforts with AT&T’s Placecast technology.  I got some tips on who were some great vendors for Facebook and mobile app development, as well as vendors for Facebook Fan generation.  The discussion made me think about the “Facebook Fan Funnel” and what to do with them after they “like” your brand.  Some great quotes included:

“Your Facebook page is like a store in the mall.  You need to staff accordingly and have people involved who are empowered to handle everything from customer service issues to marketing and sales, and are knowledgeable about your products and services.”

“Getting customers to share your content on Facebook is important, because you can block me, but you can’t block your momma.”

And as promised, I’m planning to do a lot more videos and photos.  Please excuse the shakiness of the video, it’s all shot and edited on my iPhone, so I can get this up and out to you as quick as possible.

I found out that I will also be attending the iMedia Brand Summit in Lost Pines, Texas (just outside of Austin), right before SXSW. This will take place March 5-9, and I will head downtown for SXSW from March 10-16. Since this conference will be part of the same trip for me, and the content still relates to topics covered at SXSW, I’m planning to cover it here as well.

The conference will cover “Corporate Storytelling Beyond Advertising,” and will feature speakers from Victors & Spoils, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, and IBM. The materials say, “As consumers look for experiences through whatever channel is most convenient, marketers must find a way to deliver our stories across a variety of devices and create the kinds of content our targets want to consume.”

Here’s more on the iMedia Brand Summit – Corporate Storytelling Beyond Advertising if you’re interested.

Presenters: @livethelushlife, @bebellanti, @johnwise, @titosvodka, @thrillist

It’s 5 pm on Saturday, so I’m “off the clock.”  That’s why my last SXSW session was this one.  BONUS: This one involved trying booze while I was blogging this (see the picture here).

First, I learned that the first “viral drink” is the “Pickelback” (seen here) which involves taking a shot of Jamison Whisky and then a shot of pickel juice.  The pickel juice completely eliminates the whisky flavor and leaves a little warm spot in your belly.  It became a “viral drink” after it was reported that Pickles were more popular than Canadian rockers Nickelback on Facebook.

Tito’s Vodka has become a “word of mouth” brand here in Austin and has spread.  It started to spread locally, but took off with the introduction of Twitter.  Now they’ve moved to Facebook and try to enable others to “share the Tito’s love.”  They’ve started doing a newsletter and videos on Twitter.   There’s more to it than just vodka, Tito has a real story and according to the presenter, he’s a “love bomb.”  His video outakes are “YouTube gold.”  There is a man behind the brand and their marketing team makes efforts to be personable and show that there are real people behind the brand.

It’s not all fun and drinking.  Bloggers/marketers in this area have to follow liquor laws and regulations and are held to the same marketing measurement standards as any other group.  However, social media is social and it is particularly effective in this industry.

Check out what was going at the Austin Convention Center.