I went yesterday to the Simply Zesty Summer Camp about social media. Nice day with great discussions and speakers. All presentations should be available soon.

Philip Macartney, Sales director at Bebo Ireland kicked off. The presentation included a few good examples including the famous “Pat the Baker“, yearbookyourself.com and the Fanta competition.
When I asked Philip about Facebook’s non-stop growth and how would Bebo overcome that, he mentioned that they are working on a few modifications that will enrich the interaction and engaging experience. Looking forward to that. See Philip in action below…

Nial Harbison from Lookandtaste.com was next. He shared some interesting slides about the simplicity of online video and how easy is to get started without any fancy equipment at all.
I liked that as an example, he used probably the most unusual type of person/business to go on social media: “a butcher”. I believe that more down-to-earth approches like that, will surely help several companies understand in plain English, how to finally benefit from social media. See Niall in action below…

Alastair McDermott from Websitedoctor.com was up next. He covered Search Engine Optimisation and also discussed social media.
There were a few good tips about on-site/off-site optimisation for the audience but what I liked the most was Alastair’s opening…Have a look below:

Next was Conall McDevitt from PR company: Webber Shandwick, with a very interesting presentation. He covered some angles about reputation, igniting conversations, good examples of Advocates (great one-to-one live discussion with Darragh Doyle at the end) and the importance of relevant communities about topics that would have never reached a significant audience before. People interested in bikes, stamps, knitting… They now have a voice. As Conall said several times: “they’re out there”.
I also found very interesting the shift from broad to “narrowcasting” (the importance of creating a relevant community) and finally two slides where he explained what exactly changed in the process of a PR firm in order to approach social media. See Conall in action below…

Finally, a great panel of Internet/social media specialists (Darragh Doyle from Boards.ie, Technology consultant, Jason Roe and Marie Boran, journalist at Siliconrepublic.com) shared interesting thoughts and answer interesting questions from the audience. For example:

1. How to approach a blogger
2. Where is traditional media going?
3. The importance of having your own voice and answering questions as companies as opposed to not listening/engaging.
4. What NOT to do in Boards.ie. (Darragh had some really funny examples)

The evening finished with informal networking and a  lovely BBQ.
I had a chance to talk to Ernie from Findahotel.ie and Denise from a children’s charity, that shared their recent experiences with Facebook pages.

FYI: there’s already a hot conversation going on over at Simply Zesty’s blog. Don’t miss it

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Best,

Fred

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