Tag: SXSW

The Five Things I Learned This Week at #SXSW

March 15, 2012 By Josh Mendelsohn Leave a Comment

 This is a guest blog post by Kallie McConkie, social media marketing training specialist at Constant Contact

Signs and posters promote all the events happening at SXSW

This year was my first trip to South by Southwest, and now that I’m back, I can safely say there is no way I could have prepared for the experience.

I was overwhelmed, amazed and overall thrilled with the nerdtastic conversations happening all around me.

Before I completely recover, I wanted to share the five things that will stick with me from formal sessions, informal conversations, and general observations: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Media Marketing Tagged With: ,

Austin Small Businesses Keep It Social (Live from #SXSW)

March 14, 2012 By Erica Ayotte Leave a Comment

SXSW is the ultimate social media nerd camp.

Smart phones are the rule. If you don’t tweet, you may as well not exist. And finding outlets to power up your multiple devices is like a competitive sport.

There’s so much social savvy in such a concentrated area that you can almost see the smug coming off the huge crowds like exhaust fumes.

But I was wondering if Austin’s local businesses were gleaning any tips from the massive concentration of expertise that invades their restaurants, shops, and bars every March. And I mean in ways that add up to more than just an increase in foot traffic and direct sales.  [Read more...]

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Social Media Best Practices Aren’t Always Best (Live from #SXSW)

March 13, 2012 By Josh Mendelsohn 1 Comment

Professor Aimee Roundtree speaks about social media for small organizations

Everyone loves best practices.

Including me.

After all, we love being told what works and what steps we should take to find success.

Here at Constant Contact, we publish articles about best practices regularly. Hopefully you read them and take the advice to heart.

But one of the things that’s really coming through in the presentations at this year’s SXSW is that businesses of all sizes need to think about what’s “right for them,” not just what’s “right.”

This, of course, is not breaking news. But it is really important.

In the last few years, the world of technology has evolved rapidly, but the world of social media is actually stabilizing.

There are tons of case studies now. The things that work are being enhanced with innovations, and the ones that don’t are fading away. But there are no rules that everyone needs to live by, for better or worse.

[Read more...]

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Is Social Discovery the Next Big Transformation in Social Media? (Live from #SXSW)

March 12, 2012 By Dave Gerhardt 1 Comment

A sketch artist takes visual notes during a Q&A with Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley on Friday

Outside of the latest news that CNN is in talks to acquire Mashable, the biggest buzz throughout the course of the week so far at South by Southwest has been about social discovery and the next generation of location-based applications.

Specifically, the app that has everyone talking down in Austin is Highlight, which aims to change how people meet and discover new things by alerting users when they are physically near people with whom they share a connection with (i.e. mutual friends, hometown, hobbies, etc.).

While, to date, location-based applications have mainly been nice-to-haves for marketers, it seems like there has been a transformation in the thinking of these apps that will bring more value to local businesses outside of check-ins and rewards. [Read more...]

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Looking Forward to SXSW Interactive 2012 (Where’s the BBQ?)

March 8, 2012 By Josh Mendelsohn Leave a Comment

I remember this time last year well.

l was heading to Austin, Texas, for SXSW Interactive, and I really didn’t know what to expect.

I had been to dozens of conferences and trade shows before, but I couldn’t have anticipated the sheer enormity of the event that brings technology leaders and innovators from across the country together to look at the latest and greatest, and all of the things that want to get on that list.

SXSW is a place where now-well-known companies like Twitter, Foursquare, and our own NutshellMail first emerged, and where emerging necessities for small business like Square have grown in notoriety.

Sounds cool, right?

[Read more...]

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