CaseCamp 7... Hobnobbing in Social Media

Toronto – Last night I attended my first social media conference, CaseCamp 7. Organized by Eli Singer, over 400 people showed up for the event – so many that people who had to work late (like myself) had nowhere to sit.

It felt like speed dating where case studies were presented in 15 minutes or less – although they could’ve been more… after all, who was counting?

There was a big networking dance party afterwards although I was still too shy to participate, I got to meet Sean Moffitt – a leader of buzz marketing. KOL's like Sean and Eli are a highly sought-after resource for any marketer today who wants to jump on the social media gravy train.

Here’s what went down…

Red Flag Deals

Derek Szeto, founder of RFD.com talked about their recent Boxing Week success, largely attributed to their SEO superiority built up over the past couple of years and the resources they devoted into building their community and their retailer relationships.

Story2Oh!

Jill Golick, a screen writer who has cracked into effective storytelling online using social media through two fictional characters: Simon Beals and Ali Barrett. She created these two characters on Facebook and used all aspects of social media (twitter, delicio.us, flickr, youtube) to create a storyline that engaged Simon and Ali’s friends (the real ones) in multiple touch-points.

It’s controversial because people expect their Facebook friends to be real, and although Jill tried to make it clear on all of Simon and Ali’s profiles that they were fictional – I don’t think most people really read profiles, and some people were annoyed that they were fooled by Simon and Ali just prior to CaseCamp.

Radiothon Diaries

Sick Kids Hospital increased their fundraising this year partially because of some really touching viral video content they put out. It was a last minute project and they shared some of the challenges they faced, but considering the increase in donations they saw, it was worth the hustle.

TD Canada Trust Facebook

TD Canada Trust used a Facebook group to get in touch with 18-25 demographic which tied into a really cool event which involved kids, discounts and a shopping tour. As a bank, they had to overcome a lot of challenges mainly PR related. This case shows that it’s OK for a company to allow their customers to speak their minds. We’re all saying shit anyway and their acceptance of transparency goes a long way in promoting trust.