If you haven’t heard of edSocialMedia then it’s about time you were introduced. I’ve known Peter Baron, a partner at edSocialMedia, for a few years now. They have done some great things for the independent school market and have been expanding into the higher education market slowly. They have an upcoming day long conference and the Community Manager, Madeline Senkosky, was gracious enough to answer a few questions about the upcoming event and their general purpose. Enjoy.
Visit the edSocialMedia Summit to learn more about the event
Q: Tell us a little about edSocialMedia, how it was founded, the direction you want to go and how the summit fits into everything.
A: edSocialMedia was founded in 2008 as a project between four friends who had been in the education industry for several years. After seeing the power of social media in its early forms, Steve Ritchie, Peter Baron, Ernest Koe and Antonio Viva set out to provide a space for educators to learn how to use social media effectively while staying current with the social media trends and best practices. As our mission evolved, edSocialMedia became the institute for educators to learn and explore social media in education. We have now trained more than 1,100 people in our social media bootcamps, and more than 60 contributors consistently write for our blog at edsocialmedia.com.
The edSocialMedia Summit fits into the scope of edSocialMedia as it is our big event that has evolved from the practiced past of professional development workshops. The scale of the Summit is grander in the sense that it cultivates a conference-like approach to social media from big-named presenters. It brings together seven compelling speakers who have seen success in their own methods by use of their approach in their own businesses. Each presenter will provide tangible examples that attendees can implement into their own social media strategies.
Q: The majority of people in higher education have limited time and money for conferences. What’s the most compelling reason that they should attend the edSocialMedia Summit?
A: We firmly believe the edSocialMedia Summit will be one of the best social media conferences in the country for 2012 because of two primary reasons: The first is our focus on giving back to the industry that supports us. We are donating 25% of the profits to local, education-focused charitable organizations. We truly believe that supporting organizations with the root of our mission is the best way to underwrite a cause for bringing together social media masters from all over the country.
Additionally, we think HigherEd professionals should attend the edSocialMedia Summit because the presenter list is one of the finest, new gatherings of speakers for the education market. We have top-notch presenters that have made a compelling name for themselves in their respective industries and are very excited to be presenting to an education-focused audience.
Q: Is the whole focus of this summit on social media?
A: The primary focus of the edSocialMedia Summit is centered around social media, but what will evolve from the Summit are conversations around how your organization can communicate better across all sectors of your community. Other important topics are sure to come into play such as marketing trends (specifically inbound marketing), videos, community building, fundraising and relationship cultivation. The reality is, anyone who has conversations with members of their community are sure to walk away with something they can implement in their office the very next day.
The other focus of the Summit, as we mentioned before, is to raise awareness for giving back to the communities that support each of us, which is why we are giving 25% of profits away.
Lastly, the Summit is also focused on networking HigherEd folks with fellow education colleagues. The format of the event will allow for several questions and conversations, which will lead to very personalized presentations. The coffee breaks and the space we have reserved are prime for connecting with people just like you, who are searching for more ways to build a strong community.
Q: What can attendees plan on taking away?
A: You can plan on taking away a novel of innovative ways that you can generate interest and conversation around their community. Brian Carter (@briancarter), best-selling author on Facebook, promises to deliver 99 ways that your school or organization can encourage your fans to listen and interact. Georgy Cohen (@radiofreegeorgy), founder of Crosstown Digital Communications and co-founder of MeetContent, is going to focus on how you can tap the resources of your community to craft a more accurate and authentic story for your institution.
Rand Fishkin (@randfish), the CEO of SEOmoz, is often dubbed as one of the best names currently in the inbound marketing and SEO space. Rand will talk about how organizations can best manage the creation and promotion processes for their social media content, including how to effectively use analytics to gain better traction. John Hill (@linkedinjohn), the Higher Education evangelist for LinkedIn, will talk about how organizations can leverage the connections of their alumni to make stronger resources for current students and development offices.
Andy Shaindlin (@alumnifutures), the Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations & Annual Giving at Carnegie Mellon University, will share his thoughts on how education and non-profit leaders can balance the weight of creativity in leadership roles. Erin Swanson (@explodingsoul), the marketing programs manager for Water.org (@water), is going to talk specifically about how non-profits can leverage their social networks to raise money for a great cause. Last, but not, least, Ian Symmonds (@symmonds) will talk about how organizations can empower video to show their story in a more compelling light. His tried and true examples will give several organizations a high-bar to strive towards.
All in all, each individual attendee will walk away with an abundance of ways they can elevate their social media strategies to create an active, giving community.
Q: Is this a one-time event or will there be more in the future?
A: We hope to incorporate this model into an annual event at several locations throughout the country. Since we’ve kicked off the inaugural event in San Francisco, we hope to being it back to the East Coast sometime in the near future.
Visit the edSocialMedia Summit to learn more about the event
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Kyle is the CEO & Co-Founder at nuCloud and formerly the webmaster at Wofford College. He also spent almost 4 years at HubSpot doing a range of jobs including inbound marketing consulting, sales, management, and product management. Kyle is an active contributor in the social media spectrum. Although his background is technical, he claims to know a thing or two about marketing, but mostly that revolves around SEO, analytics, blogging, and social media. He has spoken at multiple national conferences and done countless webinars on topics ranging from e-mail marketing to social media and Web analytics. He's definitely a fairly nice guy.
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This post was written by Kyle James - who has written 255 posts on .eduGuru
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