The Social Media Club (SMC) of Chicago held an evening get-together–titled “Social Media by Design + LinkedIn Power Profile Workshop”–at the Hotel Palomar in Chicago on September 23rd. The pre-program presentation featured Barbara Rozgonyi, SMC Chicago founder, who described many of LinkedIn’s useful features. 
To begin with, did you know that it is important to include keywords in your LinkedIn profile? That way people can find you when they are searching for people who do what you.
Ms. Rozgonyi was followed by Jason Steinberg, Vice President, Director of Digital at MS&L Worldwide. Steinberg said that “the masses are the medium.” I can relate to this quote from an experience that I had last week when my wife and I were at a Denny’s restaurant. On the back of the menu, there was an invitation to link-up with Denny’s on Facebook. I checked Denny’s profile on Facebook, and discovered that the restaurant chain has 72,899 fans. This supports Steinberg’s quote, and is also a testament to the ubiquity of social media marketing.
There were other distinguished speakers at the workshop, including Margaret Douglas, Digital Marketing Director for Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, and Jackie Mitchell, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Chicago Chapter of the American Red Cross. The presenters explained how the use of social media is central to their company’s marketing strategies. Here are some quotes from their talks:
“Make likable content in everything that you do. People will like us, and it makes the world more interesting”
—Jason Steinberg, MS&L Worldwide
“Listen first, then join in on the conversation”
—Margaret Douglas, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management
“Get out there and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The reason we are successful in social media is we’re not afraid of failure.”
— Jackie Mitchell, Chicago Chapter of the American Red Cross
The final presentation, which brought down the house, was delivered by Mike Ivers, whose photo is featured in this post.
Having previously been a catholic priest for 27 years, Ivers is currently the President of Chicago’s Goodcity, an organization that empowers leaders and builds community in underserved neighborhoods.
Earlier in the day, Ivers participated in a CUSP2010, a conference about “the design of everything.” During that conference, several creative CUSP2010 attendees designed and constructed the costume that Ivers wore during his speech. It depicted a “swamp,” which was also the title of Iver’s talk.
The former catholic priest used swamps as a metaphor for describing our world. He said that there are a multitude of swamps that we find ourselves in. Some are good, others are bad, and many can be quite fascinating and intriguing. His highly animated presentation engaged the audience. He commented that we often focus on the latest incidence of gun violence in Chicago (“bad swamp”), but neglect to discuss the numerous stories of people helping other people, often through the use of social media (“good swamp”). This reinforced Jakie Mitchell’s earlier statement that the Red Cross raised $39 million in Haiti with $10 donations that people made with their personal digital devices.
In conclusion, the workshop ended on a very upbeat, positive note, and chronicled how people—both in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors–can use social media to improve our world.
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