SMBME 27 – Creating Community and Measuring Success

It seemed as though in past months we had talked a lot about creating helpful and useful content for your audience but we wanted to take that a step further, so this month we talked about creating a sense of community with your social media campaigns and then how to determine if your social media efforts are successful.

We invited Derek Rice to come and speak to us about creating a community online and to share some of his experiences as an all-around social media geek. For case studies, we invited back two of our favorites. First, we heard from Ry Russell who ran the Saco Drive-In this past summer. This was a perfect follow up of his first appearance which was right at the beginning of his season. Second, we had Calvin Gilbert come back from Goodwill of Northern New England. We hadn’t seen Calvin in a long time but he has been diligently working with Goodwill to integrate social media into their traditional marketing and measuring the effectiveness of their efforts.

Who: Derek Rice, Ry Russell and Calvin Gilbert
What: SMBME 27 – Creating Community and Measuring Success
When: Friday, October 28th – 7:30 – 10AM
Where: Eastland Park Hotel, 157 High St. Portland
How: This and all of the breakfasts would not be possible without the support of our sponsors – Noyes, Hall & Allen Insurance, Mainely SEO, Hall Internet Marketing, Catholic Charities of Maine, The Cohen Tracy Team and The Internet Educator.

Our Speakers:

Derek Rice

Derek is a freelance writer, PR and marketing pro, and social media geek. On any given day, he may be developing web content, interviewing someone for a magazine piece, and/or managing one or more social media campaigns. As a community manager, Derek plans, launches, manages and monitors social media efforts, including an award-winning effort for Liquid Wrench. He’s also a regular contributor to Mainebiz and security-industry trade publication SDM.

Calvin Gilbert

Calvin manages Design and Marketing at Goodwill Industries of Northern New England. Aside from designing posters, fliers and websites, he also blends advertising with social media to create low-cost high-impact campaigns. In addition to working at Goodwill, Calvin is afreelance web developer with over 10 years of experience.

Ry Russell
Ry is the Vice President of VR Marketing Consultants in Portland, Maine. This year he has been a part of three different start ups consisting of the Saco Drive In Theater, TxTWave, and VR Marketing. His primary focuses are social media along with offline marketing techniques.