Social Media Shines at Best of Westchester Event

Early last week, I was asked if I’d be willing to be a social media ‘partner’ at the Best of Westchester event at the Glen Island Harbour Club in New Rochelle. I would receive a pass to the event and be listed as a ‘partner’ in the event’s  first-ever social media tent. Well, I already had a VIP pass to the event, but with my crazy work schedule, I had been thinking of sitting this year out. I started thinking of the social media elements to an event like this, however, and I decided to go and see what I could learn.

As one who works extensively in the field of social media, I was intrigued by the invitation from Kris Ruby, founder of Ruby Media Group, who was managing the social media effort for Westchester Magazine. After I agreed to cover the event, Ruby sent me a prepared packet of information designed to be easy to incorporate into a blog.

For those of you who are trying to get coverage for your event, you might want to pay attention. While I had no interest in simply reposting a press release on my blog, I found it extremely helpful to have a sheet of well-organized, easy-to-understand information at my disposal.  Ruby’s strategy resulted in a handful of bloggers posting the information (or some part of it) on their sites in advance of the event — creating a social media buzz before the first attendees even arrived at Glen Island.

The social media tent featured a series of attractions designed to interest the invited bloggers, and make for good content on their respective blogs. They included meet and greets with Westchester Magazine publisher Ralph A Martinelli, Miss Westchester Christina DeLeon, and social media competition winner Alexandra Oppenheimer (check out her review of the night here). There was also an opportunity to meet fellow Westchesterites — some of whom were familiar by Twitter handle but not by face!

There’s no question that the easier you make it for people to share your information, the more likely it is that the information will be shared. Ruby also distributed a post-event release to the social media tent members, as well as an album of photographs taken during the event. Again, the response was quite good, and numerous blog posts portrayed the the Best of Westchester event in a way that undoubtedly brought a smile to the face of Martinelli.

For those of you who continue to look for ways to make social media  complicated — and I meet several of you every week — STOP. It’s just not that complicated. Provide something people are interested in, and make it easy for people to share, and you’re on your way. Throw in a good dose of listening to what people are saying, and responding in an appropriate and timely manner, and you are there.

Since I knew that there would be plenty of bloggers sticking pretty close to the script, I decided to spend much of my time at the event talking with Best of Westchester winners, and seeing if I could find people who were actually using social media to promote their businesses.

I recognized many people from their Twitter or Facebook accounts, and others from things I had read online. Armed with a Nikon D90 and a flash, I worked my way through the crowd taking pictures of Best of Westchester winners and attendees. You can check out the album on the Westchester Social Media Facebook page, and maybe help add a caption or two (I’ve been too busy to get them all posted!). BTW, the page added nearly 30 fans in the days surrounding the event, primarily because of  interactions created by the photos and the people I met there.

One business that was using social media in an innovative way was Mercedes-Benz of White Plains. Their social media associate James Macagna was out in front of their table, iPad in hand, trying to get guests to sign in to Facebook and ‘like’ their page. Macagna told me they had managed to add close to 70 likes — even with a snafu that disrupted their internet connection for part of the evening. The enticement was the chance to win a free iPad. Bedford blogger Stacy Geisinger was the lucky winner.

Another business that impressed me with their approach to social media was the Gentle Giant Moving Company. Mitchell Curtis, a PR/Marketing specialist told me that Gentle Giant uses social media to form relationships — the foundation of any successful moving business. He also said his company uses social media to illustrate to potential customers what they do.

“We are a different kind of moving company,” said Curtis. “We’re more athletes than just movers,” he said. “We’re fit, and we take pride in showing people what separates us from other movers.” Curtis said that his company has also been able to form valuable relationships with realtors through social media. Prior to the BOW event, Gentle Giant issued a press release about their plans to participate, and succeeded in getting that release to come up quite high in the search results. Another example of a successful company utilizing numerous tools as part of a comprehensive and effective marketing plan.

I met many other Best of Westchester winners who I know are using social media to communicate their message. Chocolations owner Maria Valente does a great job of keeping her company in front of people through Facebook and Twitter, so when I saw her at her booth I recognized her right away. Great chocolate, too!

Then there was Anthony Colasacco, whose POUR Cafe & Wine Bar is well known for its ties to TweetUps and social media events. Colasacco co-founded Westchester140, a group that organized five hugely successful social media events, including the 1st Westchester TweetUp in October 2009 that was held at Pour.

I met (and photographed) dozens of other people — some of whom I will write about in upcoming columns. As always, if you have news of interest to members of the WestchesterSocialMedia.com community, send me a comment, or an email at Chris@WestchesterSocialMedia.com.

Chris S. Cornell is the Director of Social Media at Thompson & Bender — a Westchester-based PR, advertising and marketing firm. He manages several online communities, and consults, speaks and writes about social media. You can follow Chris on Twitter, or join the community he manages on theWestchester Social Media Facebook page.