Key learnings from Social Fresh Portland
What an amazing time at Social Fresh Portland. A lot of fun things can happen when you put a lot of big brains in the same room and force them to spend the day together. I wanted to give a couple of high-level takeaways before I get into the photos and share some of my observations.
Social Media is a noun, not a verb.
Social media is something you use. It is not something you do. I’ve talked before about my tool box metaphor and how each type of person has a different use for social media.
Businesses want to be social
From Realtors to restaurateurs, from financial planners to former journalists (that’s me), businesses are looking to be “social.” They want to connect and interact and share content. Which is great. But all the talks about content creation and sharing made me start to wonder about reaching a saturation point.
Thinkers vs. doers
One of the reasons I wanted to go to SoFresh was because the speakers were the doers. They were the faces behind the brands. They were implementing the tactics they were educating the rest of us on and they were successful with it.
We’re all learners
I have a tendency to be a skeptical jerk when it comes to conference sessions. I find myself yearning for tactical breakdowns of best practices or metrics rather than the messages that some call “social media 101.” But sometimes getting back to basics can be a good thing. Such as when Peter Shankman, aka @skydiver, said “Good writing will save society.” That rocked.
What would lead you to call a conference a success? What makes you like the sessions? Share them in the comments!
On to the photos:
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by thinkmaya, Eric Berto and carissa, Leann Underwood. Leann Underwood said: Great stuff! RT @geekgiant: Sharing some of my key learnings from #SoFresh Portland: http://bit.ly/93Nxx9 […]
Great points about conferences. Lately, I’ve begun to feel that I’m hearing recycled social media generalizations at sessions with very little that is new, valuable or provocative.
The events I’ve found most valuable were those where I had the opportunity to connect with smart folks who weren’t on my radar previously or people I’ve known only online. Virtual connections are great, but there’s nothing like being able to talk face-to-face.
I am also cynical about conference sessions that are often lead by experts who earned the role by way of a sponsor check.
I was pleased that many of the presenters and panelists at Social Fresh in Portland offered personal insights straight from the experiment labs rather than best practices and success recipes regurgitated from Mashable posts.
What was most valuable for me were the “hallway conversations”. I think those make conferences successful.
PS: I love Mashable.
Hey Eric,
Great post and awesome pictures! I have to admit, as a content girl, Peter’s comment about good writing saving society hit home for me, too. Good writing is one of those underlying, quiet currents that people often forget is the foundation of good, clear communication (especially online!).
Thank you so much for capturing a quick pic of Amber and me in work mode — it’s a great photo, and we were happy to join the Social Fresh crew for the day!
Cheers,
Teresa
Teresa Basich
Content Marketing Manager
Radian6
http://www.radian6.com
@TransitionalTee
Hey Teresa,
Great to meet you at the conference. I have a made-up word I use to help pepole write better: conciseification. The gist is to take something you’ve said in four paragraphs and say it in two. It’s not about being elaborate. It’s about being effective.
Cheers!
Agree on a lot of counts! I love the shout out from Peter Shankman about learning to write – it will save your life. I couldn’t agree more. Writing is the foundation of a lot, and I’m so glad I went the WWU journalism route.
Also loved meeting and listening to all the “doers.” Since I’m a doer myself, I feel I have a lot to learn from my colleagues. Thanks for the pics, Eric! See you soon!
Jeanna, you’re doing some good stuff at Whrrl. And yes, major props to WWU Journalism school (the news editors at the Western Front get super bonus love).
Thanks for the comment. I apologize for not getting to chat with you there.
And, I agree, it should be in Seattle, even though I love the train 😉
I share the same sentiment where @skydiver stated the importance of writing.
The panels I enjoyed most were SM as an Internal Platform at Nike, Branding w/ in SM and Innovation of Advertising w/ in SM.
#sofresh would be a hit in Seattle if it made a tour stop back home.