SMCSTL

Do you find engagement in social media personally rewarding?

Do you enjoy connecting with other Saint Louis people on Twitter and Facebook?

Do you make new friends from social networks constantly?

Have you gotten your job because of social media?

Do you drive your business’ growth through social? Do you just love all things social media?

It’s time for you to consider getting involved in SMCSTL! Why? Because it’s a blast! Just take Josh’s word for it. Unfortunately for us, Josh Kocurek, former SMCSTL board member @joshkocurek, moved out of town this month to pursue an awesome new career opportunity (Congrats, Josh! and we’ll miss you).

You may love going to SMCSTL events, but how would you like to be a part of planning them? SMCSTL has an online application going to accept new board members! How many? We have at least two openings right now, because we’re growing the team!

This application will be open until May 30th, so get your application completed today. We’ll be in touch with all of our followers in June with news about new board members and more fun, and informative, upcoming events!

Apply Here 

Learn More about Board Membership

Questions? Reach out to us here.

We look forward to your application, but even more importantly, we look forward to seeing you at SMCSTL events, and of course, online!

Sincerely,

The SMCSTL Board

Pinterest, a new pinboard-style social sharing site, has been dramatically increasing in popularity recently. At our “South by STL” event last week, Pinterest took center stage as the event kicked off with our first panel of speakers, “Why Pinning is Winning.”

Josh Kocurek (@joshkocurek), SMCSTL Board Member and Associate Brand Manager at Switch, moderated the panel. Five social media and marketing ladies discussed their perspectives on what why pinning is the hottest thing on the Internet since cat videos. Many of them had specific experience leveraging Pinterest for brand awareness and engagement, so they shared trends and best practices they are observing and also shared some thoughts on why Pinterest is so much more popular among women than men.

Pinterest Panel at SMCSTL March 2012 (Sorry, Danielle. Didn't mean to cut you off!)

Our Panelists:

• Lisa Derus @lisaderus - Assistant Account Executive at Fleishman-Hillard
• Jenna Petroff @jennapet - Public Relations and Social Media Manager at Hardee’s Food Systems, Inc. (CKE Restaurants)
• Danielle Hohmeier @daniellesmyname - Online Marketing Manager at Atomicdust
• Jessica Leitch @JessLeitch - Founding Partner at City in a Jar and Program Coordinator at Emmis Marketing Group
• Maddie Marshall @maddie_em - Partner at City in a Jar and Social Media Strategist

Best Quotes from the Panel:

• “Pinterest is a window into someone’s life or into a brand’s personality” – Maddie Marshall
• “If you don’t like it you’re not doing it right.” – Danielle Hohmeier
• “It’s not gender specific. You just have to have an understanding of how it works.” – Jessica Leitch
• “It’s what you make of it, just like Twitter.” – Jenna Petroff
• “When brands are doing it right, they’re pinning things that are inspired by the brand. It’s under the radar, but not direct advertising messages.” – Maddie Marshall
• (Regarding copyright issues and ownership of images) “I don’t think this is just an issue about Pinterest, I think it’s an issue about copyright terms on the web in general.” – Danielle Hohmeier

Read More…

“South by Southwest” is officially a film, music, arts and interactive technologies series of trade shows and festivals that takes place every spring in Austin, Texas. The event has grown bigger and bigger each year with some of the most forward-looking creative and interactive leaders all traveling to Austin each March to participate.

Better phrased by SMCSTL board member, Josh Kocurek (@joshkocurek), “It’s five days of non-stop presentations, panels, and parties with some the brightest minds in the technology, design, and social media scene.”

Sounds fun, huh?

Many Saint Louis professionals are attending this must-see conference, while many are not as fortunate.

South by Saint Louis (or SXSTL) is our little term for the Saint Louis gathering of creatives and interactive marketing folks to chat about the biggest trends that will be addressed at South by Southwest next week.  We are teaming up with STL Women in Media to bring you a “Pre-SXSW Extravaganza“ tomorrow night.

Unfortunately, seats are sold-out, but there’s still good news!…

You can follow live-tweets all night long at #SMCSTL and #SXSTL

You can also get a full-rundown our esteemed panelists over at Josh’s blog.

SXSTL Meet the Panelists: Social Panel “Why Pinning is Winning.”
SXSTL Meet the Panelists: Social Panel (Part 2)
SXSTL Meet the Panelists: Design Panel “Is Creative Web Design in Jeopardy?”
SXSTL Meet the Panelists: Digital Panel “ARs, QRs, NFCs, and More!”

…and make sure you don’t miss this post with all the details you need to know about why this event is important to Saint Louis and to the interactive marketing and social media communities here. We look forward to seeing you and to getting your feedback during and after the event.

South by Saint Louis? (The SXSTL Primer)

Join us for a networking happy hour at Powell Hall, home of the world famous St. Louis Symphony. The evening will begin with a cash bar and mingling, along with complimentary food from Hamburger Mary’s. We’ll then move into a panel discussion with the Symphony team highlighting ways they use social media to promote Powell and build relationships with their patrons.

What is the event?

Social Media Panel Event at Powell Hall with SMCSTL & The St. Louis Symphony

When is it?

Thursday 2/16/12: Doors at 6pm, Panel at 7pm

Who is presenting?

Jonna Robertson: Vice President of Marketing
Adam Crane: Vice President of External Affairs
Dale Fisher: Web & Multimedia Manager
Eddie Silva: External Affairs and Publications Manager

Parking:

Free parking will be provided in the south lot off of Samuel Shepard Dr.

More information about the night soon to come so stay tuned!

Big thanks to our sponsors: The St. Louis Symphony & Hamburger Mary’s!

Start your engines!

Welcome to 2012 and a new year of social events with the Social Media Club of St. Louis. We’re changing things up this year so look for new formats, new events and new faces all around. Our first event will be a FREE reception at the St. Louis Auto Show hosted by Ford Motor Company for all the SMCSTL fans. This event is first come first serve and will have a limited capacity so please RSVP and let them know you’re with SMCSTL when you arrive. Come mingle with other professional and casual social media users in town and enjoy complimentary, appetizers, drinks and admission to the Auto Show, courtesy of Ford.

Friday, January 27th, 2012

Reception: 5pm-7pm, Show Floor: 7pm-10pm

America’s Center – Room 142

This event is FREE but space is limited, so please RSVP and honor your commitement. Stop by, grab a drink, then head off to the show floor!

Big thanks to this months sponsor: Ford Motor Company

Most members of the Saint Louis social media community already have enough reasons to come to this month’s Social Media Club  - STL event, ranging from “I go every month because the networking is fantastic, no matter what the program entails” to just one word: “Beer.”

The group is gathering on Thursday night, 9/29, for a presentation by Jason Falls, and if you don’t know who Jason Falls is or if you are at all on the fence about getting your $15 ticket, here are 10 more reasons why you need to register today, and show up Thursday night for the fun:

In no particular order…

Reason #10: If you haven’t yet been to a Social Media Club event, or you haven’t made it to one in a while, this is the perfect time to get back into the network. On this brisk autumn night, head down to Soulard and enjoy a lively presentation and then mingle with a bright group of social media and marketing managers from BJC Healthcare, Fleishman-Hillard, Lumiere Place, Saint Louis Community College, Ronnoco Coffee, Missouri Botanical Garden, Webster University and Hardee’s - just to name a few!

Reason #9: Like you and me, Jason is from the Midwest!

I am an unabashed fan of the city of Louisville and state of Kentucky. If you have a connection to either, I may inadvertently play favorites. Sorry. Them’s my peeps.

Reason #8: Jason works for good causes:

I am a member of the Boards of Directors for both the National Center for Family Literacyand the Louisville Free Public Library Foundation. Literacy and libraries are passion projects for me. I do not profit from being involved with these organizations, but will pimp them gratuitously. If our society isn’t well-educated beyond the classroom, we will all suffer.

Reason #7: Jason is no clown:

“I’ve been famously quoted as saying, ’99.5% of social media experts are clowns,’ but watching Jason over the course of the last five years makes me feel pretty confident that he’s in the other .5%.”

–Gary Vaynerchuk, cofounder, VaynerMedia; author of The Thank You Economy

Some may disagree with the “no clown” part, but I guess we’ll find out Thursday night at some point, right? Probably after 9pm…

Reason #6: It’s a Thursday night…in Soulard…’nuff said?

Reason #5: You might win a sweet smart-phone!

AT&T will be hosting a raffle for attendees during the event. They want to know – what’s your favorite mobile app? To enter the raffle, tweet during the event about your favorite mobile app and use #SMCSTL and #ATTSocial hashtags. At the end of the event, they’ll announce a winner from the entries who will receive the LG Thrill.

 

Reason #4: Your job is to increase sales, profits, market share, and efficiency for your business…

You may think you “get” social media and you’ve certainly seen many “experts” present social media strategies, especially if you’ve been to a lot of Social Media Club events here in Saint Louis. But how is Jason different? This is his approach to it:

Identify specific, actionable goals. Apply business discipline and proven best practices. Stop fearing risks. Start mitigating them. Measure performance. Get results.

Reason #3: The first 100 people to register will recieve a copy of Jason’s book to take home with them – and get signed by the author himself.

Reason #2: It’s a guaranteed good time. Social Media Club STL has some of the best networking in Saint Louis. This group is fun-loving, energetic, driven, goofy, and above all else: social! Just take a look at the list of registered attendees so far.

Reason #1: You could pay to hire Jason, or you can come have drinks with us on Thursday night starting at 6pm, and get some low-cost advice from him, for the cost of the admission fee, and meet one of the most in-demand speakers in the social media, public relations and marketing fields, right here in your hometown.

Follow Jason on Twitter

Follow SMCSTL on Twitter

We are pleased to announce our next event will be a Sports Blogger panel on Monday, August 29 at Gio’s.

How it’s going down.

What: Social Media Club St. Louis – Sports Blogger Panel

Where: Gio’s Downtown

When: 8/29/2011 @ 6:00PM, Panel starts at 7:00PM

Let’s meet this month’s esteemed panel.

Derrick Goold

Twitter says: “Baseball Writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Avid reader. Proud father. Lapsed cartoonist. Former World Record-holding second baseman. Look it up”

Where to find him: Twitter | STL Today

Matthew Leach

Twitter says: “Cardinals beat reporter for MLB.com. Lots of tweets about the Cardinals and baseball, but also college football, music, and plenty more.”

Where to find him: Twitter | MLB.com | Obviously, You’re Not a Golfer

Matt Sebek

Twitter says: “St. Louis inhabitant, human observer, purveyor of JoeSportsFan.com and one of the world’s nerdiest metrosexuals.”

Where to find him: Twitter | 590 KFNS The Fan | Joe Sports Fan

Come Join Us!

This panel is going to be a great one! We are making plenty of time for Q&A, so start thinking about what you would love to ask these industry experts.

Whether you’re a SMCSTL first-timer or a seasoned veteran, come out to say hello and support your amazing local talent and a great venue. Bring your friends!

As always, there will be plenty of time before and after the panel for networking, conversation and elbow rubbing.

This is a FREE event. No membership is required to attend. We do ask that you RSVP and honor your commitment. It makes it preparation easier for both the venue and your loving SMCSTL board members.

What is “Social Media Day” you ask?

The global event is a celebration of the technological advancements that enable everyone to connect with real-time information, communicate from miles apart and have their voices be heard. We invite you to celebrate by socializing with your online community offline!

The Saint Louis Social Media Club is having a meet-up in honor of Social Media Day on Thursday, June 30th at 6:00 p.m. downtown at Gio’s. Register here.

The event is free to attend, and there will be drinks and appetizer specials throughout the evening.

When you get to Gio’s don’t forget to check-in on FourSquare or GoWalla. Take an Instagram. Send out some Twitter love with a couple shout-outs about who you run into and what you’re enjoying chatting about, but be sure to use the hash tags #smcstl and #smday so everyone who’s there can see your tweets. There’s already a pretty healthy stream of awesome social media folks in Saint Louis tweeting with #smcstl. Most are about how giddy everyone is to get to the meet-up and see some of their favorite Tweeps in person like we all do at least once a month in this thriving online community. Others are just plain ridiculous.

If you haven’t been to an SMCSTL Meet-Up before, make sure you check out our Facebook page to see photos and details from past events. It’s a guaranteed good time! And in the spirit of the national Social Media Day project, SMCSTL continues to work to facilitate frequent gatherings of truly well-connected, technologically savvy, interactive professionals from across the Saint Louis area.

Read more about Social Media Day at Mashable.