Social Media Day in the OC!

Yesterday, I attended Mashable.com Social Media Day representing @HiltonCostaMesa at the Orange County Register (@ocreggie) office located in Santa Ana, CA.  Santa Ana's (Orange County) meetup was ranked 4th largest in the world and 2nd largest in the US, behind NYC, based on attendance.  The ranking did not surprise me as I have previously attended many local tweetups and larger Social Media events within the past year which only seem to grow larger and more frequent.   The hotel also hosted a Social Media event partnered with "ConnectOC" back in February which drew in nearly 400 social media folks in the building.

According to Mashable.com, Social Media Day is defined as "A day that honors the technological and societal advancements that have allowed us to have a dialogue, to connect and to engage not only the creators of media, but perhaps more importantly, one another." This was a truly unique event clearly fueled by social media that included various food trucks (@longboards, @calbibbq, @tropshaveice, @piaggioonwheels, @Ohforsweetssake, @TheTacoDawg, @BrcelonaOntheGo), speakers, a press room tour, and connecting with other professionals IRL (in real life).

I showed up a bit late and missed the first few speakers, but eventually met up with my hospitality friends in social media @TravelCostaMesa (Costa Mesa CVB), @HiltonAnaheim and @Anaheim_OC (Anaheim/OC CVB).  Each speaker had a 10 minute run with a different topic or theme.  I sat in the overflow room just in time to hear @rochelleveturis speak on the topic of "Putting a personal touch behind your social media efforts".  One of her messages: "A personal brand isn't a logo. Every piece of content is a clue (in building your brand)". Robert Watson @TopBrokerOC, on "Executing a social media business plan" said "People buy people before they buy products".  Robert being in the real estate industry, knows there is nothing more important than referrals and stresses the importance of using Linkedin.  Bryan Elliott @BryanElliott, founder of LinkedOC spoke on "Building passionate social communities" and Ted Nguyen, the Communications Manager of Orange County Transportation Authority spoke on how to "Utilize social media for issues/crisis management". 

Some very powerful messages were made from some pretty influential social media folks.  Like Bryan Elliott said "Join groups that are relevant to you. Surround yourself with people way smarter than you".  If you are new to Social Media, the message is clear: don't be afraid.  Everyone using social media is here to support each other.  Follow the hashtag #SMDayOC for more information. 

Be sure to follow us on twitter @HiltonCostaMesa