Our May 8, 2013 event was part of a special month-long celebration, “United We Share,” commemorating Social Media Club‘s 7th anniversary. The goal of United We Share is to showcase our global community (300+ chapters worldwide!) to better connect with one another by supporting each others events and hopefully, participating real-time.

Your customers are talking about you… are you listening?

As our panelists shared through live demonstrations “behind the curtain” of their Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Hootsuite dashboards, online review tools not only provide helpful feedback, but also create unique opportunities for timely customer service response, and empower your best customers to become your brand champions.

Best practices and helpful tips from the pros (what you missed):

Some of the best advice of the night was captured on Twitter, including:

Of course, I’ve left out some of the juiciest nuggets which you can only find by watching our recording of the panel discussion, here.

A BIG mahalo to our panelists for sharing their candid insights:

Emi Hart, Community Director at Yelp Hawaii
Emi is a Community Director (aka Director of Marketing) for Yelp.com in Honolulu and a professional singer/songwriter. A graduate of the University of Hawaii, she is the mother of three amazing children and loves any dessert containing peanut butter and chocolate. As a community builder for review website Yelp.com she pens the Weekly Yelp newsletter, shares reviews of her favorite local businesses, throws uber fun Yelp parties, and can be found hanging out with fun loving yelpers around Honolulu. 

Michael Miller, Director of Sales & Marketing at Tiki’s Grill & Bar
Michael has 24+ years of experience in Hawaii’s hospitality industry. Currently, he serves as the Sales & Marketing Director for Tiki’s Grill & Bar. He is a member of National Restaurant Association—Marketing Executives Group, The James Beard Foundation, Oahu Wedding Association, Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii Past Board Member, The Arthritis Foundation. He enjoys spending time with his wife and traveling, sailing, gardening, cooking and playing with their Airedale Terrier, Kula.

Asiana Ponciano, Social Media Marketing Coordinator at Hawaiian Airlines  At Hawaiian Airlines, Asiana manages a social media community of 300,000+ members spanning 3 countries. Previously, she helped College Connections Hawaii develop its social media strategy. Born and raised in Honolulu, Asiana graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Journalism. In S.F., she freelanced for print and online publications, worked as an editorial assistant for an online video production company, and co-hosted a tech trends podcast called Girls Gone Geek. 

Mae Russell, Marketing Manager at Aston Hotels & Resorts
Born and raised in Hawaii, Mae has 15+ years of experience in marketing and currently serves as Corporate Marketing Manager for Aston Hotels & Resorts. Upon graduating with honors in Public Relations from HPU, she moved to Las Vegas where she completed her Masters in Organizational Management. Mae enjoys snowboarding, skiing, and spending time with her mom, boyfriend, and Lhasa Apso, Mia. She also enjoys trying new restaurants, feasting with family and friends, and the motto “Live to Eat!”

Mahalo to our event sponsors for making these gatherings possible:

• Cafe Julia at YWCA Laniakea
• High Technology Development Corporation (HTDC) whose sponsorship supports our event livestream and recording
• Laura Kinoshita Marketing & Public Relations
• Hagadone Printing Company

Let’s begin with a couple of assumptions:

1) Social media is inherently dynamic and evolving.
Just when you think you’ve got the tactics for each platform down, something changes or a new platform is introduced.
2) Social media is a tactic, not the solution.
Social media isn’t a stand alone. It’s part of the equation. Any company with more than 50 employees can attest to the fact that once social media is incorporated, lots of people want to get their hands on it. Marketing. Public Relations. Legal. Human Resources.
3) Humans are imperfect at best.
Never made a mistake? Nice to meet you Mr/Ms. Robot.

So how to move forward incorporating these millions of lessons with the above assumptions in a larger, more strategic way?

Most social media lessons have one of three core sources:
1) Human error
2) Over reliance on technology
3) Internal communication and systems

Human Error:

Mistakes happen. It’s embarrassing for everyone involved.  In today’s world, businesses of all sizes are having to get comfortable with the idea that a single error, which previously would have gone largely unnoticed, has the potential to go viral. Online reviews expose the best and worst in companies.  In the good ‘ole days when there was “just” the media, a company’s presence was managed through training, planning and control. The first two are perfectly reasonable solutions to today’s challenges, the third, well, that’s getting harder to control. The solution to a lack of control is back to the first two, training and planning, because humans make mistakes. Usually a couple a day.

I truly cringe when I see social media professionals fired as a result of a single tweet, no matter how horrible. If the internal answer is to fire (or hang them by their toes) the social media professional who makes a single mistake, no matter how embarrassing, then, it’s time for the responsibility to match the pay range. CEO’s get paid big dollars, in part, because their job is risky. A social media person is the voice for a brand or company. CEO’s are typically highly reluctant to participate in the social media process, so its arguable that social media professions are MORE visible than a CEO, at least to consumers and customers. In some cases, the social media professional’s exposure is significantly more intense than a CEO.  Shouldn’t they be compensated appropriately if the risk for making a single mistake is so significant?  Sound extreme? Then let’s go back to training and planning. Train for and expect the best. Plan for the worst. And do yourself a favor: hire a communication professional instead of an intern for your social media presence. Knowing how to use the tools is far easier than knowing how to communicate and when to make a judgement call.

The Solution:

Use mistakes as learning opportunities. Making a mistake is a chance to make your brand more human.  Move forward with solutions and find out the core reason a mistake happened, solve the core problem, then manage the solution rather than micromanaging for every single potential mishap.

Over reliance on technology: 
We all love the convenience of technology. But in social media, never let technology stand in for good, solid communication and human interaction.

The Solution:
A good social media professional will balance automation with community building and will understand the difference between the two.  Social media professionals should be part of the process, not the last one on the email chain.  Contextualize and communicate together. Let the tools work for you, but if the tools create a sense of “set it and forget it” then you’re doing it wrong.  Social media is not advertising, it requires care and feeding. Care and feeding is a human’s role, it’s one of the things we excel at, when equipped with the right tools, like…training and planning.

Internal communications and systems: 
Because social media impacts such a wide variety of departments, using social media quickly changes communication in a company. Rather than over complicate, make it easy to collaborate and listen (thank you, Vanilla Ice). Binders full of unread policies and procedures do nothing to enhance your social media presence.

The Solution:
Align your departments and empower them to come together with solutions.

Something else that will impact your internal and external communications: Create easy to understand values for your entire company, but especially your front-facing team and ensure that the social media presence is consistent with those values. Much has been written about the brilliance of Zappos, but the brillance of Zappos isn’t the shoes or free return policy or even their “customer service” per se, it’s the simplicity of their core values.

With core values in place, now, true integration of social media can happen. Integration is where you’ll find the secret sauce.  The secret sauce is your people. Your product. Your story. Let them shine TOGETHER and watch the magic happen.

Allow your brand’s presence to be the very best it can be. Regular, ongoing communication creates innovation and makes the dynamic nature of social media exciting, rather than a problem. And, back to training and planning, give and do the best you can, because as that sage ole dude, Vanilla Ice, said, “Anything less than best is a felony.” If you’re expecting the best from your social media professionals (and you should), the ones speaking for your brand, don’t you think you should empower them with the best?

As an added advantage, enhanced communication will make planning for communication slip-ups easier.

In short, expect the best. Train for the best. Plan for the worst. Communicate, constantly. 

Creating systems around a tactic may seem dramatic, but when you look at how truly revolutionary social media is to communications, its time we consider stepping with both feet forward into embracing potential. There are reasons to do nothing, but the more compelling reasons are in the action column. Starting from the inside out is what “social business” is about.

According to The Local Consumer Review Survey in 2012, approximately 72% of consumers surveyed said that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, while 52% said that positive online reviews make them more likely to use a local business.

Whether you are participating in the conversation or not, customers are forming opinions about your business and voicing them online. Great customer service is more than ever crucial to the sustainability of your business, and review sites like Google Places, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Gogobot and FourSquare are making it easier than ever to manage your online reputation and boost positive customer reviews.

Join us and a panel of industry practitioners for an in-depth conversation about why customer review sites are important for the sustainability of your business, why it’s important to respond to reviews, how you can manage the good AND the bad reviews, how to deliver excellent customer service using social media, and more!

Guest Panelists 

Emi Hart, Community Director at Yelp Hawaii
Emi Hart is a Community Director (aka Director of Marketing) for Yelp.com in Honolulu and a professional singer/songwriter. A graduate of the University of Hawaii, she is the mother of three amazing children and loves any dessert that contains the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. As a community builder for review website Yelp.com she pens the Weekly Yelp newsletter, shares reviews of her favorite local businesses, throws uber fun Yelp parties, and can be found hanging out with fun loving yelpers around Honolulu. 

Michael Miller, Director of Sales & Marketing at Tiki’s Grill & Bar
Michael has more than 24 years of experience in the Hawaii hospitality industry, in sales, operations, marketing and public relations. He is currently the Sales & Marketing Director for Tiki’s Grill & Bar, a position he has held for 9 years. He is a member of National Restaurant Association—Marketing Executives Group, The James Beard Foundation, Oahu Wedding Association, Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii Past Board Member, The Arthritis Foundation. He is responsible for growing the Tiki’s brand and promoting the restaurant for parties and corporate group events. Michael enjoys spending time with his wife and traveling, sailing, gardening and cooking and playing with Kula their Airedale Terrier.

Asiana Ponciano, Social Media Marketing Coordinator at Hawaiian Airlines
Asiana is the Social Media Marketing Specialist at Hawaiian Airlines, where she manages a social media community with over 300,000 members that spans across three countries. Prior to Hawaiian Airlines, Asiana worked for College Connections Hawaii, an educational non-profit located in Honolulu, where she helped develop their social media strategy. Asiana was born and raised in Honolulu and graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Journalism. During her time in San Francisco, Asiana freelanced for print and online publications. She also worked as an editorial assistant for an online video production company called Soma Girls TV and co-hosted a tech trends podcast called Girls Gone Geek. 

Mae Russell, Marketing Manager at Aston Hotels & Resorts
Mae Russell is born and raised in Hawaii. She currently works for Aston Hotels & Resorts as their Corporate Marketing Manager. Mae graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with honors and received her BA in Public Relations. She moved to Las Vegas two weeks following graduation and then attended University of Phoenix, Nevada and graduated with honors receiving her Masters in Organizational Management. While in Las Vegas, Mae worked for large corporations learning a wide variety of marketing. She served as the Advertising, Special Events, Database and Direct Marketing Manager while employed at Fitzgeralds Casino. She also served as a Promotions & Special Events Manager for Station Casinos. One of the jobs she enjoyed the most was her last position working as the Marketing Manager at the Palms Casino & Resort.Mae lived in Las Vegas for 10 years and moved back to Hawaii a little over two years ago, so she could spend more time with family and friends. On her spare time, Mae enjoys snowboarding and skiing which she misses tremendously. Mae spends most of her free time with her mom, boyfriend and furry, four-legged daughter Mia, who is Mae’s 8 year old Lhasa Apso. She also enjoys trying new restaurants and feasting with family and friends. She believes in the saying “Live to Eat!”

Mae has over 15 years of experience in Marketing and has the eagerness to expand new horizons and meet new challenges.

Food & Beverage | Thank you to Cafe Julia for being our venue sponsor!

Food and beverages will be available to order from Cafe Julia from their new Pau Hana menu. You can read about the new Pau Hana menu in Honolulu Magazine.
YWCA members receive 10% off Pau Hana menu!

You can join Cafe Julia online on Twitter and Facebook

Agenda

Networking: 5:30-6:00pm
Panel Discussion: 6:00pm-7:00pm
Questions: 7:00-7:30pm

Mahalo to our event sponsors!

To register for the event, please visit the Eventbrite page.

It was a full house for our first event of the year held at our new host venue, historic Fuller Hall at YWCA Laniakea in downtown Honolulu. In addition to great networking and learning, guests were able to order pupus and cocktails from Cafe Julia‘s new Pau Hana menu.

Using LinkedIn Groups like a pro (what you missed):

Some of the helpful tips shared include:

• Even with a FREE LinkedIn account, you can eke out great value and join up to 50 groups. Be aware, however, that there is a pay-wall and some of the most powerful features of LinkedIn lie behind it.
• Reasons for your business (or nonprofit) to create a Group include: to serve as a resource, establish your brand, build reputation, recruit, and even groom future employees (or volunteers, donors, etc.).
• As an individual, joining a Group can help you stay current on industry trends, cultivate a virtual sounding board of peers, seek expert advice, troll for business leads, maintain or grow your professional network, establish yourself as a thought leader, and even open doors to new opportunities as a passive job-seeker.
• Whether you are creating or joining a Group, be clear about your goals before jumping-in, i.e., what do you hope to gain from your involvement?

Of course, I’ve left out some of the juiciest nuggets which you can only find by watching our recording of the panel discussion, here.

AND…if you haven’t already joined us on LinkedIn, now is the time:

• Social Media Club: Hawaii Chapter (SMCHI):  an open group for everyone to ask questions, share insights, and get information on the changing world of social media.
• Professional, Education, NonProfit & Business Members of SMCHI: a professionals-only group for dues paying members of SMCHI. If you’re a Small Business, Professional, Government or Student Member, join us here.

A BIG mahalo to our wise and entertaining panelists:

Dan Beeman: Since starting in 2008, the Sponsorship Insights LinkedIn Group has grown to over 11,000 members from around the country. This group is an independent, community developed by Dan. Dan shared why he started his group and how he has managed to grow it so successfully over the last 5 years.

Connect with Dan! | LinkedIn | Twitter

Beth Busch: Recruitment Advertising Consultant & Entrepreneur; Producer of Hawaii’s Largest Career Fairs. As Hawaii’s leading LinkedIn expert, Beth shared her insight as to how using LinkedIn groups can benefit your business networking, as well as her strategies behind joining them.

Connect with Beth! | LinkedIn | Twitter

Sylvia Dahlby: If you spend anytime on LinkedIn groups in Hawaii, you’ll run across Sylvia’s name. She’s a LinkedIn Group power member as an active member of 45 LinkedIn Groups. Learn why she invests so much time in LinkedIn Groups and her tips for using LinkedIn Groups as a professional.

Connect with Sylvia! | LinkedIn | Twitter

Matt DiGeronimo: Founder and senior managing director for Hawaii’s largest Mergers & Acquisitions/Business Brokerage company, Smith Floyd Hawaii. Matt hosts the “The Smith Floyd Water Cooler“, a weekly radio show. He is a top contributor and influencer in many Hawaii LinkedIn Groups including Hawaii Business Magazine Network.

Connect with Matt! | LinkedIn | Twitter

Mahalo to our event sponsors who make us look good:

• Cafe Julia at YWCA Laniakea
• High Technology Development Corporation (HTDC) whose sponsorship supports our event livestream and recording

Heeeeeeere we come! Lots of you have been asking about when we’re meeting next and here we go. A new year. A new venue. A new Board of Directors. Lots of good things happening at SMCHI and we want to help you kick off your 2013 with some professional insight useful to everyone—not only social media geeks.

On February 27th 2013, we’ll be discussing LinkedIn Groups for Professionals and Businesses.

Our first event for 2013 is sure to be a hit with professionals of all types.

LinkedIn is the premier social networking site for business professionals.

Currently there are over 1.5 Million LinkedIn Groups. What’s the allure of LinkedIn Groups and why is it one of the most powerful business networking tools available today?

Why are busy professionals investing their time on LinkedIn Groups, and would it be worth it for you? How can businesses take advantage of LinkedIn Groups and should they? Should you start a group or participate in an existing LinkedIn Group?

Our panel of professionals will bring you their unique perspectives of why and how they’ve used LinkedIn Groups.

Guest Panelists

Dan Beeman Since starting in 2008, the Sponsorship Insights LinkedIn Group has grown to over 11,000 members from around the country. This group is an independent, community developed by Dan. Dan will discuss why he started his group and how he has managed to grow it so successfully over the last 5 years.

Connect with Dan! |  LinkedIn  |  Twitter

Beth Busch: Recruitment Advertising Consultant & Entrepreneur; Producer of Hawaii’s Largest Career Fairs. As Hawaii’s leading LinkedIn expert, Beth will give you insight as to how using LinkedIn groups can benefit your business networking, and provide her strategies behind joining them.

Connect with Beth!  |  LinkedIn  |  Twitter

Sylvia Dahlby:   If you spend anytime on LinkedIn groups in Hawaii, you’ve probably run across Sylvia’s name. She’s a LinkedIn Group power member. Sylvia is a member of 45 LinkedIn Groups. She’ll share why she invests so much time in LinkedIn Groups and give tips and tricks for using LinkedIn Groups as a professional.

Connect with Sylvia!  |  LinkedIn |  Twitter

Matt DiGeronimo: Matthew DiGeronimo is a retired Naval Submarine Officer with a formal education in Nuclear Engineering and Business Administration. He is the founder and senior managing director for Hawaii’s largest Mergers & Acquisitions/Business Brokerage company, Smith Floyd Hawaii. Matt hosts the “The Smith Floyd Water Cooler“, a weekly, one-hour, Wednesday morning radio show dedicated to starting, buying, operating, saving, expanding and/or selling a privately held business. He is a top contributor and influencer in many Hawaii LinkedIn Groups including Hawaii Business Magazine Network.

Connect with Matt!  |  LinkedIn  |  Twitter

Join SMCHI on LinkedIn!
We’d be remiss if we didn’t remind you of the Social Media Club of Hawaii’s two LinkedIn Groups. We have an open group for everyone, ask questions, share insights and get information on the changing world of social media! Our SMCHI Public Group is here. We also have a professionals-only group for our paying members of SMCHI. We collaborate, share and discuss social media trends, stories and best practices in this space. If you’re a Small Business, Professional, Government or Student Member, join us here!

We’re looking forward to seeing you online AND in real life in 2013!

EVENT DETAILS:

Date: 

February 27, 2013

Cost

$5.00 (early bird) until Feb 20th
$10.00 after Feb 20th or at the door (credit cards only at the door)
FREE for Social Media Club professional members! (discount code will be emailed to you)

Location

Fuller Hall at the YWCA of O‘ahu
1040 Richards Street, Honolulu, HI 96813

Food & Beverage | Thank you to Cafe Julia for being our venue sponsor!

Food and beverages will be available to order from Cafe Julia from their new Pau Hana menu. You can read about the new Pau Hana menu in Honolulu Magazine.
YWCA members receive 10% off Pau Hana menu!

You can join Cafe Julia online on Twitter and Facebook

Agenda

Networking: 5:30-6:00pm
Panel Discussion: 6:00pm-7:00pm
Questions: 7:00-7:30pm

Parking

Parking on Richards Street and surrounding area is metered ($1.50/hour), but free after 6:00pm
Parking at ‘Iolani Palace is metered ($1.50/hour), but free after 6:00pm (gate closes at 11:00pm)

To register for the event, please visit the Eventbrite page, or get your tickets below.

Gwen Woltz | Chapter President
Gwen Woltz is co-founder of Wahine Media, a local social media agency. Together with her business partner Karen Weikert they specialize in strategically building thriving and engaged online communities for businesses. Gwen was a finalist for Pacific Edge Magazine’s Young Professional of the Year, and most recently received a Social Media Award at Technology News Byte’s Social Media Summit in 2012. She also teaches social media at Pacific New Media Outreach College at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. When she unplugs from the online world, you can find her enjoying the beach with her daughter.

You can find Gwen online here:
Twitter: @gjwahine @wahinemedia
Facebook: http://facebook.com/wahinemedia
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/gwendolynwoltz

Board Chairs  • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Tara Coomans | Membership Chair
Marketing Thinker, Tinkerer & Brainstormer. Social Media Blogger & Strategist. Trainer and Educator. Creative & Analytical. Foodie. Politics Junkie. Social Media Club of Hawaii (SMCHI) Board Member and Past President, President at Akamai Marketing. Call her what you will, but she understands marketing with over 15 years supporting small to medium businesses in large and national markets. Social media? Check. KPI’s? Check. Strategic planning? Check. Brainstorming? Check. Give her a problem and she loves solving them. Give her a challenge and she will rise to it.

You can find Tara online here:
Twitter: @taracoomans
Facebook: http://facebook.com/akamaimarketing
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/taracoomans

Sylvia Dahlby | Sponsorship Chair
Rainmaker at SmartSearch applicant tracking system, is an early adopter of internet technology. She has worked in the recruitment advertising & technology industry since 1978, and has tele-worked from home since 1990. Her resume includes work with leading recruitment advertising/marketing agencies such as Bernard Hodes Group, TMP Worldwide, and the visionary Computer Listings of Employment Opportunities, the very first job board launched in 1984, and Westech Career Expo in the Silicon Valley with its original Virtual Job Fair. She is a professional member of Social Media Club-Hawaii Chapter, the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) Hawaii Chapter and involved in the Hawaii Island Workforce Development Summit. She’s also active in a number of online communities in recruiting, staffing and human resources including ERE.net, RecruitingBlogs, and many LinkedIn groups. Sylvia is on a mission to demystify social networks and online communities for the Hawaii human resources, recruiting & staffing industry. When she’s not working, Sylvia is interested in independent film, music and astronomy — and supports the Hawaii Concert Society, and East Hawaii Cultural Center, and historic Palace Theater. She is also a member of the Hilo Woman’s Club, a 92-year-old community service organization, and volunteers at Project Hawaii, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of homeless children.

You can find Sylvia online here:
Twitter: @sylviedahl
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/sylviadahlby

Ryan K Hew | Treasurer
Ryan K. Hew, attorney at law, provides legal services to small-businesses and startups for transactional and compliance matters. He was born and raised in Hawaii, attended Punahou School and the University of Pennsylvania.  He has received a J.D./M.B.A. from Gonzaga University and has been a fellow in the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Leadership Institute.

He has worked for a local HR administration company, the Hawaii State Legislature, and various judges in Hawaii and Washington state.  More specifically, he has served as Legislative Aide, Office Manager, and Committee clerk for the Hawaii State House of Representatives for the Committees of Labor and Public Employment and the Judiciary, as well as the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals and Washington State Office of Administrative Hearings.

His practice mainly focuses on contract drafting and review, corporate and business entity organization, independent contractor and consultant agreements, social media, intellectual property, and licensing and permitting.

He is interested in video games, traveling, food and volunteering for various organizations, such as the Young Lawyers Division, Rotary E-Club of Hawaii, and Honolulu Chinese Jaycees.

You can find Ryan online here:
Twitter: @RKHewEsq
Facebook: http://facebook.com/RKHewEsq
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/hawaiiesquire

Laura Kinoshita | Communications Chair
As president of Kinoshita Communications, Laura’s work has earned the 2012 Gold Hermes Award for Social Media; the Creativity in Public Relations Award for best product launch; the Edward L. Bernay’s award for best campaign for an initial public offering and a Silver Telly award for best educational video. Before establishing Kinoshita Communications in 2007, Laura served as public information officer for W. M. Keck Observatory, where she developed the public website, started publishing the first online newsletter and started one of the first astronomy-themed Podcasts on iTunes.

You can find Laura online here:
Twitter: @lkinoshita
Facebook: http://facebook.com/kinoshitacommunications
LinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/laurakinoshita

Committee Members  • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Jennifer Barrett | Communications & Membership committees
Ms. Barrett is a community leader with twelve years of experience mobilizing community volunteers, developing community education programs, and connecting government agencies, private nonprofits, and other community partners to build award-winning, collaborative programs. In 2003, Jennifer was recognized as the Outstanding Volunteer Leader of the Year in the State of Hawai‘i by the Network of Volunteer Leaders and she continues to advise community organizations on best practices related to the development of successful volunteer programs. Her work to expand the service capacity of the community education program at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, earned that program a nomination at the 2008 Living Reef Awards sponsored by Hawai‘i’s Coral Reef Outreach Network. That same year, she was also selected as a Pacific Century Fellow, an esteemed program that encourages the development of long-term relationships between leaders young and old, united in their commitment to find creative solutions to the challenges facing our island state. Most recently, she was recognized as one of Pacific Business News’ Forty Under 40 in 2011.

You can find Jennifer online here:
Twitter: @jenbarrett @islandconnect
Facebook: http://facebook.com/islandconnect
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/jenbarrett

Carey Bennett | Membership Committee
Carey is the co-founder of HappyHourHawaii.com as well as the newly launched HappyHourPal.com. Carey, along with her husband Brandon created an easy platform for users to  view the most up-to-date happy hour information throughout the islands using the web or smartphone. Before starting her own tech company, Carey worked for a successful start-up in Los Angeles for over 5 years where she created, optimized, and managed highly-valued internet based advertising campaigns for her clients.

She attended college at Indiana University where she received the Indiana University Student Foundation Working Scholarship, and earned her Bachelors Degree in Public Affairs. She loves living in downtown Honolulu, and continues to work with her husband to create the best happy hourresource for the community.

You can find Carey online here:
Twitter: @Carey_Bennett @HappyHourHawaii
Facebook: http://facebook.com/happyhourhawaii
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/careybennett

Rob Bertholf | Programs and Events Committee
Although Rob’s first passion is software development, his expertise expands to Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Analytics. A former Staff Sergeant in the US Air Force with over 15 years programming experience, Rob has written applications used at the Pentagon, has invented and patented a content management system used by Fortune 500 companies, developed over a dozen WordPress plugins and launched over 1,000 websites during his career.

Google “search engine optimization expert,” and Rob’s personal site comes up #1 in the world.  A seasoned digital pioneer, @Rob sent the first tweet from Hawaii and is a member of the Klout Squad, Klout’s prestigious advisory board. Partner at ClearlyM and an instructor at University of Hawaii’s Pacific New Media Program, Rob enjoys teaching, mentoring and passing his knowledge onto others.

You can find Rob online here:
Twitter: @rob
Foursquare: http://foursquare.com/rob
Instagram: http://instagram.com/bertholf
Facebook: http://fb.me/clearlym
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/bertholf

Shauna Goya | Programs and Events Committee
Shauna is an account supervisor at Communications Pacific, specializing in media relations. She manages multiple accounts across a variety of industries and helps clients with media training, crisis communications, strategic counsel and social media. Prior to joining the firm in August 2010, Shauna was a copy editor at The Honolulu Advertiser for 10 years, where she helped lead the paper’s social media and online efforts with posting and editing breaking news. While at The Advertiser, she also hosted a popular blog on weird news called Odds and Ends.

Shauna is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Hawaii chapter and Honolulu Executives Association. Before her transition to PR, she held board positions for 10 years with the Asian American Journalists Association. Shauna is a University of Hawaii at Manoa graduate with a degree in journalism and speech.

You can find Shauna online here:
Twitter: @ShaunaGoya
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/shaunagoya

Dewi Maile Lim | Communications Committee
Rev. Dewi Maile Lim is a globe-trotting Hawaii native with a passion for entrepreneurship and innovation. She is a founding member of enfusionizeTM, a full-service Internet Marketing and Coaching firm for Conscious Entrepreneurs. As a Brand Manager and Life and Business Coach Dewi assists Spirited, Creative Visionaries and small business owners to leverage their unique brilliance and harness the power of the Internet to increase the impact of their mission, their message and their sales. Dewi has developed an inner to outer approach to personal branding that she teaches in her FUN RAD eBook and with her private clients.

She is an ordained Minister of the Light and Sound of The Lord, God and hosts Meditation of the Soul in her hometown of Hilo. She writes uplifting and positive music for kids of all ages and performs and shares the Aloha Spirit throughout Hawaii and New York City via children’s art organization Art Unites Us that Dewi co-founded in 2003.

Dewi is honored to be included as one of 99 Hawaii-based authors in the upcoming book 2013: Messages of Peace. She serves as a member on the Hawaii Youth Business Center board in addition to her role as part of the Technology Committee for Social Media Club Hawaii.

You can find Dewi online here:
Twitter: @dewimailelim
Facebook: http://facebook.com/FansOfDewiMaileLim
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/dewimailelim

Jason Seaborn | Communications Committee
After more than 10 years working in the newsrooms of major metropolitan newspapers in Honolulu and the Bay Area, Jason began transitioning into the world of professional social media in 2010. An avid personal user of social media, Jason began working with small business clients on the North Shore of Oahu, where he has lived for the better part of the last decade. In October 2011, Hagadone Printing identified a need among small business clients for synchronized business support, including online services, and they hired Jason to become their Social Meida and Communications Specialist. During his time at Hagadone, Jason served as Social Media and Website Director for a U.S. Senate campaign, and now focuses on designing and executing digital strategy for Hawaii business clients, as well as clients on the North Shore. He has provided training for Hawaii political candidates on social media practices as well as composing instructional materials used in training for candidates across the state.

You can find Jason online here:
Twitter: @WaialuaDaKine @NotJustInk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jason.seaborn
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/jasonseaborn
Instagram: @JasonSeaborn

Shiloh Swanson | Tech Committee
A advocate of technology, design, and caffeine. Twitter scholar. Co-founder of Chargd.us. An app for electric cars. Avid Kiva lender.

You can find Shiloh online here:
Twitter: @Shiloh Swanson

Karen Weikert | Tech Committee
Karen has over 13 years experience in digital media: designing and managing large complex websites and building online communities for both corporations and non-profit clients. Karen is the co-founder of Wahine Media, a local social media agency. She spends her days posting on behalf of clients and training businesses on the best practices of social media. She builds and executes social media strategy for a variety of businesses from universities to newspapers, from day spas to hotel chains. She most recently received a Social Media Award at Technology News Byte’s Social Media Summit in 2012. She also teaches social media at Pacific New Media Outreach College at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

You can find Karen online here:
Twitter: @karenweikert
Facebook: http://facebook.com/wahinemedia
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/karenweikert

Since becoming involved in SMCHI in 2009, I’ve become part of SMCHI and SMCHI has become part of me.

And as much as I’ve dedicated countless hours to SMCHI, its members, its events and sponsors, I’ve received much in return.

I’ve learned so much being part of SMCHI, particularly as President. Sure, I’ve learned countless tips and tricks from my colleagues, but anyone who has been part of an all-volunteer organization like SMCHI knows, its the people that make it all worth while.  During my terms I’ve learned the professional art of “cat-wrangling.” I’ve learned humility. I’ve learned strength. I’ve learned when to ask for help and I’ve learned when to give it.  I’ve gotten even better at saying “thank you” and “please.” I’ve learned to laugh harder and Google Hangout better.

I’m very excited about staying involved with the SMCHI BOD as the Membership Chair. Its truly going to give me a chance to do more of what I love: be with amazing people. But before I move into that new role, I have to thank some special board members and SMCHI supporters who really helped me as SMCHI’s first (and second) elected President. There just isn’t room to thank everyone who has supporter me and SMCHI, but this is the short list of people without whom I could not have been an effective President. They each taught me something along the way and I’d like to honor some of the things I’ve learned from this special group.

Roxanne Darling:   As founder of SMCHI, Roxanne laid the groundwork for so much of what SMCHI accomplished since its founding in 2008. Roxanne and I spent countless hours on the phone, email, Google Hangout. Strategizing, imagining and implementing what we KNEW SMCHI could be. I couldn’t possibly list all the things I learned from Roxanne. But maybe one of the best lessons I learned from Roxanne is to let go of perfect. Your blog post might have a typo. Your video may be a little darker than you’d like. But through experience, we learn. Its more important that we take steps to learn than achieve perfection right out of the box. Social media is inherently imperfect and that’s OK.  Through it all, Roxanne became a mentor and friend to me. Not to mention the fact that she ALWAYS looks better in the SMCHI photos than I do (as evidenced by this photo). But perhaps there is still hope for me. After all…I think I still have some things to learn..like letting go of perfection!

Peter Liu: I choose this picture because it represents the most frequent way I see Peter: via video. But such is the nature of social media, we don’t always get to see one another IRL and yet, I feel like I know Peter pretty well. From Peter I learned that volunteers are volunteers (not employees) and it should be fun. I  also learned to “Keep It Simple, Silly.” As a survivor of Silicon Valley startups (during the FIRST boom), Peter had no patience for the overly complicated and that made me a better leader.

Derek Gabriel: Again, I often saw Derek via Google Hangout.  He was supposed to be “tech” guy, but in 2012, he was really my go-to guy. He helped with event planning, membership recruitment, communication and yes, even technology.  When I couldn’t get something done, Derek would just do it. But those who know Derek know that he’s also the first to voice his opposing views and I wasn’t exempt from that. From Derek, I learned how to ask nicely. I also learned to graciously accept criticism. Learning how to do both those things with the same person..well, that is definitely a unique learning experience. Truly, every leader needs some back-up support AND someone who challenges the norm and in 2013, Derek was that person for me.

Gwen Woltz: Anyone who knows Gwen knows that she has an irrepressible smile. I’ll never forget the first time I met Gwen and its been a joy working with her since. Gwen was often the person on our team who just did what needed to be done without asking. Gwen is also very organized and a master with the spreadsheet and who doesn’t need someone like that on their team?! One time, it was Gwen who told me that we’d all forgotten about a board meeting. Whoopsie! From Gwen I learned that no matter what is happening, there is no excuse not to smile. About to collapse? Just smile. You’ll get through it. Whenever I needed something organized, I’d go to do it and find that Gwen had done it already…and it was always at just the right moment. Gwen is our in-coming 2013 President, I’m looking forward to serving as one of her Board Members.

Laura Kinoshita: Laura has been a friend and a colleague to me. We serve on the Board together, we work together and we are friends. Laura’s business judgement is sound and thoughtful; she is also wickedly smart.  From Laura I learned to listen to my voice of reason and keep my reasoning sharp. Laura sees things in unique ways and she can challenge an idea while also coming up with an alternative solution. After all, its easy to red-team an idea, but harder to make that idea better.  I’m a passionate person, but whenever I needed someone to bounce an idea off of, or give me a logical perspective, I could count on Laura.

Rob Bertholf I have to also thank Rob. As one of the original dedicated volunteers for SMCHI, before there was an “official” board, Rob originally encouraged me to get more heavily involved in SMCHI.  Although he wasn’t technically on the BOD during my tenure, be remained a supporter of SMCHI during my time as President and a favorite brainstormer/collaborator of mine. Rob always gave to SMCHI without expectation of anything in return. I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank him as a supporter of SMCHI during my time as President.  More than once, I  called Rob humbly asking for a favor and never once did he ever make me feel bad about it. Having Rob return to the SMCHI 2013 Board of Directors will be great..again!

I look forward to supporting the next generation of SMCHI leaders. As social media is still an evolving industry, I’m sure SMCHI will continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of the industry and the community. As it should be. As I hope it always is.

Aloha,

First, a little bit a about us:

We are Social Media Club of Hawaii, an educational nonprofit organization. The members of Social Media Club commit to developing and supporting best practices of transparency, authenticity, and ethics in the use of social media and social networking. Our members are leaders in the field and are helping to define these business practices.

We hold public educational events 4-6 times per year that attract social media enthusiast, practitioners, business leader and working professionals.

Are you looking to increase exposure for your venue and boost your social media presence? Hosting a Social Media Club Hawaii event is a great way to generate awareness and leave a lasting footprint about your venue. Leading up each event, the venue is always mentioned and linked to in our enewsletters, social media profiles, and Eventbrite page. As you can imagine, a room full of social media lovers also means a room full of tweets, photos and posts surrounding the venue.

We are seeking a venue in the Downtown Honolulu area that can meet the following requirements:

• Has availability 4-6 times per year on a weekday from 6:00 – 7:30pm
• Can accommodate 50-70 people
• Has a projector and screen
• Has a sound board and speakers
• Has food and beverages available to order, or catering
• Has wi-fi available

If you know of or have a venue that meets our needs, we’d like to chat! Please email us at socialmediaclubhawaii@gmail.com, tweet us at @smchi, or fill out the form below:

SMCHI Leadership 2012 Retrospective

We’re still a young organization in a young industry and yet, it’s incredible to look back and see how far we’ve really come. To think, our chapter was founded in 2008 by a single person and only 4 years later, our 2013 Board of Directors (BOD) nominee class will have 15 volunteers sitting or chairing committees. We now have 55 56 Professional Members committed to social media, digital and business best practices and ongoing education (one of the largest in the United States). We take very seriously our role as social media practitioners and leaders, as such will continue to seek solutions, ideas and partnerships in our ever-changing industry. There it is: ever-changing.

Disruption, Sustainability and Inclusion

Change is hard, but social media is a dynamic, changing culture that requires flexibility. If there is to be one constant in the upcoming decades, it will be change. The sooner we embrace change as the new reality, the more prepared we will be for what the future holds. 

Your 2012 BOD was very busy this year, including laying the groundwork for SMCHI to thrive as it serves its members and community.

Two of our primary “social business” considerations this year were community and sustainability.  You, our community, also provided us with great feedback this year. Both in the form of our surveys as well as in-person.  We asked for your input several times and you inspired us with ideas and your thoughts. Some of you gave us pats on the back, and some of you had constructive criticism. We heard you. In fact, several of our events were in direct response to your feedback.  We appreciate and welcome your continued input as SMCHI continues to evolve as an organization.  We also asked you if you wanted to contribute to SMCHI. The response was very positive and we’re honored to have had such a great response.

Community is a key element for a sustainable SMCHI. We knew that in order to grow SMCHI and provide the community with quality educational and professional opportunities, the organization needed depth and independence that it previously lacked. We wouldn’t be where were are today if it weren’t for past leadership, on the other hand, we can’t grow as an organization if the leadership stays the same.  The social media revolution includes a culture which is inclusive, dynamic, community oriented and transparent. Change is natural, especially in our social media space.

In that vein, for the most part, our BOD embraced change and made decisions we felt would best support SMCHI in the foreseeable future (subject to evolve, of course):

• One of the first motions the BOD took this year was to make board terms from February-February. We felt that voting during the holidays didn’t allow for a majority members to participate and that leadership change during the holidays didn’t benefit SMCHI as an organization. You’ll be able to vote on the 2013 BOD class at the end of January, but the BOD is already preparing for new members so the transition is seamless.

• In 2012, the SMCHI BOD voted to begin charging for our professional training events. Read More Here. Our community and sponsors have remained very supportive of this change.

• We also pursued a Sponsorship with HTDC for live-stream equipment. Our sponsorship was accepted and beginning in 2013, SMCHI will be able to have high-quality live-streamed events. We will also be live-streaming a number of other tech related events in Hawaii as part of our sponsorship. Stay tuned for more information!

We also made two significant structural changes to the BOD, which we felt better reflected our egalitarian and dynamic industry and our ever growing membership. Since SMCHI is one of the largest and fastest growing professional SMC chapters, it makes sense that we lead the way with structural changes.

• We chose to allow new professional members to sit on committees. In the past, professional members had to be active with SMCHI for at least 6 months in order to sit on the BOD. We felt that new members who wanted to contribute should have a way to do so; and that by allowing this change, we could better serve our membership. Board Chairs are still required to have been active, contributing members of SMCHI.

• We also expanded the 2013 BOD nomination committee to include all returning BOD, as opposed to one or two people. We felt that since returning BOD members were the most impacted by new nominees, that each member should have a say in the process. These two changes have resulted in our largest nomination class ever, which we feel will better serve the social media, digital and business communities better than ever before.

These two changes were not unanimous, but a quorum was reached by returning BOD members and your 2013 BOD looks forward to serving the business, digital and social media communities better than ever before.

SMCHI: Evolution

The SMCHI of today, is very different than the SMCHI of yesterday. We have more members, more benefits, more ways to communicate, deeper and more strategic training, more sponsors, and more community feedback than we ever did before. More than ever, its time to be intelligently flexible and responsive.  The organization is its own growing, living organism. I’m extremely proud to have been part of that evolution. I look forward to contributing to its evolution in new ways.

Speaking of a sustainable and blooming SMCHI: we have a very exciting slate of nominees to submit to our membership for voting. I’ll write more on that as we get closer to voting in January. However, I’m extremely proud to continue to serve on the SMCHI, while at the same time supporting the nomination of Gwen Woltz as 2013 SMCHI President. After serving for the years of 2011 and 2012 as SMCHI President, I felt that it was time for some fresh ideas and leadership for SMCHI, so I decided not to run again. I’m extremely enthusiastic about Gwen’s ability to take SMCHI into the next phase of its growth. She’s got some great ideas and her creative, enthusiastic leadership will surely be felt by all SMCHI members. New ideas. New Committee Members. New Professional Members. A New Day…for Social Media Club of Hawaii.

Again, thank you to our community for helping SMCHI grow and thrive. Many good things are happening at SMCHI and we’re looking forward to an exciting 2013!

I have submitted my resignation to the board of directors (and it was accepted) effective yesterday, December 20, 2012. Having founded this chapter over four years ago and having been a founding member of our parent organization, Social Media Club, I have enjoyed countless memorable experiences in developing and sharing the best practices of social media!

The goals and operations of the chapter are moving in different directions now, many of which I do not support. I wish everyone the best and continue to live by one of my favorite beliefs: perfectly reasonable people can disagree about everything.

I am both proud of my years of volunteer service and deeply grateful for all of the connections I have made via SMCHI. I look forward to continuing my relationships with you as we move forward and as I separate myself from SMCHI.

Aloha, Mahalo, and Imua!

Roxanne Darling
http://about.me/roxannedarling

With an average device/person ratio of 2:1, Hawaii’s social media and digital community came together last night to Tweet, Talk, Instagram, drink and eat. Then, Tweet about drinking and eating. About 70 people showed up last night to show us what “social” really means. Despite the “nose in device” symdrome, the noise level in the room was “dull roar” proving that geeks are people too.

We gave away some awesome prizes! We also had a great improv performance by Improv Hawaii, with their great interactive social media improv performance “FaceSpace.” The team of 4 had great energy; and allowed social geeks to laugh at themselves a little, OK, alot.

In the “Social Media Professionals Are People Too” category: we were victims of the Twitter/Instagram “Photo Wars” which happened that day! Lots of our Instagrams photos didn’t show up in the Storify because Twitter isn’t showing them as images. You’ll see the link though. Phew! Social media is constantly changing..so stay on your toes peeps! Lesson learned courtesy of SMCHI:  never get too attached to a single platform – you never know when a change will be announced that effects a promotion or program your doing.

A complete Storify from the evening can be found here.  By the way, according to TweetReach our #smchi hashtag reached over 255,000 Twitter accounts on December 5th on 220 unique tweets. Does SMCHI have reach or what?

We rarely do this in our blog posts, but so many people asked out membership last night that we’re compelled to add the link for membership here in our blog. SMCHI Membership is very affordable and we’re even looking for volunteers on our board in various committee for 2012, so its very easy to get involved. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to email or tweet us!

And one last time, we really must thank our event sponsor. By sponsoring our event last night, we were able to keep the costs down and and still provide food and drink for our attendees!

Here are the prizes and their winners:

Celebrate the end of another great year with Social Media Club Hawaii (SMCHI)! This event will be socially interactive! We’ll have food, drinks and prizes and a special social-media based entertainment that will have you rolling on the floor (no, really). This will be a little less structured than our educational events, its all about..being social.

And come dressed to impress – or at least stand out! Got some wicked high heels? What about an unforgettable Aloha shirt? The sky’s the limit! Some categories we’ll choose and some categories the community will choose that night! We’ll have awards for the most tweeted, Instagramed and talked about attire or accessories. Have fun with this and you’ll win a prize!

Get Started Today! Add to our Spotify Playlist:
What music makes you think of 2012? Was there a particular music-related TV show you watched socially (#h50, #TheVoice)? Is there a Hawaii-based musician you’d like to give a shout-out to?  We’ve created a collaborative playlist on Spotify. You can add music you’d like to hear and even delete music on the 2012 SMCHI Playlist

Get Your Hashtag On: #SMCHI
Watch for updates on prizes on Instagram, Twitter and Google+

Want more buzz? Donate a prize. We will be giving them away all night long and announcing donors and winners on Twitter.
Submit your prize here so we can start building your buzz.

Mahalo to these Prize Donors! We Love you Hawaii Businesses!

Down To Earth $50 Gift Certificate * Follow @downtoearthfood

Kalapawai Cafe and Zia’s Diner Gift Certificate: $50 Value * Follow @KalapawaiCafe

Tracy Wright Corvo Photography Business Head Shot: $200 Value * Follow @TracyWCorvo * Tracy Wright Corvo Photography on Facebook.

Freshionable 1.5 Hour Personal Styling or Personal Shopping Session with Jenny Cao-Wu: $120 Value * Follow @freshionable; submitted by Jenny Cao-Wu

Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor VIP Gift Bag with Family Annual Pass/Museum Membership: $150 Value * Follow @PacificAviation; submitted by Anne Murata

Gogobot (2) Gogobot logo Toiletry Kits and (2) Gogobot logo Duffle Bags: $150 Value * Follow @GogobotOahu; submitted by Yen Phan

Sail Makani Catamaran Gift Certificate for two on any sail: $140 Value * Follow @MakaniCat * Like on Facebook * Submitted by Captain Jon Jepson

Reyn Spooner 2012 Reyn Spooner Hawaiian Christmas Shirt Size Large: $89 Value
2012 Reyn Spooner Hawaiian Christmas Shirt Size Medium: $89 Value
Reyn Spooner Caps (4): $30.00 Value Each
Follow @reynspooner * Like on Facebook * Submitted by Leizelsweedia Rowan

Hulagirlstyle by Stella & Dot Silver corso hoop earrings (Value $39) and Trunk show gift certificate ($50 extra jewelry credit when trunk show is held): $89 Value
Follow @hulagirlstyle * Like on Facebook * Submitted by Lyla Prather

Tiki’s Grill & Bar Three $15 Gift Cards: $45 Value ($15 each)
Follow @tikisgrill * Like on Facebook * Submitted by Michael Miller

Happy Hour Hawaii Gift Card & Dining Package: $100 Value
1. $30 Gift Card to Gyu-Kaku Windward Mall & 1 Dozen Chorks
Twitter: @Gyukakuwindward
2. $50 Sarento’s at the top of the Ilikai (happy hour only) @sarentos
3. 1 Dozen Chorks. The Chork is a half chopstick, half fork utensil (www.thechork.com). They are super cool, everyone loves them at Eat The Street! @thechorkutensil
Follow @happyhourhawaii * Like on Facebook * Submitted by Carey Bennett

Isle Discount Card Twenty 2013 ID Cards: $600 Value ($30 each)
Follow @IsleDiscount * Like on Facebook * Submitted by Shawn Dohman
UPDATE: Not delivered, so we have adjusted our total accordingly. If prizes are received later, we will share them with attendees at future events.

Kinoshita Communications
Tommy Bahama Gift Certificate – Retail, Restaurant or Online: $50 Value
Follow @lkinoshita * Like on Facebook * Submitted by Laura Kinoshita

Empowered Presentations
1 NEW unopened box of (10) ten fresh, creamy, never to be had ever again Hostess TWINKIES!: Priceless Value
Follow @empoweredpres * Like on Facebook * Submitted by Cory Jim

Hokey Pokey Consulting
VIP PACKAGE to LUX at The TRUMP New Years Eve Extravaganza! (1) $200.00 VIP TableTicket and (8) $100.00 individual tickets!: $1000 Value
Follow @PaulKlink * Submitted by Paul Klink UPDATE: Not delivered, so we have adjusted our total accordingly.

CURRENT TOTAL VALUE OF PRIZES TO BE GIVEN AWAY: $1352

Special THANK YOU to

For sponsoring the event so it is affordable for all!

Location: The Venue at BambuTwo
Dress: Anything goes, but dress to be discussed! And please bring your clients, vendors, spouses, partners, colleagues. Everyone is welcome!
Parking Options: Lots of affordable parking options within walking distance. Check out the Yelp Reviews for the two paid lots and decide which is best for you.
1) Street parking is free after 5PM in Chinatown.
2) Chinatown Municipal Parking
3) Mark’s Garage (Map Here)

About Our Location for This Event:

In the heart of the art district lies one of Honolulu’s newest and most exciting event spaces, theVenue. theVenue is located on the ground floor of Marks Garage. theVenue has become one of Honolulu’s most avant-garde and trendy event spaces.

Get full details here on Eventbrite.

Along with the end of the year comes another exciting chapter in SMCHI history:  It’s time to nominate the 2013 Board of Directors.

We have a fantastic team of existing Board Members who are planning to return in 2013, this makes it a better time than ever before to become involved with SMCHI as there will be very little “reinventing the wheel” and much more collaborative, innovative opportunities. Sitting on a committee or serving as a committee chair creates opportunities and relationships that have a lasting impact. Sitting on our Board of Directors has perks as well as responsibilities. The organization welcomes new participants to the Board of Directors.

We’re very much looking forward to working with Board members who bring enthusiasm and a fresh perspective to serving the Hawaii Chapter.

So. How DO you get more involved?

Who can apply for nomination?
Any SMCHI member  in good standing may apply; all BOD members are expected to be Professional, Small Business Nonprofit or Student members at the time of induction. It is also preferred that you have attended one or more SMCHI events. If you have not, but are still interested in serving on the board, please consider joining our event or communications committees.

Do I have to be on Oahu?
 No, we have members on almost all islands. We’re definitely looking to continue our neighbor island outreach in 2013. Ideally, we’d like a representative (or two) on the BOD from each island. We’ll be live-streaming more events this year with better quality and hope that neighbor island communities will gather for viewing events.

What are team leads?
Each committee will have a team lead who will help ensure each committee runs smoothly and to act as leader of each committee. In most cases, the team lead will be a returning Board of Director, this will help ensure smooth transitions.

How long is the service term?
Officers will be elected on an annual basis and will serve a one-year term.

What roles are available? 
SMCHI welcomes you to identify your skills and we can help assist with adding you to the right Committee. Our general committees and responsibilties are as follows:
Events: Manage event venue and day-of tasks such as last minute information for attendees, attendee name-tags.
Communication: Keep membership updated in email and social media. Collaborate with SMC and other chapters to provide relevant information for members.
Programs: In conjunction with BOD, develop educational programs, be point of contact for speakers.
Membership: Seek opportunities to enhance membership. Communicate regularly with the membership on benefits and opportunities through email and social media.
Sponsorship: Seek and secure sponsorships for SMCHI. Both cash and inkind. Develop sponsorship programs with assistance from BOD.
Technology: Manage WordPress website. Manage equipment for SMCHI events.

How much time commitment is required?
We ask that you make a commitment to the Board and the chapter. Our goal is to conduct monthly board meetings via Google+, and require assistance by all team members to support each local event. We also plan to host a combination of educational and networking programs throughout the year. Please read more about SMCHI BOD Responsibilities here.

Can I nominate myself?
Yes! Please do!

How will the Board be selected?
The nominating committee will distribute a slate of candidates in the form of a ballot to all paying chapter members the second week of January; voting will be digital via Survey Monkey or similar.  Ballots must be returned to the committee two weeks later.

How do I get started!
We encourage you to become more involved in the Chapter and share your ideas with your Board. The first step is to nominate yourself or another chapter member to serve on the Board for the 2013 year.

Please fill contact SMCHI via email
socialmediaclubhawaii@gmail.com and let us know which committee you’d like to support. Please direct any questions you have about the BOD here as well.

We look forward to your participation in making the SMCHI chapter stronger and more vibrant by serving our membership with topical programs, networking and social events, as well as expanding our network of resources for discussion on all things social media, social marketing, digital related!

Happy Holidays From the Social Media Club of Hawaii!

Read More: The goal of SMCHI

1. Tuesday, October 16, from 8 p.m. – 9 p.m.: U.S. Senate (Hawaii) candidates Linda Lingle and Mazie Hirono

2. Monday, October 22, starting at 3 p.m.: U.S. Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney

Recruitment has been a challenge for the studies. In one of Hawaii’s debates this summer there were only 17 participants; their goal with these final two debates is at least 60 participants for each. As with all research, the more participants the better the results, so if you’re available, I encourage you to join me by filling out this very short and simple survey: http://svy.mk/ST7OwP

Participants will receive a $20 gift card for each study and and an additional $10 gift card for completing a follow-up online questionnaire. By participating in both debates, you can earn as much as $60 in gift cards.

I asked the researchers some questions about the study and their answers are fascinating. Bryan Semaan, a post doctoral researcher, responded. 

Why did UH decide to focus on Twitter exclusively for this research?

Through our open-ended interviews with users of social media, people have been describing how useful Twitter is as a tool to learn about and discuss politics. This is related to Twitter’s features. Twitter provides its users with unique functions. Firstly, people can follow other users without those same users following them in return. Thus, people have access to a wide range of opinions from a variety of sources like regular citizens and politicians. Secondly, people can easily conduct hashtag (#) and keyword searches on a variety of topics and receive information as an event is happening in real time. Lastly, essentially anyone who is part of the “Twittersphere” can participate in any number of discussions in a virtual public venue.

While we research many types of social media, focusing on Twitter provides an opportunity to research dialogue not only among “friends” but also strangers who are interested in the same topic using hashtags. Through Twitter people can easily access information and opinions from people who hold diverse opinions across the political spectrum from varied socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Some researchers (Kwak et al., 2010) have found that, unlike other social network sites, Twitter may not serve a social networking role but may also play a part in information seeking. The ultimate goal of the research project is to design an online informational space where people can participate in a deliberative democracy, a place where they can freely exchange ideas in an open, rational and civil manner. Understanding how people seek information within and beyond their social networks plays a critical part in fostering political deliberation.

What other social media platforms provide insight for your research?

Several social media platforms exist, all of which can provide some sort of insight as they all provide unique features to their users. As a lab, we focus on a variety of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs. People are also using more focused media like Politico, Instagram, Pinterest and Storify.

The principal investigator of the research project, Dr. Scott Robertson in the Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) Department, has conducted extensive research on political information seeking and deliberation. Most of his work has focused on Facebook as it is the most widely used Social Media platform. To learn more, you can look up some of his recent academic articles on social media and political deliberation, some of which are listed below. NOTE: (see bottom of article)

Who will this research primarily impact?

Access to the Internet has become more egalitarian in the United States, and the diversity represented in social networking sites is broadening. It is certainly the case that voices which had no access to the general polity in the past may now be heard online through social media. However, it may be difficult for people to effectively navigate the plethora of political discussions that are constantly emerging in the online political public available through social media. The tools we develop should help users find broadly distributed, but interlinked content, through which they can obtain multiple perspectives on any given politician or political issue. Similarly, browsing political material is a direct way of acquiring knowledge about civic activities, the operations of government, and the issues of the day.

What are you looking to discover?

Here we propose to study a fast growing, but little understood new type of political participation: online information seeking, deliberation and decision making in the context of Web 2.0 technologies. We are proposing to study users of new media at the dawn of digital politics. We hope to contribute to multiple disciplines, including theories of deliberation and choice in political science, theories of discourse and dialog, and more technical concerns in the fields of human-computer interaction and socio-technical systems research. We propose a mixture of experimental studies, user-centered design/development activities in the tradition of “design- science” (Carroll, 1992; Hevner, 2004; Hevner & Chatterjee, 2010; Simon, 1996), and naturalistic observation with the aim of creating new types of information searching, sharing, and browsing environments and observing resulting changes in behavior. We hope to obtain a unique longitudinal data set of online cognitive (decision-oriented) and social (deliberative) actions across several election cycles.

When will the research be completed?

The study is part of a larger four-year research project on social media and political deliberation.

What other debates have been included so far?

We studied Twitter use during one other debate between Mazie Hirono and Ed Case, who were vying for the Democratic candidacy in the race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka. They debated on July 26, 2012.

Do you need to live in Hawaii to participate in the research?

No, you do not need to live in Hawaii to participate in our studies. We are always conducting ongoing studies, and each has different requirements. For example, when running lab experiments, people must be living in Hawaii as we ask them to come to the lab. However, we have other studies where people can be living anywhere, such as our longitudinal study that consists of interviews and observations of people’s social media use for political deliberation.

Will research results be publicly available? Where will it be available?

Yes, research results will be available after we finish data collection and analysis. Please e-mail us at hichi@hawaii.edu to let us know if you would like a summary of our findings.

You can learn more about the Computer-Human Interaction lab at the University of Manoa here: 

https://twitter.com/hichilab
http://manoa.hawaii.edu/hichi/index.html
hichi@hawaii.edu

For more information on the research that inspired this study:

• Robertson, S.P. (2011). Changes in referents and emotions over time in election-related social networking dialog. Proceedings of HICSS-44: Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. (10pp). doi=10.1109/HICSS.2011.97
• Robertson, S., Vatrapu, R. & Medina, R. (2010). Off the wall political discourse: Facebook use in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Information Polity, 15 (1,2), pp. 11-31.
• Robertson, S., Vatrapu, R. & Medina, R. (2010). Online video “friends” social networking. Overlapping online public spheres in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 7 (2,3), pp. 182-201.
• Robertson, S., & Vatrapu, R. (2010). Digital government. In Cronin, B. (Ed.). Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 44, Ch. 8, pp. 317-364.
• Robertson, S., Vatrapu, R., & Abraham, G. (2009). Note taking and note sharing while browsing campaign information: Design tradeoffs between e-democracy and e-participation. Proceedings of HICSS-42: Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. (10pp). doi=10.1109/HICSS.2009.326
• Robertson, S. P., Vatrapu, R. K., and Medina, R. (2009). The social life of social networks: Facebook linkage patterns in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. In Proceedings of the 10th Annual international Conference on Digital Government Research: Social Networks: Making Connections between Citizens, Data and Government (May 17 – 20, 2009). ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, vol. 390. Digital Government Society of North America, pp. 6-15.
• Robertson, S. (2008). Design research in digital government: A query prosthesis for voters. In Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Digital Government Research (Montreal, Canada, May 18 – 21, 2008). dg.o, vol. 289. Digital Government Society of North America, pp. 73-81.
• Robertson, S., Wania, C., & Abraham, G., & Park, S.J. (2008). Drop-down democracy: Internet portal design influences voters’ search strategies. Proceedings of HICSS-41: Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. (10pp). doi=10.1109/HICSS.2008.131
• Robertson, S., Wania, C., & Park, S.J. (2007). An observational study of voters on the internet. Proceedings of HICSS-40: Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. (10pp). doi=10.1109/HICSS.2007.70
• Robertson, S.P. (2005). Voter-centered design: Toward a voter decision support system. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 12(2), pp. 263-292.

So we’ve asked several local social media leaders to play with the question, “What if?”

Our panel members will step into the social media “imagineerium” and conjure up social media ideas that can directly benefit both tourism professionals and businesses in Hawaii. Our local social business experts will suggest a range of awesome outcomes that can result from adding new ideas, tactics, and strategies to our Hawaii marketing efforts. No matter how you’re connected to tourism (and who isn’t!), you’ll have take-aways and campaign ideas which you can use immediately.

Presentation Slides | Social Media & Tourism via SMCHI: PDF

Download the Hashtag Report (PDF; 5.5 MB) See a list of all tweets tagged #SMCHI past 24 hours.

The Link to the recorded livestream video is here.

Article in Pacific Business News by Stephanie Silverstein

The presentation will be fast-paced and you’ll have the chance to vote for and discuss your favorite ideas in the second part of the program. Bring your iPads, notebooks and be prepared to be inspired and have fun! Here are a few random ideas to get your juices flowing!

• “What if Hawaiian Airlines in-flight napkins had their Twitter name imprinted and every week they gave away a random interisland trip to an instagram taken while flying Hawaiian?”
• “What if Maui had a social media team that rotated monitoring FourSquare checkins at OGG and shared a local tip/coupon from member businesses?
• “What if the large hotels gave away a free eBook at check-in produced by Maui bloggers on the best photo locations on Maui?”
• “Imagine if OGG had a live screen of the Twitterati on Maui near baggage claim?”
• “Wouldn’t it be cool to have a QR code wall in addition to the tourist magazines to point visitors to green and social tourism activities?

Adding to the excitement: We are hosting this event on Maui – voted the second most popular destination in the US! We will have food trucks on hand, so come early and dine with us! Our Oahu community is still meeting at Amuse Wine Bar to watch the live stream, inbound this time.

Our presenters will include: Tara Coomans, Liza Pierce, Chris Norberg, Laura Kinoshita, Pomai Weigert, and Shane Robinson. Roxanne Darling will moderate.

About This Event

Date: Monday, October 22, 2012
Time: 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Location: Malcolm Center, MEDB, Kihei, MAUI AND we are gathering at Amuse The Greenhouse Innovation Hub on Oahu to watch the live stream together.
COST: $10 (Register by October 15th and save $5!)
FREE for professional members (look in your email for a promo code)

Get full details here on Eventbrite.

And did you know Facebook is set to surpass 1 billion users this month? Every day more than half of them login to Facebook to check in with their friends, spending an average of 20 minutes or more each day. After looking at Facebook, they will go on to another social network, like YouTube. Every year we hear about how people are spending less time watching television and reading newspapers, and more time with digital media and mobile devices.

So the trend is clear: digital media is where the majority of people are spending their time. But best-selling author Gary Vaynerchuck brought it down to the brass tacks: “The only reason I love social media is because it sells sh**.” Don’t confuse Gary’s passion for altruism, he warns.

Warning: This 1-min video is for mature audiences. It contains coarse language that may not be appropriate for your workplace. Gary’s use of strong language underscores his passion and intense feelings for this topic, and is presented here as it happened live from the stage at Inbound 2012:

Gary Vaynerchuk at Inbound 2012 from Laura Kinoshita on Vimeo.

Go to where the cash is going

So Gary says that whether your business is selling to other businesses (B2B) or selling to consumers (B2C), make no mistake: customers and their cash are moving online. The move to mobile is happening much faster than it did for desktop Internet. It will take just 3 more years for the mobile Internet to be as pervasive in our society as desktop Internet is now.

Remember in the mid-1990’s when companies used to argue about whether a website was necessary? Do you think that argument happens how?  Today the only argument that takes place is “how much” to spend on the website, and businesses are not spending enough.

Pay Attention to Where Customers Are Going

I agree with Gary when he says marketers will have less than 36 months to capture their customers attention in mobile media. By 2014 the mobile space will be so overrun with ads that your budget won’t be able to compete. Faster networks and LTE wireless are going to enable more rich media and video ads, and big brands like Proctor and Gamble, Coca-Cola and McDonalds are going to bid up budgets in the space. The time to exploit this opportunity is now.

Because let’s not forget the short attention span of online consumers. When marketers come in, people will leave. Facebook may have peaked with their IPO. Watch as Facebook monetizes their user base for the benefit of shareholders.

For you, that means it’s never too early to start looking for the “next big thing.” The next opportunity for innovation is going to be in customer service. Building great, honest, authentic, personalized experiences based on what your customers have told you and their transaction history with you. Companies like SalesForce.com and HubSpot are building the tools that will combine the best of marketing automation software so that your customer service team will be better equiped to deliver outstanding service. Look at Nimble for a taste of what’s to come.

For now, get ready. Mobile isn’t a fad. Digitally connected experiences aren’t going away. It’s a shift in culture that will only move forward – very quickly.

Gary’s core message was this: Go to where your customers are, and learn how to play properly within the eco-system.

Understanding Google Analytics was a hit!

Over 150 attended this event either live or virtually. We had two satellite events on Maui and Big Island. Phew! We’re already talking about the next Google Analytics event we’re going to hold, probably a deeper dive one of the areas covered last night. By the way, we chose this event based on attendee requests and feedback. If you’d like to suggest a particular area, please let us know.

Did you miss the action last night? Never fear!

If you missed the event or you’d like to watch it again, the event is archived at our UStream Channel here (Psst: Many of our events from the last 4 years are archived there.)

More great resources – crowd sourced.

We had a great, engaged group on the tweet stream last night, particular since we had two satellite events on Maui and Big Island we captured the best of the conversations with Storify. See what the virtual attendees where talking about here. There were also some participant and panel resources listed last night on the Tweet Stream, so check it out if you trying to remember a particular resource mentioned last night.

There were a couple of resources the speakers referenced last night too. Here are (affiliate) links to those resources on Amazon:

Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity. 

Basic to Deep Dives on GA Features: Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics

 

 

Our next event is October 22, 2012. Stay tuned for more details – this event has a special twist! 

 Many, many, Mahalos to last night’s speakers:

Rob Bertholf
Rob Bertholf is a professional member of Social Media Club Hawaii, a successful Entrepreneur, internationally recognized authority on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), accomplished Software Developer, decorated Military Veteran, serial Inventor and Epicurean. Rob is also a regular Speaker/Instructor for corporate and academic institutions, and on occasion consults for the state of Hawaii on future Internet trends.
View Rob’s professional Social Media Club profile here.

Derek Gabriel
Creator of Coffee Fetch, a coffee delivery service in downtown Honolulu. Founding developer of Department of Energy award winning web application DRIVE which helps utilities manage peak demand by rewarding consumers for energy saving behaviors. Founder & owner of Gabriel Phoenix Communications a full service information technology service provider; Technical, management & marketing consultant; Web & mobile application development; Social media guru.
View Derek’s professional Social Media Club profile here.

Neal Kido
Neal Kido, founder of AkamaiSEO.com, got his web start building websites while in college. In 2003 he turned his interest toward SEO and has been consulting for some of Hawaii’s most visible organizations in a wide range of industries. The AkamaiSEO.com team utilizes analytics data to improve user experience and more importantly increase conversions & revenue.

Whatever your goals with your website are, Google Analytics can help you get there. 

Join us at Amuse Wine Bar for our panel with some of Hawaii’s best Google Analytics professionals. If your website isn’t giving you the information you need to make decisions, then it’s time you understood Google Analytics. But now, Google Analytics isn’t just for tracking traffic to your website, now you can track your social media engagement too.

Rob Bertholf
Rob Bertholf is a professional member of Social Media Club Hawaii, a successful Entrepreneur, internationally recognized authority on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), accomplished Software Developer, decorated Military Veteran, serial Inventor and Epicurean. Rob is also a regular Speaker/Instructor for corporate and academic institutions, and on occasion consults for the state of Hawaii on future Internet trends.
View Rob’s professional Social Media Club profile here.

UPDATE: 9 Sept 2012
Click here to download the Google Analytics slide deck from our speakers.

Click here to read the follow post featuring a Storify by chapter President Tara Coomans.

Derek Gabriel
Creator of Coffee Fetch, a coffee delivery service in downtown Honolulu. Founding developer of Department of Energy award winning web application DRIVE which helps utilities manage peak demand by rewarding consumers for energy saving behaviors. Founder & owner of Gabriel Phoenix Communications a full service information technology service provider; Technical, management & marketing consultant; Web & mobile application development; Social media guru.
View Derek’s professional Social Media Club profile here.

 

Neal Kido
Neal Kido, founder of AkamaiSEO.com, got his web start building websites while in college. In 2003 he turned his interest toward SEO and has been consulting for some of Hawaii’s most visible organizations in a wide range of industries. The AkamaiSEO.com team utilizes analytics data to improve user experience and more importantly increase conversions & revenue.

 

 

Don’t miss out on these fantastic presentations, where we’ll cover:

• Tracking social media engagement with Google Analytics
• Creating goals and funnels
• How to interpret the data Google Analytics provides

We’ll finish the event with open Q&A.

Bring your laptops if you’d like some assistance setting up Google Analytics! Be sure to register, as there will be limited seating!

We also have two cheat sheets for you, courtesy of SMCHI and speaker Rob Bertholf:
SMCHI-SettingUpGoogleAnalyticsWordPress
SMCHI-SettingUpWebmasterTools

Please note this meeting is on a Monday instead of the usual #SMCHI Tuesday.

UPDATE! We are also hosting a satellite event on Maui. Join professional member Roxanne Darling at the Malcolm Center, at the Maui Economic Development Board in Kihei. Attendees will be able to watch and interact with the live video stream and join in local networking. Please be sure to register below! More details HERE.

UPDATE! There will also be a live stream event on the Big Island! Join professional member Laura Kinoshita in Waimea at the Conference and Tea Room starting at 5:30. Attendees will be able to watch and interact with the live video stream and join in local networking. Please be sure to register below! More details HERE.

DATE: Tuesday August 20th at 6pm

LOCATION: Amuse Wine Bar – Cupola room

COST: $10 (Register by August 10th and save $5!)

FREE for professional members (look in your email for a promo code)

View this completed event on Eventbrite.com.

Read more about our new event fees here. 

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