Brian Clark, @Copyblogger, "Did I approve you asking me that?"

Let no interview come between two good friends and business associates, but if there should be just a little bit of discomfort in the live questions the audience benefits.

Sean Jackson, @SeanThinks, "Work with me boss."

We were a fortunate audience indeed at last week’s Social Media Club of Dallas and DFW SEM joint event where Sean Jackson, business mastermind and CFO at Copyblogger Media, interviewed his boss Brian Clark, the genius behind and founder of Copyblogger.

“The first three months of Copyblogger was a lonely stretch of obscurity,” said Brian. But he experimented quite a bit with his content and learned quickly what people wanted, what his audience wanted. An audience that would serve him well when he was ready to leverage his influence and make Copyblogger profitable.

Brian thinks of the Copyblogger audience as being in rings around a center that is made up of customers, or as Brian calls them, “family.”

The goal is to move people from the outer, less committed audience circles closer and closer to the inner circle.

His secret? Give things away. “If you feel like you are giving away too much then you’re on the right track,” said Brian.

For more great tips, see my archive of tweets from the event.

Many, many thanks need to go out for bringing this insightful interview to fruition, not least are the presidents of SMC Dallas and DFW SEM, Kendall Shiffler and Dan Sturdivant, who shared some of his thoughts after the event:

Dan Sturdivant, President DFW SEM 4 18 2012

We are also very grateful to our sponsors: Raven Tools, On The Border, Allen Tsai Photography, and Content Authority; with a very special thank you to our annual sponsors: Pocket Stop and Gardere.

If you attended, do let us know your thoughts and what kind of programming you would like to see in the future.

Find photos from the event here on our Facebook page.

Copyblogger secrets revealed April 18!

I had lunch today with the affable business whiz Sean Jackson, CFO of Copyblogger Media. We chatted quite a bit about content marketing and the challenges and treasures that come with it, which of course led us to talk about the upcoming SMC Dallas and DFW SEM event featuring Copyblogger’s own genius of content marketing Brian Clark.

Sean is going to be interviewing Brian for our event and started telling me about the questions he intends to ask. Having just moderated a half day BDI/PR Newswire cotent marketing event in Dallas I shared some of the things that people asked at my event.

Being the naturally-born moderator that I am, I started to think of how ‘I’ would interview Brian Clark and then I started to think that perhaps we all have questions we’d like to ask him.

So I twisted Sean’s arm and he agreed that he would let us have a say in what kind of questions get asked.

HERE IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY!: In the comments below, write one to three questions that you would ask Brian if you could. Sean will select the best questions and will mention who asked it on stage when he throws it at Brian.

Contest starts…NOW!

And by the way, if you haven’t yet registered for the Copyblogger event on April 18, hurry up and do it fast. We are nearing our limit.

SXSW 2012 was incredible, educational, awe-inspiring, wet, exhausting, fun, and the most overwhelmingly informational (don’t bother to reference the AP Style manual on that, I didn’t) digital event in the history of digital events!

It was wonderful to see so many SMC Dallas members attending this year. Several of our friends were quoted in a Dallas Business Journal article: SXSW draws Dallas social media crowd, including Jessica Nunez, Chris Baccus, Alex Tan and Chris Yates.

The Social Media Club of Dallas is happy to announce our approved slate for the 2012 – 2013 term. The current board developed a comprehensive list of necessary roles and responsibilities and then solicited nominations from our existing ambassadors. Below is the slate we presenting to our ambassadors. Current ambassadors are invited to meet Tuesday February 21st to approve and meet the new board. Details have already been emailed to ambassadors.

Connect and follow the entire team here on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/SMCDallas/board-members/members

Chairman – Past President:  Mike Merrill

Mike D. Merrill is Director of  Marketing for ReachLocal and is Chief Bacon Maker and Marketing Strategist for his own firm, Bacon Marketing. He is a community builder, connector and networker. Mike has held positions in sales, marketing and operations management at NetApp, Dell, Intel and two venture-backed software startups.

He speaks regularly on online marketing, social media and personal branding and helps organize Ignite Dallas. Mike pursued his MBA at the Ross School of Business at University of Michigan. He also sits on the Board of the Volunteer Center of North Texas.

You can catch up with Mike on his blog at http://www.mikemerrill.com or follow him on twitter @mikedmerrill.

President: Kendal Shiffler

Kendall serves as Marketing Communications Director for PegasusAblon, a local real estate development company. She markets the company’s Lower Oak Lawn in the Dallas Design District project via her blog, LowerOakLawn.com and social media.
As a side business, Kendall operates her own website design and consulting company, Design by Kendall, helping small businesses, bloggers and entrepreneurs build strategic, well designed web presence.

You can also find Kendall writing on her personal blog, Kendall’s Entertaining Life, which details her adventures in party planning, cooking and home decor. Keep up with Kendall on twitter by following @KendallAnne and @LowerOakLawn.

 Secretary:  Catherine Nodurft

Catherine is a Dallas native and received a BA in Arts Administration at Spring Hill College and an MBA from Baylor University.  Putting her love of the arts into practice, she helped start the nonprofit advocacy organization the Dallas Arts District.  She is currently the Community Coordinator at the National Breast Cancer Foundation, managing all things social and helping to educate women about the importance of early detection.

In her spare time, Catherine writes about nonprofits and social media on her blog, The Catherine Wheel, reads Terms of Service for fun and Instagrams everything she cooks.  You can keep up with Catherine on Twitter @catherinekaram.

Treasurer:  Jessica Nunez

Jessica Nuñez is the founder of Nuñez PR Group, a Dallas-based PR and marketing firm known for its creative campaigns that generate successful results.

From traditional media relations to e-PR, NuñezPR Group helps companies of all sizes connect with media and consumers and improve their brand visibility.

VP of Communications:  Victoria Harres

Vicky is Director of Audience Development for PR Newswire, a UBM company. Her focus is to increase the visibility of PR Newswire’s customer content, and is responsible for growing the use of the company’s industry-leading distribution networks and platforms, including PR Newswire for Journalists, for Bloggers, ProfNet, and ProfNet Connect.

Vicky also manages various social media properties and strategies for PR Newswire and is the voice and team leader behind the award winning @PRNewswire on Twitter. Vicky is fascinated by and regularly speaks and writes about how PR and marketing professionals are adapting to and leveraging the digital social layer that is quickly blanketing human existence.

Connect with Vicky socially here www.victoriaharres.com or here @victoriaharres, but if you can’t find her she’s probably playing on Pinterest.

 VP of Programming:  Tiffany Monhollon

Currently Senior Manager of Content Marketing at ReachLocal, Tiffany Monhollon is an award-winning social media and content strategist, passionate about helping businesses and individuals succeed online. She develops integrated social media marketing strategies from the ground up, incorporating content, community, and social tactics to deliver marketing, search optimization, social engagement, and reputation management results. She received her master’s degree in strategic communication and advertising from the University of Oklahoma in 2010 with primary research on social media use in PR.

She’s held positions for numerous volunteer organizations, including serving as chair of the annual professional development seminar and serving as chair of programming for the Southwest District Conference for PRSA OKC. In 2008, she was the youngest woman named to OKC Business Magazine’s 40 Under Forty, and her integrated content and social media work recently won a Best of Show award in PRSA OKC’s annual Upper Case awards. Now located in Dallas, she speaks and writes about online marketing and social media, serving as a founding columnist for Personal Branding Magazine, blogging for Social Media Today, Business to Community, and Small Business Trends, and serving as lead blogger for the ReachLocal blog. Connect with her on Twitter at @tmonhollon, or find her on LinkedIn or Google+.

VP of Sponsorship:  JC Elliott

JC is Marketing Communications Manager for GE Energy. She is responsible for worldwide customer communications activities for GE Energy’s Power Electronics business embedded power product line. With a 25-year background in the telecoms and technology sectors, JC has marketed for global companies such as Ericsson, AT&T and Eltek working in both the US and abroad. Running her own marketing firm, J Elliott Marketing, JC developed and implemented strategic digital marketing plans for small businesses in the US and Europe.  An active volunteer and amateur gourmet chef, JC works with local chefs to raise money for food and children’s charities around the US.

You can find her tweeting about technology and supremely nerdy things @jcelliottTX.

VP of Membership:  Mark Brinkeroff

Mark Brinkerhoff is a Public Relations Director at Moroch Partners, a full-service, integrated marketing solutions agency headquartered in North Texas. With nearly a decade of results-driven public relations and marketing experience, he helps to oversee and integrate the company’s public relations functions, including in areas such as social media and digital content strategy.

Brinkerhoff also co-leads business development for Moroch | PR, while developing and managing public relations programs and partnerships on behalf of clients such as DFW International Airport, Eye Care Centers of America, McDonald’s, Oasis Brands, Pure Fishing, and Western Union.

During his career, Brinkerhoff has represented B-to-B and B-to-C brands in industries ranging from consumer electronics and consumer packaged goods; to healthcare and health and beauty; to multi-unit retail, hospitality, transportation and technology. His areas of expertise include brand reputation and issues management; corporate social responsibility; cause marketing; social strategy and content management; opinion leader/influencer relations; and strategic partnerships.

His work has been honored by the Texas Public Relations Association and other organizations, most recently as a PR News CSR Awards Finalist in the category of Cause Branding Campaign for the First Choice Power “Food First” hunger action program and million meals milestone.

A graduate of Brigham Young University, Brinkerhoff has been an active board and committee member with the New Texas Symphony Orchestra, the Public Relations Society of America and Social Media Club.

Logistics Chair:  Andy Valverde

Andy Valverde is a Network Engineer at Vertex Group,  a Business Process Outsourcer (BPO) specializing in Customer Management Outsourcing (CMO) Solutions, IT Applications and Services, Business Consulting and Transformation and Decision Sciences. Over the past two years, Andy has been very active in the Social Media and Entrepreneurial communities of Dallas, and volunteering whenever possible.

Andy spends part of his spare time blogging about science on his site called thedallasgeek.com. He also attends and holds film screenings and write film reviews with a group of film critics on The Cinemapede thehumancinemapede.com. The rest of his time is spent with this two beagles Mason and Reese. You can follow Andy on twitter as @TheDallasGeek or his film site @Cinemapede.

Technology Chair:  Owen Nwanze

Owen Nwanze (“SEOwen”) is a Search Marketer at AutoRevo , a provider of on-demand software for automotive dealerships. In his free time, he is the Marketing Director & Webmaster for a startup clothing brand, Pink Elly Clothing, based in New York City, and operates his own freelance web design & development company, Graphic Win.

Owen graduated cum laude in Economics, Marketing, and Management from Texas Tech University. He was born and raised in London, England and has been permanently residing in Dallas, Texas for the past 11 years, hence his Twitter handle, @TheBritishTexan.

 Social Media Showcase Chair:  Jennifer Eaton

Jen Eaton is the Director of Social Media at Standing Dog Interactive, a Dallas-based internet marketing agency specializing in digital strategy and execution of SEO, PPC and Social Media campaigns.With the help of her team, Jennifer manages the Standing Dog Blog covering the latest social media news and internet marketing trends.

In her spare time, you can find her at the Ballpark in Arlington supporting her favorite team, the Texas Rangers. Follower her on Twitter @JenWinnEaton and@StandingDog.

Board Member at Large:  Colin Alsheimer

Colin Alsheimer is an Account Supervisor for Weber Shandwick, and
serves as the Community Manager for the American Airlines AAdvantage
program.

He graduated from Ithaca College with a B.S. in Integrated Marketing
Communications. Besides running digital marketing campaigns he also
dabbles in blogging, homebrewing, and cheering for New England sports
teams.

Board Member at Large:  Alyssa Gardina

Alyssa Gardina is an Account Supervisor at Weber Shandwick, where she provides digital and social media strategic guidance for several clients.

Alyssa moved to Dallas in 2008 after graduating from Ithaca College with a B.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications. She maintains a blog which discusses social media and cultural trends, as well as locally relevant news. She enjoys discovering new places around Dallas, and you can find her posting about her latest adventures on Twitter.

Board Member at Large: Cameron Gawley

Known as “Dot Com” to a few people, Cameron Gawley has founded 3 Marketing and Technology Startups since he was 16. Currently Cameron is the Co-Founder and CEO of BuzzShift Digital Strategy Agency as well as the Co-Founder ofCherryPick, a Content Curation tool for brands.

For the past 12 years Cameron has worked with the  National Breast Cancer Foundation in which he leads cause marketing initiatives and is NBCF’s acting Chief Technology Officer. Catch him tweeting it up @cgawley

Board Member at Large:  Elysa Rice

Elysa Rice is a self-proclaimed blonde computer nerd. Her background in design and marketing led to her current position as Emerging Media Manager at Red Urban, an Omnicom Agency. Her claim to fame towards the goal of “internet celebritydom” is receiving an award for Top 30 Under 30 on Twitter.

Elysa is also very involved in the online Gen Y community. You can find her blogging about Gen Y life in her pink corner of the web - GenPink, and about food at her community site DallasFoodNerd or @elysa on twitter.

Board Member at Large:  Cynthia Smoot

Cynthia left the University of North Texas with a degree in Clothing & Textiles and fell into sales for New Times Media as an Account Executive for the Dallas Observer. After 12 years with New Times/Village Voice Media, Cynthia left to work with D Magazine Partners, specifically to launch their new business magazine, D CEO. Cynthia spent 3 years with D Magazine Partners developing D CEO, selling advertising for D Magazine and D Home publications and event sponsorships for all D Magazine Partners events. Cynthia’s personal passion for Social Media turned into an opportunity to use those skills as a Partner for Gangway Advertising and she now oversees social media and online strategies, creates blogger/media events and just generally “creates buzz” for clients of Gangway Advertising.

In her free time (ha!) Smoot is an in-demand blogger who writes Oh So Cynthia: a lifestyle blog about Dallas and what makes it a fabulous place to live. From food to fashion, stage shows to family outings, cultural events to reality TV; this city is happening and she brings readers inside Dallas’ hottest events and introduces them to the people who are making things happen! Cynthia is the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Dallas Reality TV’ and is the go-to girl for local television and radio stations needing commentary on reality TV shows filming around North Texas and looking for gossip on the casts!

I had the pleasure of interviewing Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, when he visited Dallas to speak to SMC Dallas. As we were talking I was curious about the evolution of the content marketing career and discipline. Tune into the interview here:

What are you thoughts about content marketing roles?

“BlogWell is a fantastic opportunity to learn best practices directly from the professionals who are implementing them.” — Shelby Stoolman, ConAgra Foods

We are excited to offer a discount for SMCDallas to BlogWell being held in Dallas on Tuesday, January 24th.

BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media

8 Great Case Studies on the Best Social Media Programs at Large Corporations

The companies:

1. Advanced Micro Devices
2. Shell
3. United
4. Northwestern Mutual
5. Coldwell Banker
6. AT&T
7. Level 3
8. Texas Instruments

And if that wasn’t motivation enough, Use code SMCDALSENTME to save $100 off the registration fee!

Hope to see you there!

For more information and to register visit: SocialMedia.org

Reminder: Early registration ends at midnight 1/18

Brands around the world are spending (on average) over 25% of their total marketing budget on content marketing. There have been countless books and resources that have covered all aspects of content marketing… from the why to the what to the where…but oddly enough, rarely the how. Not until now that is.

Who: Marketing, PR, and Social Media professionals from a variety of agencies, companies and brands throughout the Dallas Fort Worth area.

What: Monthly speaker event. Networking, a Speaker, a Book, and always fun!

Where: Angelika Film Center in Mockingbird Station

When: Thursday, January 19th. 6-9pm {full agenda}

About our Speaker

Joe Pulizzi is a leading author, speaker and strategist for content marketing. Joe is first and foremost a content marketing evangelist, and founded the Content Marketing Institute, which includes client-vendor matching site Junta42 as well as the premier international content marketing event Content Marketing World and Chief Content Officer magazine.

Joe is also CEO of SocialTract, the leading blogging service for service professionals and co-author of the highly praised book Get Content Get Customers (McGraw-Hill), recognized as THE handbook for content marketing, as well as Managing Content Marketing: The Real-World Guide for Creating Passionate Subscribers to Your Brand.

Awarded “Custom Media Innovator of the Year” by American Business Media, Voted Who’s Who in Media Business by BtoB Magazine, Folio: 40, and recognized as the Most Influential Content Strategist via Lavacon, Joe travels around North America and Europe talking to marketers and business owners about how they are indeed publishers, and what they need to do about it. Joe writes one of the most popular content marketing blogs in the world and is overly passionate about the color orange.

The Book

Managing Content Marketing shows you, in detail, how to manage content marketing within your organization. Whether you come from a small company or multi-billion dollar brand, this book gives you the ammunition and the ideas to develop a storytelling process that will create passionate subscribers to your brand. Authors, Robert Rose and Joe Pulizzi, have teamed up to help marketing pros and business owners develop a content marketing plan that goes beyond theories and explains exactly how to turn that plan into reality.

Managing Content Marketing will teach you to:

• Build the Business Case for Content Marketing
• Develop a Content Marketing Strategy that Works for Your Business
• Tell a Consistent Story that Engages Your Customers
• Determine the Right Marketing Channels to Implement
• Create an Internal and External Workflow for Content Marketing
• Measure Content Marketing and Communicate Results to Internal Stakeholders

We want to Thank Our Sponsors for this Event!

Penny Clark Photography

The Butcher’s Son

Ah, Black Friday, that special time of the year when folks feel the strong urge to wake up at the crack of dawn to line up at the local Wal-Mart in hopes of scoring huge discounts on items in their holiday shopping list. Fortunately for you, this special Black Friday deal requires none of the headaches associated with typical day-after-Thanksgiving offers. No – for you, we’ve made this as simple as can be.

If you still haven’t purchased your ticket to the Jingle Mingle, now’s your chance. If you purchase today and use the code BLACKFRIDAY you’ll save $5 on your ticket. Pretty sweet deal, huh?

For those who are unfamiliar with the Jingle Mingle, it’s only the biggest and baddest holiday party / networking event around. Nine (that’s right – nine!) of DFW’s best professional organizations are coming together for a night of fun at the Dallas Contemporary on December 1st. Your ticket covers:

• Heavy hors d’oeuvres and a dessert bar
• Open bar for beer and wine
• Fun photo booths and personalized flip books courtesy of Digital People
• A rockin’ DJ
• Raffle benefitting the DREAM Fund, with fabulous prizes like a free Chevrolet car loan for a week, hotel packages, sports tickets, restaurant gift cards, and more!
• Complimentary valet parking
• And an amazing social media entertainment experience

So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of one more Black Friday deal and purchase your ticket now.

Social Media Club of Dallas
October 20, 2011
#smcdallas
@smcdallas

http://www.smcdallas.org

Smart Business, Social Business Book Tour

Agenda:
1. 6:00 Networking
2. 6:45 Welcome and intro
3. 7:00 Introduction to Sponsors @JaredRey
4. 7:15 Sponsor presentation
5. 7:30 Smart Business, Social Business Book Tour with Michael Brito @Britopian
6. 8:45 Post Tweetup at Trinity Hall @TrinityHall

About our Speaker

Michael Brito is a senior vice president of Social Business Planning at Edelman Digital and leads the digital team in Silicon Valley. He provides strategic counsel, guidance, and best practices to several of Edelman’s top global tech accounts and is responsible for driving new business, growing existing business, mentoring junior staff members and maintaining strong client relationships. Previously, Michael worked for major companies in Silicon Valley to include, Sony Electronics, Hewlett Packard, Yahoo! and Intel Corporation working in various marketing, social media and community management roles.
He is the founder of Silicon Valley Tweetup and is actively involved in the Social Media Club, Silicon Valley Chapter. He is a business advisor for the social media marketing company Izea and online resource MarketingZone.com; a business advisor to Lonesome George & Co.; and he is an early investor of social business hub OneForty. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences as well as a guest lecturer at various universities including Cal Berkeley, the University of San Francisco, Stanford University, Syracuse University, Golden Gate University and Saint Mary’s College of California.
Michael has a Bachelor of Arts in Business degree from Saint Mary’s College and a Master of Science, Integrated Marketing Communications degree from Golden Gate University. He proudly served eight years in the United States Marine Corps. Michael just finished writing his first social business book, Smart Business, Social Business: A Playbook for Social Media in Your Organizations which is scheduled to be released in late July 2011. He actively writes in his social media blog.

Well our two year anniversary event was a great time. Our Social Media Showcase featured 6 social media case studies from Dallas agencies.  Below is the presentation of all case studies as well as supporting videos.

Slingshot  - Back Jack- Jack Daniel’s Birthday Campaign Video

Buzzshift – People to People & Jordin Sparks Video (1 of several)