Mark your calendars! Get a babysitter! Make plans to join us!

Here is a list of what’s coming up for the next several months:

February 17, 2011

Social Loca­tion Mar­ket­ing Book Tour
by Simon Salt

There is no doubt Location-Based Services have changed the social media landscape over the last year. As businesses and agencies experiment to find ways to market via these platforms, evolution continues.

Registration for the February 17 event is already live, so buy your ticket today!

March 9, 2011 | SXSW Pre-Party

Face­book Mar­ket­ing an Hour a Day

by Chris Tread­away

Chris Treadaway is the Founder and CEO of Notice Technologies, a company that produces local online advertising platforms for newspapers and local media. He was a co-founder of Stratfor.com in 1996. Stratfor was one of the first 100% online publications, focusing on on international news & intelligence. He created the company’s first Web portal, which is now a thriving subscription service.

April 21, 2011

Speaker TBD

May 19, 2011

Con­tent Rules co-author CC Chap­man

How does a company make the leap from “marketing-speak” to become a publisher on the Web? How do you know what to say? How can you create stories and videos and blog posts that people will love? How can you cultivate fans and spark devotion? How can your ideas ignite your business? How do you know if it’s working?  CC Chapman will tell us how.

Leave it to Mike Merrill to kick off the night with a spoiler… and here’s how the movie screening of The Social Network went down:

And nothing against the concept of social media but…

and don’t even get me started on Shawn Parker!  Looking forward to the sequel.  There will be a sequel.. right? Or is that what the Twitter movie is?

Hey everybody! Cynthia Smoot of Gangway Advertising here, with a recap of last night’s SMC meeting! Click here to see all the party pics on Flickr.

The Social Media Club of Dallas held it’s monthly meeting at the offices of Buzzshift in Mockingbird Station last night.  The topic?

How to Make My Social Media Life Easier?

And don’t we all need to know more about that!

The first 45 minutes was spent mingling and devouring the delicious pizza and sandwiches that were provided by our food sponsor, Neo’s Pizza. Elysa Rice got things started by welcoming guests and thanking the sponsors.

Eddy Badrina

Eddy Badrina kicked things off by talking about the importance having a Social Media Strategy and Objectives.

He stressed that it’s important to arm your brand ambassadors with useful, shareable information.

When thinking about market strategy, think about the trend that’s driving the “trendy”.

The most important thing is to ask yourself – “what is the hook? Why would people want to pass this along to others?”

Colin Alsheimer

Next up was Colin Alsheimer who stressed the importance of Creating a Listening Station.

Start by determining your search terms, and always consider if they can and should be geo-targeted.

The easy way to start is to use free sites like Twitter Search, Google Alerts and Social Mention, plug in your keywords and plug that RSS feed to a Google Reader. Boardreader is a site to search forums.

Mike D. Merrill

The last topic was led by Mike D. Merrill who talked about Social Media Measurement and ROI.

He pointed out that it costs 5-8x more to attract the customer vs. maintaining them.

Mike pointed that that social media is not the end all/be all.  ““I can drive a lot of traffic to your website [via social media], but if your website sucks, it doesn’t matter” Amen, brotha.

He also predicted that eventually we will stop calling it “Social Media Marketing” and just call it “Marketing”.

As usual, it was a fun evening with a great group of folks who are passionate about the social marketing revolution.

Scott Stratten

Next month’s SMC meeting should be fantastic and I hope to see you all there!!!!

The featured speaker will be Scott Stratten, President of Un-Marketing.com.

He is an expert in Viral, Social, and Authentic Marketing which he calls Un-Marketing. It’s all about positioning yourself as a trusted expert in front of target market, so when they have the need, they choose you, That’s UN-Marketing.

Over 50,000 people follow his daily rantings on Twitter and was voted one of the top influencers on the site with over 90 million users .

His book “UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging” is due to hit the shelves in the Fall of 2010 from Wiley & Sons.

Registration is now open!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that one of the hottest social media videos around is “Social Media Revolution” by Erik Qualman. It has received over 2,000,000 views since it debuted in July of 2009.

So, call it good karma that we booked Erik to speak and mere weeks before his scheduled appearance, he released an updated version of his smash viral hit called “Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh)”

We had a lot of newbies a this event, thanks in part to Erik’s national exposure. It was great to see some fresh faces in the room!  Erik’s appearance also brought out a few of our local super-stars, like Cali Lewis and Giovanni Galluci.

Thanks to Colin Alsheimer for this picture inside the Magnolia Theater.

Becky Pearce tweeted, “Really excited to have met @CaliLewis in person tonight. I was a bit star struck. Should have asked for a pic but didn’t.”

Next time, please ask! She’s very approachable… promise.

Theodore Kim tweeted, “Standing room only tonight at #smcdallas. That young professionals are knocking down this club’s doors should tell us something.”

My special thanks goes to Victoria Harres who tweeted me a shout out to say, “The coolest kid at #smcdallas is @ohsocynthia who has a cosmo on the podium as she speaks.” What can I say… that’s just how I roll.

Adam Robinson tweeted, “Pretty amazing vibe at the #smcdallas event w/@equalman”

Thanks to Andy Lawson for the picture

The first thing you notice about Erik Qualman is that he is tall. I mean, really tall. Like basketball player tall.  No offense, but you don’t see a lot of men in Texas over 6’2″.

Erik kicked off his talk with a naughty cartoon that got Elysa Rice to tweet, “I think @equalman just started new trend. All #smcdallas events should start with cartoons & music!”

Here are a couple of points from his talk , taken from tweets sent during the event:

“Acceptance: the number 1 need for humans. Social engagement thrives social media.” @AmandaHawk

“Social media has over taken porn as the #1 activity on the web according to @equalman“  @JoyHays

“Key to long life? Be socially and mentally engaged.” @RoryEllis

“How to go viral w/ videos? 1) music 2) keep under 5 minutes 3) don’t push your message it’s not about u 4) help others” @ChrisYates11

“What is socialnomics? In short – Word of mouth on digital steroids” @KirbyRenee

“Wannabe a superstar? Put together a one pager of aggregated SM data around your co on a weekly basis. Then show it to your CEO.” @Andy_Lawson

“Don’t beg, borrow, and steal. Beg, borrow, and make better!” @JenWinn

“How big is social gaming? Green Giant sells vegetables that come with free Farmville cash.” @MichaelMolinar

Thanks to our awesome volunteers!

“78% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Start the conversations in your community and watch it spread word of mouth.” @RunningCouple

“Again what an amazing #smcdallas event tonight. Erik Qualman really is a must see speaker. Can’t wait 2 dive into his book #socialnomics.” @YoBlake

And I think Jeana Plas summed it up best with this tweet, “#smcdallas is the BEST networking group I have ever been to! Everyone is fun!”

We hope to see everyone at our July 22 event!

What a treat to spend the evening with Austin’s Tim Hayden of Blue Clover.  You might know him by his former twitter handle @GamePlanHayden.  He has a new job and a new twitter name: @TheTimHayden.  If you aren’t following him on twitter – please do so NOW.

I liked Tim from the first time I met him.  He doesn’t come in preaching the gospel of social media.  He questions.  He provokes.  He teases.  He ridicules what he sees as mass media hype.  Yep, I like him a lot.

So, here’s how the evening went:

Jeff Canton from Meals On The Move

Meals On the Move was our food sponsor of the evening.  They deliver from a bunch of different restaurants in the Dallas area.  From single orders to large catering events, they can bring what you want right to your door. I love that!

For our soiree, they catered from Dodie’s in Addison: Jambalaya, Salad and Bread Pudding. Their team was super nice and they handed out $10 off coupons to our members. SCORE!

They are welcome back anytime…

“@momdelivers! thanks for dinner at #smcdallas. I’m going to have to visit Dodie’s soon! Great food!”, tweeted @KatFarmer.

Yummy New Flavors from Paciugo

Paciugo Gelato co-owner, Cristiana Ginatta

It was a huge BONUS to also have Dallas-based Paciugo also on board, serving us a sneak peak of their 4 new Summer flavors:

• Chocolate Chipotle Butter Pecan
• Roasted Banana Cashew-Heath Crunch
• Durian
• Organic Maple Caramelized Bacon.

@FrankLogic tweeted, “With bacon ice cream does it mean we can eat ice cream for breakfast finally?”

@Orangecast commented, “Food at #smcdallas excellent. How can u not love #paciugo

The Crew from Magic Logix

After the Cajun fest was over and people were trying to undo the top button on their pants without anyone else noticing… Our first speaker was up:

“Hassan Bawab of MagicLogix talking about page rank and SEO… (they) are able to help w/ caching & compression, DNS, JavaScript etc.”, tweeted @FriscoStyleMatt.

After Magic Logix’s presentation, Precise Agency added their two cents to the conversation.

“According to @PreciseAgency Facebook is averaging 15k new users per day”, tweeted @Elysa

They also dropped a cool statistic that there are “15000 new users a day on foursquare”, said @StratfordX.

Finally, our featured speaker was ready to take the floor.

SMC Attendees with Tim Hayden

@FriscoStyleMatt tweeted, “Going to throw gadgets/tech under bus and talk trends, behavior, says @TheTimHayden http://twitpic.com/1pinyr”

@OhSoCynthia tweeted, Tim just threw out a Gary Vanynerchuk quote, “Content is King, but Mktg is Queen. And the Queen rules the house.” Y-E-S.

“What makes people excited about living and sharing? It’s content above all else.” tweeted @AGardina.

“Three points of engagement – live, mobile, online. All two way communications.” tweeted @LevelTen_Colin.

Mike Merrill gives SMC swag to Tim

“90% of word of mouth takes place offline – and mobile is going to make that even higher. Get out of the cube.” tweeted @AGardina.

Did you know that “Only 40% of Americans have smart phones?” tweeted @FrankLogic. I found this an interesting statistic.

I really liked this Tim tidbit that @AGardina tweeted, “Look at humans and know what they want. Use the technology to match that – don’t let the technology dictate what you do.” This is why Tim is so fantastic at what he does. he GETS it.

Tim gave us some social media predictions:

1. The Hispanic market is moving into the mobile market faster than any other demographic.  Target them there.
2. Twitter is going to slow up or “fizzle”. People don’t have time to sit and look at TweetDeck all day (AMEN!) It needs to integrate into a more usable platform or the masses will not adopt it.
3. The real opportunity for the iPad is not with the consumer base, but in the B2B market. Think medical, restaurants and retail. What can you develop for that?

Interesting observation from @CatherineKaram, “The majority of people (here) are with an agency – maybe shows how many brands are scared to try social media on their own?”

And @YoBlake summed it up by commenting, “I think they are going to rename @TheTimHayden the “Chuck Norris of Social Media” after his #smcdallas event tonight. Great job!”

I concur.

A huge thanks to our wonderful sponsors for making tonight such a fantastic experience:

• Magic Logix
• KickApps
• Meals On The Move
• Paciugo
• Moroch PR
• Firehost
• Blue Sky Factory

We couldn’t do this without you!

I logged on to write a recap of tonight’s awesome SMC event with Duct Tape Marketing‘s John Jantsch, and then I thought, “Why not let the tweets speak for themselves.”   So, here is a recap of the evening by those who were in attendance:

“Now playing at Studio Movie Grill: #SMCDallas! http://post.ly/f51q” @AGardina

“Reason u should join local Social Media Club: who wouldn’t want to sit in room full of nerds, tweet, drink & hear smart ppl talk?”  @Elysa

“At #smcdallas & just received a preview copy of The Referral Engine from @ducttape. Can’t wait to read!” @SarahAlyea

Dallas’ own @Cali Lewis showed up to plug her upcoming conference. “I am pumped for Open Camp. Blogging geeks (definitely me) unite!” @JerodMSF

Mary Anne Schweers, Cynthia Smoot & Eddy Badrina

“People make referrals because it feels good to help people out. #smcdallas via @ducttape” @VSEllis

“50% + of new business for small biz comes from #referrals” @CatherineOnline

“trying not to laugh from “big papa” ringtone playing at #smcdallas. *hint turn your ringers off ” @Elysa

“Will 100% of your customers refer you to new business leads? If they trust you, they will” @CatherineOnline

John Jantsch signs his latest book for Chris Walters

“Want a referral? Figure out what part of your business is “talkable”.” @AGardina

“Nobody talks about a boring business,” says @DuctTape. What are you doing to stand out?’ @OhSoCynthia

“Referral tip from @ducttape: ask 5 of your customers what it is that you do that they appreciate” @TheEllipseCow

“Consistency builds trust. Repetition is good. Repetition is good.” @EllaGantz

“Marketing – n. Getting someone who has a need to know, trust, and like you. / via @ducttape” @EddyBadrina

Talton Figgins browsing The Referral Engine

“This might be the best slide in @ducttape‘s deck http://yfrog.com/07qrqrj” @LeveltenColin

“The 4 C’s of Mktg according to @DuctTape: Content, Context, Connection and Community.” @OhSoCynthia

“Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, Refer” @MrCCPlus

““when it comes to lead and referral generation, customer experience is the new black.” @MarketWaveBM

“The problem with competing on price is there is always someone willing to go out of business sooner than you” @MikeDMerrill

“A big thanks to Diane Feffer and Studio Movie Grill for hosting #smcdallas.” @MASchweers

And I think @YoBlake sums it up by saying, “event 4 me = reminder 4 how much the unique small things & experience we provide vastly set us apart & stand out”

You can see all of the party pics on Flickr courtesy of Gangway Advertising.

We hope to see everyone out on Thursday, May 20 to hear Tim Hayden of Blue Clover!

PubCon South will roll into Dallas on April 13 – 15, 2010, and according to them,  “whether this is your first or your tenth PubCon, we will have the speakers, tracks, sessions, networking events and parties that are bound to make this one of the top search and social media events of 2010.”

PubCon Dallas will have top keynote speakers and a full slate of sessions focused on the hottest technology trends to bring all our attendees business knowledge and solutions that go far beyond what other conferences offer, making PubCon’s reputation as the conference that starts where others finish more fitting than ever before. PubCon Dallas will feature sessions dedicated to pure search engine optimization and organic search, search engine marketing, social media marketing and more.

PubCon South at Dallas will be held at the Richardson Conference and Civic Center, 411 West Arapaho Road, Suite 102, Richardson, Texas 75080.

SMC has partnered with PubCon to offer our members a special discount. When you register, enter the code sm-20915.  A few things you need to be aware of regarding the code:

o               It offers 15% off whatever the current price is when a person registers.  (Currently $599 but the price will increase as they get closer to the event.)

o               The discount can be applied to the Full Access Conference Pass (Gold Pass) but cannot be used for the Professional Search Training event which takes place the day before the conference.

o               The code is valid until April 1.

To register, visit https://secure.pubcon.com/register.htm