Written by guest blogger: Debbie Miller

"Social Media Club is organized in various locations in the US for the purpose of sharing best practices, establishing ethics and standards and promoting media literacy around the emerging area of social media.” 
 

Last week, numerous members of the local social media community met to “reboot” the Social Media Club of Orange County (SMCOC) after months of dormancy. Led by SMCOC’s co-founder, Morgan Brown, the night commenced with some logistical background information on the Social Media Club as well as, specifically, the Orange County chapter.
 

Morgan then proceeded with a panel of highly-relevant players in the OC social networking sphere: Ted Nguyen of the Orange County Transportation Authority, Neal Schaffer of Windmill Networking and Bryan Elliott of LinkedOC. Ted, Neal and Bryan answered various questions from Morgan and the audience, providing great insight into current social media marketing trends.  
 

As is custom at social media-related events, virtually all attendees were glued to their mobile devices checking in on Foursquare, following new contacts on twitter, and of course, tweeting. The #smcoc hashtag was booming with folks reiterating useful information from the panelists as well as other audience members.  
 

Some of the evening’s notable tweets include:

- Listen to your fans. Don't just keep blasting out one way conversations. Learn from them and add value to your message.

- Be authentic in your voice and communications; tell your story in your own voice, differentiating yourself.

- Be positive, personable, and open minded to all things social media.

- Take your website and compare it to 5 competitors. How do you separate yourself and make your company stand out?

- Public engagement! Get feedback from your customers. Provide information efficiently.

- Engage your fans/customers by building relationships which will also strengthen brand loyalty.

- Marketing is not about features and benefits, it's about the story.

- The panel at #smcoc just ended, and a note to Webster, add "twitaholic" to next year’s dictionary.

- You are what you tweet.
 

Ted Nguyen also recorded a “wrap up” of the event and interviewed several volunteers (Neal Schaffer, Marieke Hensel, Sukhraj Beasla, TR Garland and Debbie Miller) about their opinions on the event, the club and social media in general.
 

SMCOC is currently looking for individuals to fill available positions on the leadership team: Partnership Director, Promotions Director and Membership Director. Contact Morgan for more information.