Profiled - Social Media at the Beach (SMATB) - The social media event on the beach 2010
An interview with Justin Williams, co-founder at Social Media at the Beach (SMATB)
The Social Media Portal talks to Justin Williams about social media events and the forthcoming event scheduled in 2010
Social Media Portal (SMP): What is your role at Social Media @ The Beach? Justin Williams (JW): I am the co-founder for SMATB event and my role is to help organize and promote the event to make it a success.
SMP: Briefly, tell us about Social Media @ The Beach event, what is it is this the first event and what are your striving to do? JW: Social Media @ The Beach was an event formed by like-minded Business Marketing professionals in the Virginia Beach area to to showcase attendees on how to embrace Social Media and use it effectively. This is the very first event of many, we are planning to host this event at another location soon after this event.
SMP: What made you start Social Media @ The Beach? JW: I started this idea for the event at a local meetup. We had many different professionals with all sorts of talent in one room and an idea sparked of why not having all these different talent showcase their knowledge in one big event.
SMP: What was the most challenging part of building the event? JW: The most challenging part is finding the venue. We spent over rwo months in finding a venue before we finally settled on one location for the event. We needed to make sure the venue had everything we needed for the event and was a good location.
SMP: Who are your target audience and why? JW: Our event is geared towards all skill levels of marketing and business, whether you are new to Social Media or are an established business professional looking to gain more knowledge in this ever-changing market.
SMP: How are you initially attract users to your site (and event), and how will you do it now? JW: Initially we will use the power of Social Media by establishing a strong online presence through Facebook, Twitter and Blogging. After the first month more traditional marketing will be combined in order to make a perfect marketing strategy throughout the year.
SMP: What are the low moments of what you have been doing so far? JW: Although I have been part of many events in the past, this will be my first event I am actually running on my own. This has been very stressful not only organizing the event and promoting but also because we have a staff of 10 other business professionals who all have passionate ideas that I have to help collaborate into this event.
SMP: What are the high moments of what you have been doing so far? JW: My high moments of the event so far are working with such great business professional in all walks of the industry. I love working with my team, we schedule late night conference calls at night because that?s the only time slot we all can agree on. I love how everyone has something new and different to bring to the table, even though we may not all agree on times, we still have fun accomplishing our goals.
SMP: What do you see as your biggest challenges and opportunities? JW: The biggest challenges currently is selling enough tickets and sponsor slots to full capacity. I would love to see a sold out event and by doing so will be a great opportunity to increase and expand the Social Media Presence in our area.
SMP: What are the next moves for Social Media @ The Beach? JW: If all goes well with our first event, our next event will be in another major city close by but still in the same state. Our big plan is to have this event in all the major cities.
SMP: What?s the next big step for social media and networks throughout 2009 and into 2010? JW: I think the next biggest step in Social Networks and Social Media is having a more structured privacy setting. Social Media is so open and increasingly popular right now that many people are getting into loads of trouble through these new media channels. I feel that if Social Media can improve their privacy settings where certain updates can be filtered to certain audiences there will be more stability and desire to keep Social Media alive.
SMP: What?s going to be the most interesting aspect regarding social media / technology throughout 2010 and beyond and how can you showcase this?
JW: The most interesting aspect throughout 2010 will be what will be the new Social Media Hype? This year it was Twitter and every year seems to be a new Social Media tool that will come up, it will be very interesting to see what?s the next best thing.
SMP: Now it is reported that we may be moving out of the global recession what do what impact do you think social media may have upon a businesses?
JW: I believe Businesses are looking at ways to cut back on costs and I feel that Social Media is the best cost effective return on investment option out there. Most social media sites are virtually free.
SMP: How does this fit into plans at Social Media @ The Beach?
JW: Our event knows that people are hurting for money right now that is why our ticket price is so cheap that anyone can attend. Tickets are on sale for $50 dollars and $35 dollars for early bird special.
SMP: Best way to contact you? JW: +1 757-692-3464 Cell Phone
http://card.ly/justinwilliamsNow some questions for fun
SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch? JW: For Breakfast I had strawberry and banana yoghurt with a powerbar and for lunch I had left over spaghetti from last night.
SMP: What?s the last good thing that you did for someone? JW: I donated money to a childrens charity.
SMP: How many hours to you work a week? JW: 50-60 hours
SMP: If you weren?t running Social Media @ The Beach what would you be doing? JW: I would be surfing or snowboarding
SMP: When and where did you go on your last holiday? JW: My last holiday we spent 4th of July on a cruise in Norfolk, Virginia.
SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning? JW: The first thing I do is get a cup of coffee lol, I?m not a morning person.
SMP: If you had a superpower what would it be and why? JW: If I had to choose one super power it would be to see in the future.
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