Every summer ( at least for the last four years) the bloggers and social media geeks of Indiana converge at Blog Indiana.  This year  was no different.  During the two day event I had a chance to catch up with old friends, meet twitter friends face to face and and even make a few new ones.   I tweeted my heart out, and took pages of notes of things I should, could or want to be doing.  It will take a few weeks ( maybe months to sort through all the great ideas.

It was a jam packed two days, but some of my favorite moments were:

• Jay Bear opening the conference with numbers.  Ok, so I am a number geek, but I love the fact that he challenged the audience to look beyond the number of fans and followers and dig into results.  He talked about the real costs of social media, which include the manpower to maintain the profiles, and formulas on how to calculate ROI. He addressed the fact that sometimes you can’t prove cause and effect, so you need to look for correlations.
• The brand panel with @ButlerBlue2 - I have to admit, I have had a lot of speaking opportunities over the years, but I have never shared a stage with a dog.
• Sara Croft - who gave me an outline for social media one hour a week.  I don’t think I can live like that, but it does make it seem more manageable.
• The conversation with the social media representative from the Super Bowl committee.  It was a small group, way after hours, but the conversation was lively.  Bottom line, I think they are underestimating the impact social media could have
• Doug Karr’s 40 slides, 40 tools, 40 minutes..   Fired up on Red Bull he closed the conference with bang.  I thought I had seen all the tools I could handle, till I went to his session.

We all know that huge companies like McDonald’s, Chrysler, and Delta are using social media for PR, advertising, and customer service. But what about the little guys? How are your neighborhood butcher, baker, and candlestick maker using social media to promote their own business?

Indianapolis Social Media and Small Business

That is going to be the topic of my presentation at this year’s BlogIndiana Conference.   I will be combining data gathered from a survey of small business owners on how they use social media  with case studies featuring success and lessons learned with some of small business clients.  We will look at both consumer and B2B applications of blogging and social media strategy.

When:Aug 11 & 12

Where:  Fishers Conference Center

To Register: http://www.blogindiana.com/2011/ Take advantage of the early bird discount and buy your ticket before June 14.

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Also, we are still collecting data and would really appreciate the input in our survey.  It will only take a few minutes.

One of the coolest events of the year,  (atleast for local bloggers) is BlogIndiana.  This two day event brings together experts and rookies sharing advice, ideas and strategies.

It is a great way to connect off line, with people you have met online  ( And in many cases the conversations continue back on line, long after the event is over.)

I will be attending the first day of BlogIndiana again this year. There is a terrific line up of speakers, and it was tough to decide on who I would check out and who I would unfortunately have to skip.

Will you be there?  It promises to be a great event.

A few weeks ago,  the Roundpeg crew attended the first  Indy Social Media Happy Hour. It was a fantastic event put on by Will Hardison of Mediaplug, the Team from BlogIndiana and Scott Wise of Scotty’s Brewhouse. The event gave us the opportunity to witness the true power of social media in our everyday lives.

The Indy Social media Happy Hour did not send out e-mail invites, did not advertise on a single website, and did not make one phone call. The only way someone could find out about (and register for) the event was to hear about it on Twitter. Initially, only 100 tickets were released. No one was sure what kind of response to expect, given no advertising would occur and the events hosts would simply depend on the viral nature of Twitter’s word-of-mouth buzz.

The event sold out in 4 hours.

4 hours.

With absolutely no marketing budget, the IndySMHH sold out and filled the place in which it was  held. To me, is the best example I’ve ever seen of the power of social media. The entire IndySMHH team did a fantastic job of harnessing the power of social media and channeled it into something fun and productive. I had the opportunity to meet so many wonder folks who I might never would have had a chance to otherwise.

The best part…they’re planning  another one on April 19 . Just make sure to keep checking that Twitter feed…

Follow Indy Social Media Happy Hour on Twitter here.

Last week I read a two  well written blog posts by authors I admire on the subject of engagement.

Chris Brogan said: I shoot for being as personal as I can. I write as if I’m writing only to you. I ask you questions where I’m genuinely interested in your answer.

Darren Rose said: Three years ago if you’d asked me what strategies I’d been implementing on my blogs it probably would have been more about optimizing advertising and affiliate promotions. While I still do work on these things I guess I’ve realized that making money from a blog tends to look after itself a little more when you have an engaged and growing readership.

After reading both these posts in the same day i was inspired!  I was going to talk about engagment to readers.   Then I sat through Jason Falls’ presentation at BlogIndiana in which he declared that many great blogs break “established rules”  He gave some wonderful examples of bloggers like Seth Godin who don’t allow comments on their blogs.

Then I was left in a quandary, for the average small business owner who has a blog, does engagement matter.  Is it bad if no one comments?   From my perspective I am interested in interacting with my visitors/  I always reply to people, and thank them for comments, even if the disagree with me because it lets me know they are listening.  But my traffic numbers and RSS subscriptions tell people are coming, even if I haven’t motivated them to comment.

So my advice to my clients is going to be, WRITE! It doesn’t matter whether or not anyone responds. Watch your analytics to tell you if you are reaching people, and give them the option to comment if they chose too.   Then follow the suggestions  Darren and Chris’ lay out to increase engagment.  And if you really don’t want to, remember  there are no rules, if your approach works, keep doing it.