Social Media Day – Vermont Style
July 1, 2013Since 2010 the local Burlington Vermont area techies have gathered together in Burlington, with a focus on #BTVSMD – Burlington Social Media Day hashtag.
The event kicked off Thursday night at the newly opened Hotel Vermont, for a Tweetup to announce winners of Social Media Royalty. Almost 950 people cast their votes for persons, and organizations in the Burlington area for the following categories:
- King – Aki Soga
- Queen – Alex Tursi
- Nonprofit – Spectrum Youth & Family Services – Third year in a row!
- Restaurant – Bluebird Tavern
- Retail – Outdoor Gear Exchange Third year in a row!
- Lodging, Farm, Winery, or Brewery – Shelburne Farms Third year in a row!
- Outdoors, Adventure, or Ski Resort – Jay Peak Resort Second year in a row!
- Artist, Band, Photographer, or Creative – Steve Mease
- Other Category – Wine Blogger: Jana Seitzer
- Print Media – Seven Days Second year in a row!
- Radio/DJ – Tara Madison, 92.9
- TV Personality – Molly Smith, WCAX Second year in a row!
- Social Foodie – Melissa Pasanen
- Life in Vermont – UVM Bored
- Politician – Mayor Miro Weinberger
- Comedian – Nichole Magoon
- Wider Influence – Lindsay Adams
- Social Web Geek – Philip Tortora
- Blogger – Jana Seitzer
- Rookie – Kate Young
The winners are described as having an “excellent use of social networks to share, engage, and participate in Burlington and Vermont social media communities. These people, businesses and organizations have at least one thing in common: they share and respond to content and commentary on a regular basis via Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Videos, Photos, Location, etc – on multiple channels, and using local signals like the #btv #bvt and #vt hash tags.”
Friday’s events started with a Breakfast Tweetup at BlueBird Tavern, with delicious pastries provided by Barrio Bakery. Attendees were also entered for drawing for a pair of tickets to the annual Rock the Dock party, held at Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center on July 3rd, as well as a year’s worth of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream pints.
After the Tweetup, attendees headed to Hotel Vermont for a day filled with Social Media tips from local professionals:
- Social Media 101 – presented by Alexandra Tursi, Fletcher Allen Health Care’s Social Media/Web Strategist, Marketing & Communications
- Social Media 202 – presented by Gahlord Dewald, ThoughtFaucet
- Raising Digitally Savvy Children – presented by Dr Elaine Young, Professor at Champlain College
- Journalists & Social Media – presented by Philip Tortora (Burlington Free Press), Jonathan Butler (VPR Director of Digital Services), and Cynthea Wight Hausman, (Owner of Cynthea’s Spa)
- Down & Dirty Social Media Plan for Your Business – presented by Barbara Dozetos of Above The Fold Marketing
- Managing your Digital Identity – presented by Dr Elaine Young, Professor at Champlain College
- How to Win an Audience and Influence People – presented by Nicole Ravlin, People Making Good
- Social Media Surgery for Nonprofits – presented by Amanda Levinson, ThirdSpace Consulting/NetSquared
Attendees could also participate in a 15 stop scavenger hunt, spread around Burlington area businesses, taking snapshots on Instagram with hashtag #btvsmd13. Each location also offered either a special deal or goodie with Foursquare check-in. The grand prize drawing was held on Friday afternoon for 4 passes to the Jay Peak Resort with tickets to the Indoor Waterpark.
Advantage Creations staff attended five of the eight seminars, and will post notes soon, keep posted.