We can hardly believe that it is quickly coming up on our 1 year anniversary date of the launch date for Gravity Summit. And you can register here for that.

We are deeply grateful for all the speakers, sponsors, attendees, partners and others who became part of the Gravity Summit Community and we promise to do our best to be of service to you in the future!

Now more than ever the value of social media is apparent as a vehicle for your organization, your brand, and YOU to connect with those who hold the power to help you succeed: your customers, your fans, your followers, your constituents, your employees, and your partners.

It was in that spirit that we created the conference -  to educate and inform the business community about how best to leverage and use social media. We wanted to be different than every other “Social Media” conference by focusing on real-world case studies, best practices and lessons learned. We wanted to bridge the gap and we have done that exceedingly well based on all of the terrific feedback that we have received.

We had an amazing 2009 with 5 summits at UCLA, Stanford, UC Irvine, Harvard and Y&R Brands’ Ney Center on Madison Avenue -  all sold out to capacity.

A few highlights from the past year:

• Streamed live on CNN.com/Live for Harvard Event
• Coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, the Boston Globe, and more
• 600+ Sr. Business Executive and decision makers walked away smarter and more connected
• 75 + speakers from amazing brands like: Sprint, Facebook, Yahoo Search , Sony Pictures, Bing, Turbo Tax, DEI, Digg, Six Apart, Pitch Engine, DirecTV, Lynksys, Cisco, Dell, Adweek, Business Week, Linkedin, Dominos Pizza, Intuit, VML, Young & Rubicam, TweetPhoto, Soutwest Airlines, EMC, Shift Communications, Arnold, Syfy, American Red Cross, Operation Smile, Rebel Industries, Oberon Media,  The Roxy on Sunset, Roger Smith Hotel, MC Hammer, Gary Vanynerchuck, Laura Fitton and many more.
• Large & Small Businesseswho that showcased Social Media case studies

We are honored to have the support from our sponsors who “get it” and who also spoke about the innovative things that they are doing with social media: Intuit, Quicken Online & TurboTax, Visible Technologies, Pitch Engine, Bing, Flip, and GoDaddy

We thank our media partners such as: Mashable, Silicon Valley Brand Forum, MITX, Six Apart, Social Media Club, 212 Interactive, LA American Marketing Association, YPulse and many more.

SO SAVE THE DATE FOR FEB 22, 2010 FOR THE UCLA EVENT! We want to thank UCLA Extension for committing to the Venue Sponsorship and we’re looking for other sponsors and speakers.  Please contact Beverly Macy beverlyATgravitysummit.com with proposals, suggestions, and referrals.

Thanks to BeVisible Associates:More Insights from The Gravity Summit in NYC

“The key to WOM (word-of-mouth marketing) is NOT to make the brand look good – it’s making someone look good to their social network while they are talking about your brand.” explained Mike Lundgren from VML at last week’s Gravity Summit in New York. “Consumers trust other consumers more than they trust us” and your customers can make your brand look “more hip, socially responsible, smart, caring, in-the-know, funny…” etc.

“Consumers influencing consumers “(word of mouth” marketing) is playing a larger and larger role in brand marketing than ever before. That’s because Social Media makes it possible for companies to “listen-in” on real conversations as people engage with their brands and with each other. Your brand is not what YOU say it is, it’s what YOUR CUSTOMERS say it is. This was a common thread as the speakers at Gravity Summit shared their insights from their own experiences with Social Media marketing.

So how do small to medium sized companies make customers look good when they are talking about their brand? Here are some examples:

• Ramon De Leon, whose winning personality and innovative ideas has won him a huge following, owns numerous Domino’s Pizza franchises in Chicago. He’s a master at promoting his brand by promoting his customers. Ramon became a media superstar when he handled a mistake on an order with a “Videoapology” which became an immediate “cyber sensation”. Ramon prints his tweets on his pizza boxes. He runs online contests. He makes videos starring his customers. In turn, his customers promote his pizza.

• Kyra Reed and Nic Adler saved Nic’s family’s Roxy Theater on the Sunset Strip by collaborating with other clubs on the strip (who in the past never even talked to each other) to create an online community that enabled them to rally their fans and revitalize a dying area. And, after 20 years of banning the use of cameras in the club, they now encourage audiences to take photos during performances and post them on Flickr and Twitter, thereby promoting The Roxy to all their friends and followers.

• Brian Morrissey from Adweek encourages smaller brands to employ Social Media by attaching themselves to something larger, such as a charity, an event, a community, etc. The key is to align your brand to something relevant that people already feel good about in a way that everyone benefits. Making a donation when a customer makes a purchase and posting that on your website, blog, Facebook page, and if the customer agrees, thanking them by name, promotes your brand, your cause and your customers.

So, even if your company is not a well-known national brand, you can use Social Media to listen to what customers and potential customers are talking about in the online communities where they hang out (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.). Instead of simply marketing your brand to them, figure out ways to engage them and make them the stars of your brand.

Want to learn more? Follow these folks on Twitter:

On Twitter: @mglundgren, @Ramon_DeLeon @nicadler @kyrareed @theroxy @bmorrissey

Check out the Gravity Summit

And here’s a great blog with great tips for attaching your brand to a cause: http://causemarketing.biz/

Just a reminder that you can get a $5 .com from Go Daddy through Thanksgiving.  Just use the promo code GRAVITY1.  This is a great deal, so hope you take advantage of it and spread it around.

Hint - have you secured your own name for personal branding?

PR Week
By Kimberly Maul
November 16, 2009

This morning, I attended the first part of the Gravity Summit, focusing
on social media marketing. The event, held for the fifth time and the
first time not at a college or university, brought together social media
experts, such as Twitter for Dummies author Laura Fitton, and companies
including SyFy, bing, and VML.

“It’s a social movement,” said Mike Lundgren, partner and director of
creative technology at digital marketing firm VML, of the Internet now
and how brands use it. “When we publish now, we publish with the
expectation that people will talk back.”

“We have to stop thinking about how to get people back to our dot-com,”
he added, saying that reaching customers where they are—Twitter,
Facebook, and others—is the way to engage.

SyFy went out with that thought when the recently-rebranded network
introduced an iPhone app for Comic-Con 2009. The app, which was based
around photosharing, “definitely surpassed our expectations,” said
Matthew Chiavelli, VP of broadband and mobile for SyFy. Attendees at the
event posted pictures, commented, and shared all through an iPhone app
created for the occasion.

“We’re used to a very active fan base and a very active community,”
Chiavelli said. “We wanted to make this a way for fans to communicate
with each other.”

Brian Morrissey, digital editor for AdWeek, was also on hand, commenting
on social media marketing myths, discussing how social media is not
always free, how to sell products with social media while still
listening, and that the 30-second TV spot and one-off campaigns are not
dead.

“Marketers are going to end up buying their way into these
transactions,” Morrissey said, mentioning a campaign from Kmart where
they gave bloggers gift cards to shop at the store. While it may not
seem authentic to some, he said, transparency is key, not necessarily
authenticity.

You can follow the day’s speakers and comments on Twitter: #gravsum.

–
Jonalyn Morris PR
O: 310-398-9372 | M: 323-376-3632 | jonalyn@jonalynmorrispr.com

Gravity Summit NYC TweetUp - Open to Everyone

When: Monday, November 16, 2009 5:30 PM -9:00 PM

Where: The Roger Smith Hotel, 16th Floor New York

Who: Gravity Summit  NYC attendees, and everyone else!

What: TweetUp/Afterparty to celebrate Gravity Summit NYC , network, enjoy refreshments!

Free admission

RSVP Please

If you want to attend the event at the Young & Rubicam Ney Conference Center that day and see Syfy, Current Media, BING, Business Week, AdWeek, Deep Focus, Laura Fitton, Domino’s, Operation Smile, Intuit, VML, and MORE, Register HERE