SXSW: Fueling Passion and Social Media for Social Good

Greetings from SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, Texas! I had an opportunity to attend SXSW Interactive conference this week, and while the conference has always been a place where people go to learn about the latest apps, celebrate the freshest start-ups and spark ideas how to move the digital industry forward, this year my biggest take away was something totally different – this year I was focused more on how we can combine social media and social media marketing with doing social good, than just how we can use social media to sell goods (luckily when done right doing social good sells more goods and it’s win-win for the marketers and brands).

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan changed the tone for SXSW conference and while the conference agenda already had tracks about social media for social good, the message was amplified after hearing the news from Japan, and a massive fundraising effort was launched with and customized fund-raising pages created to support the Red Cross America in their efforts to help the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan. Please join me to raise money for American Red Cross helping earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan and be part of the large effort started at SXSW.

This year’s attendance was overwhelmingly large at SXSW, and I know for a fact I didn’t even hear about all of the new products that were launched in the conference, and I’m sure many great speeches left unheard from the masses and new (and even old) products were pale in comparison of the ones that shined. But it’s OK. All of the information trickles down, can be read from the blogs, books and social networking sites, but what I came home with was the need to grow my voice and use my voice online for things that really matter. I am all about inspiring people to live life to the fullest and be happy, and part of it has always been the belief that when we do good things, we feel good, and philanthropy has always been close to my heart.

That’s why one my favorite campaigns I ever designed for Collective Bias clients was the Hershey’s Better Basket campaign a year ago, when I had an idea to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network with a blog hop. We won an Addy Award for the campaign, and we also re-created similar campaigns Bag It Forward for Elmer’s and Back to School with Purpose with DaySpring.

There has already been so much good done when combining social media marketing efforts with philanthropy and social good, but the inspiration that many of us at SXSW took home will hopefully mold our industry even more towards social good. After all – branding has always been about making consumers feel good about themselves when purchasing products, and I hope brands and agencies will continue to lead the change. Bloggers can do it too, and a great example is Mommy Niri, who just launched Mommy Niri Cares website, you can read more about it in my interview with Niri. I have also joined with several Social Media Moms to use Monday, 3/21, to Post with Purpose to use our voices to raise awareness and raise money for Save the Children’s efforts to help children in Japan – I would like to invite all of the social media influencers and bloggers to join us.

PepsiCo has always been one of those companies that has been a trendsetter in combining social media with social good and bringing communities together, and I had an opportunity to interview Pepsi’s Social Media and Digital Director Bonin Bough in the PepsiCo Plugged-In Stage at the Austin Convention Center during the SXSW Conference. We were joined by Fast Company Magazine’s Senior Innovation Editor Ellen McGrit. We discussed some of the themes that had been popping up during the conference, including how using social media for social good is changing the way we think and use social media and how it impacts in the global well being.

Watch the video, donate – and join us in changing the world, one word, one tweet, one person, one dollar, one campaign at the time.

Ellen McGrit is the Senior Innovation Editor at Fast Company magazine, she covers a range of business topics, but never stops looking for the writer’s holy grail: The business ideas and the people who are changing the world. Ellen McGrit was a senior writer for Fortune until February 2007 when she joined Fast Company. McGirt has served as a guest correspondent for CNN’s American Morning, and has appeared frequently on Good Morning America, CBS Early Today, NBC Nightly News, CNBC, CNN, and American Public Media, and also a columnist and editor-at-large for Money.

Bonin Bough is PepsiCo’s Global Director of Digital and Social Media. Bough has been instrumental in integrating social media and online conversation into PepsiCo’s overall corporate vision and for each of the company’s mega brands, engaging consumers online and tracking behaviors and trends to better inform PepsiCo and brand programs. Bough for example launched the “Dear Mr. President” viral campaign, among many many others. In addition to his work at PepsiCo, Bough co-authored the book, “Perspectives on Social Media Marketing” which addresses some of the most compelling and important issues in social media marketing.

Guest post written by Katja Presnal of Skimbaco.

Katja Presnal is a former Community Director of Collective Bias. She led the growth of the Social Fabric community and tripled its size within a year, while creating social media marketing strategy for CB’s clients. A pioneer in social media marketing industry, who has been effectively using social media marketing tactics since 2004. Katja Presnal launched lifestyle brand Skimbaco in 2006, and she is the owner of the Skimbaco lifestyle blog network. Social media marketing strategist in heart, blogger and social media influencer for fun. Connect with her on Twitter @katjapresnal.

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