On October 12, 2011, IABC-LA members attended “Social Media CRASH Course and Workshop” hosted by Belkin at corporate headquarters in Playa del Rey. Christopher Keough, Corporate Communications Manager at Belkin hosted members to a case study discussion of in-depth social media platforms. Meanwhile, Julie Fornaro, the chapter’s social media chair, masterminded a scavenger hunt workshop equipped with learning-as-you-go clues and “sweat-producing” tasks divided amongst team challenges. Myra Jolivet, chapter communications chair volunteer, moderated the overall discussion.
Keough introduced Lee Drasin, Belkin’s new Director, Interactive Marketing and Leah Polk, Senior Global Public Relations Manager. Drasin came to Belkin from Petrol Advertising and shared an example of using FaceBook and email as a platform for an interactive social game named “Battlemail”. Drasin’s example proved to be an exciting concept for the receptive client, however, as time wore on, so did the client’s concern about strategy, presentation and the approved 100k budget to create awareness for a movie entitled “The Crazies” tied into the social media platform.
How did a social media incident end up crashing Belkin.com? Leah Polk discussed a case study in which a recent incident involving a “30 routers in 30 days” campaign turned into a worldwide 50 percent of sale that lead to a learning experience of learning experiences in social media usage and strategy. Polk also mentioned creative social media strategies such as Belkin’s “make over your dorm room” prizes. There was much discussion about whether communicators will become Google-Plus supporters, comparisons with FaceBook’s capabilities, and how Klout can be an effective tool regarding scoring social media’s effectiveness.
Armed with laptops, cell phone apps for the social media scavenger hunt and a truly engaged attitude, participants included: Christie Ly, Chris Cabrera, Cheryl Farrell, Charlotte Lassos, Jevon Ooi, Divya Chandran, Kris Kraves, Roxanne Truesdell, Dawn Pace, Beth Martin, Ann Giblin, Deshauna Brown, Stacy Noble, Julie Pine, Mark Dernheim, Hillary West. All “got game” in Julie Fornaro’s fun twists, turns and team challenges during the social media scavenger hunt.
IABC-LA Chapter President, Paula Cassin, ended the evening with invites to upcoming not-to-be-missed events including Shel Holtz and the laugh-a-minute Murder Mystery Holiday luncheon in December.
Finally, Paula thanked Belkin by offering an honorarium from the chapter to a charity of Belkin’s choice for outstanding hosting and speaker participation. We so appreciated the evening!