Thursday morning was nippy but at Riley's Railhouse in Chesterton it was the epitome of coziness. A fire blazed in the hearth of the main hall as members of the Duneland Chamber of Commerce and the surrounding communities waited for the Ideas in Motion Media Social Media Boot Camp to start.
Riley's Railhouse is a lovely bed and breakfast located in the heart of Chesterton. It has a welcoming feel that is immediate when you walk into the establishment. It was perfect for our boot camp.
For those of you who aren't sure of what a social media boot camp is, it's basically a workshop that we at IIMM put on that lets our Publisher and CEO, Chris Mahlmann, share strategies to help our local businesses or organizations make the most of their online presence. This event was part of the Duneland Chamber of Commerce's Sunrise Seminar series which is created to give Chamber members and local residents opportunities to live healthy, productive lives -both personally and professionally.
There was an excellent turnout for the boot camp. One of the attendees was Judy Kukelka, Marketing Director at Rittenhouse Senior Living of Portage.
"Rittenhouse is starting to do more with social media, starting with Facebook," Kukelka said. "So we are here to find out what more we can do with our Facebook pages and what other opportunities there are for family members to see their loved ones at our community through social media. This is our first time to the boot camp."
Allyson Baughman, Marketing Director at Duneland Chamber of Commerce stated that this Sunrise Seminar had the highest number of people in attendance so far in the series.
"We knew that a lot of our members needed to know how to get their messages out via social media channels. There is a mix of all different levels of expertise and we knew that when it came time to ask an expert, Ideas in Motion was the place to ask. And we knew that [Chris's] delivery style was perfectly suited to a group of mixed users, and besides that he is a lot of fun. We haven't seen anything come out of the Ideas in Motion Media office that isn't done very well," Baughman said.
Chris stood in the corner of the room and made his way through a Powerpoint presentation as the attendees watched with interest. Throughout the room, people were taking notes as he touched on topics like: understanding how to best use social media; knowing the difference between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+; which outlets will work best with what type of business entity; and he gave his predictions on what will be popular in the future and what is on its way out.
"Digital marketing is really a giant subject heading for what you are communicating in a form that you would either communicate in person or in printed media, a TV spot, a radio spot, the signage that you use in front of your store, the picture that you have in your store window; think of digital marketing as the way to use all of those messages that you want to communicate, but in an interactive way online," Mahlmann said. "Overall, I want to help make it less intimidating for you when you think about social media and a little less intimidating when you think, 'What's my digital marketing strategy?'."
And he did. Chris engaged the crowd and his presentation made everyone feel at ease -not only with the present moment, but also with the subject matter. This shed a positive light on the murky idea that is technology, which is good.
So, was this presentation as good as what was expected?
"It was better," Baughman said. "A lot of times when you come to an event like this it really does get bogged down to the nuts and bolts aspect. Screen shots, this is how you do that...not that that isn't useful in helping you get the broader idea of what you should do, but this helped open the doors to people's minds and hearts to what the community wants to hear. I think Chris gave them permission to have fun with it, which is what intimidates a lot of people; the thinking that they have to be perfectly professional and not misspeak or misrepresent their brand. But they need to let the consumer know who they are because in the end when people can buy anything from anyone anywhere in the world with the touch of a button, if they know who you are and if they have an emotional connection to you, you win."
Afterward, a Q&A session was held and many of the guests let Chris help them with their social media concerns and questions. The room buzzed with subtle excitement as people gathered their things and made their way out. They wanted to use their new found knowledge and bust into the social media world.
{valpo}Click here to see more photos from the boot camp!{/valpo}{portage}Click here to see more photos from the boot camp!{/portage}{nwindiana}Click here to see more photos from the boot camp!{/nwindiana}