The Maine SEO Blog

Social Media FTW is an annual social media marketing conference held in Portland, Maine. Don’t forget to follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook!

Since I was unable to attend every workshop, I thought it best to recap all of the great summaries and presentations from the conference in one place. Enjoy

Keynote: Discover How to Use Social Media to Get the Edge for Your Business

by Deb ‘Coach Deb’ Micek

• Tina Burnell’s recap
• My recap
• Follow Coach Deb on Twitter

Social Networking 101: An Introduction to Twitter and Facebook

by Chrystie Corns

• Follow Chrystie on Twitter

Who Hangs out Where? Finding Your Audience Across Social Media Platforms

by Sarah Hines

• Tina Burnell’s recap
• My recap
• Sarah’s full presentation
• Follow Sarah on Twitter

Writing a Social Media Policy for Your Company

by Sarah Wallace

• Sarah’s full presentation
• Follow Sarah on Twitter

Blogging 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Business Blogging

by Nicole Ouellette

• Tina Burnell’s recap
• Nicole’s thoughts, post-conference
• Nicole’s full presentation
• Follow Nicole on Twitter

Facebook 201: Take Your Facebook Marketing to the Next Level

by Jaica Kinsman

• Jaica’s full presentation
• Follow Jaica on Twitter

Social Media for Non-Profits

by Alex Steed

• My recap
• Follow Alex on Twitter

How to Use LinkedIn to Build Your Network and Your Business

by Carole Mahoney

• Carole’s full presentation
• Follow Carole on Twitter

Blogging 201: Make Your Blog a Lead Generation Machine

by Rich Brooks

• Tina Burnell’s recap
• My recap
• Rich’s full presentation
• Follow Rich on Twitter

Creating, Publishing and Marketing Online Video

by Chris Cavallari

• Chris’s thoughts, post-conference
• Chris’s full presentation
• Follow Chris on Twitter

Twitter 201: Leveling up Twitter

by Leslie Poston

• Tina Burnell’s recap
• Leslie’s full presentation
• Follow Leslie on Twitter

Is Any of This Social Media Stuff Working? Social Media ROI

by Amanda O’Brien

• Amanda’s full presentation
• Follow Amanda on Twitter

Overcoming the 5 Challenges of Social Media Marketing

by Mike Lewis

• Follow Mike on Twitter

The Power of Email and Social Media Marketing

by Corissa St. Laurent

• Tina Burnell’s recap
• Corissa’s full presentation
• Follow Corissa on Twitter

Building Online Communities

by Derek Rice

• Derek’s thoughts, post-conference
• Derek’s full presentation
• Follow Derek on Twitter

Social Media Success Stories

Heather DiSimone, Calvin Gilbert, Mark Nutting

• Follow Heather on Twitter
• Follow Calvin on Twitter
• Follow Mark on Twitter

Recaps of the Event

• Amanda O’Brien’s takeaways
• Slideshare presenations

Photos of the Event

• Photos from Maine Today
• Photos from Samuel Cousins Photography
• Photos from Angela Coulombe Photography
• cellphone Sketchpad

Twitter conversation

• http://twapperkeeper.com/hashtag/ftw2010
• Twitter Search

If you have notes or access to a presentation I’ve missed, please let me know and I’ll include it!

Recently, I blogged about a session at Social Media FTW (Search Engine Optimization and Social Media). In it, my boss, Rich Brooks, gave a great analogy for incoming links. I didn’t share it then since I wanted to give it its own special place…because I think it’s that powerful.

The analogy

Let’s say you’re visiting Chicago; so naturally you ask 10 friends what restaurant to go to while you’re there (as opposed to Googling it. You’re smart, you want recommendations.) 7 friends suggest Restaurant A, 3 suggest Restaurant B. All things being equal, you’re going with Restaurant A.

That is, of course, until you realize that those 3 friends are Chicago natives and the group of 7 are tourists, just like you. The 3 friends might even tell you “Tourists say Restaurant B, because they don’t know about A”. Then things change – the 3 friends have established their expertise now, and you’re on your way to B for some fine dining.

The same rule applies for Link Building

More links may be pointing to Website A than Website B. At first glance, that might mean that search engines would give more “value” to Website A (all other things being equal)…

But just like our restaurant scenario, things aren’t always as they appear. You see, as far as search engines are concerned, quality incoming links matter – not quantity. Sorry, A.

What’s the takeaway?

Sure, try to get out there and get all the incoming links you can. But the low hanging fruit won’t help you in the long term. Shoot for attaining links from those high quality websites that will help you establish your expertise.

Nicki Hicks
Visual Learner

Thanks for all the photos.

Yesterday, my boss helped put on the Social Media FTW Conference (no, it doesn’t mean that; but: For the Win!). As sponsors and exhibitors, the flyte crew got to go and help out.

Since we were so busy helping people sign up for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn at the kiosks, we couldn’t catch many sessions; so I can only assume the speakers were rock stars.

Why? I’ve never seen so many newbies so excited about social media. Any apprehension? Gone. Any questions? Kaput. Simply: “Hi I’m ready to join Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook. Show me how.”

I can’t say enough about the atmosphere yesterday. While it may have been a little hot and sticky, there was a fairly obvious mixture of newbies vs. social media all stars. It mattered not. Everyone was welcome, and by the end of the day, everyone was on Twitter.

Here’s one of the rock star panels (for blogging) with Sarah Wallace, Carl Natale, and Lynnelle Wilson:

Read other (really great) posts about the FTW conference:

• #ftw09 – HUGE Success for Social Media in Maine by Jason Blais
• Social media gets simplified at FTW by Justin Ellis
• Social Media and Traditional Media FTW by Jeff Parsons
• Social Media #FTW09: Feeds the Hungry by Stacie Chalmers
• Social Media FTW: A Win, Win for Everyone by Sarah Wallace
• UPDATE: Why conferences are successful by Carl Natale
• UPDATE: The Social Media FTW Fall Conference #FTW09 by Rich Brooks
• The official thank you by Social Media FTW

Nicki Hicks
Maine Social Media