Living in Boston, we’re lucky to be surrounded by some of the smartest social media minds in the biz. And, once a month (or almost) we’re lucky enough to bring all of those minds together for a Social Media Breakfast (The SMB was started by friend Bryan Person, and he has passed the torch to Bob Collins, who has carried it well.

Thanks to Diane Hessan and Geoff Hall at Communispace, we were treated to a smorgasbord of great insight from Aaron Strout, Kyle Flahery, and Edward Boches from Mullen. Unfortunately, I missed a bit of Aaron’s and Kyle’s presentation, but here are some quick nuggets to share with y’all

There are five keys to brand advocacy. Here are 5 simple things to remember….

Content: Take content from anywhere- from your company, your client, whoever. Be unique. Edward showed this great example of a fellow Mullen employee crashing into the door with a coffee cup. this simple piece of content ended up on the Ellen DeGeneres show.

Invent an Experience. So what happens when you have a passion for the Super Bowl and the brands that play in the same space? Why not record all of the real-time chatter about these brands during the actual Super Bowl. Edward and the team at Mullen created “Brand Bowl“- ending up with 310 million recorded impressions- not bad eh?

Let people have a voice. Best example of this is what Burberry is doing in the space. Let people provide their own pictures and video of their Burberry experience?

Conversation strategy. Don’t just let the conversation happen. Have a strategy about what people can talk about, how they can talk about it, and how you’ll engage and monitor it.

Have a Magic Formula: His magic formula is pretty simple…..

• Break things into into little pieces. Make it easy for some people (employees, customes, and advocates) to understand and digest
• Give them a pyschic reward. Edward brought this little robot with him, we all helped it get to the front of the room. People want to be part of the process
• Trust the community. Sure, there’s the story of United Airlines, Dominos Pizza, and Nestle, but don’t be afraid. Build your community before you need it.
• Don’t be afraid to ask. Your evangelists (if they trust you) Would love to tell your story. Ask them. Encourage them
• Have a big smile. Share your appreciation, optimism, passion amd enthusiasm

NOTE: a last minute gems from Aaron…

“Key thing is getting social media from your brain to your heart”. Once it’s there, you’ll have that a-ha moment

For any comments, gems I missed, please add in comments below!