FastCompany is making waves and getting a ton of attention right now with their Influence Project. Whether that project is good, bad, worthwhile or worthless, the people behind FastCompany are profoundly influential even though a pictogram probably won’t ever display their influence. One of the charming people of influence from FastCompany paid us a visit last year: Ellen McGirt.

Ellen not only knows social media, she also knows the people behind social media—she’s had conversations with Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes, and the folks who conceived and executed MyBarackObama.com.

Thank you to Bobby Rettew for both the original video and for recently pulling it out of archives and recompressing it for us. Thank you, too, to Robbin Phillips and our friends at Brains on Fire for making it possible for Ellen to be with us. Finally, thank you to Richard Peck and the folks at Table 301 for making the morning at Soby’s so memorable.

What does it take to actually rank well in Google? Is there a secret formula that only SEO “experts” know?

Some search marketing “experts” like to portray Search Engine Optimization as complicated black magic, when the truth is this: a handful of basic essentials make any site competitive in search rankings – yes, even yours! On July 7th, John Ellis will demystify SEO for us, and provide current, indispensable knowledge for every business owner, blogger, techie and marketer!

Upstate SC native and now Nashville resident, John Ellis is a recognized industry leader in search marketing. He is a hands-on search consultant with years of in-house experience, and can be found throughout the year at conferences and events speaking on SEO & PPC.

This FREE event will be BYOL – Bring Your Own Lunch – held at Jackson Marketing Group, from 12pm to 1:30pm. This 90-minute program will allow for John to go into detail as well as have time for questions afterward. Bring your notebook, your thinking cap, your marketing guy and your web gal!

More information from John can be found at JohnWEllis.com and on Twitter @JohnWEllis.
Brought to you by Social Media Club Greenville with support from the GSA Technology Council and Tech After Five.

Slides from Aaron Von Frank’s talk at Social Media Club Greenville’s May meeting.

Be sure to join us on Facebook so you don’t miss another great meeting next month: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42980322582&ref=ts

Passion. Purpose. Practical participation: it’s what’s on tap for our monthly meeting for April.

Our monthly meetings have featured some fabulous content presenters by enthusiastic, entertaining, and educational friends. Next time we get together, you’ll be the presenter.

Community dynamo Jonathan Shanin will outline what he’s accomplishing and hoping to accomplish with his non-profit organization, Aid-Joy. As a non-stop bundle of energy, he’s already doing a great job. BUT, Aid-Joy is not leveraging social media. That’s where you come in.

On April 12, Jonathan will give us a quick overview of Aid-Joy, tell us what’s working, what’s not, and what he’d like to do. We’ll have a moderator who will engage you and your fellow SMCG members to work through a social media brainstorming session that’ll lead to a specific, focused action plan.

What you’ll get:

1. Inspiration
2. Hands-on experience
3. Insight
4. Fellowship
5. At least two new contacts that might lead to something meaningful for you

We’ll be meeting at the Greenville Hilton Garden Inn.

What kinds of companies come to mind when you hear the words social media? High tech? Professional service firms? Retail?

How about manufacturing? Let’s stretch it a little further. How about TEXTILE manufacturing and social media?

At our last meeting, Kim Madden whet our appetite and piqued our curiosity about Carolina Manufacturing, bandanna swimsuits, and @BandannaBabe. She told us how she went from pre-newbie to full-fledged social media adventurer since last summer—and that was just with Flickr! Imagine the world of possibilities as Carolina Manufacturing extends their customer embrace through other platforms.

For a fresh look at how social media’s invigorating a stale industry, join us Monday morning at 8AM March 8, 2010 at the NEXT Innovation Center. You’ll soak up some of Kim’s passion for commerce and share with her your ideas, too.

A couple of reminders:
DIRECTIONS TO NEXT: There’s a map on the Eventbrite invite. There’s also a map on the Facebook event.

PARKING: There’s a HUGE parking lot in the vacant lot behind the NEXT building. You can park there. There’s a stadium sized parking lot that’s paved, just across University Ridge next to NEXT. You can park there, too.

If you’re having trouble getting your boss to understand why you’re excited about the possibilities fostered by social media, bring him to Social Media Club Greenville. Kim’s enthusiasm for the new life at Carolina Manufacturing and your fellow members’ enthusiasm just might get him excited, too.

Video Provided by BobbyRettew,llc

Update 2-9-10 (Doug):

Slides from Richard Peck’s presentation:

Slides from Amy Wood’s presentation:

Slides from Russell Tripp’s presentation:

Slides from Kim Madden’s presentation:

Thank you to Linda Haight for including Social Media Club Greenville in her Greenville Business Magazine article on Skype. The article begins on page 50.

Sam Edwards mentioned our December meeting on social media and privacy on his site.

Logan Stewart got us a couple of mentions in printed media last month as well:

• Social Media Club Greenville on SwampFox
• Social Media Club Greenville on Palmetto Morning (scroll down to “Social Scene”)
• Social Media Club Greenville on Greenville News

If you see news of Social Media Club Greenville, would you please let us know?

Got a favorite tool you’d like to talk about? Here’s a chance to present your cool tool to everyone at Social Media Club Greenville. The big bonus is, you’ll come away with a video of the meeting you can embed on your website. (That’s to Bobby Rettew, LLC, we’ll have a video of the whole meeting available for you.)

If you’d like to make a 7-10 minute presentation on one specific social media tool you’re finding useful, would you please take a moment to complete the form below?

Our next meeting will be Monday, February 8, 2010, from 8:00am to 9:00am at the brand new NEXT Innovation Center at 411 University Ridge. We’re hoping to have 4-5 presentations from our membership.

An informational meeting to hear what our elected officials think of social media, how they’re using it, and their expectations for future use.

Social Media Club meeting downtown Greenville at Michelin on Main brought a great crowd to enjoy an open conversation between Trey Pennington and Bob Inglis, all wrapped around politics of social media.

December in the Windy City is usually cold; on the 16th, it was hot with supercharged ideas and discussion at GasPedal’s SuperGenius conference. Two of our own supergeni were featured speakers: Spike Jones of Brains on Fire and Olivier Blanchard of The Brandbuilder Marketing.

I found a couple of blogs post about our duo that are worth checking out. Spike’s presentation was 11 Lessons to Ignite a Fan Community. Here’s an earlier post on the same blog about Olivier.

Olivier Blanchard shares a thought while Jeff Elder (Charlotte Observer) and Spike Jones (Brains on Fire) listen and ponder at the September 2009 meeting of Social Media Club Greenville at Skyline Exhibits & Designs. Photo by GetzCreative.

The summary of Spike’s presentation is worth pondering as you make plans for 2010. Now more than ever, real movements are essential for the creation or continuance of enduring brands. In 2010, no one will be able to fake their way to success. The good news is, no one HAS to fake it. Spike’s 11 lessons present a good road map to create lasting influence.

Olivier’s presentation has some worthwhile nuggets: “you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you just have to understand it.” Apparently the whole world (at least the whole social media world) is taking note of Olivier’s teaching on measuring word-of-mouth (and measuring social media marketing). His Basics of Social Media ROI presentation on the topic housed at SlideShare.net has been viewed 75,520 times and embedded another 445 times. That’s huge.

Folks have asked, “why is it that Greenville, South Carolina is at the center of the social media world?” While I’m not sure there is a center of the world, I am impressed at the work folks in our community—folks like Spike and Olivier—are doing to put the Upstate on the social media and word-of-mouth map. No doubt there are others amongst our 650+members who are also speaking about meaningful engagement through social media. If you are or if you know of someone who is, would you please let me know? It’ll be good to share the word.