I attended the inaugural State of Style Summit yesterday, hosted by fashion and style platform, StyleCaster. The event included some of the  fashion industry’s biggest influencers and tastemakers, who discussed fashion and beauty’s changing trends in the digital age. Speakers at the event included Doug Zarkin, VP of Marketing at Kellwood Company (owner of Kaplow clients XOXO, Zobha and Baby Phat), accessories and clothing designer Rebecca Minkoff and Ann Shoket, Editor in Chief of Seventeen.

Here are some key takeaways:

Listen to Your Target Audience on Brand Social Pages:

One of the reasons social media users follow, like, or view brand pages is to be heard by the brand. Consumers regularly share their thoughts about what they like and don’t like about certain products or brand initiatives. Therefore, it is important for brands to listen and respond to these comments. For example, Rebecca Minkoff said she listens to consumer feedback from her social media pages when designing accessories. She once put up on Facebook a photo of a handbag she was working on and asked if it was too tough-looking. Based on consumer-response, she revised the design. Minkoff relishes the opinions of her brand advocates, because at the end of the day, they end up purchasing her products.

Accessible Aspiration – Style Experts, Models, Fashion Blogger Engagement:

When a brand partners with a well-known spokesperson to represent it, it’s important that the spokesperson engages in conversation with consumers via social media. Conversation, tips and tidbits from a style expert, celebrity, model, or blogger are considered a reward to the consumer. They appreciate the connection to these fashion figures because they are now on the same level and platform as they are, where before, these figures were inaccessible.

Consumer Experiences Help Shape a Brand’s Products:

Rebecca Minkoff discussed how the life experiences of her target audience shape the accessories she designs. For example, her best-selling “Morning After” handbag is based on the lives of women ages 20-29 who may be single, dating, or adjusting to life changes. Inside this purse is a faux business card with an image of a good-looking man and a number which connects to the Minkoff headquarters. By adding this personal touch and relating this bag to the experiences of her target audience, Minkoff adds a layer of authenticity

I admit I’m not sold on Google+. It’s selfish really – I don’t want another profile to update or network to build up. But, amidst reports that the social platform has surpassed 90 million users and will be rolling out its Search, plus Your World initiative, I felt I owed it a second glance.

At the start of the Global Google+ Hangout session at Columbia’s Social Media Weekend, I was happy to hear Sree Sreenivasan, the event’s organizer, mimic my feelings on the subject of new social media platforms. He shared a few wise words to consider before hopping on the bandwagon of a hot new social tool:

“Think first, does it fit into my workflow? Does it fit into my life flow?”

“Always be an early tester and a late adopter.”

Leaving us with the statement that, “Google+ is Google’s last stand with social, their last chance to make it work,” he introduced us to Daniel Sieberg of Google.

I watched with a skeptical eye as Daniel rattled off brief factoids about Google+ (200 features have been added since its launch, 3.5 billion photos have been shared through the platform, etc.), but when we hopped on a Hangout On Air video chat with Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product Management at Google and journalists in London, Berlin, Jakarta and Istanbul, things got a bit more interesting.

See, a Hangout On Air is not just another video conference call. Still in the Whitelist stage, Hangout On Air is the evolution of the Hangout (yes, a tool that just launched four months ago is already evolving). To summarize, Hangout on Air turns your computer into a mini broadcast tower. In their words, it’s the next generation of citizen journalism.

Here are the two key Hangout On Air stats that really struck a chord with me:

• As you video chat with up to 10 people from your Circles, the Hangout On Air can be seen live on your Google+ stream for all to see
  • This allows others to see and talk about the video chat, even if they cannot participate in it (engagement, engagement, engagement!)
  • When the video chat is over, it is automatically saved as a private or public YouTube file
    • This saves the video chat for use as future content on all social pages and guarantees additional visibility (YouTube is the top video search engine and second largest search engine, period!)

While remaining an intimate video chat among a small group of people, the whole world has the ability to listen in and discuss during real time, and can refer back and engage with the content at any point afterwards since it is a saved YouTube file.

Daniel and Bradley shared stories of rural hospitals receiving live expertise from large city hospitals during surgeries and other unique uses for Hangouts. The possibilities for this new technology are far-reaching.

I still may not be sold on Google+ for personal use, but I can absolutely see the amazing potential the Hangout On Air feature holds for brands.

Whether you’re new to social media or a seasoned user, Sree Sreenivasan’s Social Media Weekend was meant to be a learning experience for everyone. The primary goal behind this event was to share best practices with journalists and media professionals when using social media, and stress the importance of connection. A common thread seen throughout the conference was personal branding. Some savvy social media minds shared their thoughts on social media and its impact on journalism and media; here are some of the key takeaways from that day:

Know who you are.

Never shy away from being you. Pick two to three subjects that define you and demonstrate your niche. Sree Sreenivasan said: “Think about the top 10-15 people following you whenever you tweet. Aim not to bore them.” Regularly update your social media profiles to include the most up-to-date information. It is important to constantly recreate your bio; it is the one place where you can brag about your accomplishments.

Think before you tweet.

Don’t bore or more importantly, misinform your followers. Consider what you’re tweeting to them. Sreenivasan added: “Everyone will miss almost everything you do on social media.” Keep it interesting, find new ways to engage with your community, but remember that your personal brand is an extension of your parent company. Steve Rubel shared a great example – Derek Jeter as an extension of the Yankees baseball brand. Through his own personal pages, Jeter gives the Yankees a humanistic quality and acts as the face behind the brand.

Timing is everything.

Unique content becomes spreadable content when the timing is perfect. We are living in a world of real-time news, where breaking stories are reported instantaneously. There are positives and negatives to this. Reporting breaking stories first can build trust within your community, but rushing and misreporting a story can result in major issues. The false report of Joe Paterno’s death was a great example mentioned during the Sports & Social Media Panel by Richard Deitsch: “As in Paterno’s death, one blogger source was used to break the story. Leading to one blogger embarrassing a major corporation.” Had this corporation verified its sources before releasing the story, this situation may have never happened. While it can be frustrating to wait, ESPN’s Joe Schad added: “I tweet what I know when I know it.”

My colleagues Dara Cothran [When What Happens in Vegas Goes Global] and Katie Cwayna [The Sexy Way] have each shared their personal observations from their first trips to the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with Skype and Case-Mate respectively. As a veteran of many CES shows, I would like to share a few general observations from CES about product marketing and social media that I believe brands should consider when participating in this or other large conferences or trade shows:

The Power of Celebrity - From former sports stars (Dennis Rodman, Robert Horry, John Salley and Carl Banks) to music talent (Justin Bieber, LL Cool J, 50 Cent, Ludacris and Will.i.am) and from television stars (Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Greg Grunberg, Wayne Brady and Ryan Seacrest) to Hollywood actors (Eliza Dushku), celebrities were spotted pushing product all around CES. While having these notable names was good for booth traffic or drawing in large RSVP numbers for parties, it’s questionable whether the investment will translate into product sales. Mashable reported that 85% of social media mentions about those celebs did not reference the gadgets or companies they were promoting at CES. Brands need to re-think the put-a-celeb-in-our-booth approach going forward.

Social Media – On-Site Engagement Tool or Broadcast Channel? – Lots of brands at CES sought to use social media as a way of engaging those in the industry walking around the show floor. From contests attached to Foursquare check-ins to Twitter giveaways for retweeting different phrases or #hashtags, there were all kinds of ways to win products and/or tickets to shows or other Vegas experiences. However, brands that pursued these types of tactics forgot to factor in one big thing: network connectivity. With overloaded WiFI and 3G networks, people couldn’t get online, making it nearly impossible to engage with the brands whose booths they were patrolling. However, other brands decided to use social media as a channel to share what was going on at CES with those people who couldn’t be in Vegas. Some common approaches were hours of livestreamed interviews or reports from the show floor, as demonstrated by Panasonic Live@CES and Facebook Live, or just simple Flickr galleries posted by brands showing their booth presence and their new products. The key lesson for brands? Define the goals for using social media at large events like CES and factor in how availability of network infrastructure impacts the definition of the goals.

No Longer Consumer Electronics for Technology’s Sake – Increasingly, consumer electronics brands have fully realized and embraced the need to present their technology products as integrated into consumers’ daily lifestyles. Not only was this insight reflected in product design, as demonstrated by the explosion of thin and light ultrabooks unveiled at CES, but also in the design of booths across the show floor where the technology and products were presented in real-life settings. And the emergence of the tablet is increasingly infiltrating the workplace, as demonstrated by companies like GE, Aetna and Comcast, each of which have announced formal programs to give iPads to all of their employees. By thinking and acting this way, companies are increasingly able to set the proper context in which their new devices are to be used. Ultimately, this translates to helping consumers better understand which devices are actually right for their personal and or professional needs.

The mere mention of Las Vegas evokes sensory overload, but when you add 153,000 tech enthusiasts and 3,100 exhibitors occupying nearly 1.9 million square feet of exhibit space for the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (January 10-13), it’s an explosion!. You’d better be on your best behavior as well, because with over 6,500 media in attendance, there is no chance, despite what the commercials promise, that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Thanks to the modern media mix, everything at CES was news – from the length of the cab lines to surprise celeb appearances.

This was the biggest year ever for CES and fellow Kaplow-ite Chaim Haas and I attended as part of the Skype public relations team. Skype is a CES veteran, but this was the brand’s first public appearance since being acquired by Microsoft. Our team had the enviable position of being both a part of the large Microsoft booth presence and still being able to express our fun Skype brand personality in the Skype Lounge, located in the Central Plaza outside the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The Skype Lounge was a big draw.  Most attendees were too busy working the floor at CES to check out all the sights in Vegas, so Skype came to the rescue, bringing the sights to them! Skype’s roving reporters visited Vegas hot-spots like the Stratosphere, Indoor Skydiving, the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris, the gondola rides at the Venetian and shared the moment with CES attendees back at the booth via LIVE video calls on a giant TV screen inside the Skype Lounge. At any given moment, people crowded into the booth to catch all the action. Wax Elvis even made an in-booth appearance while our roving reporters were visiting Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in the heart of the Strip.

Skype is now available everywhere and on many different devices. Through our social media channels, we encouraged CES attendees to “SpotSkype” and share the pictures with us. Big congratulations are also in order for some of Skype’s partners who launched new products this year. This includes: Panasonic’s VIERA Connect TV featuring a new Social TV feature, which allows consumers to connect with friends and family via Skype while they are watching TV; Logitech unveiled a full HD Webcam for 1080p video calling over Skype; and Sony Electronics unveiled the Sony Bloggie Live HD camera with live streaming capabilities thanks to the integration of Qik right on the device. Capping off a great week, the Sony Bloggie Live HD was named recipient of a “Best of CES” award from LAPTOP Magazine.

As a fashionista living in Manhattan, the thought of going to the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was quite intimidating. After all, I prefer a PC over a Mac and my old BlackBerry to the new iPhone 4S. Let’s face it; I just learned how to tweet.

Knowing I would be surrounded by savvy techies and cutting-edge consumer electronics, I even contemplated toning down my wardrobe, but I didn’t have to, as I was at CES with Case-Mate, the leader in fashion forward mobile tech accessories.

As a virgin to both Vegas and CES, I was pleasantly surprised by just how hip CES is. From a PR perspective, this makes a lot of sense. Companies not only have to have quality products and ground-breaking innovations, but they need to attract media and buyers to their booths using whatever approaches it takes. I saw everything from Justin Bieber to booth babes and even people jumping on trampolines. Case-Mate didn’t need any of this because its booth’s high design, quality products and team spoke for itself.

Some favorites from the show included a new Tortoiseshell case for the hip socialite, a Phantom case for the Soul Cycle enthusiast and a POP! ID case for the minimalist bar-goer. The booth represented Case-Mate’s philosophy of “happiness by design” and showcased all of the products in a fun and vibrant way, even allowing guests to make their own cases on-site or trade in their old cases for a new one. And the team was authentic and genuine – each Case-Mate team member dressed their smartphones up with a case that matched their individual style.

Whether it’s a brand, product or idea – CES is the place to make it come to life in a way that is authentic (and sometimes even unusual). What I learned:  if tech can be sexy, anything can be!

Today’s connected consumer suffers from what can only be termed the “Times Square Effect.” The other night, I walked out of a Broadway show and was immediately bombarded by the neon signs and noisy soundtracks of brands trying to attract consumers’ attention. I walked away not remembering a single message from any one specific brand. The “Times Square Effect” is following consumers 24-7-365 as brands compete both online and offline for audience attention and share. PR professionals, who have long been the stewards of a company’s message, must now help curate the enormous amounts of content being thrown at consumers. They are already using social media to create, control and communicate their own experiences. We can help by making sure our output is relevant, useful and meaningful to them.  People are not just craving more information—they also want context from and an emotional connection to the brands they use every day.

Consumers want to know what a brand is all about, the humanity behind it, if you will, and they now have the digital tools and resources to find out. If brands aren’t ready to tell their story, consumers can and will decide what it is. This means that even more than before, starting at the top, companies are now asking themselves: “Who are we and what do we stand for?” Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is about weaving that cause throughout the company’s corporate DNA, so that it becomes evident in everything the company does. Companies are also now faced, more than ever, with having to communicate authentically to their customers and potential customers—in real time. PR practitioners have always been about developing relationships and projecting the humanity of a brand. We are a natural fit to help companies recognize the benefits, and navigate the pitfalls, of real time interaction.

At the end of the day, this is an exciting time for PR and for companies looking to get their message out. The potential for greater creativity is boundless as we have more tools to help clients service consumers. The opportunity to help customers connect with brands that share their concerns and values through meaningful content and conversation is palpable. I’m looking forward to what the rest of 2012 will bring—including the unexpected.

As Kaplow’s new summer intern, I was fortunate to attend the 140 Characters Conference in NYC this year.   While I was there, I had the privilege of listening to Hank Wasiak, Jay Ehret, DJ Khaled, Matt Gibbs and Mark Horvath to name a few.

For two hours, the topics varied from branding to dating advice to Playboy, to tweeting about taxes to fighting homelessness through social media.  However, every 10-minute speech boiled down to the powerful effect that social media plays in today’s world.

Four particular brands that were discussed have taken strong initiatives on Twitter to join the conversation and connect with its consumers:  Turbo Tax, the IRS, We Are Visible and Playboy.

With a team of more than 80 employees dedicated to tweeting with customers, Turbo Tax claims that using social media creates a persuasive engine to acquire new customers and retain the ones they already have.  January to April is the company’s primary season, and it has found great success using Twitter as a customer service venue to distribute information.

The IRS has replicated the same concept with their brand on Twitter by having five different Twitter accounts primarily used for information sharing – not conversation.

Other organizations such as We Are Visible, which uses Twitter to fight homelessness, use social media solely for the human connection of having conversations.  Mark Horvath, founder of We Are Visible and InvisiblePeople.tv, feels that social media and other online tools can bring the homeless much-needed visibility.  So far he’s been right.  With the help of Twitter and Horvath, two homeless women from last year’s 140 Conference now have homes, and one of those women now teaches other homeless people how to properly use social media to tell their story.

Playboy, on the other hand, utilizes its social media presence a little differently.  It targets its community or “VIP club,” as Matt Gibbs, Playboy Social Media and Audience Development Manager, calls it.  The brand wants its followers to feel special so they provide exclusive deals and sneak peeks of its products to its fans first.  In addition, each Playmate is trained on social media platforms and introduced to Playboy’s five million fans the month her centerfold is released so that she knows how to manage what some call, “overwhelming exposure”.

Regardless of the brand, social media can make and has made a difference in the way we communicate and interact with one another.  Hank Wasiak, an author, TV host, Teacher and Partner at The Concept Farm, emphasized the important role of brands in social media today.  Below are some of his thoughts:

I agree with Wasiak and thanks to my professor at Ball State University, Brad King, I know that it’s important to recognize the types of people that interact online:  creators, critics, spectators, collectors, joiners and conversationalists.  By knowing and understanding how these people interact, brands will be able to communicate, engage and energize their brand more effectively through social media, which will consequently change the conversation.

New York Internet Week is upon us again, and Kaplow’s Kdrive social media team (@chaimhaas @rgedarov @beasocial @whoaadreambig @badashdesigns) have been busy attending as many events as possible.

On Monday morning, I attended a panel hosted at the Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan Chelsea titled, “The Social Media Simplicity Toolkit: How to Avoid Over Complicating your Brand Online”.

The panel consisted of Stephen Zangre, Manager of Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook; Jared Feldman, CEO & Founder of Mashwork, a social media listening software solution; Myles Kleeger, General Manager of Strategic Brand Partnerships at Buddy Media; and Chris Phenner, Vice President of Business Development at digital advertising firm TBG Digital. Karen Robinovitz, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer at Digital Brand Architects acted as moderator.

The majority of the interactive discussion focused on brand presence on Facebook. Here are a few of my top takeaways from the discussion:

1. Less is More

All the panelists agreed: brands that keep things simple garner the most engagement. “More complicated is not the best course,” Zangre said. He noted than a simple, sharable consumer experience is often better than an advanced, complicated custom application. For contests, promotions and sweepstakes, the lower the barrier for entry is, the greater the engagement from consumers will be.

Kleeger also reinforced that brevity is aligned with success. In a recent study conducted by Buddy Media, Facebook Wall updates that were under 80 characters in length received 27% more engagement from consumers.

2. Don’t Sell, Engage

“Hard selling is a big mistake,” said Zangre. “Brands, it’s not all about you here [on Facebook].”
Brands have to give their target consumers something useful and interactive to continually win over their attention on the platform and hopefully turn them into brand advocates. Brands should be cultivating relationships with their consumers, not barraging them by simply broadcasting only self-serving messages.

Feldman put it best with an interesting quote: “You don’t follow a comedian’s page because they are funny – you follow them because you want to laugh.”

3. Know Your Target Audience

The inevitable question of “how does my brand get more Likes” was asked. Phenner, a self-professed ‘Likes arms dealer’, discussed how knowing who your audience is and what their interests are is key. Research is paramount. “Know what the people you want to target are interested in, and then give it to them,” Kleeger added.

4. Be Able to Answer the Question, “Why are we on this Platform?”

It sounds like a simple question, but many brands jump into Facebook and other social media platforms (due to hype, because their competitors are there, because they saw an article about it) without being able to answer, “What does your brand want to accomplish by being on Facebook?”

The answer can vary widely based on the brand’s greater business goals, but there needs to be a clear underlying purpose for that brand’s presence on a social media platform that can then be measured against. All the panelists agreed that brands need to have goals and a comprehensive content strategy that caters to those goals before their Facebook presence even launches.

Foursquare: Is it a game you played on the playground; or is it a game you play in the palm of your hand, with your city as the playground? Neither, actually. Though just as playful, foursquare is more useful than either gaming solution.

As a location-based mobile utility, foursquare helps you navigate your city and discover new places within it. You can either ‘check-in’ or simply ‘Explore’ nearby hotspots, niche venues and even deals, with the click of a button.

To demonstrate the relevance of foursquare’s newest features to everyday consumers, Kaplow kicked off a series of walking tours, in which we invite a few reporters on a four-block tour, using foursquare as our compass.

Just a few days ago, we recently took a handful of travel journalists with us as we “played tourist” in the charming Lower East Side of Manhattan. Strolling along Stanton street, we stumbled upon everything from discounted drinks to the greatest sweet-tooth solution known to New York.

As our fellow “tourists” learned, and consequently shared with their readers, it’s incredible what you’ll discover in a city where you’ve lived your whole life!

Kaplow is excited to help change the foursquare conversation from “Maybe I’ll win the Mayorship there” to “Man, Aziza J. just went to Mamoun’s and said the falafel was fantastic! Let’s go there.”