Two weeks ago, I spoke at Rochester Institute of Technology’s Social Media And Communication Symposium (SMACS). In my talk, I used the analogy of a cupcake to social media strategy.

Cake: Start with the cake of a cupcake. With Social Media, the cake is you, your brand, your product or service, as well as your message and mission.

Filling: Whether it is gooey caramel, cream or jelly, cupcakes often have a filling. For a social media strategy, the filling is the content. With every social media Strategy there needs to be a content strategy. The content strategy is what you say, when you say it, and how often. Content strategy is also who you listen to and who you are talking to.

Frosting: Some people believe that a cupcake is just a delivery channel for frosting. Similarly for social media, many focus too much on the delivery channels of their content. Twitter and Facebook and pretty essential, but don’t forget blogs, as well. Blogs are where you can write longer than 140 or 420 characters. If you are doing social media for yourself, not a business or brand, then Google + can be effective. However, if it is for a business, you may want to hold off using Google+ as a delivery channel until the business profile for Google+ become available.

Sprinkles: For cupcakes, the sprinkles are often optional. When it comes to social media, sprinkles work as long as they fit the flavor of your strategy. If the social media strategy is for a storefront business, then using geo-location services like Foursquare, Yelp, Foodspotting, Google Places may be great for you. If you want to offer deals, then you can check out Living Social or Google Offers. If you or your product is photo-friendly, then sites like Instagram and Flickr is great.  The point is to figure out which sprinkles are effective for executive your strategy. When the sprinkles work, they add an extra oomph to the social media strategy.  If the sprinkles don’t work, then brush them off and enjoy the cupcake.

Since spring of 2004, I have been producing events.  First it was producing Chicks and Giggles, a comedy show. Now it is monthly cupcake meetups as well as the occasional clothing swap. My next event is The Red Velvet Cake Debate on Friday, October 14.  I have a curated a panel of bakers and food writers to talk about the red velvet cake phenomenon.

Here are some of the basic steps that I have about producing events:

1. Have an idea of what the event will look like:  envision the venue, the attendees, the speakers or performers, the vibe. Is it for networking? professional? entertainment? educational?

2. Have a date in mind. Make sure it doesn’t conflict with an event that you potential audience would attend.  For example, having fundraisers benefiting the same charity on the same night is not a good idea.

3. Secure the dream venue.  Location, location, location. Having a clothing swap in a place that has lots of mirrors and is well-lit is better than having it in a dark bar.

4. If the dream venue can’t accommodate your date, be flexible.  However, don’t hesitate to seek out other places if  the date can’t be move.

5. Once date and venue are set, tell people. Even if you don’t have all the details confirmed, let people know about it by sending out a “save the date” message.  This builds anticipation.

6. Get anchors!  Vendors, sponsors, speakers, performers and the like want to be a part of something cool. However, they want to know if you already have an “anchor tenant”.  Like how Macy’s is the anchor tenant in a mall, you have to go for that marquee person or brand that will compel people to do the event.  People want to be around people they aspire to be.  Facilitating this is a great way to get people on board.

7. Promote. All the time. Offline. Online. In your sleep. The best thing is about having an upcoming event is that I always have something to say when I am a party or meeting someone new. Hopefully, they can attend or know someone who can possibly speak, sponsor, etc.

8.   Get volunteers. They can provide a hand or just make sure you don’t forget anything.

9. Sweat the details.  Day before event you have to run through anything you might have missed, and go grab anything you may need.

10. Relax. An hour before the event,  you should be chilling.  Anything that is missing or last minute cancellations are often things you can’t fix easily.  You are often at the venue so only thing is get a friend or volunteer to help you run an errand, if needed.

Update: The Red Velvet Cake Debate sold out and was featured in the New York Times Diner’s Journal.