Lately, more people are doing social media for clients and part of that is a numbers game. Like a amateur comedian just starting out, you have to have a certain amount of people coming to the show to perform. These are known as bringer show. If you are a friend or acquaintance of someone doing comedy, then you know about the dreaded bringer show. You get pinged often by people asking to come to the show. Similarly, some social media gigs require a certain amount of “Likes”, “Retweets”, “Followers”, etc. First of all, I recommend to stop over-promising to clients. Building social media presence is long term process. Secondly, the strain that you may be putting on your friendships is not worth it. a A better strategy is to find which subset of friends who may be interested and message them. Stop sending blanket updates to everyone and please don’t beg for RTs. If you treat social media outreach like a bringer show, no one will come and the joke will be on you.

Yesterday, I went to an insightful Social Media Week at the office of 360i. Beth Reilly, Digital & Social Marketing Lead at Kraft Foods and Sarah Hofstetter, President of 360i, led a session on “How Oreo is Using Social to Celebrate 100 Years of Brand Love.” Oreo has over 24 million Facebook likes and they engage daily with their Facebook community.  The page features a member of the community’s birthday every day as part of their centennial celebration which will be in March.  They also encourage people to share #oreomoments on the Facebook page.  It is interesting how Oreo draws upon both nostalgia and innovation to build interest in the brand. Here’s some of my tweets from the event.

Find conversations about brand that are happening outside branded sm to your brand’s community to stimulate more engagement. #smworeo — Nichelle Stephens (@niche) February 14, 2012

.@oreo social media efforts has lead to 2.5M earned impressions so social media does help earned media. #smworeo — Nichelle Stephens (@niche) February 14, 2012

.@oreo built a platform for brand love that is agnostic of social media channel- across platform. #oreomoments #smworeo — Nichelle Stephens (@niche) February 14, 2012

RT @Spilleigh: “Social media is a conversation, not a one night stand” #SMWNYC #SMWOreo

— Liz Dennebaum (@LizelleD) February 14, 2012

The second annual Social Media Week was a success. There were lots of good panels and interesting people. I heard people got job interviews, made business deals and garnered new friends and followers.

Monday, I attended the Branding The Future With Social Engagement panel which was sponsored by Pepsi Refresh. Kelly from Media Post covered the event.

Wednesday, I was like chasing a dragon but there were no drugs involved. Four stops in one night started with Next New Networks party, Women in Social Media panel, Sound CTRL event and drinks with Brian Solis.

Lunch with Jeff Pulver and 50 people at the Roger Smith was fun. I met MWW’s Alex Payne. I also met  Joe Mulligan and Art Jones. Thursday evening, I went to Keen Kong party and Obliterati.

Friday’s food and social media panel at Whole Foods was good. I stuck around afterward to hang out with @db @joemull and @rklas for sushi. Joe created the Bowery Roll.

PB249059, originally uploaded by Logged Hours.

Since I am all about pre-gaming for my birthday, my friends and I stopped by the Thrillist party after the Agency Spy party last night. When we got there, the line outside was almost around the block, but luckily Flavie, Thrillist’s wonderful Director of Communications, got us in quickly. It was good to see old friends and a new one, Marlo from Sweet Revenge. She was there because her delicious cupcakes were there. I just wish that the were not displayed in plastic cups, but the party people were probably too busy dancing  and/or hooking up to notice. The party was crazy crowded which facilitated a cameo appearance by us before dashing out to grab dinner at Mr. Dennehy’s. The server there was nice and the food was pretty tasty. Carmine Street is quickly becoming one of my new favorite places in the Village.

tim the golden ticket winner, originally uploaded by nichellest.

The 4th Annual Delicious Sandwich Social was yesterday at Prospect Park. It was so much fun. The weather was beautiful, and I got to see comedian friends that I haven’t seen in ages.

The point of the social is to meet other people who made the sandwiches that are exchanged. I made a portobello mushroom sandwich with muenster cheese pepperjack cheese and green pepper. Eliot Glazer got my sandwich and he loved it. We also ate cupcakes from Ivy Bakery. The butter pecan onces were my favorite.

Tim won the golden ticket which means he got a bag of cool stuff including a pretty black and white polka dot apron and glove set from Carolyn’s Kitchen. Yay!

kim and me, originally uploaded by nichellest.

Here’s my first post in a new weekly feature where I highlight the folks I have met in the past week. Starting with last night and rewinding back to Monday, I have met and hung out with so many cool people. Last night I stopped by the launch party for Glam’s new lifestyle blog network, Black Life and I caught up with Kim. Kim (pictured above) and I met briefly four years ago at a AfroPunk event where Stiffed played. The lead singer of Stiffed is now Santogold. Kim works at a cool arts nonprofit, Making Books Sing. Kim introduced me to her friend Kelly who is an event producer from Ubiquita NYC. Before the Glam party, I went to a clothing swap at St. Margaret’s House and was interviewed by meteorologist Elise Finch from WCBS News Channel 2. Hopefully, my comments about being green and ecologically correct will air on the news.

After the Glam party, I met Marissa, stylist and owner of Ke Haas Salon on Clinton Street on the Lower East Side.

During the day, I interviewed two dynamic CEOs. I met with Aaron Patzer of Mint in person and talked to Karen Northrup of Corefino over the phone.

Tuesday, I stopped by Ladies Lotto briefly, and I met Tina who is the founder/designer of Laid Back Home.

Monday, I went to a networking happy hour sponsored by American Business Media. I met Vikas Sapra who recognized me from Twitter. He is a techie and a turntablist.