If you’re into “social” (and who isn’t?!), Swig Social is definitely something to consider for your events. We have had the chance to work with them a few times in the BizBash Social Media Lounge and with our PlannerTech event and I recently had the chance to interview them about their expanded brand. They are doing some very cool things that you will want to check out for your next event.
SWIG Social is a social content agency run by photographers Mat Szwajkos and Erin Wigger. They are social storytellers who take offline events into the digital space by creating photo and video content that can be instantly shared across branded social media feeds. Among their amazing clients are Ford Motor Company, Sony Electronics, Calvin Klein and Hugo Boss. Your brand has a story. They make your main characters look sensational.
What services do you offer and what inspired you to create them?
As social media-savvy photographers we saw a real gap between a brand’s official content (advertising campaigns, commercials) and the content they put out on their social feeds. We saw some high level brands tweeting out photos shot by an intern with a Blackberry. We think that ALL content, photography and video, should be of the same caliber across all channels, social and otherwise. And we provide that high-level photo and video content to brands. Social media is a crucial piece of a brand’s online presence, so we became experts at turning offline events into viral media experiences.
Our LiveAction coverage is like normal event coverage on steroids. Our photographers cover every important moment of your event PLUS they send photos out on the brand’s social media feeds. It’s engagement with ALL fans, not just those in attendance. With our Viral PhotoStudio we capture high-resolution photos of guests during 30-sec mini-photoshoots, add a brand-stamp, and post them on the spot — with the company handle + hashtag, of course. We snag each photo subject’s name + Twitter handle, so they can check out their VIPortrait the moment it goes live — and then share, tweet + Like it.
Can this be used for an organization that is not super familiar with social media? Is it brandable?
Everything we create is definitely brandable. We add brand + event logos so as the photos get shared across the social sphere the brand impressions increase. Those photos live on as profile photos or in Facebook galleries so their influence only grows over time. Our services work best with events, brands and organizations that already have some social media strategy in place and want to grow or engage with that audience. But we also work with companies to develop a social content strategy from scratch. If you don’t have a clue how to start telling your story, we can help with that too.
Why the focus on social? What do you think it can do for events?
Social is the bee’s knees. Seriously, the potential is HUGE for brands to connect and engage with their followers. We believe that by telling social stories, companies can increase their influence, their audience and thus their bottom line. For live events, social media empowers those not in attendance to feel like they’re part of the action.We believe a picture is worth more than 140 characters.
What is the best success story you can share about the social experiences that you create?
Our clients are amazed at the reach of our services but that’s just what happens when you have compelling content that fans want to share. A Viral PhotoStudio with as little as 43 images has had a reach of over 135K Facebook users. A single image on Twitter has had over 24K views and trended on the Twitpic homepage. We’ve been extremely successful at creating branded photographic experiences that craft online conversations during and after events.
Calvin Klein has used our LiveAction Coverage at their runway shows for the past six seasons to add professional content to their Twitter and Facebook feeds in real time. When Joe Jonas, Zac Efron, and Kellan Lutz arrived at the men’s show we captured the moment and shared it via the @CalvinKlein Twiiter feed within 6 minutes. That single image was viewed over 24K times, re-tweeted over 1600 times and also trended on the Twiptic home page.
You can check out more of our work at http://swigsocial.com and follow us on Twitter @swigsocial.
