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| Jen, me, and Sheila with Don Thompson, CEO of McDonald’s |
I’m waving to you all from Las Vegas! I left Chicago early yesterday to make my way to Vegas for Blogalicious. So before the excitement of Blogalicious starts, I wanted to share my experience at the McDonald’s AMOA Symposium. The symposium was for McDonald’s owner/operations who are Asian and/or who own stores with a large Asian consumer base. Owners discuss trends, marketing, advertising, etc and how it relates to Asian American consumers.
Our Asian mom blogger session was later in the afternoon so I was worried that all the McDonald’s owner/operators would feel a bit sleepy. I know I was getting sleepy myself. It was not the case. Everyone was enthralled and amazed by the power of social media and social media influencers. It was a running theme during many of the sessions before ours.
This crowd was a lot more aware about social media that the folks I spoke to at the 3AF conference back in May. When you’re speaking on stage and there’s bright lights shining in your eyes, it’s hard to tell how the audience is reacting. The response after our panel was great. So many people walked up to me, Sheila and Jen. Some where in awe of what we did. Others felt enlightened.
When my head is in the blogging world, I forget that other people are not immersed in social media like I am. It’s refreshing. It reminds me to look at social media from their viewpoint. These people were eager to learn, even excited about how social media can help them engage with their customers.
As a blogger, I’ve worked with McDonald’s a few times. As a brand, McDonald’s understands the importance of social media. I’m impressed by how responsive they are on Twitter (both the local and national accounts). I’m really impressed that they are listening to their consumers (as during the BlogHer breakfast they hosted). I know not everyone likes McDonald’s, but I feel like they are working really hard to give consumers what they want.
Another cool thing. I mentioned how much I love coffee during my panel. Annette from Gaviña Gourmet Coffee came up to me and offered to send me some of their coffee. Now she’s talking my language! A woman who works in the coffee business!
Blogalicious doesn’t start until Friday so I today I plan on hanging out by the pool with a book and a cocktail!
AMOA and IW Group, who organizes the symposium, covered my travel and lodging as a speaker. All opinions are 100% my own. I might have requested that McDonald’s return to putting hot fudge at the bottom of the sundae like they used. There can never be too much hot fudge, right?
Oh, and visit IW Group’s website. I love its design. You’ll have fun exploring it.