Social Media Day was launched by Mashable back in 2010 as a way to recognize and celebrate all things social media in our community. It gives social media enthusiasts and professionals an opportunity to connect offline with the networks they have been communicating with online all year long! June 30th was chosen as the date to celebrate, so that’s exactly what we decided to do!
After being involved in Social Media Day the past few years here in Tampa Bay, NHIE decided it was our turn to take the reins and throw an over the top party to honor all things social media in the Bay Area! We began by reaching out to sponsors to see who would be game and where we could throw an awesome event. Well, these two things came super easy to us! Thanks to Reeves VW, we had our title sponsor in a snap and when you combine that with Ferg’s Live Tampa, we knew we were off to hosting an amazing event this year!
Next, we needed food and drinks. Cue JJ Taylor Distributing FL, Inc. and Tito’s Vodka. These two really stepped up to help provide our attendees with great beer and cocktails while we all got to hang out face to face. Ferg’s handled the food which was a crowd pleaser and we just HAD to invite our friends at The Sweet Tooth Cakery back to create some more awesome cupcakes! We definitely couldn’t have done it without their help. And speaking of help, let’s not forget the amazing raffle prizes that were donated to help raise money for local startup, Tech Start Tampa Bay. Their goal is to inspire local youth through the use of technology. With the help of our amazing raffle sponsors, we were able to bring in over $700 for the charity that will now be used to revamp a few of their after-school programs for local students interested in tech!
What were these prizes you ask? Well, let me tell you, they did not disappoint! Here’s the list of Raffle Packages we were able to put together thanks to all of our local sponsors!
Raffle #1 Get Fit Package ($100+ Value)
- $25 Gift Card
- Cooler
- Water Bottle
- Two Biyak or Water Bike Rentals
Royal Blue VW Baseball Cap
Raffle #2 VW Bus Bag ($100+ Value)
Vintage VW Baseball Cap
- Two Biyak or Water Bike Rentals
Raffle #3 VW Backpack ($100 Value)
Raffle #4 VW Wireless Bluetooth Speaker ($90 Value)
Raffle #5 Local Love Pack #1 ($60 Value)
Raffle #6 Local Love Pack #2 ($150 Value)
- 4th of July Tank Top
- 10 pack Gift Certificate
Raffle #7 Sunday Funday Pack ($94 Value)
– Two Pack of One Month Memberships
Raffle #8 Ritz Ybor VIP Package ($150 Value)
- 2 VIP Tickets to Upcoming Show of Choice
- $20 Bar Tab
Raffle #9 Guy’s Pack ($80 Value)
– 2 Ella Bing Bowties
Raffle #10 Great Escape Room Package ($170 Value)
- 4 Escape Vouchers
- Bonefish Grill $50 Gift Card
Raffle #11 VW Corn Hole Set ($75 Value)
– $50 Bonefish Grill Gift Card
Raffle # 12 Girl’s Pack ($125+ Value)
– 60 Minute Facial
- Girl’s Goodie Bag
Raffle # 13 Ferg’s Live Raffle ($50 Value)
#SMDAY Award Picture Prizes
So we had everything ready to go for the event. Now, how can we make it a unique experience for some of our favorite VIPS? Well, Reeves helped out a ton by providing us with six of their awesome VW cars to participate in a VIP blogger caravan! We paired up the VIPs, had the cars labeled to match their riders and sent them out to find 4 local landmarks in Tampa. @SMDayTampa on Instagram posted a clue on their page which drivers then had to locate and take a group photo with. Once posted online, the @SMDayTampa team would post the next clue. It made for a great time, so thanks to Green Bar Labs for holding down the social media and website for the event! Additionally, we got to bring along our new friend, PJ Agostini, local photographer and head of Agostini Photography for additional support during the event. He was a back seat rider who snapped away as we drove on our journey through Tampa Bay. Stay tuned for all of his awesome coverage of the event! And if you didn’t follow the screens last night at the event, you should definitely check out #Tagboard, a cool way to discover social media for an event and quickly share it with the attendees!
We were so pleased with how everything turned out that we are already working on plans for the next #SMDayTampa! We began last night by announcing the first ever Social Media Day Awards. Next year, we will honor some of our best community leaders in social media after considering feedback from the Tampa Bay audience. We look forward to seeing how this play out over the next year.
So again, thanks to everyone who helped make last night’s event a HUGE and OVERWHELMING success. We look forward to making next year’s even better! Until then, tweet….post…comment…like….share….and follow us! #NHIETB
– Nicholas
NHIE Guys 
Awesome job everyone! It turned out to be such an amazing event and I absolutely cannot wait until next year!