360DigitalInfluence

What happens when you take a bunch of Web 2.0 gurus armed with laptops and iPhones, ship them down to college town in Texas, and hold the most important social media confab in all the land?

You have South By Southwest Interactive - an event that has arguably done more for Austin, TX’s reputation and tourism industry over the last few years than the Longhorn football team.

Attendees at SXSWi 2009 (Creative Commons image courtesy of indigoprime on Flickr)

South By Southwest Interactive (SXSWI) has made Austin THE place for social media discussion, innovation and, to the regret of some (and delight of others), karaoke.

Brands from PepsiCo (Ogilvy PR works for several divisions of PepsiCo but did not do any work for SxSWi) to Levi’s to Dos Equis to Dell and many others had one sort of presence or another (ranging from official sponsor to party-thrower).

In a world where social media has become a powerful force in making or breaking brands, why not harness that power to make your destination brand?

Landing the hosting duties for the next big social media conference (whether you are a city or a hotel) could be a way to ingratiate your destination/property with key influencers, and bask in the halo of all the conference-related content that lives on for eternity in social media.