GRAND RAPIDS – Social Media and grass-roots, viral marketing have helped Grand Rapids become a big name in many arenas thanks to campaigns like Beer City USA, Google Fiber, Artprize, Laughfest, Kids Food Basket ?Toyota 100 Cars for Good? and more. How did Grand Rapids get here?

Join aimWest Sept. 25 to hear West Michigan Social Media experts talk about how they helped promote grass root campaigns to gain recognition for Grand Rapids.

Moderator

Paul Jendrasiak ? Spambully/Radio Host

Panelists

Andrea Robyns ? Experience GR

Pete Brand ? Mindscape/Google Fiber

Laura Caprara ? Stellafly Social Media

Derek DeVries ? Lambert, Edwards & Associates, Derek DeVries Consulting

Andrea Robyns is the Interactive Web & Design Manager at Experience Grand Rapids where her role includes overseeing the ExperienceGR.com website, social media and other marketing projects that help bring visitors to Grand Rapids. Andrea has been ranked in the Top 100 Tourism Professionals on Twitter and contributes to many social media Facebook groups.

Pete Brand co-founded the web marketing and development firm, Mindscape, in 2001. Under Pete’s leadership, MINDSCAPE has enjoyed double digit growth each year since its founding. As an entrepreneur passionate about mentorship and community development, Pete seeks ways to foster positive growth in every aspect of his life and business. In May of 2013 Pete and his wife, Amanda, launched A Brand New Way; a Success Support Network committed to helping others find their true passion and accomplish their business goals.

Laura Caprara is the Founder, Owner, and Social Media Strategist at Stellafly Social Media. In it’s two years it has grown into a highly successful social media firm with reach throughout West Michigan, the state, and the region. Stellafly has worked with organizations ranging from Grand Rapids Public Schools to Spoonlickers to ArtPrize. In 2012, Laura became a founding board member for the Social Media Association of Michigan, which aims to ?promote social media as an impactful communication vehicle through state- wide education, adoption of social platforms and dissemination of successful social media solutions in public and private sectors.?

Derek Devries is a senior associate in the digital practice at Lambert, Edwards & Associates (LE&A) where he focuses on social media strategy and marketing as well as online reputation management. Prior to joining LE&A, Derek worked for 834 Marketing and Design where he had the opportunity to work on the ?Lights in the Night? Top Ten Artprize entry, and spent 11 years in higher education public relations and marketing. Derek also teaches public relations at Grand Valley State University.

Wednesday September 25

Networking Time: 5:01pm

Panelists Take Stage: 5:30pm

Location: Grand Rapids Downtown Market