Crowds packed Cowles Commons on Saturday, bringing lawn chairs and grabbing a beer in front of the 40-foot big screen. Even in Des Moines, the crowd was as wired for the Cyclones-Hawkeyes game as the sold-out Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City was. 

When the football fans on TV stood up and waved at patients in the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, the crowd in Des Moines waved with them. 

The “Iowa Wave” has only been around for a year, but Hawkeye fans and visiting teams alike already know exactly where to turn at the end of the first quarter — and social media played a major role in a new tradition’s establishment, said Jessie Brown, co-executive director of the Des Moines Social Media Club. 

The club will host a panel discussion and lunch on Sept. 18 featuring seven speakers — including Big Ten Network announcer Chuck Long, Stead Family Children’s Hospital Director of Marketing Cheryl Hodgson and Hawkeye Heaven founder Levi Thompson. They will explore social media’s role in the development and rise of the Iowa Wave, which started from a commentator’s suggestion on Hawkeye Heaven. Half the proceeds from event tickets and a silent auction will go toward the Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Brown said. 

“You don’t have to be a Hawkeye. … This weekend’s game showed that with all the Iowa State fans. Northern Illinois recorded a video before they came in, because they wanted to be a part of it,” Brown said. 

Lessons from the Iowa Wave can extend much further than Iowa college football fans, Brown said. The campaign, much like the viral Facebook page Humans of New York, can demonstrate how wide a social campaign for good can reach. 

“The idea of using social media for good to draw attention to people that get overlooked, or telling stories that are taken in the wrong way,” Brown said. “It’s sort of that connecting thing, just like ‘Humans of New York’ would be. Even though it’s way up there and you can’t see their faces, through TV, all of those stories are being told, [of] families and patients maybe getting a little extra help over that than they would have.” 

The Des Moines Social Media Club recently held the annual Hashie Awards, the club’s largest event, honoring Iowa companies, individuals and nonprofits demonstrating excellence in social media use. This month’s panel, “Making Waves,” is larger than the group’s typical monthly gatherings, Brown said. “It was something we really wanted to go big for,” she added. 
Upcoming events, including this Thursday’s joint workshop with the American Advertising Federation at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, are available on the club’s Facebook page, @SocialMediaDSM.