Friday Five: Build Momentum for 2010

December 11, 2009 in Follow Friday | 2 comments

Happy Friday to all and to all a good Friday Five! It’s been a great week around here and I’m looking forward to taking the momentum into the weekend and carrying it through the end of the year lull. I hope you can do the same. I’d like to thank Danny Brown once again for allowing me to run with his idea of Friday Five recommendations.

1.) Tweet ‘Em or Leave ‘Em – I always like to start off with a recommendation from Twitter. This person stood out this week as a top conversationalist with ideas to match. He solidified a recommendation last night in the #u30pro chat as one of the most valuable contributors. @jackieadkins is a young professional, marketing idea engine, and sports fan – what else do could you need? He also runs a great blog called The Curbside Marketer at jackieadkins.com.

2.) Blogrocker – Today I coin the term “Blogrock.” If you are a rockstar blogger, you write in the genre of Blogrock. Nobody is more deserving of the term than today’s recommendation for blogger of the week. In fact, Mack Collier is such a Blogrocker that he offers up two blogs for your reading pleasure – MackCollier.com and The Viral Garden. Mack started off the week by telling us “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Social Media Strategy (But Were Afaid to Ask)” and rounded out the week with the brutal truth that “More Comments Doesn’t Always Mean More Conversation.” It shouldn’t surprise you to see Mack’s blogs recommended, but if it caught you off guard head over and save yourself some keystrokes by hitting the RSS feed.

3.) Unlikely Hero – He may not win the Heisman Trophy this weekend, but nobody can deny that Ndamukong Suh altered the game of college football more than anybody else in the league this year. Suh plays Defensive Tackle at the University of Nebraska and he dominated every opponent without mercy all year long. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to win the most prestigious award in college football as a defensive player. Take a note from Suh though – It doesn’t matter what you do. You don’t need the most glorious job to make a giant splash.

4.) Head-Shaking Marketing – We’ve all seen some marketing campaigns that have nothing to do with the product and make us do a double-take. We’ve all seen ads that have heavily sexual references when it seems they are completely misplaced for the product. We’ve never seen anything quite like what Burger King launched this week. The self-proclaimed King of Burgers has decided that a BK Showercam (probably NSFW depending on where you work) would be a good idea to advertise. I don’t know who told them that, but I’ll let you decide how you feel about it.

5.) There’s Always Room for [Beyonce] – In the event that you haven’t quite had enough of “Single Ladies” by Beyonce, here’s a version that I couldn’t stop laughing at. They’re fun musicians and if you pay attention you can find some little jabs at the song’s popularity.

3 Reasons Social Media is the BCS of Business.

December 7, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

CFB BCS

Image by "roygullem" on Flickr

If you’re a fan of sports (specifically College Football), you’ve heard of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). Odds are you’ve even complained about the BCS once or twice. We won’t get into what a horrible system the BCS is, but if you think about it, the BCS has a lot in common with social media.

1.) Nobody likes the BCS…but the BCS – “Nobody” is a little extreme, but do you know anybody that has argued to keep the BCS around in the last few years? They’re not on the popular side unless they are sitting in an office with the BCS officials. Similarly, who are the largest advocates of social media? Those that make money as a product of social media.

If people on the inside are the only advocates, they are often blind to outside opposition. When logic and reality fly out the window, you’re drinking the Kool-Aid. Luckily, social media is gaining momentum in outer circles while BCS stock has been declining since it was established.

2.) The BCS “mission” isn’t exactly the goal of the BCS – If you ask a BCS official what the goal of the BCS is, they’ll tell you their goal is to find and match-up the two best teams in college football. If you ask an advocate of social media what the benefit of getting involved is, they’ll tell you about building relationships and reaching consumers where they spend their time. What’s the reality of both? The goal is to make money.

The BCS doesn’t necessarily win if the two best teams play in the championship, and businesses don’t necessarily win if they talk personally to consumers. The odds that both will be successful increase if they achieve their stated goal, but neither can exist if they don’t establish the underlying need of profitability. The rest doesn’t really matter.

3.) The big boys always have the edge in the BCS – In theory, the BCS puts all teams on a level playing field and the best teams will compete in the championship game each year. You see where this is going? One of the largest selling points of social media is that it puts small businesses on the same level as big corporations. Don’t be fooled though – the power conferences always have the upper-hand in the BCS and large corporations are still the ones that will push social media forward and make the largest splash when they get it right.

In the case of the perfect storm, small conference teams can impact the BCS heavily and the same goes for small businesses in social media. If they big boys aren’t making the news, an excellently planned and executed social media campaign will get noticed and hit the big time.

What do you think? Maybe the BCS and Social Media are crossing paths while heading different directions.

Here’s a bonus comparison – If the more established communications fields (marketing, PR, advertising) are the BCS conferences, social media is still the mid-major looking for the chance to get into the big game and prove itself against the heavy competition.

Freezing Friday Five

December 4, 2009 in Follow Friday | Leave a comment

Just took a peak at the current radar and it was kind enough to let me know that the current temp. is 16 degrees. So here you go – the first (of what I hope is few) Friday Five of the Frozen season. For those of you in warmer climates, I’ll try to keep the snow references to a minimum – I know how the word “snow” makes your eyes burn.

1.) Oh, The Weather Outside is Tweetful – As usual, I’ll start you off with a standout tweeter of the week. There was a great discussion last night during the #u30pro chat. First, I suggest you check it out and follow all of the consistent contributors because it really is a smart and diverse set of young professionals, students, and more seasoned veterans offering up insight. Last night’s guest moderator was a real pleasure to have involved – If you’re not following @LenKendall, get on it. Len’s blog, “Constructive Grumpiness,” could just as easily be listed as a blog suggestion as Len can for a Twitter suggestion. Len posts great content on Twitter and has a knack for telling it like it is whether it’s controversial or not.

2.) Blogsy the Snowman – There have been a ton of great blog posts this week, but one blog stood out as the overall greatest of the week. Jim Connolly, from “Jim’s Marketing Blog,” has been testing out the impact of posting daily entries to his blog and guess who has benefited the most? The readers (including me). Among others, this week Jim asked for your attention (and taught you how to do the same), gave you “6 Marketing Tips” related to good timing, and taught you how to achieve “Mouth Watering Marketing” with words. Thanks, Jim.

3.) Dashing Through the [Tiger] Woods, In a One Horse Open Controversy – I would be ridiculous not to comment on Tiger Woods this week. Talk about a PR nightmare. Back when Tiger was staying quiet about what looked like a shady car wreck, I thought the whole thing would blow over pretty quickly. Turns out, the story is much deeper. Here’s what I want from the public: Stop saying Tiger is just like “everybody else.” First, Tiger Woods is a celebrity. If he wants to make millions relying on an adoring fan base, he can’t turn off his celebrity status when it’s convenient. Also, “everybody else” doesn’t have an (alleged) extensive affair throughout almost an entire young marriage. You don’t have to be a celebrity for that to be wrong. Good luck clearing this up, Tiger. Another major championship (and holding the record for majors) will probably help more than it should.

4.) Look for the Holiday Joy – Shhhhh. Don’t Tell Debbie. Does Evan White’s (@YourFriendEvan) mom like lawn gnomes? I don’t think so, but she’s about to have one of the most extensive collections on earth…whether she wants to or not. On Saturday, December 5, Debbie is going to wake up with 405 lawn gnomes in her face. I can’t wait to see the footage, so keep your eyes open for it. Enjoy, Debbie!

5.) Stocking Stuffer of the Future – Without a doubt, the most amazing video I came across this week came from Todd Defren’s PR-Squared blog. Think about the possibilities and the future of mainstream media why you check out something I want immediately.

Is PR About to Start Looking More Like Advertising?

December 2, 2009 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Regulations

Image Via Flickr's "Woody1778a"

As most of you know, new FTC guidelines concerning bloggers and disclosure went into effect yesterday. Will the new FTC guidelines cause blogger relations and online PR to look more like advertising than traditional PR? I don’t think so.

Before the new guidelines dropped, there was a big push for blogger transparency. If Chris Brogan wrote about a client, he let the readers know. If David Spinks wrote about an online tool that had an associated cost waived, he mentioned it so readers were aware.

Why hasn’t anybody accused the larger blogs of advertising in the past? Because whether they were given free products/services or not, the writing feels true and the readers trust them.

Blogging has received a lot of spotlight recently and readers are choosing to read the blogs they trust. With the blogs I read, it doesn’t matter whether the writer was given an item for free or not – I trust that they will give an honest opinion.

I understand that a blogger is less likely to complain about something they have been given for free, but you had better believe the blogger will either choose not to write about it, or they will write a half-hearted review filled with simple facts and a claim that the product or service might be great for some other kind of person.

My final take: The new FTC guidelines won’t impact things too heavily. Good writers will continue to be believable and trustworthy. Readers will be more aware of the perks of being a trusted public figure, but that doesn’t mean they will stop listening and acting on trusted recommendations.

Let it Flow

December 1, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 1 comment

This post is a result of my asking you to name my next blog post. I only had a few suggestions and I appreciate each one, but this title comes as a suggestion from Jonathan Miller (@JonFun). Thank you all.

We’ve all had those moments where ideas and words just dry up in an instant. Contributing factors combine to act as a sponge for creativity and our fingers cease up. None of our ideas seem to be that important and none of the words we use to express our ideas are quite right. So we stop. That’s ok – if you don’t have anything to write/say, take some time to gather your thoughts.

First, don’t worry about it. It happens to everybody. That’s often where the strange posts on your favorite blogs come from. Sometimes the strange idea becomes a regular feature, sometimes it goes into the “filler” bin.

Don’t be afraid to let your ideas build up in a mental reservoir without writing anything. Chances are the build up won’t take long before the dam breaks and your ideas are begging to get out into the world. When that dam breaks, grab a laptop, some headphones and some coffee (if that’s what you’re in to). Sit down and blast out as many posts as your carpal tunnel will allow. Once you’ve got a cache of solid content – refine and relate to timely examples when you are ready to publish.

Don’t look for ideas while you write, let the ideas find you. If you’ve done your searching and thinking before you write, you’ll have a harder time stopping than getting started.

If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.

 

Name My Next Blog Post

November 25, 2009 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

You name it, I will write it.

If you want to read the opposite side of a popular argument – I’m game.

If you want to see me link something ridiculous to a marketing, social media, or PR lesson – let’s do it.

If there’s a question you don’t think is getting answered sufficiently – I’ll research it and throw down some answers from my perspective.

It’s really up to you to determine the direction of my next blog post.

Have fun with it and maybe we’ll all learn a little something.

Leave a comment here or hit me up on Twitter @sjhalestorm

Friday Five: Shoutout to Danny Brown

November 20, 2009 in Follow Friday | 4 comments

Last week, Danny Brown introduced the world to Friday Five – a blog post taking a hint from Twitter’s #FollowFriday phenomenon. Rather than simply suggesting users on Twitter, here are some general suggestions from a variety of categories.

1. Know Your Roots – Friday Five evolved out of a Twitter concept, so here is a Twitter account you should check out. @DaveYank is a self-employed web developer in Minnesota that often goes by the name AnywhereMan. If anybody knows about the world of freelance work, it is Dave Yankowiak. Beyond helpful freelance tips, he’s a friendly guy with a knack for social media. Give him a shout and you’re in for a enjoyable conversation.

2. Blog-o-matic - I’ve been doing a lot more reading blogs lately than I have been writing them, so I’m kind of an authority on which blogs are currently my favorite to read. Right at the top of my list this week has been Media Emerging by Scott Hepburn. For example, this week he asked “Social Media Isn’t a Job? I’m Not So Sure” and gave us a look at “Social Media’s Impact on Charlotte Politics” as well as a dynamite post from a guest blogger with “A Social Media Reality Check for B2B Thought Leaders”

3. ESPN Fodder - What’s happening in sports Social Media this week? John Meyer is asking YOU to choose his favorite NHL team with a new project called PickMyNHLTeam.com. Every even-numbered day for the rest of this year represents one team in the NHL and when the votes are tallied, John Meyer will become a devoted fan of the hockey team with the most fans using social media.

4. Before I Was Born - On this day in 1914 (safely prior to my birth), the US State Department began requiring photographs on passports. I’m not sure when they started requiring that the photo be the most horrible photo you have ever taken, but it was obviously not on November, 20.

5. 404 Error – What’s the best 404 Error: Page Not Found message you have ever seen? The best I’ve seen comes from Mag.ma by recommendation of @DavidSpinks earlier today. The page includes the video below, but the link to the actual page is this: http://mag.ma/glorg

Does a Sheet of Paper Work as a Doorstop?

November 20, 2009 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

This post comes as a response to a recent article called “Why Resumes Are Lame” by Ryan Stephens. Ryan makes the argument that resumes are a waste of time, especially in certain fields including PR, marketing, social media, and advertising. David Spinks also wrote a post on “3 Reasons Why Resumes SHOULD Be Irrelevant” awhile back.

Here’s an important first note: Don’t throw away your resume. In fact, make your resume awesome with tangible results, relevant job experience, and a few personal interests. While you’re at it, see if you can present that information in a creatively designed manner. The chance you will get any job without a resume is pretty close to 0.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, forget what you’ve been told about a resume. There are only so many ways black ink on a white piece of paper can really speak to the validity of your skill and stick in a hiring manager’s mind.

All I’m trying to add to the discussion is that young people should be using all of the tools at their disposal to get creative and stand in the face of a bad economy to get that dream job they’ve been preparing for. Even the simple things help you stand out. Write a blog. It shows your ability to write coherently and present important ideas in your industry.

Will a blog replace your resume? Absolutely not. But it will create a conversation and build your personal brand.

Consider how designers apply for a job: They often drop off a well-designed promo/teaser piece for their artwork. Then, they follow up with examples of their previous artwork (portfoli0) and support their abilities in text by presenting a creatively designed resume. Why wouldn’t you do something similar for a job in your field? No, it’s not the norm. But unexpected creativity focuses eyeballs. If nobody sees you, nobody can hire you.

For example: You’ve built your personal brand in social media, so run a campaign for your brand to get hired. Call on your community and use the tools and theories you’ve learned, practiced, and discovered to promote yourself.

It all comes back to the age old Journalism saying – Show. Don’t tell.

Allow your creativity and the available tools to open doors. So what are you going to use as your doorstop? A flimsy piece or paper with twisted words, or your confident skills filled with substance and experience?

*for further examples, Ryan Stephens added these two examples to his blog. They are great uses of available tools to build a campaign for an individual to get hired. There’s also one example I added that shows how people are marketing themselves in other industries as well :)

Follow Friday is BACK!

October 23, 2009 in Follow Friday | Tags: , , | 1 comment

For a few weeks, I took a break from follow Friday – it became so mainstream that it didn’t feel like a recommendation meant anything anymore. But, that’s the idea I’m trying to avoid by giving some backing to my recs here in blog format. I must really mean it if I take the time to write about each person I think you might get some value from following on Twitter. Plus, I’ve got some new ammo. I fell into a follower rut and luckily I have just recently broken out and found some new people to join the original people I really enjoy interacting with.

My first recommendation belongs to one of the craziest PR pros I’ve met. When he says something is going to happen, expect it. I’ve only spent a little bit of time with @YourFriendEvan (Evan White), but in that short time, I realized that his word is worth trusting. He made a deal to only pay in $2 bills one time – go ahead, check his pocket. He wanted to send his mom “way too many gnomes” for Christmas without her knowing – go ahead, check www.donttelldebbie.com. There is nothing better than following somebody on Twitter that offers information, news, and hilarity. Finally, Evan is one of the few people that manages to translate their voice into 140 characters.

My second recommendation comes with a word of warning. He posts great content, but he posts a TON of great content. In other words, if you are only following a few people that you really want to hear from, just keep this name in mind for now. Anyway, @webaddict (Joel Mackey) is, without a doubt, one of the smartest people I follow. He is definitely an expert in the internet space (don’t come at me with pitchforks). On top of being a super genius, Joel is a great guy. Despite having a massive following, Joel responds to every message he receives (@ or DM) without using any automatic response programs. So, don’t be afraid to ask him the hard questions.

My final recommendation is another super genius. He is the man behind “The Science of ReTweets” and the brand new “Dr. TweetDreams” (a Twitter dream analyzer). Those are basically his side projects while he works at HubSpot – creators of the popular Twitter Grader, Website Grader, Facebook Grader, and Press Release Grader. @DanZarrella tweets a little less often than some of my other recommendations (obviously he keeps busy), but his tweets are always valuable. And you better believe his tweets are calculated based on the chunks of data he has collected over the past few years.

Go check out these Twitter users because they definitely improve my Twitter stream and I think you might get some valuable information by following them as well.

5 Tips for Social Media and Climate Change

October 15, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Photo Credit: Peter Halasz

Photo Credit: Peter Halasz

A friend (Jason Sadler – iwearyourshirt.com) just informed me that today, October 15, is Blog Action Day – read more about that at http://www.blogactionday.org/. The part you need to know is that this year’s topic is climate change. I’ll be honest, I’m no expert on climate change. But I have found a few things you can do as somebody interested in social media.

1. Unplug your computer when you are not using it.

  • It is no secret that those of us riding the social media wave (no Google pun intended) spend a serious amount of time on computers. But, did you know that many electronics (including most computers) continue to draw electricity while turned off if they remain plugged in? Pretty simple right?

2. Work from home.

  • On the heels of a post about the elimination of the 9-5 work day from David Spinks, this tip is especially relevant. The way we are communicating today, there shouldn’t be any problem setting up a virtual workplace. I understand it is not always possible, but think of the energy your office could save if everybody worked from home for only one day a week. Don’t forget that nobody would be driving to and from work either. If you don’t believe in the virtual agency, take a look at the success Marketing Profs has had without a brick and mortar office.

3. Participate in events like Blog Action Day 2009.

  • Like I said, this post is part of Blog Action Day 2009, but today is not the only time you can rally the troops to make some changes in Climate Change policy. You might have noticed an emphasis on change as of late, and social media is no stranger to helping out a cause. Every month, 12for12k chooses a charity to support. For more information on that, get over to Twitter and ask @DannyBrown all about it. Social media is great about creating power with numbers and you could easily increase those numbers by seeking out events in which you can participate.

4. Use Skype instead of Southwest.

  • There is definitely power in face-to-face meetings, but don’t be so quick to jump into the friendly skies for a meeting you could easily have over Skype, or ooVoo. Both offer free conference calling up to a certain amount of users, and ooVoo even offers free video conferencing. Not only will it save you money and time, but it will also create less carbon emissions (airplanes produce about 12% of transportation emissions).

5. Grab some local food for lunch.

  • Having lunch in the office (or in the virtual office)? Grab something from the local farmers market to find something healthy that didn’t require a worldwide flight. The food will be fresh and healthy and the climate will stay fresh and healthy as well. Plus, how great would it be to feed an office full of people fresh and healthy food to energize them for the second half of the day?

Bonus Tip: Join SocialVibe.

  • SocialVibe is linking social media with brand power on the charity scene. This tip moves away from climate change a little bit, but it really is an awesome utility. I haven’t looked through every cause that is signed up through SocialVibe, but I bet if you look hard enough, you can find a climate change charity for which to lend a hand.

There you have it: Five Six tips for those interested in social media to support climate change efforts. Each tip is very simple and could make a huge difference using the potential of social media. I’m only one person, but I will pass this article on through my network, and I hope you do the same.

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