3 Comments Posted in Uncategorized July 30, 2009

Taking a Break for the Soul

I wanted to make thus concept of becoming unplugged as real as possible… And so… I am typing this post from my iPhone while driving to the airport. I am not personally driving. Driving while writing blog posts is not the safest thing in the world. So please excuse any weird words or typos because this is a phone and two awkwardly big thumbs.

I am going to be going on vacation today for the first time in two years. It feels good to be able and tAke a break and know you have an amazing team keeping things going.

I want to briefly talk about the value of unplugging and refreshing when it comes to social media and technology. This will be one of the first times that I … Read more

Leave a Comment Posted in innovation, Investing, Marketing, Micro-Blogging, productivity July 29, 2009

Ian Gertler from sympledages made an interesting comment after I published  my post last night about outsourcing social media. He said that internal evangelists are key to a successful social media strategy. The idea in itself is enough to stew over. What does it mean to have internal evangelists? What does it mean to have a team that is obsessed with creating the best company, products, and services imaginable… on the face of the planet?

Internal evangelists are individuals who love the idea of your company. They love what they do and make it a point to tell as many people as possible about the company brand. I am extremely lucky to have such a team at Brandswag and there is a big reason why these individuals are so powerful… … Read more

19 Comments Posted in Advertising, blogging, business, content, corporate blogging, Corporate Strategy, customer service, innovation, Marketing July 28, 2009

Is Outsourcing Social Media Okay?

I have been debating for many moons on the topic of outsourcing your use of social media. I will be completely honest with you… I have not come to a conclusion. We have been through the process of completing projects for clients where we supported all the content creation and “fed” all of the social networks. The goal was to create a mass interest in a specific topic. There were some that worked but the majority of them failed. It was hard to look at a failing project that used the tools I loved so much.

What went wrong?

In the majority of the failed projects it was the issue of emotional empowerment behind a message. It was hard for an outsourced contractor to take the view of the actually … Read more

1 Comment Posted in customer evangelist, customer service, Marketing, small business, social media, Social Media Community, Social Strategy, twitter July 27, 2009

What The Top 10 Banks on Twitter Have in Common

ComputerWeekly released a detailed list of the top 10 banks on Twitter and what made them valuable to the end consumer.  I made it a point to go through each of the bank’s Twitter pages and figure out (at least) one thing they had in common. This one thing is based around the overall usage of the Twitter tool and how the banks communicate with current and potential clients. What was the overall theme for most of the Twitter bank pages?

Customer support and communication. To be more specific: customer centric.

The majority of the top 10 banks on Twitter use the tool to support customers with Q&A, idea generation, and live feedback on account information. From my viewpoint… the top banks are actually using Twitter in the right way … Read more

13 Comments Posted in business, Corporate Strategy, Marketing, Micro-Blogging, microblogging, productivity, small business, Smaller Indiana, social media, social media marketing, social networking, Social Strategy July 27, 2009

3 Steps to Being Productive in Social Media

Everyone loves social media. That is not the issue. There is really one huge issue that keeps individuals from using social media and that is time. Time can be an ugly thing if you are not productive with the tools and time given to you. How are you productive and manage your time effectively? I use the four-touch point model.

Step 1: Use the 4-Points Model

When using social media you should keep in mind the 4-points model. There are 4 points social media applications should touch in regards to your daily life: Business, Local Business Networking, Social, and Information. Choose four main networks where you spend the most of your time.

I use LinkedIn for business applications, Smaller Indiana for local business networking, Facebook for social application, and … Read more