1 Comment Posted in My Life August 31, 2009

An Inspiring Story for Monday

There are times when you come across stories that are profoundly inspiring. There are acts of extreme human resolve that can keep you pushing ahead with the things that need to be done. Ben McDonald is a friend from Anderson University that plays, writes, and performs with the band Sidewalk Prophets. I had the pleasure of knowing Ben in college and he has undertaken and extreme makeover that has left me feeling… well a little overwhelmed… in a good way.

In order to gain the full perspective I decided to embed this slideshow in order for you to view the overwhelming change Ben has gone through over the course of a year.

It is hard not be inspired by stories like this. He has made it through his 290-some … Read more

5 Comments Posted in baby boomer, Gen y, innovation August 26, 2009

Baby Boomer’s Should Listen to Gen Y in Tech

We (Brandswag) have regular conversations with the good folks over at the Taylor MBA program. They are a great school and are always in tune and up-to-date with changes in communication technology. Taylor MBA’s head honcho, Larry Rottmeyer, forwarded me an article from the Havard Business Review names Let Gen Y Teach Teach. The article is about older generations finding a younger mentor.

This is a new concept to me. In pre and post college years you are told constantly to find older mentors who have the ability to guide you through the difficult parts of life and business. I am a huge advocate of the younger generations finding mentors. I would not be where I am today without the guidance of some key people in my … Read more

4 Comments Posted in blogging, corporate blogging, Corporate Strategy, Marketing, Micro-Blogging, microblogging August 25, 2009

Search & Authenticity Are Key to Corporate Blogging

I was skimming through Chris Brogan’s posts and happened across a post called: A Counterpoint to the Branding Craze. This caught my attention because I am a huge advocate for branding, both personal and professional.

I have tried to use my blog to create a brand identity for myself and my company and it has been successful in more ways than one. In his post Chris talks about the concept of search being involved in the corporate strategy of most companies:

One of the reasons that I advocate content marketing, such as writing a compelling group blog, is that it’s an opportunity to build search equity. Writing about things that people might search for is a great way to find some new people at your door who might

… Read more

6 Comments Posted in My Life, rant, social media, twitter August 25, 2009

Pre-Order My Book Twitter Marketing for Dummies

9780470561720.pdf

I was given the opportunity to write Twitter Marketing for Dummies from Wiley Publishing because of a direct connection through social networking. The relationship was further solidified by a connection on Smaller Indiana. I am humbled to have been given this wonderful opportunity and it is highly unlikely it would have happened without the connection through social media.

Here is the breakdown:

An introductory guide to effectively using Twitter to grow your business!

The field of social media marketing is exciting, cutting-edge, and…open to almost anything! Twitter’s style of quick remarks lends itself to a carefree, conversational tone, ripe for passing along a plug, sharing a suggestion, or referencing a recommendation. This fun and friendly book is an excellent first step for gaining insight on how to effectively use

… Read more

5 Comments Posted in Advertising, blogging, Corporate Strategy, customer evangelist, Marketing, small business, social media, Social Media Community, social media marketing, social networking, Social Strategy August 24, 2009

Balancing Perception and Reality in Social Media

Is social media everything we really make it out to be? Is there an imbalance between perception and reality when it comes to social media? I would venture to say yes. Before we get into the underlying argument of the two terms… let’s define them (from dictionary.com).

Perception: a single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present.

Reality: something that exists independently of ideas concerning it.

There is probably a universal argument of perception versus reality in terms of marketing. We are going to touch on that briefly. The majority of marketing communication exists in order to balance the worlds of perception and reality among consumers… among your clients. When it comes to social media  there is an imbalance of the two worlds. There seems … Read more