I’ve been spending a fair amount of time touring the world in support of my ideas and thoughts on the direction of new PR, branding, service, and marketing communications. My reward and inspiration to continue is sourced from each person I meet and the experiences and challenges they share. I’ve learned that our greatest hindrance to evolve is not our unwillingness to do so, our indoctrination in new media and communications is truly obstructed by the executives to whom we…
New Media University: Twitter 101 for Business
Over the years, I’ve actively called for Twitter to contribute to its own culture and direction by leading instead of following. It would effectively serve as a source of inspiration and orientation for consumers and the businesses hoping to connect with them, which would ultimately increase the alarming 40-percent user retention pattern. I suggested that the company actively define user scenarios and offer a quick-start guide for the unique groups of users seeking guidance in order to not only increase…
Zappos is Powered by The Empowerment of Employees
Yesterday I spoke at Zappos Insights Live, an inaugural conference that offered a unique opportunity to learn about the spirit and culture of Zappos through a two-day immersion program. To say it was brilliant would be an understatement. And, I believe this is just the beginning. It’s incredibly clear that Tony Hsieh doesn’t just profess his belief in happiness and service; his entire organization lives and breathes it in everything they do. While Zappos the company is indeed “powered by…
Facebook Helps Brands and Personalities Transform Visitors into Fans
Facebook Connect is connecting people across the social graph to fresh content and furthermore it’s channeling outside Web events into individual lifestreams. Essentially, Facebook is solidifying its position as not only your primary social network, it’s also a emerging as a central hub for your attention, updates, news, promotion, and enlightenment. Now, Facebook is extending its network to the World Wide Web, allowing brands and personalities who have or will host Fan Pages to embed a widget version of the…
Social Media is Rife with Experts but Starved of Authorities
Perhaps Lewis Carroll was peering into the looking glass when he wrote “Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.” In it, we were introduced to Tweetle Dum and Tweetle Dee, a curious duo that always shared a fruitful, entertaining, and complementary conversational exchange even though they always agreed to battle each other. Some suggest that the significance of Alice’s encounter with the twins explores how curiosity leads to the unknown and therefore, may not be worthy of…
Where the Streets Have Names: Learning from Bono’s Facebook Dilemma
Source What happens in the real world can usually end up on the Web for all to discover, share, and assess with or without your knowledge. According to The Mail, even Sir Bono, lead singer of U2, couldn’t escape the global distribution and network effect of Facebook. The rock star, humanitarian, and family man inadvertently shared a portion of his St. Tropez holiday, courtesy of a 19-year old and her Facebook profile. Jane Smith (name changed for purposes of this…
Twitter Tools for Marketing and Community Professionals
Twitter is nothing short of a phenomenon. At the very least, it connects people to each other through a rich and active exchange of ideas, thoughts, observations, and vision in one, highly conducive ecosystem (known as the Twitterverse). The social fibers that weave together this unique micromedia network is strengthened by the expertise, respect, trust, admiration, and commonalities. These fabrics bind the people who breathe life and personality into the global community as well as fueling the disparate micro communities…
The Socialization of Your Personal Brand – TOC
In the era of the Social Web, practically everything we create and share online is open to public discovery, interpretation, and feedback – positive, neutral and negative. While we can’t control perception, we can control what we share online. This series is about education and insight into how the real world works with the information that is available to them and how you can help cultivate and shape a powerful, personal brand online. Your digital identity defines who you are…
The Socialization of Your Personal Brand – Part III
Source Part three of a three-part series… Your Brand vs. the Brands You Represent Whether we believe it or not, everyone within an organization is at some level, responsible for Public Relations. Everything we do, online and offline, builds the public perception of not only our personal brand, but also of the organization we represent. As an active participant in Social Media and also a professional working in any capacity within a company, eventually an important and cognizant decision will…
The Socialization of Your Personal Brand – Part II
Source Part two of a three-part series… Defining Your Online Persona The Social Economy is defined by the exchange of ideas and information online, and in the real world, and is indexed by the dividends earned through new opportunities and alliances. Relationships are the new currency of the Social Economy as they fuel and extend interaction, insight, and loyalty, and in turn, contribute to the social capital of the individuals who actively invest in their personal branding portfolio. In the…
