First off, I’d like to day thanks and wow! Thanks to all the folks who worked on the Strategic Leadership/Social Media for Social Good program at UR’s Jepson School. An especially big shout out to Sue Robinson Sain and Ryan Smartt of ConnectRichmond. The program was outstanding and I was humbled to participate and present to those great people in attendance. For those who have asked, here’s a copy of my slide presentation. Feel free to use them to spread the word. LINK TO JON’S…
Tonight and tomorrow in Richmond there are two gatherings focusing on social media and nonprofit organizations. Social Media Club Richmond is hosting an event tonight featuring Gradon Tripp, the founder of Social Media for Social Change, and organization that channels the use of social media for good causes. Gradon is now working for Firstgiving, a organization that helps causes raise money online. Gradon will also keynote a conference tomorrow, “Strategic Leadership and Social Media for Social Good,” hosted by the Jepson School of Leadership Studies…
You can argue that TV news, as folks from my generation knew it, died on Friday. Not only because Walter Cronkite died, but because the network that his carried on his back for almost two decades decided not to blow up entertainment programing on the east coast and ran reruns instead. CBS execs say that’s because no one watches on Friday nights and they wanted folks to watch the pre-produced special they ran on Sunday. But for a man who created the art form of…
Are there rules about how you can use your social media influence or capital for the good of your business or clientele? For example, as I have blogged before we are working with Richmond’s own Carpenter Co. to help publicize a blog about the people Stephenville, TX and their dreams for the future. Are there rules about how I can use my own social media influence, for example this blog, my personal Facebook fan page, my Twitter followers as ways to publicize the blog? That is…
In recent days I’ve had a chance to look back at our body of work at THP. It’s our seventh anniversary (it was actually in June, but we tend to over-celebrate things) and I bought the tickets for our annual baseball outing. This year, we’re going to DC again and will see my beloved Mets play the Nats. Some will argue that we will not actually be witnessing baseball but that is a discussion for another time. As has been chronicled over the last seven…
An interesting thing happened to me as I was sitting in the darkness of Blog Potomac. I found myself, who is comparatively new to social media than others in the room that day, listening to the social media veterans in the room (you know who you are, I won’t rat you out). The general consensus and tone of those whispers went something like “tell me something new already,” or “I’ve heard this before” or “what about measurement?” And I slowly realized that many of these…
Over the last few months I have found myself being asked to and then making presentations to various groups about social media. These are ranging from new business pitches, to general social media 101 presentations, to specific talks tailored to specific audiences. For example, I’ll be talking to a group of C-level execs of Richmond-area non-profit organizations later this month. The talks usually include: An overview of social media History to date Social media goals and approaches (transparency, authenticity) Current demographic information Platforms and tactics…
One of my mentors in this business is Joe Slay. Joe headed Martin PR and Slay PR at The Martin Agency for years and I was lucky enough to convince him to hire me (twice, long story). He also didn’t get too pissed when I left TMA seven years ago to open THP with Josh (another long story). For years, Joe and I have joked that there are only three PR ideas, especially where media relations is concerned. Everything else you can come up with,…
A good friend of mine, former local TV exec and now multimedia guy Woody Coates (cheap plug for Woody who any organization would be lucky to have and someone will realize that soon and hire him), emailed me the other day asking me if I was considering bringing on a “community manager” to bolster the THP social media arsenal. A community manager is a title for a person who can marry online and offline communications for a client or organization. They spend their time monitoring…
The “light bulb” first went on for me in the relative darkness of the State Theater during Blog Potomac. I was listening to Shel Holtz, Scott Monty of Ford, and others talk about the importance of the “corporate” blog. Until this point, I hadn’t been sure that all organizations, corporate or not, should have a blog be it from a C-level type or corporate blogger. But after hearing the stories and then having subsequent conversations with clients and others, I am convinced more than ever. …
When they explain social media, the purists will tell you it is not about selling something or pushing out your message, but about engaging in a conversation that enhances your organization’s reputation. It is ultimately about creating community, about customer service. In this world where public relations has historically about pushing the message out, it is hard when explaining social media to perspective clients to shift that paradigm and talk about things like listening, engaging and problem solving. It is hard to talk about how…
An old friend, client and former RVAer Steve Isaac once told me as it relates to business, “you either grow or die.” But he never told me what happens when you grow and run out of room. So it goes at THP. Our latest hire Tony Scida (great additional already and he’s been with us for two days), has forced as past the tipping point. You see until now most of us (10 out of 11, Stacey is in Seattle…long story) have been within shouting…
