So there I was Thursday night at the first mass Richmond Social Markering Club (#smcrva) meeting “Twittering” away with friends and acquaintances that I had met online thinking that all of this is the wave of the future. In the perfect world, we’d all be cross promoting ourselves, our clients, our likes and dislikes on social marketing platforms and life would be wonderful. Yippee!!! If there is one thing I’ve learned in the six months that I’ve immersed myself (as much I can be immersed)…
Wow. Sure it was loud, crowded and well…loud. But the SMCRVA event tonight was a great success. It was also long overdue. Richmond needs groups like these with people who can bridge their own specialties through the use of technology and communications to help each other and the community in which they live. Tonight was just the beginning. People who have been conducting virtual conversations for months on Twitter and Facebook met in person for the first time by exchanging hugs. More than one person came…
I admit it, I’ve become one of the “gray-hairs.” On my recent trip to Florida one of my cousins (insert Jewish accent here) looked at me and said “Jonathan, you’re getting gray….looks good though.” I’ve been in Richmond now for 17 years and have “practiced” public relations and marketing for 16 of them. In all those years I can’t remember a time where the birth of a local industry group has been met with the excitement and anticipation that the birth of our (Richmond) Social Media…
For those who know me well, they will likely find it hard to believe that there was a time when I actually hated Bruce Springsteen. Worse yet, I lived in New Jersey at the time, going to school at Rutgers, working at the college radio station around the time “The River” was released. I can’t remember why I hated him, probably the old “you can’t understand the words” thing. Looking back, I missed many an opportunity to take part in what was a sport at…
So just about everyone who knows I’m on Twitter and that we at THP are helping clients with social network, ask me the same questions….”How does Twitter work?” or “I don’t understand how it can apply to my business?” or “I tried it but all it is, is people telling other people what they ate for breakfast.” So here’s a real world example of how Twitter works. A couple of days ago we posted a social media release about the Virginia Education Wizard, a client…
Over the past month or so (even longer than that) it has been occuring to me that the only way PR folks will continue to be successful is to make things as easy as possible for the media from whom they want coverage. Gone are the days where you can expect or anticipate “the usual” number of media to come to events, cover stories, respond in a timely manner. It is not their fault, they just don’t have the time or the manpower available. Moving…
So obviously when I was in Florida with my dad, I was forced to take a break from the intravenous-like connection I’ve had in recent months to all things social marketing. I didn’t blog as much, cut back on my Tweets, I didn’t even immediately respond to emails, voice mails and texts. How could I survive? The horror? The truth is a survived just fine. I even felt slightly better which leads me to believe that after throwing myself into this world full force over…
Pretty proud of the folks at THP and grateful for creative clients like AnnMarie Grohs of Richmond’s Morton’s The Steakhouse(@amgrohs on Twitter). In this blog I have spoken frequently about the need to generate content and the first “Evening at Morton’s” event is a perfect example of the direction in which social networking is taking us. The event is an offshoot of the Morton’s Leadership dinner idea we started last year designed to expose more people to the restaurant as a place to conduct business, have…
Thanks. To everyone. I’m back in Richmond after spending one of the worst weeks of my life in Florida. My dad had two surgeries (one on his leg, one open heart) and while he is still struggling with post-op issues and a lingering MRSA infection, things seem to be getting better every day. As many know, I was giving daily updates on my Facebook status and on Twitter. For some of you, this might have seemed a little self serving, but it proved to be…
When you have a personal emergency, you have to place a great deal of trust in your partners. As I’m writing this I’m on my way to Florida as my dad’s health seems to be taking another questionable turn in what has been a serious of such turns. There’s a lot of time to think while you’re listening to sports talk and Springsteen (thank goodness for satellite radio) and I found myself thinking how important the word “partnership” is in my life. Josh and I decided…
Some folks call them mentors or coaches or teachers. They are the people that clearly influence their business style and drive. People claim to have many, but usually there is that one person that is your “spirit,” the person who you talk to every day whether in person, on the phone or in your mind. The person who helps you make the final decision on growth or direction based on the conversation you just has with them or the conversation you have with them over and…
Some may think it just a tad ironic that with my first post on a new platform that hopefully will help get this blog more readers, I am posting about social marketing and self promotion. The Hodges Partnership has been in business for almost seven years. When Josh and I started the company we made some blanket decisions. One of those decisions was we would not enter any award competitions. Nothing against those who do, but we always thought they took too much time to…