Preparing for social media presentations

I have been asked (and participated) in numerous social media speaking opportunities. This is not to say I am headlining major conventions or anything, but speaking to groups and participating on panels on the workings of social media. I will be making three speeches in the coming weeks and having thoughts that it might grow to be more and more in the next year or so. This past week, I have taken some time out to really plan out an extensive presentation, mainly to get all my ideas out and onto paper (and consequently the computer).

I’m trying to condense all that social media can handle into a 90-minute presentation. I know 90 minutes is a long time and I don’t really plan to ever speak for that long but I believe that I could rearrange a 90-minute presentation down to 60, 45 or 30 minutes if I had, to depending on the audience and time restraints.

90 minutes. Looking back on my high school classes (Putnam City North), each class we had was 93 minutes. We had four classes a day at 93 minutes each. We had each class for one semester (90 days) meaning we learned one subject for 8,370 minutes…wow. It took 8,370 minutes to teach me one Home Economics class. I spent 8,370 minutes learning Weight Lifting…now I have to put the entire industry of social media into a 90-minute presentation. When I put it that way, planning for 90 minutes shouldn’t be difficult at all.

The more I thought about it, the more it made me realize that a 90-minute presentation would be difficult to prepare for because it wouldn’t be long enough.

So, if you were to come to a social media presentation, what are some topics you would want to make sure were discussed? I have my thoughts and ideas…what are yours?

Would you want to see a breakdown on one platform? The differences between platforms? Strategies in a plan? The history of social media? Future thoughts on the industry? Case studies on proper/improper procedures? Customization options on platforms? Engaging strategies? Research and statistics? Recommendations who to follow? How to find ROI? Campaign ideas? Social Media policies? Management of multiple accounts?

Sayonara, 2011

2011 definitely had some great highlights, but I don't know if I have ever been more excited to see a new year begin than I am right now.

In May, I hopped on a plane and headed overseas again with Doug again, and this time Marek got to join us. We all had so much fun: Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Sevilla and Segovia.

Definitely one of the bigger shifts this year was my job change - going from Account Executive at Jones Public Relations - to now being the Director of Social Media at VI Marketing and Branding. While I still work in communications and in downtown Oklahoma City, it is definitely more of a change than it sounds. I now strictly work in social media (which has been a love of mine for years).

The NBA also had a big scare of locking out for the entire season until an agreement was made late - starting opening day 2 months later (on Christmas Day). In the end, the NBA will only miss 16 games in what will be a very quick and condensed 66 games. This works out well for the Thunder as they are young with plenty of energy to play that many games in a short span. Also, this just happened last night ( Durant buzzer beater )


Each year I look forward to going to the Flaming Lips concert for New Year's Eve but it looks like that will no longer happen. I waited a little long on getting tickets and with the higher rate this year ($100 and up), I doubt I will get to ring in the new year with giant balloons, lasers, confetti and thousands of Lips fans that are more likely hugging because they are high and not because of the New Year festivities. That has been, however, one of my favorite night's all year and a tradition I am sad to see end, but I have never been able to not enjoy myself when I want to, this New Year's Eve will be no different.

This year, Mike and I bought a storage unit (just like the show Storage Wars) and had a garage sale to get rid of all the crap that was in it. It was a great experience and something I wouldn't mind doing again, as long as we buy a unit that is smaller and less expensive. We ended up paying bout $790 for the unit and brought in around $1500 at our garage sale. Not bad at all but moving the wall to wall unit and having a two-day garage sale might not have been worth it.

Also this year, Marek decided she was going to start making everything possible including pillows, scarves, gloves, maps, etc. and sold so much of it to local people which really worked out great for her and made a lot of people really happy (and gave lots of them great Christmas gift ideas as well). She also entered a craft show and sold items all day long. I hope this is something that she continues to do as she is great at it and loves to do it as well. She also got her Masters in December, what can't she do??

In Oklahoma City, Project 180 is taking over downtown in all areas regarding streets, sidewalks and intersections but the good news in downtown is that the Myriad Gardens have been completely renovated, the Devon Tower was topped off, Sandridge leveled about 2 blocks of buildings, the Aloft Hotel broke ground and the LEVEL Apartments are just about completed in Deep Deuce and the Skydance pedestrian bridge was just completed over the soon-to-be-open new I-40.

Looking back on worldly historical events in 2011: the ones that stad out to me the most would be th Occupy Wall Street protests, Congresswoman Giffords involved in a failed assassination attempt, Fidel Castro resigned, Prince William got married in the most ridiculously media frenzied event I've ever seen, Oprah Winfrey retired, Osama Bin Laden was murdered, Muammar Gadaffi was murdered, Kim Jong Il died, and a wild ride of rise and falls of GOP candidates including Romney, Cain, Perry and now Newt head into the Iowa Caucus.

Just thinking about this past year is exhausting.

2012, you better dominate.

November 8, 2011

Seeing Google for more than just search: Google+ Business Page Launch

(Find VI Marketing and Branding on Google+: +VI Marketing and Branding)

The highly anticipated Google+ business pages launched yesterday and the world wants to know How is Google+ different than Facebook?
I’ve gotten this question many times as I have championed Google+ since it’s launch back in June. Mostly I’d say something along the lines of ‘Google is finally adding a connection from all of its services and bringing all of its customers together.’ That answer doesn’t exactly narrow it down exactly because unless you are an avid Google fan you won’t know what the “Google Services” are, exactly. Let’s take a closer look at it..First off, Google is not just a search engine.

Google is also YouTube.
Google is also Gmail.
Google is also Chrome (my favorite internet browser).
Google is Android.
Google is also Blogger.
Google is also Reader.
Google is also Google Earth.
Google is also Google Maps.
Google is also Images.
Google is also News.
Want to create a free website, yes Google is Sites, too.
Google is Product search.
Want free cloud-sharing Microsoft Office-type programs..?.. Yes, Google is Google Docs, too.
Want to be updated on current events world-wide? Then use Google Alerts.
Google is Translator.
Google is Books.
Google is a Toolbar.
Google is an Image Editor (Picasa and Picnik).
How about calling your friends on through the computer, yes Google is Google Voice and Google Talk.
Like PayPal? …then you’ll like Google Checkout.
Google is SketchUp.
Want to “Skype” your friends? How about video chatting with MULTIPLE people at once? Yes, Google is Google+ with Hangout.

Don’t even get me started on the cool features of the “+1” button. (It will revolutionize searching Google)
As long as people continually only see Google as a search engine, they will never actually completely see Google.
I will continually use Facebook. I really like Facebook. I really like Google+. there is definite room for both. They are different. They are separate. You don’t have to like one or the other. Both offer great services. Yesterday’s launch of business pages feels a lot like Facebook, with a Google feel. I’m not saying the business pages are as good/better than Facebook’s business pages…just yet another Google service. At least neither are Myspace.

From a Bloomberg interview:
“When you think about Google today, you of course think about the Google search engine, but in total we have YouTube, Android, Chrome and Gmail…we have a variety of services that users love and back to all the time. Today they (Google users) come back to us in a largely unidentified state; we know very little about them and remember very little about them. The way that we think about Google+ is changing this mode of interaction so that we actually get to know our users deeply. We understand who they are, what they love, who they know and then reflect that back as value to them so that all of our services get better when users use their own data in their own service. So, the way that we think about it, is really transforming the “Google experience.” If that is all we did and we maintained levels of use and usage, then we would have a fantastic success on our hands. I think a lot of the pitting the companies against each other (Facebook vs. Google+) certainly sells advertising and clicks and it’s an intriguing story. But, what we think we’re doing we think about in the terms of ‘how can we make Google services better?’ and I think we have a really compelling value proposition for those that already love Google today.”

- Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product at Google+
Next Post: Google+ and Direct Connect.

Filed under VI Marketing and Branding advertising marketing public relations branding communications google Google+ Facebook Social Media Casey Cornett business pages gmail gchat google earth google chrome google reader blogger android google maps Google Images Youtube News Google sites Product Search Google Alerts Google Docs Google Translator Google Toolbar Picasa

Social Media doesn’t have to be a “venting” venue

Reactive.

Not the best way I would describe how a company should setup its social media strategy.

I’m sure that Linkedin has social media strategies that go way beyond just being reactive but recently, that was my experience in my communication efforts with this primarily online company.

I had a couple questions/issues that I needed resolved with the previously mentioned company (I actually could have easily handled the issues myself if their restrictions weren’t so restricted). I decided to use whatever form of communication they directed me to use to contact them (I was open to calling them, emailing them, etc.), their preferred form of communication was for me to fill out a customer service form on their website and that someone would get back to me.

I submitted a form on a Monday. I waited and submitted another form on Thursday. On the next Monday, I had reached the point where I found their preferred method useless. I decided to send another form and only wait a couple hours…by noon on that Monday, I decided to communicate my way, via social media.

I jumped on Linkedin’s highly trafficked Facebook page (89,000 “likes”) and did a couple different things. First, I wrote on their wall at the very top of the page stating I was still waiting for a representative to get back to me regarding ANY of my three emails needing attention to resolve a very simple issue. I copied my submitted paragraph and then proceeded to go to their postings and left that same paragraph on three different posts in the comments sections.

I had an email response within 5 minutes helping me with my account.

I did not like having to do that. I tried their private recommended form of communication to handle an issue. When it started out, I didn’t even have a complaint. Their was nothing wrong with their service, it was just an issue that only they could fix.

Throughout this process, I came to a conclusion. Companies are starting to put more effort and energy into reacting to complaints on social media (public forum) when if that effort and energy would just be focused on the private lines of communication, the customers would be happier and social media wouldn’t have to act like a public complaint box.

When you have an issue needing assistance, what do you do?

What is an acceptable amount of time to just sit and wait for a response?

The Google Buzz-kill

(photo courtesy of noteandpoint.com)

The Google Buzz “kill”

This past weekend, we bid a grand farewell to the let down that was Google Buzz. If you are unfamiliar with Google Buzz, just imagine any successful and engaging social media platform like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ but take away the “successful and engaging” part and presto…www.buzz.google.com.

When Google Buzz was first released back on February 9, 2010, I was so excited - finally, the best online company was getting into the social media game. I was excited for an entire hour. After that hour, confusion set in…what is this? Google, the company made famous for its clean and easy-to-adventure platform was suddenly confusing and left everyone embarrassed for saying they were fans of Google.

Immediately Google Buzz became annoying. From the constant random updates flooding my inbox (so that I wouldn’t “miss” anything) to the confusing “What-am-I-even-looking-at?” question everything was a big mess. I immediately jumped off the Google bandwagon and began to doubt any future announcement of a Google product.

Google did a great job of knowing Google Buzz was a terrible platform and immediately began working on a “version 2” of a social media platform which launched in June 2011 (Google+). My hesitant praise for Google+ became immediately extinguished and this platform (in my opinion) spurred most of Facebook’s recent changes which I actually applaud Facebook for doing.

While I would love to begin using Google+ more than Facebook, this “social media thing” is meant to be “social” - meaning I will have to wait until more people see some of the advantages of Google+ (and wait on Google+ to launch its business pages).

Anywho, Google Buzz, it was a good try. Now, Google+, don’t become a buzz kill like your older brother.

For a video all about Google Buzz:

http://youtu.be/yi50KlsCBio

The Social Media Explosion

These past few months the technological capabilities offered to enhance social media have exploded.

Three to four years ago, we were blown away by the smooth customizable options offered on MySpace (you mean we get to add music to our page?!?!) Now, MySpace is considered “the ghetto” of social media and what once ruled social media floundered into selling for a measly $30 million while Facebook continues to increase its revenue to be worth in the $80 billion range.

All of this has got me thinking; there are so many different options now, there are so many upgrades, so many new launches and businesses jumping into this “wild west” industry called social media that I feel that Back to the Future II is just around the corner (especially now that that Nike is now making the laceless shoes).

Now, we even have Siri (which will be added to Apple’s new iPhone 4s) which will start to have conversations with the phone user; when will we finally get our hover boards?

We saw Google jump into the game with Google+ in June which I thought was so impressive that even Facebook was in trouble. Immediately after Google+ launched and gained enough momentum to hit 10,000,000 accounts faster than any other social media company ever had - Facebook made a round of “improvements” that had lots of loyal followers upset, “Enough with the changes!” most would exclaim - not me. Facebook’s changes were right on the money. With more/better privacy features and a much smarter use of their very valuable homepage space (by separating “updates” and “top news”), Facebook is poised to be number one for a little bit longer.

Just a couple weeks ago, Facebook announced they will be taking their tremendously successful platform (currently in beta) into a “timeline” platform - yet another step in the right direction. Google+, it is time for you to roll out your “business page” options which, in my opinion, was the catalyst in taking Facebook from a big business into the biggest business on the block.

- Casey Cornett

Day 9: June 6, 2006 From Chapel Hill to Washington D.C.

(Yesterday, Day 8, or start from Day 1)

It is day 9 of our two-month(ish) road trip around the U.S. This trip has been everything I hoped it would be...random.

Everyday is different. Everyday we hop in the car and drive to a new city and hope that when we arrive we will be met with friendly people and a new story; so far that has been the case.

Right now we are in North Carolina. I have never been to North Carolina before this trip but after my stay there is no doubt that I will be back.


When we woke up this morning, we made some eggs and then headed out to meet up with our buddy Rob. Rob is a golf professional out at Chapel Ridge Golf Course and he invited us out to play. This was great for us to get outside and walk around and actually get some sort of exercise in considering we are in the car so much. I played pretty good and ended up shooting 8 over (doubled the last hole!!).

One unexpected thing happened on the 14th hole. My dad called my cell phone to let me know that he will be staying in Washington D.C. for the next couple of days and wanted to know if we wanted to join him. Considering we had no plans for the next couple of days and we knew that when we got to D.C. that we wouldn't know of anyone there to stay with...we of course said, "Yes!"

After we finished playing golf, we headed back over to Rob's, grabbed our stuff and hopped in the van to head to D.C. When we got there, we headed out for a late night snack and I got to meet my Dad's new Chief of Staff, David Holt. I got to have my own bed in my dad's room and Ford got his own in David's room. Far different than the back of the van, air mattresses and sleeping bags we'd been grateful to have thus far.

Ford has never been to D.C. so tomorrow we expect yet another adventure.

(Day 10)