I often get the comment that I’m highly energetic or enthusiastic. Usually, I respond that it’s hard not to be when you love your job like I do. HOWEVER, it’s also part of the Biznet brand. We want people to know that we love what we do and enthusiastic about it!

Relevant community topics & members are key
Often, I explain social media using an offline example. Imagine you’re target market a mom of elementary-aged children.
You could:

• use newspaper advertising
• sponsor children’s sporting events
• infiltrate mom-to-mom coffee shop talks
• solicit daycare facilities

Clearly, you’ll hit moms eventually–but they’re not that targeted or cost-effective and (let’s face it) a little creepy. Social media marketing provides the opportunity to show up (WELCOMED) to mom-to-mom communities and invites you to participate. It’s targeted, relevant, and (best of all) appropriate.

Wallflowering doesn’t cut it for ANYONE
Today I had to opportunity to meet a new group of local professionals over coffee. It amazed me how many of the attendees played down their services (”just another business doing x”) and stared at the floor. HINT: I don’t want to work with “just another company,” nor am I on the floor. If you’re the person introducing your company to a new group, you better have some OOMF.

OOMF’ing in Social Media
Imagine showing up to a meeting and not participating; in fact, you didn’t even get dressed. Not only would you get fired, you’d be ostracized from fellow attendees. Essentially, you’d be what Shannon Paul refers to as “that guy.” Get dressed by adding relevant content and photos to your profiles; participate by adding value to (and requesting value from) the greater community.

Check out some of the Biznet Tweetup action:

We had a great turn out for the Biznet Tweetup.You can also check out the Biznet Tweetup Photos, thanks to Brian Ambrozy (@primesuspect).

Some of our attendees included: Read the rest of this entry »

Fair warning: This post is in-depth and a little longer than average, but very, very important.

As the dust begins to settle around the hype of social media, business are starting to take a closer look at the business case for using it. Clearly, without a return, no one (in their right mind) makes the investment. Take a look at what some in the industry are saying when it comes to failed social media campaigns:

“”(Businesses) will rush to the community and try to connect, but essentially they won’t have a mutual purpose, and they’ll fail,” Sarner said. By a “mutual purpose,” he means a way to serve both the company putting out the campaign and the audience interacting with it: finding that balance is not easy. The quirkiest and most addictive campaigns often provide little value for the company and turn out to be fads, whereas marketing efforts on the Web often don’t go over as well with the public.” Caroline McCarthy

“Most (social media campaigns) will fail for one of three reasons: (a) the strategy driving the idea sucks; (b) the execution sucks; or (c) the program provides no value to the end user.” Michael Lazerow

The worst thing we can do is to ignore this. Here’s how I take an approach to clients using buzzwords (ex: “I want a blog” or “I want my own Facebook”) to request our services: Read the rest of this entry »

Just sharing a photo from the Adcrafter Oktoberfest event. It was downtown Detroit at Cheli’s. I had the opportunity to take the lovely Shannon Paul with me!

This afternoon I had the opportunity to chat with Eric Brown of Urbane Apartments. Eric is using social media to market his business, the 14 Urbane locations across metro Detroit.

To keep Urbane residents connected to each other and informed, the Urbane team launched a community (Urbane Lobby), blog (Urbane Blog), and micro-blogs (via Twitter).
Interview with Eric Brown of Urbane Apartments from Shauna Nicholson on Vimeo.

Learn more about the Urbane Apartments on their website.

Community sites like Kiva have begun to pave the way for those in poverty to receive help from the online world. Now, users can log on and provide micro-loans to those in need around the world. The idea is simple, but could not be organized without the web and social media.

Kiva, and projects like it, succeed for a variety of reasons. Here’s how social media best practices ensure the success of charitable giving.

1. They include personality. When the person with the need is introduced, so are details of what makes them unique. This plays on the mentality that users are helping someone they “know,” as opposed to donating blindly.
2. They tell a story in their description. Why does this person need help? What got them to the position they’re in now? Adding these details creates an impact on users, providing them with something to relate to and understand.
3. They use photos. It’s common to hear the term “There are children starving, so finish your dinner,” in the United States; it’s not common to SEE a starving child. This image speaks volumes beyond what any description, cliche, or story could possible communicate.
4. Easy, 24 hour accessibility. This provides a greater audience. If users have donations to give, they’re probably not doing so while at work. Putting the opportunity online transcends physical boundaries and time restrictions.
5. Team participation. By allowing users to step into teams, they encourage each other in their participation. It also provides an opportunity for exposure for the user (”I’m a good person, look what I did!”) They types of teams take the giving to another level; religious, commonality, or otherwise,
6. Case studies. The stories are logged via blogs/journals. Once the giving is complete, the story continues! Case studies reveal the consequences of the donation, encouraging ongoing donations!
7. Users can makes recommendations. This engages users and encourages them to talk to others about what they’re doing. It’s the crowdsourcing of advertising!
8. They offer embeddable media. Oh, look, a badge that touts how wonderful the user is for donating! They can’t wait to post it to their blog, their profiles, their websites… SEO VALUE!
9. They make it easy to email friends. No logging in necessary–do it right from the site. This keeps traffic centrally located, users can talk to their friends, and it draws new traffic in.
10. They offer live participation and community. At any given point, users can communicate with each other in real time. Users can ask questions, share stories, and grow within the community!

Learn more about Blog Action Day here.

I’m the type of person who values a great network–of people that is. My goal is to provide enough value to others that they don’t mind sharing their insight with me. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have a network who has taught me a ton and boosted me up. I encourage you to find your own network that does the same for you–and check out/join mine!

• @shannonpaul: Shannon Paul–She’s a PR rockstar, and (often) the second half of my brain. Shannon is always blogging great insight into public relations and social media, and posts links so I remember to visit.
• @charliecurve: Charlie Wollborg– If it isn’t hilarious insight to what’s going on in metro-Detroit, it’s remarkable branding and advertising advice pouring from his blog and tweets. (Yes, that sounds as cow-sexy as I meant it.)
• @drewie123: Alex Drewinak– Alex is Rebtel’s loudest voice in social media. Not only does he share my enthusisam for social media marketing in his blog, he continues to demonstrate how social media knows no boundries–he’s in Sweden.
• @jwphillips: John Phillips– He’s a young entrepreneur teamed up with a couple others to build websites. He’s the kind of guy you can complain to about a font type without getting laughed at.
• @kenburbary: Ken Burbary– Ken is one of those kind of guys you can always learn something from. His creative perspective and technical expertise is something I admire.

…and @mpiccinato wants to be on this list of rockstars; but I think that’s cheating (since he’s on the Biznet team)

Why did you decide to organize Startup Weekend in Detroit?
I don’t know that it was actually a conscious decision. I was able to attend part of Startup Weekend Ann Arbor, and had several friends who attended that event. When I came home, I started looking deeper into the Startup Weekend organization and reading up on the process to bring Startup Weekend to a particular city. I realized there was a voting process and saw that Detroit was already nominated, but only had 20 votes. To give you an idea of where we stood, we were behind Corvallis, Oregon.

I just thought that Detroit could really use this more than most places. There is so much bad news coming out of this city — especially when it comes to job losses and the overall economy. I thought an event like this would help bring out some of the area’s talent and help jumpstart small business development in the city and the region. It was also my hope to generate a few positive news stories as a result of the event.

Why is it important for the event to happen NOW?
Detroit, and the surrounding region, is facing some of the most challenging times in its history. The future of the economy in this region is going to depend on the ingenuity of individuals who can start small. Most of the new jobs being created in this economy are from small businesses. I believe that there are as many talented, skilled and passionate people in this city as any other, but we haven’t been so great at forming a really solid community around networking and innovation. Community is an essential ingredient to fostering the kind of supportive environment for new businesses to be able to thrive.

Who attends events like this?
Just about anybody with an idea or a skill or both is welcome to participate in this event. Usually Startup Weekend attracts people with deep technical/programming skills as well as design professionals, marketing and public relations professionals, project managers and venture capitalists. Most companies that have formed as a result of a Startup Weekend have been web-based, but there are many notable exceptions to this rule.

Can companies sponsor this initiative?
Yes, we are still looking for companies to help sponsor some of the costs of the event. Sponsorship packages are available. Companies interested in donating to offset costs, or providing swag to attendees should contact me.

Can we help get the word out about this event?
Yes! Please share this information with everyone you know. Add this event to your Facebook profile or Upcoming, and join our group on LinkedIn. Click on the ShareThis button at the bottom of this post and add it to Digg, Stumble or Delicious. Please feel free to reblog this post, or any of the other posts on this blog and link it back to http://detroit.startupweekend.com/.

How can I sign up?
The cost to attend is $40. Register to attend at http://detroitstartupweekend.eventbrite.com/

What should I bring?
What you bring is really up to you. Ideally, attendees should bring a laptop computer that can connect to the Internet via a wireless network. We will also need volunteers to supply extra extension cords and power strips to accommodate everyone’s electricity needs.

Who can I contact for more information on Startup Weekend Detroit?
Anyone interested in helping out or getting additional information may contact Shauna Nicholson, Brian Ambrozy, or I.

Shannon Paul (734) 968-9065 or shannonpaul5[at]gmail[dot]com
Shauna Nicholson (248) 722-2685 snicholson[at]biznetis[dot]net
Brian Ambrozy (586) 693-3509 brian[at]icrontic[dot]com

Shannon Paul blogs about Public Relations and Social Media, check it out at http://shannonpaul.wordpress.com

Brain Ambrozy is an editor and owner of the ultimate Detroit Tech online journal, check it out at http://icrontic.com

I was lucky enough to interview Roxanne Darling of Barefeet Studios about the upcoming Podcamp Hawaii. Roxanne knows a ton about using social media to promote businesses; her podcast, Beach Walks with Rox, has helped encourage tourism to Hawaii, where she lives and works.

In this interview, Roxanne tells me about Podcamp Hawaii, podcasting, and how to keep up even when we can’t be there. I even asked her about women in social media!

Here are the links mentioned in the video. Make sure to check them out. Each has a lot to offer!

Roxanne Darling www.barefeetstudios.com www.beachwalks.tv

Podcamp Hawaii Sponsors:
Hawaii Convention Center (hawaiiconvention.com)
WiFi Vendor: Pacific Direct Connect (pdchawaii.com)
Projection Presentation Technology (projection.com)
Road Runner  (roadrunner.com)

Christine Lu @christinelu http://thechinabusinessnetwork.com/

Eric Nakagawa icanhascheezburger.com

Beth Kanter @kanter

Social Media Club socialmediaworkshop.com

Shane Robinson @shane

Kyle Nishioka.com @madmarv

Judi Clark @judico