Entries Tagged 'Uncategorized' ↓

When it came time to launch TNT in Belgium, they got creative…and made a video about it.

This is how you launch a network:

Disclaimer: I’m Jewish. Please forgive any theological inaccuracies that may be included here. This post is meant as a respectful discussion.

Pope Benedict XVI is Tweeting!

Whereas some people may dial down social media for Lent, the Pope will be Tweeting every day, according to Vatican Radio.

You can click the link for the details, because, honestly, they aren’t pertinent to this discussion.

Here goes.

Is the Pope Tweeting daily a shark-jumping moment in social media or a validation of it’s power?

Shark-jumping is a reference to the episode of “Happy Days” where the Fonz water-skis over an actual shark. While wearing a leather jacket.

That’s been pointed as the moment that the show “lost it” and was never the same.

And that’s exactly where the popular term came from. You learn something every day, right?

So is the Pope Tweeting for Lent that moment for Twitter?

Or does it demonstrate that one of the more ancient institutions has recognized the reach and influence of the social network?

I’ll take the latter – that this is a muscle-flexing moment in Twitter’s history.

I discussed last year that Tweets were the currency of social discussion. So it appears that the Catholic church is buying-in…and HUGE.

There are religious TV and radio programs – and even international networks. There are religious newspapers and magazines and websites.

So a Papal message on Twitter is just the next step in the messenger finding the target audience.

Are people on an international scale (not local ministers, rabbis, etc) ready to receive religious direction and inspiration from a Twitter account? We’re about to find out.

I know very little about MetLife.

But after this spot, they are my new favorite company:

*Other factors and work experience contributed to ultimately getting hired, but the tweet got me noticed.

Guest Post by Jenny Weigle

When you find a job opportunity you’re truly excited about, it’s almost like the butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling on a first date. You’re hoping to impress somebody and that they’ll want to see you again, or in this case, hire you. That’s how I felt in October 2010. I was looking for a job in social media marketing or communications. At the time, I was lucky to find a number of these openings and had even lined up some interviews. A friend of mine emailed me a link to the listing for social media manager at CareerBuilder, and the butterflies grew as I read each bullet point in the description. “I can do all of this!” I said aloud in my apartment (alone).

Immediately, I started to work on my cover letter, which was my least favorite part of being a job seeker. My cover letters had never been my strong suit. I knew I needed an intro that would truly stand out. I decided to hold off on writing the intro and focus on the rest of the letter, discussing why I was qualified for the position and what I could bring to the table. In a few short hours, after many revisions, the letter was complete, minus the intro.

Since I wanted to work in social media, I considered that perhaps posting about my excitement on social media would work to my advantage. Or would that be considered tacky? Is it even appropriate to tweet about a job you’re applying for? Would the hiring manager even see it? And if so, would he/she be impressed or annoyed? I decided to go for it anyway. I posted the tweet below:

Then, I suddenly had a brilliant idea for the intro to my cover letter:

Dear Hiring Manager,

When my friend emailed me a link to the job description for Social Media Manager, I was so excited to read over it that I immediately tweeted “I have found the PERFECT job opportunity! Oh @CareerBuilder, I hope you like my resume and cover letter! #HopingtoImpressHiringManager.”  As someone with a great passion for all-things-digital, I believe I would be an excellent candidate for this opportunity and could execute a brilliant social media strategy for CareerBuilder across multiple platforms and audiences.

I reviewed the cover letter and resume one last time and then submitted it to CareerBuilder. Less than two hours later, I received a tweet from the hiring manager:

The next morning, I had an email from the hiring manager, asking to set up a phone interview. After two more in-person interviews, I was offered my dream job! The most interesting aspect of all of this is that I didn’t even think to tweet about any of the other social media jobs I was interviewing for. (I guess none of them excited me in the way this one did.)

Lessons learned from this experience:

• Don’t be afraid to connect with an employer’s public social media accounts (or send them a tweet)! Facebook and LinkedIn may be a bit too personal to connect on, but Twitter and Google+ would be fine.
• Find a way to make your cover letter stand out from others.
• Don’t rely on social media alone. I still had to make a good impression – in person – at every interview that followed.
• Social media rocks.

Jenny Weigle is the social media manager for CareerBuilder. She shares her job seeker tips and social media marketing advice on Twitter and Google+.

I’ve seen many things in my days. But this may be the greatest.

[Over the years, I've referenced Rick Astley a lot here. Take a look here, too.]

You gave me fortune
You gave me fame
You me power in your god’s name
I’m every person you need to be
I’m the cult of personality

- Living Colour “Cult of Personality”

I think we messed up.

For years, social media analysts and pundits have talked about the power of connectivity laying with ideas and concepts, not people.

While that provides good, Tweetable soundbytes for conferences and events, is that really true?

Yesterday, I was honored to moderate a panel on the future of social media featuring Ricky Choi from Living Social and Andrew Noyes from Facebook. They brought it strong, giving tremendous insight into social network beyond just the platforms they work for.

One question really stood out to me, though.

Someone asked, “Who are the social media experts we should be following?”

Bam.

The audience did want to know about the ideas. In fact, we spent most of the 90 minutes discussing social media on a theoretical level.

But one of the major topics was about the people to follow. Who are the thought-leaders? Who should we listen to? Who should we follow?

The “cult of personality” term came to define totalitarian regimes, dictatorships and other propaganda-driven reigns. Now, what we have right now in social media is NOT quite the same.

However, social media events around the world are packed. “I can’t wait to hear what [Person A] has to say today!”

It’s not just the content, it’s seeing THAT person and hearing THEM say it. These are the people that are linked, Tweeted, blog-rolled and more. Or, just someone you enjoy following or reading.

This is in no way, shape or form a bad thing at all. Groups need leaders.

It’s just that we, as an industry, have to realize that the people are important, too.

I’m guilty of this mistake as much as anyone.

Ideas may be the currency of social media, but the people are the banks.