This is about a three minute Kauffman Sketchbook video providing us with a background on Kansas City's rich entrepreneurial roots and how Google is partnering with local businesses to keep the entrepreneurial spirit thriving.
I am so proud to have taken part in Kauffman's entrepreneurial program at UMKC, work for two of the five highlighted Kansas City brands listed and most importantly call Kansas City home.
Big thank you to Stephanie Sharp for reminding me about this video.
It's that time of year. 2011 recap surveys are hitting our inboxes. Here's one for you to not overlook...
Share your opinions on digital marketing with the Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA). They have released their 2011 Digital Marketing Outlook survey and are looking for industry insiders to provide their input. These insights will be printed in the 2012 edition of The SoDA Report.
The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and will focus on your experiences with, and plans for digital marketing. To participate, click http://bit.ly/w4mi8W to start. In return for your time and sharing your insights, you will receive a copy of The SoDA Report as well as additional content updates throughout the year as The SoDA Report moves to a quarterly editorial calendar for 2012.
Take the 10 minutes to fill the survey out, The SoDA Report is worth it!
Still doubtful? Check out the 2011 report and then decide.
Pausing a moment on this hectic day to reflect on how blessed we are to have four healthy children. We are so very thankful!
Happy Thanksgiving from The Weists!
Just getting around to uploading my presentation from last week's Louisville IABC-LDA Emerging Media Summit. We walked through two Fortune 500 social business case studies and discussed emerging media methods and trends from Edelman.
Louisville IABC - Operationalizing Social Business View more presentations from Zena Weist
A huge thank you to all the IABC-LDA volunteers who really went out of their way to make all the speakers feel right at home last Monday. And a special shout-out to Jason Falls! Thanks for making my first trip to Louisville such a memory maker, Fallsy!
Please leave a comment if you have any questions on the deck's content and I'll follow up.
Our five year old was so excited to have me all to herself tonight. It's rare with three older siblings and hectic nightly practice schedules. I thought she'd want to look at magazines, paint her nails, or dance to the latest teen singer's hit. I was wrong. She wanted to go for a walk.
Not only did she want to go for a walk in our neighborhood but she wanted to hold my hand the whole time. She's typically five going on 17 in her prefereneces so I was savoring the moment and felt compelled to share as these requests present themselves so rarely. She's in such a hurry-to-grow-up-and-be-big-like-her-brothers-and-sister mode.
We walked hand-in-hand talking about butterflies ("there's not enough in our neighborhood, where do we go to get more?"), dogs ("they just bark because they are looking for another dog to play with"), the chill in the air ("the leaves will change soon Momma") and I was soaking it all in.We stopped every few blocks to sit on the sidewalk, rest and chat. Neighbors drove by and waved. I silently hoped they could be in my shoes soon...walking with their kiddos hand-in-hand.
When we got back home. She took a long bubble bath and we played with all her "little girl" bath toys. She wanted to go to bed early before the "big kids" got home. Before I tucked her in she wanted me to read her a story. This is big time old school because she typically needs to read to me or my husband.
She picked out her princess storybook and I read her two stories while we snuggled in her twin bed ("Momma, I love how we both fit in my bed, we are little girls.") My answer was matter-of-fact "I love being a little girl." ("Me too, Momma. Me too.") Extra snuggle. What a memory for me!
She turns six next week.
I didn't click on Chris' tweet because I knew who he was - CBS The Early Show Anchor. I didn't know him. If I watch a morning news program which is rare, it's another network or cable show. Anyway, I clicked on Chris' content in relationship to my search charity:water. And this is how I came across Rachel's story. 
My favorite part of the book is in Chapter 8, "The Keys to Success in Social Media" Thomas and Barlow whittle it down to Five keys to success in social media:Looking Passed The FOG
As brands, we look in the mirror. We look in the mirror a lot. We make sure our brand promise looks fresh. We reflect on our objectives. Sometimes, we need to look passed our [insert whatever your favorite objective/gubbins is here - aka FOG] to focus on our customers' needs. Yep, we need to wipe off the FOG.
Objectives that make perfect sense to those of us peering into the mirror can become foggy (aka - favorite objectives/gubbins gone yo-yo) to our customers. When our FOG doesn't align with our customers' expectations, their experience is inconsistent. They lose trust. They tire of the fog. They don't feel appreciated. They leave.
I'm reminded daily to wipe the FOG off the mirror...glance at the FOG for a gut check, maybe, but then look passed the mirror. Usually I put the mirror down. I used to have to remind myself to peer out from the FOG into our customers' experience through chatter online. Not just a quick look-see, but a long take-their-perspective-on gaze. As Chris Brogan explains:
The Zulu greet each other by saying “Sawubona,” translated literally to mean, “I see you.” It means, “I know that you’re there and I acknowledge you as another person.” The response back is, “Ngikhona,” which is literally, “I am here.”
Chris discusses why brands need to become their customers in detail in his post today, Become The Buyer. Let your customers know you really see them through the FOG. Next post, I'll talk about how we at H&R Block are actively cutting through the FOG and showing our customers "Sawubona".
Photo by Roland Hutchinson of Geeky Gadgets.
A couple of disclosures: 1) The H&R Block social media team is included as an example in Jay Baer's and Amber Naslund's book The Now Revolution and 2) Amber leads Social Strategy at Radian6 which is H&R Block's online listening tool.
You know you are reading a breakthrough business book when industry cohorts hear you are reading it and they say something along the lines of this book:
1) Nails the issues my team is dealing with;
2) Gives me reassurance we are on the right track;
3) Brings it all together for my management; or
4) That's on my list to read.
Well, I heard all of these quips (with #4 being the most popular) when discussing The Now Revolution by Jay Baer and Amber Naslund with industry peers. 'Now' explains how organizations are not only making changes to accommodate real-time business but also shows us how we can weave these changes into our own processes.
Jay and Amber lead us through seven core business shifts with case studies, checklists, charts, best-in-class lessons learned and interactive QR codes jam-packed with yet more brain food. It's an easily digestible "read, learn, adapt, blend, repeat" book. Yep, I dig it. And for the record, this is the best use of QR codes (greatest end-user utility) I've come across to date.
Have you noticed I haven't said anything about social media? To me this book is not a social media book. And I for one am thrilled this isn't another social media strategy read. This is a playbook for how to operationalize your company for client-focused, real-time business.
One quick example, Shift Four, in Jay and Amber's book, dubbed Answering The New Telephone, helped me take a step back and realize how far our team has come in a year's time with operationalizing listening, from executive buy-in to response-ability. And, honestly, it's shed light on how much more we need to do to really integrate online brand reputation management into our listening and response processes.
There have been several reviews of 'Now' from folks not appearing in it, just in case you think there'a a bit too much fangirl going on with my post. Here's a few diverse 'Now' review posts:
1) Sparkplug Digital
2) PureDriven
3) The Customer Collective
4) Ask Aaron Lee
More and more I'm heads down with work and don't make time in the evenings and weekends to post. I need to make time because I need to practice what I preach which is listen, respond and share. We all (individual contributors, brands, agencies, partners) need to listen first. Active listening, respond (repeat first two repeatedly), then share value-based content. I need to do a better job at all three so I can help others do an amazing job at all three.
Over this weekend, I've been catching up on social media initiatives - campaigns, new public and private communities, influencer outreach strategies, etc. and in news posts the brands all come back to listen first. They listen to what the target is asking for and respond, then they share.
Are we listening and responding to the ask OR are we sharing for sharing sake or campaign sake? Is there a way to blend? That's the secret formula we all hope for, right?
Digging through my old blog posts and found this one, a bit rusty, but the premise of going where your customer is, actively listening, then responding still holds true.
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