How to Make a Great First Impression

How do you make a great first impression to colleagues and subject matter experts across your profession and across the globe?

I have met many of my colleagues virtually on social media channels like LinkedIn or Twitter before I met them in real life (IRL). Then when I meet them we already have some things in common because we are already familiar with one another. It's part of my personal brand.

Did you know that - “the mere-exposure effect is a real psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them. In social psychology, this effect is sometimes called the familiarity principle. In studies of interpersonal attraction, the more often a person is seen by someone, the more pleasing and likeable that person appears to be.” –Wikipedia

Get known, get liked, get great advice from your peers. It all starts with a good social media profile.

Interactive Marketing in a Highly Regulated Industry

I have been asked to speak on a panel at the 2010 MIMA Summit in Minneapolis regarding Interactive Marketing in a Highly Regulated Industry. The case study track breakout session is described as follows:

Health care is a highly reg­u­lated indus­try. Let’s say that again with feel­ing: Healthcare is a HIGHLY reg­u­lated indus­try. That heav­ily influ­ences what the mar­ket­ing and public rela­tions folks can say and do. Yet despite the legal­is­tic hand­cuffs and road­blocks, these inter­ac­tive practitioners are cre­at­ing mea­sur­able results. Healthcare pro­fes­sion­als and non-health peeps alike can learn from their expe­ri­ences. If your man­age­ment thinks inter­ac­tive is weird and scary, just look at what these folks over­come with every day to achieve results!

I would have to say that the description of the panel is pretty damned good. The emphasis on "highly regulated industry" is spot on and I couldn't have stressed it better. However, given this environment what are companies like Medtronic, Children’s Hospital, and the American Red Cross doing in Interactive?

I'm speaking for the medical device industry here. Indeed we create measurable results, but evaluating risk is a big factor when it comes to pushing the envelope. The risk-averse nature of our industry and the lack of clear guidance from the FDA (so far) in the area of marketing and advertising in interactive media can encumber innovative marketing. The paradigm shift the Internet represents to our industries is inevitable and these challenges will have to be contended with in one way or another.

I believe my fellow panelists agree that we have to look to the positive in our efforts. We will continue to educate our organizations and work with the regulating bodies to have the engagement and dialog with our markets the online channels promise.

Interactive marketers are fighting the good fight in regulated organizations - It's been 10 years since the Cluetrain Manifesto - are we taking delivery yet? To find out attend our breakout session - Interactive Marketing in The Healthcare Industry

Open Letter To Netflix

Netflix recently released an official iPhone app. Andy Boxall in his iPhoneFreak Blog post "Netflix Comes to the iPhone" says:

"Previously only available for the iPad, the official Netflix app is now available for the iPhone too, which should see a massive increase in both the amount of downloads and the amount of people enjoying streaming content out and about."

All well and good Andy, but I have to disagree... to a degree. In response I have "penned" the following open letter to Netflix.
---
Dear Netflix,

I know you are contending with some privacy issues in your attempts to serve your customers in an innovative way. You will be relieved to hear that I'm not writing to you to discuss these issues.

Your new official iPhone app enables movie viewing on the iPhone and iTouch platforms, but I don't really think I would seriously watch a full length movie on any of these small format platforms. Maybe it's because my eyes are not what they used to be, but I prefer a larger screen that I can view with others. Call me old fashioned, but I will be surprised if there are a compelling number of users that will watch a one hour TV show or two hour feature film on their small iPhone screens. The iPad would be another story.

However, I think you could do something more compelling and innovative with movie trailers, which are short and lend themselves to a quick review to determine if you want to watch the associated full length movie. Actually, this could be the goal of the app. Heck, I have good friends that seem to enjoy movie trailers over the full length movies themselves.

How about an app that basically enabled the user to manage and view a playlist of movie and/or TV show trailers? It could have some of the following features:

• Add the movie based on the trailer you like to your queue.
• The ability to review the anticipated rating or set your rating of the movie based on the trailer.
• Browse or search trailer playlists by director, actor or genre.
  
• Create your own trailer playlist to share with your friends (social media).
  
• Comment on, subscribe or favorite trailer playlists by others (social networking).

I'm sure others will add additional ideas in the comments below. Please consider these ideas and if you like feel free to name this feature "Wardo's Trailer Playlists".

I continue to be a big fan of your service. Please keep up the good work.

Warm regards,

Ward Tongen

Are Group Coupons Really Such A Good Deal?

Here are six tips and techniques to help you make the most out of group coupons like Groupon, LivingSocial and dozens of smaller sites:

1. Stay local - don't accept coupons outside your normal area of travel unless you are planning to use a coupon during travel.
2. Beware of un-savvy vendors - I assumed that I could use my iPhone app to redeem my coupon only to find out at a local restaurant that they required a printed coupon only. I was turned away. Also be aware that some businesses struggle to handle the surge in customers.
3. Don't collect too many coupons - You can go a little crazy when you are bombarded everyday with such unbeatable bargains. My coupons soon started to stack up and I was in danger of not being able to redeem them all in time. Think twice before buying - pace yourself.
4. Read the fine print and note the expiration date- I repeat "Read the fine print" It's usually short and to the point and may contain rules and conditions that are crucial in making sure your redemption is valid.
5. Return to businesses you like - One of the compelling reasons small businesses use these group coupon services is to drive customers to their stores & restaurants. If you like the product or service it shouldn't be hard to patronize that business again.
   
6. Tell your friends online or otherwise. Buy for a friend. Use the share feature for a free deal. Most of the deals are for local establishments. At LivingSocial, the deal might even end up being free for you if you recruit enough people to the same deal. For some offers, you need as few as three buddies.

Use the latest craze among price-conscious consumers wisely. This combination of social media and commerce may change the way you shop.

Unbelievable Unconferencing at Unsummit 4

UnSummit is an alternative, "unconference," not unlike a BarCamp. That means full participation, full dissemination and free admission — all the things that traditional conferences are not. -Unsummit.org

I have been attending unconferences since the first Minnebar back in the day and I love the refreshing format. An unconference is where people talk with each other as opposed to at each other. New paradigm topics such as the ones that appear on the schedule of the unsummit should not take place in rigid, old paradigm formats. We are moving from a one-way event to a two-way experience.

This event, excuse me... experience, is free thanks to generous sponsors and also held on a weekend day. Even though it is free I think the attendees that give up part of their summer Saturday are more passionate and more highly participatory than the average conference goer.

Next year perhaps we can take a few more ideas into the format. I plucked the following participatory formats from a white paper titled "Possibilities For Transformational Conferences" by Tree Bressen with Debby Sugarman and Sunrise Facilitation:

• Attendees Interview Each Other
• Presenters Learn From Participants
• Fishbowl - small group of people speak together while others listen and witness
• Interview The Panelists
• Panelist Circles - panelists go out into the audience and form circles people to talk more
• Storytelling
• Speed Geeking - basically this is musical chars with panelists

Did you know that most unconference features match the characteristics of the traditional science fiction convention held since the 1930's? We are living science fiction every day. The future is now and I for one love it.

Men Who Can't Pee: A Failed Commercial

"Say goodbye to weak stream and hello to a laser beam" -Rhett & Link

Conventional wisdom was turned upside down for a medical device manufacturer. YouTube, a communication medium for the young could not reach an audience of older men with prostate problems. Or could it?

Yesterday I attended another 'unconference', the Healthcamp Minnesota at the University of Minnesota, Mayo Auditorium. Session panel member John Reid, Chief Executive Officer, AbbeyMoor Medical, spoke about how his company used YouTube to market a medical device, the Spanner, a prostatic stent that holds open the urethra, allowing men with enlarged prostates to urinate more easily. Since I work for a major medical device manufacturer, I was especially interested in what John had to say.

The Spanner is intended for temporary use (up to 30 days) to maintain urine flow and allow voluntary urination in patients following minimally invasive treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and after initial post-treatment catheterization. The other alternative for these men is the traditional Foley catheter.

AbbeyMoor hired a couple of comedians from North Carolina to create a "spoof" commercial YouTube video about the product. In the four minute video, Rusty Barefoot, Sr. and Larnold Jernigan, Sr, played by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, try to make a commercial about The Spanner but can't quite get through it without messing it up, much to the annoyance of the director.



The video was a big hit on the Internet and has received over 163,000 views to-date. The Minneapolis Star Tribune picked it up in their article about "The Spanner: Help for enlarged prostates."

During the Q&A, John indicated that he fought idea of spanner video "kicking and screaming." However it turns out that speaking in a human voice was amazingly successful. Much to his surprise John indicated that even doctors (urologists) appreciated the urological humor. He was a convert.

John said Youtube demographics (mostly age 13 to 24) were not the target but that the viral nature of video got the word out to target audience secondarily.

"That suggests the video is attracting two waves of people: the normally young YouTube crowd who finds it funny but then refer the video to people who actually need the product."

AbbeyMoor Medical capitalized on this further by adding a short text caption message to the end of their video: "Share this video with your dad, granddad, husband... and your doctor."

As a startup with limited funds AbbeyMoor Medical has no sales or field staff. Instead they offer an online in-service introduction to The Spanner followed by a Spanner Training Kit and 20 minute online training for physicians and their clinical staff. ('WebEx' Training). The training demonstrates how the office-based stent can be a useful alternative to catheterization for bladder outlet obstruction (BOO).

The HealthCamp unconference discussion then went on to explore how major medical device companies like mine with a large, expensive field presence will need to rethink their resource-intensive sales/field staff model. Much food for thought here.

I firmly believe that it is mission critical for major medical device manufacturers get on board and learn to have conversations with their markets in a human voice. This will lead to changes in how they do business.

(The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer.)

Google Babel Fish

Google Wave is coming! As Google puts it:

"Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more."

This social media technology is amazing and is eagerly anticipated by many. Google is in the process of launching Google Wave as I post this blog. You can learn about Google Wave at the Google Wave Preview website, but it's pretty technical. I recommend the condensed 8 minute Google Wave Overview.

It is said that "God created language to divide the humans so that they could not work together to build a tower to heaven".

Using Google Wave, and a software robot called "Rosie" you can actually converse over the Internet with someone that speaks another language in real-time. This comes pretty close to what Douglas Adams describes in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Stick a Babel fish in your ear and understand any language.

How will this change the world? Will the world get smaller still? Will Americans communicate directly with Iranians? Will the French reach past their language? Will Google Wave temper our destructive nationalistic tendencies?

I'm not so much hopeful that we will build a tower to heaven, but a bridge to understand our fellow human across our planet.

One can only hope.

The Business Card As Social Media

The printed business card is becoming an anachronism.

a.nach.ro.nism |əˈnakrəˌnizəm|
-noun
1) A thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, esp. a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned.

Exchanging business cards is rapidly getting replaced by exchanging Web links to LinkedIn, Google, Plaxo, or online profiles from other business-oriented social networking sites.

There have been several attempts to provide the capability to exchange contact information electronically. Many of the older PDA's had a method to beam contact information via infrared. Some smartphones can transfer vCards wirelessly via Bluetooth. vCard is a file format standard for electronic business cards. Even when the transfer technologies between devices are standardized, the applications have different implementations of the vCard standard and are often incompatible.

I recently discovered the Poken: a new social networking accessory that contains your contact information. You can put your photo, name, email, social networking IDs, screen names in your Poken. When you meet other Poken owners (here's the catch), you touch Pokens to connect. A more expensive, Poken Pulse doubles as a 2GB flash drive making it more convenient to carry. Still, not everyone has a Poken to connect instantly without a business card. I could see where a Poken might be useful given as a promotional freebie (SWAG) at trade shows, conferences, events and expos.

I still hand out my business card. But when I do, it is one of several personalized sets that I customize online at Vistaprint to a particular target audience. Even if they become conspicuously old-fashioned, business cards are still ubiquitous.

The Perfect Ad at the Perfect Time to the Perfect Recipient.

"I want my epitaph to read: He made Cialis ads optional." Paul Douglas said this recently at the first ROI LEADER FORUM for Small Business Innovation and Results in Minneapolis.



As anyone in Minnesota can tell you, Paul Douglas is a well-known local meteorologist and TV personality. Less well known to me was Paul's success as a entrepreneur.

Paul Douglas has created several Internet start-ups, including EarthWatch 3-D weather graphics in 1990, and licensing software to TV stations worldwide. Currently he is focused on Singular Logic, a patent holding company. The goal: to reinvent news and advertising on the web.

"Consumer behavior is best learned when consumers are in control of their content and advertisers listen. Today, consumers are selecting custom content, from choosing where and when they watch their favorite programs to their friend and fan pages on Facebook." Singular Logic

This was music to my ears. For more than 10 years I'v been working in online marketing and love the kind of paradigm change that entrepreneurs like Paul Douglas are bringing to broadcast and other channels as a result of the Internet.

Social media and targeted advertising can work hand-in-hand.

So Paul, if you are reading this please feel free to enlist me in your endeavor. My experience in search marketing and social media are at your service.

5 Blog Copywriting Tips from a Professional Writer

"You're boring! You should do it this way." This was the first advice I got from an old friend of mine, when I asked her to help me critique a blog post I had started to draft.

Sue is a great copywriter with experience in journalism, speech writing, ghostwriting and web writing. I value her advice and came away from our little session with 5 tips to write a better blog post.

1. Your lead sentence should grab the reader. Pull them in. Pick it carefully.
2. Keep you post short. Don't bore the reader.
   
3. So what? What does your message mean to the reader? What's in it for them.
4. It's not about you. Get over yourself. Write for the reader.
   
5. Keep your post focused. Don't go off on tangents.
   

Thanks Sue. Now I'll just dust off my ego and write some better posts.

Wardo Quoted in The September 2009 M.D. News

I recently found out that I'm quoted in a marketing article in the September 2009 M.D. News - Twin Cities Edition. M.D News is a business and lifestyle magazine for physicians.

The article titled "Web-Med Marketing Prescribed by Nerds" was written by Mark Malmberg, at Sierra Bravo a Twin Cities technology company. I'm quoted twice, the beginning and ending of the article.

The article speaks to how medical marketing is changing due to new technologies and communication channels. Some of these touched on in the article include:

• Online Health Records like ExitCare's FamilyHealthTracker
• Web-based Advocacy Tools and Online Communities like HealthSimple's FlasCarbs
• iPhone Apps like AusQuinn's Nurse Tabs and 4th Main Software's hLog

Here is the ending paragraph:

"The old marketing approach was, 'Reach X number of eyeballs; make them think X," said Tongden. "Now, it has to be about discovering where people are at, what they want and finding a way to appeal to them in their vernacular. Establish a connection. You don't tell people what your brand is anymore; you listen to people to figure out what your brand is. The Internet has flipped marketing on its head."

I'm very flattered even if they spelled my name incorrectly.

Why I pay for my own mobile phone & plan.

A little over a year ago I voluntarily returned my company-paid Samsung Blackjack Smartphone and switched my corporate-sponsored AT&T plan into a personal private plan. In other words, I switched from a perfectly good mobile smartphone, that the company permitted me to use for limited personal use and bought my own to the tune of $299 and about $80 a month ongoing.

I was saving quite a bit of money - Why would I do that?

I did it to get an Apple iPhone, which my company at the time did not support.

I feel that the the launch of the iPhone represents a paradigm-shift for the mobile industry. Apple is succeeding in doing what other mobile operators have struggled too long to do. It gives a compelling reason to use mobile data and the mobile internet.

The iPhone marks the beginning of mass-market use of mobile email and the mobile internet in the U.S. (parts of Asia have already surpassed this milestone). Others have now entered the fray, but Apple did it first.

To some of you this may sound like an elaborate justification for a much desired gadget, but part of the work I do falls into this shift and I consider it part of my professional development. I believe in investing in myself.

I also look forward to how this technology is impacting the use of social media. Many social media channels already incorporate a mobile platform.

Helping to Cure Cancer with an iPhone App

I recently met Gangadhar Sulkunte. Among other things he is an IT Project Manager, iPhone/Healthcare Entrepreneur, and Founder of 4th Main Software where he developed hLog a Health tracking application (app) for the iPhone.

hLog is an application that anyone with an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch can use to track health, vital health stats, exercise regimens, sleep patterns, medicines, and more. hLog can chart and compare the effects of medicines, exercise regimens, and sleep patterns over time.

Gangadhar lost his father to Lymphoma a year ago and since then he has been interested in helping find a cure for cancer. When Apple introduced the iPhone and iPod Touch, he was excited about the possibilities that this would bring in patient care and disease research. He built the application in consultation with Dr. Scott Bender MD.

Now I love BHAG's (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) and helping to cure cancer with an iPhone app is clearly a great BHAG, so I asked Gangadhar if I could interview him for the Wardo-gram. He graciously accepted.

Here is the interview with Gangadhar Sulkunte:

Wardo: I understand that you have developed an iPhone application called hLog. How would you describe it?

Gangadhar: hLog is an application for the users to record all of their health related information. Many times, we are instructed to record many aspects of our health and we are unable to keep it all in one place due to writing them down on scraps of paper. With hLog, now you have a digital log where you can accurately record your health. This is the only app on the app store which is focused on your entire health. There are other apps which help in recording your blood sugar levels, BP, temperature etc. But hLog is the only one which records all these aspects and more. The main advantage of hLog comes in when you analyze your data by creating reports which show you a all aspects of your health. For eg., you can create reports which show when your sugar level spiked, what medicines made you most stressed, what aspect of your lifestyle (like exercise, sleep) caused your back pain or insomnia to flare up etc.

hLog is also serves as your emergency health card. You can store information about your health background, health insurance information and primary doctor's contact information which can be shared with the doctors when required.

Wardo: Who was hLog developed for and how can they use it?

Gangadhar: hLog was developed for all users who need to store health information either for themselves or for someone in their care. It can be used in cases where someone has a chronic condition like back pain, insomnia, diabetes, etc. They can record their health, the medicine intake and daily activities like sleep, mood, exercises etc. This helps their doctors to get a complete picture to provide good advice on how to control their chronic condition.

The app can also be used by parents of young children. When my son was very young, the pediatricians would ask us to record his health condition (when he was sick and he was sick very often!) and we always did it on google spreadsheets and notebooks. With hLog, you can record your child's health accurately and timely.

Ultimately, I feel the app can also be used when the users or someone in their care have a serious condition like cancer. With the many things that one has to record in these cases, hLog can be a huge help to record the health accurately.

Wardo: Why did you develop hLog?

Gangadhar: My father passed away from Lymphoma last year. After that, I wanted to do something to help cure cancer. I tried many things like reading up everything I came across on cancer and for a while I even started a blog which I thought might help patients and their care givers. None of this satisfied me since I wanted a hands on approach to helping find a cure for cancer. I read a book called "Numerati" where they say that the next big cures like cures for cancer, AIDS etc will not come from just doctors but will come from a collaboration among doctors, mathematicians and computer scientists. So, I figured that I can definitely help in this endevor. I had to start small and start somewhere and I started with hLog.

Wardo: How could an iphone application help cure cancer?

Gangadhar: An application like hLog which helps track 'Observations of daily life" can help doctors and cancer researchers in many ways. The researchers have insight into what is going on in the patient's health beyond the lab test results. This will also provide input to the mathematical models which can help understand the impact of the many things from the patient's life on the medicines and the cancer. I believe that this can lead to a cure for cancer one day.

I recently came across these NY Times news items about how crowdsourcing can help in finding cures to hitherto incurable diseases:

• Research Trove: Patients' Online Data
• Enlisting Computers to Unravel the True Complexity of Disease
  

These reinforce my thought that patients can take an active role in finding cures for diseases like cancer. hLog can help in that.

The other aspect is if enough people track their health for a long enough time using an app like hLog, researchers might also be able to find out what causes cancer. This way we can prevent cancer from occurring!

Wardo: What are your plans for hLog next?

Gangadhar: I want to make hLog read health data from the many devices that are used in the home setting like BP monitors, blood sugar monitors, thermometers etc so that the data entry can be automated. The other area that I am exploring is to make a version of hLog that can run on the Android platform and if netbooks become more predominant, a version that works on a netbook. I also want to hLog to upload your data to Google Health or Microsoft HealthVault. This way, the doctors have one view of your health through these sites.

In order to help patients to manage their health proactively, I want to provide health indicators in the app. This will be useful for someone who has a chronic condition like Diabetes, BP etc. This can provide feedback to them after they record their health data.

All the above are very ambitious and I feel that the fastest way to get them done is to go open source. We are actively working on making hLog the first iPhone healthcare application to go open source.

Wardo: Your website indicates that hLog is the first one in a series of apps you are developing. Can you share what 4th Main Software is working on next?

Gangadhar: This is a tough one. I know that I will be working on many apps other than hLog. I have no new apps in the pipeline as of now. However the plan is to continue updating hLog as previously described and use that as a input to decide which other type of apps to develop.

Wardo: Thank you Gangadhar. We wish you luck.

You can reach Gangadhar through 4th Main Software or Twitter.

Communicate in a Genuine Human Voice

I've read a few articles lately about how our social media interactions on the web can come to haunt us. I would probably agree that you should be careful not to post inappropriate photos of yourself or foolish comments on the web for all to see.

Information associated with your personal and professional lives becomes your online reputation and is probably archived forever on the Web.

However, being seen as ridiculous is part of the human condition. Corporations and other organizations will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak as themselves.

"[We] communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can't be faked." -The Cluetrain Manifesto

Putting your best face forward is not an unreasonable goal, but why can't we balance that by also being genuine?

Nancy Lyons of the Geek Girls Guide rants about The Misuse Of Social Media By Companies And Executives. She makes some good points.

"Social media is here to enrich our lives. Not make us fearful about living them." -Nancy Lyons

You go girl!

Wardo's Job Description Idea for the Emerging Media Marketing role

The following job description is my submission to the Best Buy job description contest. Please sign up for an account on http://bestbuyideax.com/ and vote for my idea (number 645).
---
The term 'emerging media expert' may be an oxymoron. Perhaps it should be 'emerging media specialist' or even 'emerging media explorer'. After all it is just emerging.

It reminds me a bit of the early days, when you could find corporate job descriptions for Internet professionals demanding 10+ years of Internet-related experience in a field that was not really even 6 years old. Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO, in a keynote address he gave some years ago, observed that a calendar year was roughly equivalent to four Internet years – thus equating an Internet year with a corporate financial quarter. The rate of change on the Internet is fast and I would argue that the impact emerging media has makes change even faster.

I agree with George Colony from Forrester Research as he so aptly put it "Social [media] is like sex. It's fun to talk about and read about, but you can't truly comprehend unless you do it." An online presence of some magnitude is telling, but perhaps requiring 200+ friends/connections/followers is too arbitrary. Research suggests that your brain is hard wired to pay attention to about 150 people (Dunbar's number).

Perhaps instead one should focus on the transferable skills and career evolution of a candidate as well as his/her passionate attitude.

"For true experts realize that they don’t have all the answers, they are aware that surprises await in every endeavor, and they have the resources to deal with everything that is thrown at them." -Rick Mahn

For example take the role of Islands Caretaker for Tourism Queensland in Australia, or what has been termed the ‘Best Job in the World’. The role was a newly created position designed to help promote the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to the world. A 34-year-old charity fundraiser from Petersfield in Hampshire, UK was selected not only for his transferable skills (SCUBA diving and sailing) but his adventurous spirit, energy and passion for the outdoors.

Transferable skills for an Emerging Media Marketing role would probably include:
- search marketing strategy and implementation
- project management
- web metrics and analytics
- team leadership and agency management

Career evolution might look like this:
Develop web properties -> manage web properties -> advocate usability -> market web properties -> measure web visitor behavior -> listen to web audiences -> engage in the web conversation with your audience in a human voice.

For me anyway the Cluetrain Manifesto embodies many of the paradigms that have evolved on the web. Why not use that document to frame up a job description for the Emerging Media Marketing role?

--- Begin Job Description Idea for the Emerging Media Marketing role ---

"A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies." - Cluetrain Manifesto

Description of responsibilities

• Be the leader for marketing Best Buy’s brands, products, initiatives, services, et al via Social Media, Mobile, and Video.
• Lead direct reports and agency partners
• Strategy/Budget/time line/project management responsibility
• Inspire/Generate ideas
• Develop an internal/external network to get the above done.

Basic Qualifications

• 10+ years web/online marketing and/or Agency experience with 3+ years developing and directing search marketing and/or online community and communications initiatives.
• Bachelor's Degree
• A positive engaging online presence - Experience with emerging media & record of having used it extensively:

1. Active Twitter account at least 1 year old with 150+ followers
2. Active Facebook account
3. Active LinkedIn account with 150+ connections and 24+ recommendations
4. 3G Smart phone Owner/User for at least a year (iPhone, Android or other)

• 5+ years experience leading cross-functional teams in achieving a unified goal
• 5+ years Experience with web property measurement and analysis

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with quantitative and qualitative Web Analytics reports such as those generated by Omniture SiteCatalyst, or Foresee Results.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Strong influence management capabilities
• Ability to create great working relationships with all levels within the company and across multiple disciplines.
• Superior communication and writing skills
• Committed to staying on top of emerging technologies and developing new programs and strategies accordingly.
• Ability to move from a technical project status meeting in IT to a creative marketing meeting, and be able to understand and participate with both on equal footing.

Other

• Keen sense of curiosity and hunger for knowledge
• A desire to make a difference

Top Travel Twitter Tips

"Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length." - Wikipedia

I highly recommend using Twitter (tweeting) with Twinkle while traveling. Tips from followers and local information from nearby Twitterers prove very valuable.

Twinkle is a Twitter app for iPhone that uses the iPhone's geolocation function. You can also upload photos to reference in your tweets. This useful iPhone app was created by Tapulous.

Here are my top tips for using Twitter when you travel:

1. Don't tweet while you are driving - Tweet only when you are a passenger or are safely stopped.
   
2. Tweet when you are hungry - Locals may chime in with a great place to stop and eat.
   
3. Tweet the local traffic conditions (when you are in a traffic jam) - Fellow Twinklers may suggest alternate routes.
   
4. Tweet the weather conditions - Online weather maps are useful, but an evaluation by locals or fellow travelers may be a lifesaver.
   
5. Tweet your ETA - Let folks at ome know you are safe.
   
6. Tweet when you are bored - Tweetdom may suggest interesting nearby points of interest.
   
7. Tweet a photo when you see something unusual - Comments on your photo can be useful feedback for your return trip.
   
8. Tweet local fuel prices - Fuel prices can vary surprisingly on a day trip. Gas prices on the way to Chicago ranged from $1.59 to nearly $2.00. Know when to fill up.
   

Can Corporate Bloggers “Fit In” With A Community of Real People?

I was recently invited (via Twitter) to participate in a MIMA Summit blog carnival by discussing one of three questions. Of course this is a blatant attempt at viral marketing, not unlike what I did when I coined the term "searchbaiting" and blogged about it.

The question I selected was posed: “Corporate Blogger: Angel Or Demon? Is It Possible To Both Speak The Voice Of The Organization And Also “Fit In” With A Community of Real People?” I might add that this was posted in ALL CAPS – poor blog form, MIMA we can do better.

I put this question to Jill Serbousek. She is the Vice President of Business and Marketing Strategy for Medtronic's Spinal and Biologics Division. She also runs what I think is the first corporate medical device blog I know of, InsideSpine.com . She is an employee of Medtronic and a spinal patient. She underwent spinal surgery herself for repair of a herniated disc.

OK, OK, the ability to comment on InsideSpine is disabled, but for a good reason. Medtronic is in a heavily regulated industry and by necessity needs to stay on the correct side of the FDA. A free exchange of comments could be interpreted as a violation under certain circumstances.

Jill agreed that it is possible for a corporate blogger to fit in with a community of real people. “However, taking the high road is critical. And, keeping postings within compliance with our rules is [very] critical.”

The blogging community can be fairly hard on corporate bloggers. Jill shared that other blog sites link to InsideSpine for the content. She tries hard to keep it real, keep it educational, and stay focused on the topic.

The SearchBaiting Award

Here is the official SearchBaiting Award. This honor is awarded to those that discover, on their own accord, that they have been searchbaited.

SearchBaiting definition: The act of leaving clues on the Web (searchbait) so that a targeted person will discover and act on the reference. One who searchbaits of course would be a searchbaiter.

If you have been the recipient of searchbaiting feel free to download this badge proudly post it on your web property. Link it to this post at http://wardsmoblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/searchbaiting-award.html.

Acknowledged recipients eligible to receive this award are listed as follows:

• Paul Jahn
• Clint Danks
  

If you want to display your award on your website, feel free to use one of the badges below. Simply copy and paste the code associated with each badge.

Badge Code (150 x 231):

<a href="http://wardsmoblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/searchbaiting-award.html"><img style="border: 0;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmP6uiDuNnrJZJ_k3wugXle0gfmLxtQEWtFWnoovCZgGS7J6LLxKU7IRNc8UtN-gBxgGv1QIAbISpz1VC_a8uHYc9Fn_I1A8k9iAWxmni-3wdYocIfxrMbc4Olg2lnXKt4GmWN/s400/ward-tongen-searchbaiting-award-half-size.png" alt="SearchBaiting Award Winner" /></a>

Awarding Judge: Ward Tongen, Master Searchbaiter

SearchBaiting my Colleagues

"You're so vain. You probably think this post is about you."


Last year I participated in blog tagging. This year I came up with a fun new scheme I'll call "Searchbaiting".

Working Definition of Searchbaiting: The act of leaving clues on the Web (searchbait) so that a targeted person will discover and act on the reference. One who searchbaits of course would be a searchbaiter.

There is a very talented group of Minnesota search marketers I want to test. I also wanted to use the term Searchbaiting, which I don't think is a word yet.

• Clint Danks, ThinkSEM - Expert search engine marketer
• Nicole St. Martin - International search expert and blogger
• Paul Jahn - Local search expert and blogger
• Sara Bernier - Spanish search marketer

As Web professionals I figure there are several ways my friends could find this post about them.

1. A vanity search
2. Backlink analysis of web properties I've linked their names to
3. Referral analysis of custom campaign parameters to these web sites
4. Word-of-mouth (so don't tell them)

Myself, I have a Google vanity alert set up so that I am notified by email when my name appears in Google's index.

OK let's see how long it takes them to find this post.

Clint, Nicole, Sarah, & Paul - Once you find this post please leave a comment. First one to leave a comment wins!

[4/26/08 @2am] 1st Place - Paul Jahn
[4/29/08 @ 5:30pm] 2nd Place - Clint Danks
[5/14/08 @ 7:08pm] 3rd Place - Sarah Bernier
[5/18/08 @ 11:33am] 4th Place - Nicole St. Martin