From the monthly archives:

November 2009

What Tiger’s Silence Should Teach You About Social Media

by · November 30, 2009

Just past 2 a.m. ET on Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving, arguably the world’s most famous athlete, Tiger Woods, was involved in a single-car accident outside his home near Orlando, Fla. Reports flew around later that day that he was seriously hurt. Then he was treated and released from a local hospital. Then his wife “saved” him. Then someone asked the police to delay an interview.

Two in the morning. Guy runs over a fire hydrant and hits a tree. He’s taken to a hospital with (allegedly) face lacerations and is semi-conscious, but was traveling under 33 miles per hour during the accident?

117 comments

The Benefits Of Off The Grid

by · November 25, 2009

The Monongahela National Forest; Photo taken f...
I’ll be headed home to the mountains of East Kentucky this week. Image via Wikipedia

You may notice me being a bit off the grid this week. And there are some very good reasons.

First, we all need some R&R from the daily grind, even if it’s the grind we love so. I spend between 10 and 18 hours a day sometimes looking at a computer of some sorts. At a minimum, my eyes need to rest. And since I get paid to think, my brain needs some time, too.

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Giving Thanks

by · November 24, 2009

Today is the second annual celebration of Tweetsgiving. The initiative raised money to build a classroom in Tanzania last year. The effort is expanding this year, but will again benefit the same school in Tanzania, among other initiatives driven by Epic Change, the organizing body, and participating folks who wish to drive donations or attention to their own causes.

2008 Tweetsgiving Classroom featuring Twitter handles of contributors on the walls.

2008 Tweetsgiving Classroom featuring Twitter handles of contributors on the walls.

16 comments

Why Social Media Purists Won’t Last

by · November 23, 2009

I’ve always considered myself a bit of a purist when it comes to social media. I believe strongly that it’s more important to engage in conversations and build relationships with people, both as an individual and as a company or brand, than it is to come at them selling product. If you build relationships, the products will sell. Sure, it’s a longer build, but with it comes longer benefit.

1,091 comments

Learn Word-Of-Mouth With The Supergeniuses

by · November 21, 2009

When I got home Thursday, I had a package waiting. It was from Andy Sernovitz, the Word-Of-Mouth guru. Andy has invited me to speak at a one day event he’s putting on in Chicago Dec. 16 called, “Word of Mouth Supergeniuses.” You can learn more on the event website, but keep reading first.

Jason Falls - Word of Mouth Supergenius SpeakerThe package contained a yellow T-shirt. I unfolded it and read the front. It’s a shirt customized for me, saying I’m speaking at the event and giving out my event discount code, “JASONISMYHERO,” which gets you $101 off the price of admission. This is an outstanding example of why you should consider coming to the event. Andy knows how to make people talk about a product or service. He’s called upon other experts in various categories, including several major brands, to teach similar techniques.

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Determining Your Friends

by · November 20, 2009

I’ve been pondering the value and validity of the term “friend” lately. Until a few years ago, we all probably had a couple hundred friends, give or take. Social networking not only incrementalized that number, but changed the definition of the word for many people.

I have 1,300 or more “friends” on Facebook. I’ve probably met and spoken with more than you think, but not all of them. There are 18,000 or so people who follow me on Twitter. I follow most of them back. We are “friends” in a sense, too.

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Sysomos Adds Facebook Feature To Social Media Monitoring Solution

by · November 19, 2009

When businesses are looking for social media monitoring services these days, they normally hone in on two or three capabilities. Because Facebook is this year’s blog, monitoring messages on the platform is a big one. While all social media monitoring services have the same access to Facebook data (it’s all dependent upon what Facebook makes public which is dictated by their terms of service), more creative ways to position Facebook data are surfacing.

Image representing Sysomos as depicted in Crun...
Image via CrunchBase
23 comments

The Four Spheres Of Social Media Strategy

by · November 18, 2009

A crowd of 80 or so attended yesterday’s social media boot camp hosted by the Kentucky chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the Social Media Club Louisville. I was honored to serve as one of the presenters along with the undisputed queen of measurement, Katie Paine, and The Bad Pitch Blog man himself, Kevin Dugan. Rest assured, lots of learning was had, even if you just count my experience.

Part of my presentation, which was focused on developing strategic plans for social media marketing, included my Four Spheres of Social Media Strategy. Until now, I’ve not shared this theory and graphic with you and thought it would be a good time to share and solicit your feedback on it.

90 comments