I was recently asked to keynote the final presentation at the NH Travel Council’s Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Portsmouth, NH. My focus was (shock, surprise) social media. But instead of just talking about social media, which frankly, I think there is too much talk about social media and not enough doing,  I decided to share some real examples of organizations within the travel & tourism space who are doing social media and doing it well.

I have to admit, I was really nervous about this presentation. I mean, I have spoken before, but never as the “keynote” and certainly not for a whole 60 minutes! So, in preparation for my big keynote debut, I leveraged my network and put a call out for some great examples of travel & tourism organizations having success with social media. I got several responses, one of which was from The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire.

Being familiar with The Museum from working with them for one of my NHTweetUp events and because they are local, I chose to include them as one of my featured case studies. So, I took my kids and my video camera and made my way to The Children’s Museum to speak with Heidi Duncanson, director of marketing for The Museum.

I was impressed. Really impressed with how Heidi was spearheading The Museum’s social media efforts. With their Facebook Page and Twitter account combined with their email newsletters (what BlueSky Factory calls the “Social Glue”), The Museum is able to connect with its members while building and nurturing their community.

During my video interview with Heidi (click below to view), she shared the Museum’s social media strategy along with some great examples of how just simply listening resulted in a visit from an out of town travel blogger who then wrote about her experiences within her blog that caught the attention of several other travel writers.

In later posts, I will share some other great examples from my presentation including my talk with Taste of Portsmouth about their social media efforts including their involvement with Foursquare Day in Portsmouth.  Please check back for that.

Hope you enjoy my video interview with Heidi. In case you are wondering who those two little cuties popping up in the porthole of the submarine are – they are my girls!

Know any organizations actually jumping in and doing social media and doing it well? Shoot me a note here or on Twitter @cmajor to let me know. I am always looking for great examples to capture and share.

TechKaraoke SXSW Photo Credit: Wayne Kurtzman @WayneNH

Despite the fact that I completely lost my voice during the conference, I did manage to sing with the help of my pal, Margot Bloomstein, who carried the vocals as we belted out The Violent Femmes “Blister in the Sun” with the live band. Not sure how great we sounded, but it was pretty awesome to have the fans blowing our hair in true “80’s big hair” fashion. Hey, I felt like a rock star for a good 3 minutes!

So, here is the video with Jen where I found out a bit more about her company Pinqued why she colored her hair pink.

Thanks Jen and Kate!

Want to learn more about how USATODAY.com is using social media to connect with its readers and share content?  Brian Dresher presented “More than just the news. A social media case study” during a recent AwarenessInc webinar. The complete recording can be accessed here.

According to OurCompassion (OC), the community, which was launched in June 2009,  is “a place for all of us to come together and get organized on behalf of children living in poverty.”

This is an amazing organization that serves more than 800,000 supporters who are sponsoring more than one million children worldwide. The OC community serves as a place for supporters to share, organize and speak up on behalf of children living in poverty.

During our discussion, Katie shared how the OC community was instrumental during the Haiti Earthquakes as it played an important role in facilitating communication with supporters around the world. Through this tragedy, the community went from being a new, young endeavor into a key player in the grand scheme of Compassion’s social media strategy as it became an integral part of their disaster response approach.  With the community, they were and continue to direct Compassion sponsors to the community for further support and information.

What they also found was that through this, the community naturally displayed new levels of “social maturity” (commonly looked for on social networking environments) as members showed deeper levels of friendship and honesty as they all worked through this tragedy together.  

My video interview with Katy is below. Please take a moment to hear what she has to say about OurCompassion.org and please check out their community for more information on how you can get involved.

I recently had the pleasure of working with Brian Dresher, marketing manager for USATODAY.com for an #AwarenessInc webinar he presented with us yesterday afternoon. It was a great session that showcased some of the innovative social media initiatives the USATODAY brand is working on including:

• The transformation of the news brand from macro to micro – a news brand traditionally represented journalists, but with tools like Twitter, journalists now represent the brand. This macro to micro transformation has an impact on breaking news, news curation, and audience engagement.
• Social Blog – USATODAY.com is one of the first mainstream media organizations to have a blog about social media. This is aimed to share and communicate with advertisers and its audience about what they are doing in social media and to share best practices. http://social.usatoday.com
• Fark – learn how this deal came together and why it benefits both brands, http://fark.usatoday.com
• Twitter Index Page, general, http://twitter.usatoday.com, and for Olympics, http://content.usatoday.com/twitter/Olympics.aspx
• Internal social media training to generate awareness and educate staff
• Learn how USATODAY.com evaluates ROIII (yes, three Is! Investment, Interaction, and Influence)

If you were not able to join us for yesterday’s webinar or want to watch it again, we have provided the recording below for you to view. You can also view Brian’s slides via Slideshare here.

Continue the discussion!

Just because the webinar is over doesn’t mean the discussion has to end. If you have any questions for Brian Dresher or myself, please feel free to ask away in the comment section or if you feel like tweeting your question, tag it with #awarenessinc #usatoday and we will be sure to respond.

I can’t wait for the Spring Fever #SoxUp at the Absolut Clubhouse at Fenway Park taking place on Thursday, February 25th.

The Boston Red Sox along with The Social Marketing Hub (we will be talking more about that later) are joining forces to bring you this awesome night of networking and fun.

Learn more by watching this short video promo filmed by Steve Garfield himself in one of the awesome Pavilion Suites at Fenway. Tickets are limited so I encourage you to buy yours ASAP! http://soxup.eventbrite.com

A huge THANK YOU to our #SoxUp sponsors including: Tungle.me, Awareness, Inc., Brightcove, Sullivan Tire, Soxology and Kodak! 

See you there!!!!

I had no idea that the Vatican was driving the whole “Religion 2.0″ movement, but after attending Erik Qualman’s #AwarenessInc webinar, ”Socialnomics: It’s a People-Driven Economy, Stupid” the other day, I did. Not only that, I also learned that even the Pope has his own iPhone App!!  Wow….Just like Chris Brogan! Who knew?

Well, Erik’s webinar was not about Religion 2.0. It was about Socialnomics – The way in which we can leverage social media as individuals and for business. If you missed the webinar, no fear. It is available to view at your leisure below along with another video that Erik shared – Social Media ROI: Socialnomics - which offers some great stats on the state of social media now. Of course this will need to be updated often as it is rapidly changing.

There were lots of discussions during the webinar on Twitter using the #AwarenessInc hashtag, some of which I captured below. This could also be due in part to Erik giving away copies of his book to those who were the first to answer his questions correctly.

What are your thoughts on Socialnomics? Join the discussion by adding your comments below or via Twitter using the #AwarenessInc hashtag. 

Video: Social Media ROI: Socialnomics

Webinar: Socialnomics: It’s a People-Driven Economy, Stupid

Image_Marketing: Enjoyed the #awarenessinc webinar yesterday, which showed some mind-blowing stats about the rise of social media http://tinyurl.com/nutlrj

 TonyNaldinho: RT @awarenessinc: Negative comments are an opportunity for brands to reach out to that person, start a discussion and turn things around #awarenessinc

DidrikE: #awarenessinc .. Great video .. Great message .. Great music ! BIG I LIKE !

@SarahTrujillo: Fail forward, fail fast, fail better! #awarenessinc

woodarml: Facebook- baby seat example — reminds me of previous #awarenessinc webinar — “If you suck off line, you're going to suck online”

@rbrt_rothschild: “..its not a Mad Men society where u sit around a conf room for hrs & talk about your brand any longer.” #awarenessinc

mrobin032009: #awarenessinc @equalman Utilize crowdsourcing – Good content doesn't always have to come from within.

@InfoSara: Your customer today can be your competition tomorrow #awarenessinc

johnavola: Social Media: Our customer today can be your competition tomorrow… #awarenessinc

BenReetz: The 4 main components of Social Media Listen, Interact, React, and Sell  #awarenessinc

djwaldow: McDonalds: “Our head of social media is our customer” via @equalman #awarenessinc – I get that, but not really. Ha ha. Help?

jerrycameron: Social Media = Braggadocian Behavior (It’s all about me, me, me) #awarenessinc

@DidrikE I like this – shift to survival of the FASTEST #awarenessinc

@dmarotta: #awarenessinc “whats worse than being talked about?” “not being talked about.”

A big thanks to Salina McIntire, Membership Director with The Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce for her assistance in planning this event and others. And we definitely couldn’t do it without the help of our sponsors – Microarts, Vital Design, Patti Fousek of CreativeMind Search Marketing and Awareness. Thank YOU!!

I am also very excited to be able to bring you live music from The Sea Captains!!

Adam Flaherty @aflaherty_media (also a member of @TheSeaCaptains) created this awesome video to help promote the event while we were at @RedHookNH yesterday afternoon. Check it out!!

See you on 2/18!!

NH Tweetup :: Retro TechUp 2/18/10 @ Redhook, NH from The Sea Captains on Vimeo.

I also pulled a few of the tweets that highlighted some of the key discussion points/quotes from Katie’s webinar and pasted them below. If you would like to continue the discussion, feel free to add your comments below or via twitter with the hashtag #awarenessinc.

amybomar: People use & prefer different channels, expect different responses from the different channels. #awarenessinc

kellyrfeller: Wow, great objective: “Move folks from (neutral) conversation to engagement.” Big opportunity since 95% of content is neutral. #awarenessinc

IT4GenY: “research without insight is just trivia.” #awarenessinc

amybomar: Focus on fewer key messages with shorter sentences. #awarenessinc

msmamet: Blog and Twitter are the most common social media for Consumer brands @kdpaine #awarenessinc

goodridge: “There is no Audience, ther are multiple consituencies” – @kdpaine #awarenessinc

tguch: “You become what you measure” #awarenessinc

joshgunkel: good quote @kdpaine “you become what you measure” I also like “what gets measured gets repeated” #awarenessinc

amybomar: Should you blog or Twitter? Ask your customers! (via @kdpaine webinar) #awarenessinc
 

What’s Coming Up Next?

On January 28th at 2PM ET the amazing David Alston, VP Marketing and Community at Radian6 will be the featured guest for the next Awareness webinar. During his session, “Are you answering the “social phone?” David will talk about what to listen for, what to say when you engage, and of course, how to measure your efforts and ‘convince the boss. Additional details and registration form can be accessed here: http://info.awarenessnetworks.com/SocialPhone.html

If you are also a tea-loving, social media person like I am, then you will definitely want to check out this video interview I did with Marshall Malone of Portsmouth Tea Company (@PortsmouthTea) while attending the NH Social Media Breakfast.

Connections and Eye Contact!

Marshall was kind enough to sit down with me right after he got himself a bowl of Portsmouth Tea Company’s soup of the day (they offer some amazing food there too – FYI). Marshall shared with me some background on Portsmouth Tea Company, which was founded as an online-only retailer of fine teas and has since opened its first cafe located at 475 High Street in Somersworth, NH. He discusses how using social marketing has helped him connect with his customers both online and offline to help establish that “eye contact” that he says is so important in building relationship.

Want to buy a cow?

Portsmouth Tea Company is also involved in a very unique cause marketing initiative with True Sojourners that helps to buy cows that are then given to families in Nepal.  They ask their patrons to stop bytheir cafe and donate anytime; 100% of donations goes to purchase the cow.

I encourage you to take a peek at my interview with Marshall below and to also check out their online store if you are or know anyone that is a tea lover. If you are local, definitely stop by their cafe in Somersworth, NH for some tea and a bite to eat.

A big thank you to Marshall for sitting down with me. Sorry your soup got cold!