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Here are the details:

• When May 2, 2012
• 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
• Location
  The Nathaniel Center (804 Russell Palmer Road)

In The Netherlands, it might be delivered via an electric scooter.

Because it’s so quiet, Dominoes has added a human voice over stand-in for engine sounds.

Take a look:

Via Dominoes’ Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Dominos/posts/434702439876599

Being a geek myself, I started to see lots of parallels between Star Wars and social media. With this in mind, and without further ado, we’ll use the same tactics here to show you how social media is like Star Wars:

The Force: Obi-Wan Kenobi explains the Force to Luke as, “an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.” In social, The Force is like relationships and engagement, which is really the energy field that binds everything together. The Social Media Force is why thousands of people come together for SXSW for information that could fairly easily be conveyed online.

Darth Vader and The Dark Side: The Sith are a group of Force-sensitive beings who use the dark side of the Force. In social, we see this when entities attempt to use social media for their own nefarious purposes. We see this every day, whether they’re scams, spam or even shady methods of increasing followers. Stay on the lookout to be sure your social outlets don’t stray toward The Dark Side.

Yoda: Yoda is the last surviving master of Jedi skills who ends up training Luke Skywalker. In social media, you are Yoda. You are in charge of harnessing The Force for good. Whether you’re a Community Manager, Social Media Manager, or whatever your title is, you are the enlightened one who is able to share your knowledge and skills with your marketing team or the rest of your company and show them how to effectively use The Force.

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knights: Knights are like Luke Skywalker are Jedis who have completed their formal training. In social media, your influencers are like your Jedi Knights. Whether at the beginning stages like a Padawan, or more developed like Jedi Knights or Masters, your influencers are the ones that will go to battle for you. Whether it’s a detractor posting on your social media properties or the need for training other followers in the ways of your voice and brand on social media.

Droids: In the Star Wars world, Droids are beings formed to be somewhat humanlike, but ultimately are robots instead. For social, Droids can be all of the automated tools that you can provide a humanlike appearance to your social channels, but that aren’t actually real in the end. It’s ok to use tools for automation, but don’t let that be the only form of communication you have, because in the end, no one wants to talk to a robot.

Jedi Mind Trick: Using The Force, Jedis are able to use the power of suggestion, create illusions or even control someone’s mind. In social, you’ll see that with steady engagement and good content, you’ll get more followers. As your network grows, your followers or friends of those followers will build an affinity for your brand and you might be able to affect their purchasing decisions, even without them noticing it. Instead of happening instantly, though, it might take a little longer than the traditional Jedi Mind Trick.

So there you have it – some of the ways that Social Media is just like Star Wars. What are some of your favorite parallels that we missed? Who is Obi-Wan, or Princess Leia? Let us know in your comments below! For more information on engaging in social media as if you had The Force, check out the free ebook,  Building Stronger Customer Relationships: Making Your Brand More Personal With Social Media.

Originally posted on the Radian6 Blog at: http://www.radian6.com/blog/2012/03/use-the-force-how-social-media-is-like-star-wars/

Dear Centerpoint Energy,

Centerpoint Energy linemen working after Hurricane Ike, 2008

I recently wrote about how 4 utility companies used social media for crisis communication and showed how social media has proved an invaluable tool in each instance for communicating with customers in floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and severe thunderstorms. As you’re well aware, the Houston area has historically been an area for all of those natural disasters – with the exception of earthquakes.  As the utility company for Houston, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US, I’m very pleased that we’re able to be able to communicate on social media via mobile devices for our next Hurricane Ike.

I originally intended to write an open letter to question why Centerpoint Energy wasn’t active in Social Media, even after two years of seeing Centerpoint employees at social media gatherings and conferences around the Houston area. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Centerpoint has joined the ranks of utility companies on social media, and I personally welcome them to the space!

Signed,

Eric T. Tung

Centerpoint Energy Social Networks

Centerpoint Energy on Facebook

Centerpoint Energy (@CNPalerts0 on Twitter - Breaking News

Centerpoint Energy (@energyinsights) on Twitter - Energy Tips and Tools

Centerpoint Energy’s YouTube

Centerpoint Energy on LinkedIn

@EricTTung LOVED it. Trying to contact her to have her on the show.

— Tess Vigeland (@radiotess) April 10, 2012

I received a response from @radiotess who seemed interested in getting in touch with Lindsay, and I responded with Lindsay’s Twitter handle.

What I didn’t know at the time was that @radiotess is Tess Vigeland, the host of Marketplace Money by American Public Media which runs on many National Public Radio stations. It seems that they were able to get in touch, and this story ran last Friday (and I get a shout-out near the end!):

(Click for a pop-up audio player) or check out this link for the link to the transcript.

Seems that the #DearLisa campaign still continues to inspire new people!

What do you think about Lindsay’s campaign? Have you ever thought about going that far for in job application? Tell us in the comments below.

As the social media specialist at my last organization, we grew fans and followers from 400 to 40,000 in less than a year. You’ll see solid growth in your own fan and follower counts if you implement my 14 ideas for providing quality engagement and finding and engaging influencers.

Your Organization

 1. Get executive buy-in: I don’t mean they told you yes once in the hallway. Real buy-in means things like blogging twice a month for the company blog, tweeting consistently, or grabbing a camera and posting a video to YouTube.

 2. Set up a Social Media Advisory Council: These folks will help to work as a hub-and-spoke system from wherever social media lies (marketing, public relations, or other), into other departments within the organization. The council works on ways incorporate social media into throughout the organization.

Facebook

3. Get Local/Get out: We had our best engagement when we had feet on the ground. Give out free coffee at the local shop and post photos. You’ll get a lot more engagement than just posting a few links to your blog.

4. Get Ads: Facebook ads may be one of the most effective ways to get targeted fans. Facebook ads allow targeting by geography, employer, likes, school, education, or even birthday. (Extra tip: target friends-of-fans for the added benefit of having fans’ names posted on your ad to their friends.)

5. Get them to Stay: Once your fans click on your ad, give them a reason to stick around. Some ideas: contests and giveaways, games, and thought-provoking content.

6. Blog. Blog, Blog: Not only are blogs great for website SEO, but they’re great for providing interesting content to your fans. Don’t make the mistake of making your blog a never-ending string of ads for your company. 50 to 90 percent of your content should be non-commercial, or at least non-salesy.

7. Engage: Post about contests, sales, coupons — ideally 3 to 5 times per week. Somewhere around 90% of your fans will not interact through the page, but rather through their feed. Provide content that maintains its effectiveness on its own, especially images, videos, polls, or questions.

8. Apps: Make your Facebook page your social media hub by using Facebook apps in to import your Twitter feed, YouTube Videos, Flickr Images, SlideShare presentations, Scribd documents, and many other networks right onto your Facebook page.

Twitter

9. Blog. Blog. Blog: Yes, blogs are great for Twitter too. Promote a blog post a few times over the course of a couple weeks to draw additional followers to your post. About 80% of your Twitter posts should contain links, and at most about 20% of that should be content you created.

10. Find Influencers: The Radian6 Influencer Widget is really the best tool I’ve found for finding the top influencers based on your keywords. Tools like Crowdbooster, Commun.it, and FollowFriday Helper can help provide insight into who mentions or retweets you most often.

11. Engage: Thank followers for engaging, following, mentioning, or retweeting, and create a list of influencers to monitor their feeds as well.

12. Track: How do you know what content is making inroads with your influencers and networks? Track links and content! Radian6 and  Bitly, Visibli, and Crowdbooster can track the impact of content and links that you’ve shared. Include share icons within your blog posts to also track organic blog post impact and viralbility.

13. Time Posts: Use your tracking info to find out what days and times are best for retweets and clicks, and use that to your advantage. Radian6 widgets help you determine when you have the most brand mentions, and Timely.is can help pinpoint when content is most likely to be retweeted.

14. Hash: Although #you #can #over-hashtag, effective hashtag use helps to contribute to the conversation, especially if your organization is participating in a trade show, conference, or other industry type event.

Best of luck identifying influeners, engaging networks, and building your fans and followers!

What other tips do you have for building networks? Include yours below! 

Originally posted on the Radian6 Blog at: http://www.radian6.com/blog/2012/02/how-my-company-gained-40000-followers-without-being-sleazeballs/

Late last year, I saw an opening on LinkedIn for the first Social Media Director at the University of Michigan. As my wife was originally from Michigan, I submitted a 10-page application with a two-page resume, cover letter, professional biography, and a 30-60-90 day business plan. I even placed Facebook and Google ads aimed at Communications Department staff at The University, which my wife said was complete overkill. Only last week did I hear back that the position had been filled – I never got called for an interview, and I found out why: because I was up against the likes of Lindsay Blackwell.

Last month, I was searching to see if the position had been filled and came upon http://www.dearlisarudgers.com/ - a website conceived, developed, and designed by Lindsay Blackwell and directed solely at Lisa Rudgers, the Vice President for Global Communications and Strategic Initiatives at University of Michigan and I was stunned amazed floored.

Please take a few minutes to check out http://www.dearlisarudgers.com/ before coming back to finish reading this post.

The website was a huge success and completely designed and launched in a single weekend. The site went viral and she received lots of community support, from alumni and staff, and she did receive a first-round interview with The University. She did what someone in that role would do: use the power of Social Media to create a campaign that would get her noticed. Once I saw the site, I was rooting for Lindsay too!

Lindsay also received a lot of coverage from folks like Fox Detroit, Michigan Live, The Detroit News, and AnnArbor.com. A2.com also did a followup recapping Lindsay’s story (and conducted an interview with Jordan Miller, the person ultimately selected for the Social Media Director role – but don’t fret, there’s still a happy ending.

Q&A With Lindsay

Lindsay got called for an interview.So, how did the interview go? What happened? She keeps us up to date on the site itself, but I reached out to her via email to get the inside scoop. Here’s her story in her words:

Lindsay's Twitter (@linguangst) Profile Pic

Q: How’d you find out about the UM posting?
Lindsay: In the ultimate display of irony (or fate), I first heard about the job opening through social media. Several friends brought it to my attention on Facebook and Google chat. Several very wonderful friends. I probably owe them a few drinks.

Q: What made you think of approaching the application this way?
Lindsay: It wasn’t any one particular thing. I knew my resume wouldn’t speak to my abilities in this industry on its own, so I decided I’d need to cook up a better way to get the University’s attention–namely the attention of Lisa Rudgers, UM’s VP of Global Communications, who was leading the University’s search.

Q: How long did it take you from planning to launch?
Lindsay: I heard about the job on a Wednesday. After spending the better part of my Thursday evening reading articles and blogs about recent ‘new era’ job hunting efforts and coming up blank, the idea to create an interactive cover letter suddenly occurred to me for no apparent reason.

I came home from work Friday evening and immediately began building a site. Oh, and I bought www.dearlisarudgers.com. The best $11 I’ve ever spent (the domain is now worth approximately $4,000, according to the most recent Alexa rankings).

I worked more or less straight through the weekend (my best friend–and eventual campaign manager–forced me to take a food-and-oxygen break on Saturday afternoon) and launched the website around 4 AM Monday morning on Facebook, Twitter, and in an email to my family and friends.

After launch, I embarked–with the help of several dear friends–on a full-scale social media campaign surrounding dearlisarudgers.com. My campaign manager kept track of the campaign’s progress from 9 to 5 while I was at work, and every evening we debriefed on the day’s events–who was talking about or covering the campaign and why–to strategize next steps.

I launched several phases of the campaign in the weeks that followed, including the @dearlisarudgers Twitter account, where visitors to the site were encourage to write their own letters to Lisa; the “Updates” section of the site, where fans could follow my progress and press in real-time; and the video updates, to give my story and site an actual face.

Q: Did you produce all the creative/design/development yourself?
Lindsay: Yep! I’ve freelanced as a graphic designer since my last year of college. I’m responsible for the look and feel of the site, but I did use wix.com to create my template–I’m not that skilled in Flash. And yes, I know, Flash isn’t the best. But for a gal with minimal programming knowledge and a big idea she needed to get out of her head and onto the Internet–and fast–it worked. Web developers (and iPhone owners) weep.

I also am responsible for developing the campaign strategy and the different phases of ‘Dear Lisa,’ but I couldn’t have managed it without the help of several dear friends and family members, who helped me keep track of social sprawl and press coverage while I was at work. I’m forever grateful to every single friend, new and old, who helped to spread my campaign. The site has had over 22,000 unique visitors in 83 countries since its launch. It’s truly incredible.

Q: How did AASO (Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Lindsay’s employer at the time) coworkers hear about your application? What did your boss think?
Lindsay: I told them the day I launched the site. Everyone was very supportive, including my boss–they’ve all known since I started at the Symphony that my heart is in social media, and I wasn’t getting to do much of it there. And I’m working just down the street now, so I’m still very much in touch! They’ve just hired a wonderful replacement for my former position, too.

Q: How were you contacted by Ingenex (Lindsay’s New Employer)?
Lindsay: In another outstanding display of irony, Derek (the CEO and my new boss) first contacted me on Twitter. I had chosen not to pursue any outside opportunities until I heard back one way or the other from the University–but when January hit and I still hadn’t heard about a second interview (I’d been told I’d hear just after Thanksgiving), I decided to meet with Derek. Ingenex is an incredible company and Derek is a tremendously smart guy with an equally talented team–I couldn’t resist.

Q: How long have you been there? What do they do?
Lindsay: This was my first full week! I started last Wednesday, the same day I’d been already scheduled to speak about ‘Dear Lisa’ at LA2M (Lunch Ann Arbor Marketing, an educational nonprofit the Ingenex crew founded and runs)–everything about this process has been very fortuitous! Derek and I even share the same birthday.

Ingenex Digital Marketing is a leading internet marketing firm focused on producing results through social media marketing, web design, SEO, SEM, digital public relations, and web analytics. Basically, Ingenex is an agency comprised of a whole lot of people who are really, really, really good at anything and everything digital–their work speaks for itself.

At Ingenex, I’ll be responsible for creating, implementing, and monitoring comprehensive social media strategies for our clients–and working with the rest of the Ingenex team to ensure that our branding strategies are cohesive, consistent, and clever. Our focus in social media marketing is on utilizing the social space to create unique digital experiences for our clients, which in turn will cultivate better relationships between company and consumer.

Q: Do you have any advice for aspiring graduates or Social Media managers for producing campaigns that go viral?
Lindsay: Be honest. That’s solid life advice, too, but the same is true in social media and viral strategy. There will always be content that goes viral for its own reasons without any actual marketing efforts–but when you’re talking about crafting content with the hope of viral spread, I think the most important thing is to be genuine and transparent about your message, your company, etc. The Internet may seem vast and wildly temperamental, but at its root is a community of people–and people like to share stories about other people, not the prosaic content so many companies waste time pushing out to the public. Give people something to interact with. Social media is ultimately about conversations–construct your content in a listening framework, and you’ll invite success.

And there you have it. Lindsay didn’t end up with the gig, but she did set a new standard for Social Media job applications, and did end up with a new job afterall. Read more about her journey at http://www.dearlisarudgers.com/.

In other news, my alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin announced yesterday that it will hire its first Director of Digital Strategy.

What are your thoughts and questions? Share them below!

Update

Check out an UPDATE to story on Lindsay Blackwell where she’s interviewed on national news!

Sales Video from the Dealership:

Anyone have any riding tips a newbie can use?

What other myths do you have to dispel about your job? Share below!