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Sales and Social Media: PB & J or Oil and Water?

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Jeff

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of delivering a presentation to our company’s Business Development Directors on the benefits of considering certain social media tools to reach their goals.

My First Prezi Presentation

Mixing sales (or marketing) and social media is, of course, done by companies and individuals all over the world every day.  But, if your social media approach is lead by what you’re going to get out of it (ulterior motives) as opposed to shining the spotlight on other people (altruistic motives), make no mistake that people will see right through it.

My main point then was two-fold.  If you’re not participating, that doesn’t mean the conversations aren’t happening, they simply go on without you.  And, once in the game, are you there for the right reasons?  If it’s primarily to add value to whatever community you’re in and to help whenever possible, then the answer is yes.

Thanks to Brian Solis, Olivier Blanchard, John Haydon, Chris Brogan and everyone else who inspires me every day to aide those around me in their quest to make sense of all this stuff.  By the way, I tried embedding the presentation here but apparently wordpress.com doesn’t like Prezi.  At least they’re not playing well together.  Instead, I’ve included the public link.  I hope you like it.

Sales and Social Media: PB & J or Oil and Water?

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Filed under: Business, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, WAY-FM, Web 2.0, YouTube | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Lovers of Tech, Activate! Form of…Geeks!

Posted on July 10, 2009 by Jeff
Yesterday morning I had the privilege of enjoying breakfast with 29 self-declared Geeks and lovers of all things tech, web 2.0, blogging, podcasting, Twitter, social media and on and on.  It’s affectionately referred to as Geek Breakfast.  In this case, the Franklin – Spring Hill, TN Geek Breakfast.

table 1 and 2 - birds eye

A month ago, I knew virtually none of these people.  But that’s the great thing about the web.  Launch your group or community (in this case a Facebook group) and watch the magic happen.

With very little effort on my part, this group has grown to include nearly 100 participants.  Last month’s breakfast, the first, saw almost a quarter of that group in attendance.

I share all this to simply do one thing – encourage you.  If I can do it, anyone can.  If you’ve been putting off starting your own group – wherever or whatever that might be – you have no more excuses.  Social media makes it easier than ever.  Don’t like Facebook because not everyone has access?  Try launching your own network with a service like Ning.  Or wherever.  You decide.

Just do it.  It’s easier than you think.

Filed under: Blogging, Geek Breakfast, Podcasting, Social Media, Twitter, Web 2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Geek Breakfast!

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Jeff

In March 2009, I attended my first Podcamp Nashville.  While there I got to meet, or hear speak, a couple of people I’d been following (and admiring) on Twitter for a little while.

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One of those folks was Dave Delaney (@davedelaney on Twitter).  Soon after, I discovered Dave had organized what he referred to as a Geek Breakfast group on Facebook.  He describes the group as, “A casual monthly meet-up over coffee and breakfast to discuss new media, podcasting, blogging, programming, open source, social networks and more.”  I quickly joined.  Later, I discovered a group had also been created for Hendersonville (a community north of Nashville) by Bill Seaver (@billseaver on Twitter).

I soon realized though that, while joining these Facebook groups would no doubt bring into my life many new and exciting friendships, the proximately of my home and work to both of these areas would make it difficult to make one of the monthly gatherings any time soon.

I proceded to check the Geek Breakfast headquarters and saw that, while there was a Murfreesboro group in addition to Nashville and Hendersonville, there wasn’t a south of Nashville, Franklin/Spring Hill group of any kind.  If you know the Franklin and Spring Hill, Tennessee areas at all, you know that over the last 10 years Spring Hill and the Franklin area of Cool Springs have grown significantly.

It just didn’t seem right for there not to be a Franklin – Spring Hill Geek Breakfast Group.  So, I did what anyone else would’ve done in my situation.  I formed my own.  Honestly, I did it without giving much thought to preparation and planning, the investment of time, recruiting people, any of that.  I just did it.

So, now, here I sit eagerly anticipating the development of this new group.  As soon as I can secure a location and date, I’ll pass the info along both on Facebook and here on my blog under the Geek Breakfast tab.

I hope if you live or work near this sprawling area of middle Tennessee you’ll consider joining us.  And, if you have any suggestions on how to make it better, don’t hesitate to let me know.

Thanks!

Filed under: Blogging, Geek Breakfast, Podcasting, Social Media, Web 2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »