Social Media Professor

Radio interview with Rick Murray

treypennington — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:25:24 +0000

It’s a world of opportunity. Rick Murray, President of Edelman Digital, paints a picture of that opportunity in social media in general and at Edelman Digital specifically. Here’s the scoop.

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Interview with the blue-haired MissDestructo

treypennington — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:40:08 +0000

Persistence. Creativity. Proactive fan base. Equals: job of dreams.

MissDestructo, young, out-of-work, determined to make something happen, determined to work with Bruce’s Foods, makers of Bruce’s Yams.

Today, she’s working with Bruce’s Yams. Here’s an interview with MissDesctructo where she tells the rest of the story.

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Radio Program with Scott Stratten (Unmarketing)

treypennington — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:55:15 +0000

Scott Stratten is well known on Twitter as Unmarketing. His no-nonsense, all-common sense, yet contrarian marketing counsel is dead on the money for this age.

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Radio show with David Meerman Scott

treypennington — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:46:24 +0000

David Meerman Scott is the best selling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, and World Wide Rave. He speaks often on using new media to make good things happen. The best of his current thinking shows up regularly by way of his blog WebInkNow; you can also download for FREE several well-written/quite useful ebooks from his website.

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Radio Show with Bob Burg

treypennington — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:48:01 +0000

The Social Media Professor show with author/speaker Bob Burg, whose book Go-Givers Sell More is due out February 18, 2010.

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Radio program with Michelle Chmielewski

treypennington — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:19:21 +0000

Michelle Chmielewski is the community manager for Synthesio, an international brand monitoring service. She also creates impressive videos for her blog.

On this episode of the Social Media Professor, we discuss qualities of compelling content and of a compelling attitude on social media.

More information on the show and Michelle is on my blog.

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Radio Program with Terry Brock

treypennington — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:32:32 +0000

Terry Brock is a long-time professional speaker, marketing coach, and social-technology innovator.

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Special Edition of the Radio Show: Dr. Mark Goulston

treypennington — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:30:42 +0000

Dr. Goulston is the author of Just Listen and writes for Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, and much more.

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Radio Show with Sam Horn

treypennington — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:30:27 +0000

Sam Horn is a well-known professional speaker who helps people find the POP! in the book, tagline, pitch, product and more. POP! is the formula for standing out in a crowded marketplace. Here’s our interview (longer than normal). She POP!ed my world.

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Radio Program with Jacob Morgan, Part 2

treypennington — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:45:36 +0000

Here’s the rest of the interview with author Jacob Morgan.

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Radio Program with Jacob Morgan, Part 1

treypennington — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:44:42 +0000

Jacob Morgan is the Principal of Chess Media Group, a social business consultancy. Jacob works with clients on developing internal and external social business strategies. He is also the co-author of Twittfaced, a social media 101 book for business.

Jacob Morgan on Twitter.

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Radio Program with Jon Evans

treypennington — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:09:27 +0000

Jon’s been a friend of mine for a long time, long before social media, so long, I don’t remember when I didn’t know him. He’s always amazed me with his energy, always-on passion, and burning desire to help other people grow.

Now Jon is part of social media at the national level. His Don’t Weight video series caught the attention of the marketing folks at OXO. When they told Jon about their video contest to select their next spokesperson, Jon created a video, sent it in, and not too long after that found out he was one of the five finalists.

OXO will select their grand prizes winners based upon voting by the social media community. The whole process is an example of how companies can tap into the collective enthusiasm of their fans to create something a little different and a lot of fun.

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Radio show with Joshua Peters

treypennington — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:34:54 +0000

Joshua Peters is the co-author of Twittfaced, an entry-level, social media 101 work designed for newbies to web 2.0. The story today is not so much the book (there are, indeed, many, many new books on social media after all), as it is a model for how nearly anyone can use existing, readily available technology to get stuff done.

Joshua and his fellow author, Jacob Morgan, have never met in the offline world. Their only connected was shared interest around Jacob’s blog content and Twitter. Based upon their online affinity, they boldly ventured to create something for FREE and gave it away without reservation. Their free ebook (again, not an uncommon tool) answered a specific question for a targeted audience: Social Media for Authors.

As the ebook circulated, it caught the attention of a publisher. As many authors dream, the publisher took initiative to contact Joshua and requested he write a book.

The story is actually a case study vignette that should inspire folks to dream a little bigger about what can be done through online collaboration.

Joshua Peters on Twitter
Joshua Peters blog

Jacob Morgan on Twitter
Jacob Morgan’s blog

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Radio Program with NYC PR Pro Elizabeth Sosnow

treypennington — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:03:42 +0000

Want to get and keep the attention of your marketplace? Features and benefits won’t get you very far. After your third or fourth “One day only sale,” folks will quite listening.

Telling good stories, now that’s the way to cut through the clutter and connect with your audience. Elizabeth Sosnow is a master story crafter. As manager director of the New York City’s BlissPR, Elizabeth works with B2B brands to discover and develop stories (what I do on a smaller scale in the South).

I first discovered Elizabeth’s work through a guest post she published on Jason Baer’s blog Convince and Convert. There, she suggested companies explore their existing published works to uncover “intellectual capital” to be leveraged to build stories.

In preparation of this episode of the Social Media Professor, she created a special How to Find Your Story worksheet to give you help in discovering and developing your own story.

Elizabeth’s website
Elizabeth on Twitter

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Radio Program with Tom Asacker

treypennington — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:55:35 +0000

Tom is well known throughout the branding world for his books, most recently, A Clear Eye for Branding and A Little Less Conversation. When he writes or speaks he gets to the heart of effective marketing—creating emotional, satisfying experience FOR others. He’s put into words my own philosophy of marketing: “Marketing is not about helping salespeople sell, and it’s not about helping customers buy. It’s about helping customers feel and achieve. It’s about supporting and guiding. Spend your time helping your customers meaningful connections around their passions.”

Tom on Twitter

Tom’s blog

Tom’s books on Amazon

An interview with Tom done by Chris Wilson of the Marketing Fresh Peel.

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Radio Program with Deirdre Breakenridge

treypennington — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:55:28 +0000

Hear co-author of Putting the Public Back in Public Relations Deirdre Breakenridge share how to leverage the unprecedented opportunity of new media to make your PR more powerful. She’ll discuss how to re-invent PR around two-way conversations and earn a new level of results—results unimaginable just a few years ago.

Hear Deirdre (and get her book, too) and you’ll transform the way you think, plan, prioritize, and deliver PR. Deirdre is also an active blogger.

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Radio Program with Jason Baer

treypennington — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:54:42 +0000

Jay Baer is a social media strategy consultant and trainer for leading corporations and public relations firm. He’s worked with more than 700 companies (and 25 of the Fortune 1000) since starting in digital marketing in 1994. He speaks frequently about social media at conferences, and interview social media luminaries for a creative Twitter 20 series.

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Radio Program with Ann Handley

treypennington — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:50:51 +0000

Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs and Author of Annarchy. From her vantage point, she sees all the trash, tripe, and trinkets of social media. Her fingers are on the pulse of effective marketing—the best and the brightest minds in marketing share their good stuff with MarketingProfs and Ann sees it all. Tune in to hear more about the rich marketing resources MarketingProfs provides (much is free) and share in Ann’s insight and experience.

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Radio Program with Melissa Galt

treypennington — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:49:35 +0000

Melissa Galt circles the globe helping clients create success. She’s also been through the circle of vision, pursuit of dreams, success, emptiness, and back again. With a fascinating personal history and real-life business re-invention success, Melissa brings a fresh, passionate perspective to more than just social media—she’ll help you find a new outlook on your own future.

Visit her website to see how she’s “monetizing” her online life and read her blog to share in her life’s adventure.

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Radio Program with Thomas Clifford

treypennington — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:46:51 +0000

Thomas Clifford is a seasoned filmmaker, producing films that breathe life into the stories of large companies and non-profits. Nearly all of his films feature real people telling real stories. Hear how his experience with motion stories (video) and social media can help you more meaningful engage with your tribe online (and help you and your clients tell your stories even more powerfully/persuasively).

Thomas on Twitter

Director Tom’s website

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Radio Program with Joy Donnell

treypennington — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:40:47 +0000

Joy is a PR pro in Beverly Hills, California who works with rising stars. She’s using social media to help make connections and celebrities. As owner of 720 PR, Joy has first hand experience behind-the-scenes of what it takes to stand out from the crowd.

Joy on Twitter

Joy’s website

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Radio Program with Amy Wood

treypennington — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:51:58 +0000

Amy Wood is a member of the ballyhooed “traditional media.” She’s also pioneering the use of social media in television broadcast journalism. During her evening news program, she interacts with her audience via chat, 12seconds.tv, and Twitter. All throughout the day, she stays in touch with Upstate South Carolina viewers through Twitter and Facebook. The result? A loyal fan base that not only pays attention to Amy’s program, but to everything newsworthy in the Upstate—they don’t want Amy to miss a thing!

This interview was one of my very first episodes of blogtalkradio.com. In social media years, it was long ago enough to have come over on the Mayflower. Though that IS a long time ago, Amy’s passion and content are probably even more relevant today that those many months ago.

Amy Wood on Twitter

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Radio program with Ford’s Scott Monty

treypennington — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:57:58 +0000

Quick—how many of you are following GM on Twitter? Chrysler? How about one of the in-touch intimate car brands—are you following BMW? Every time I make a presentation about marketing with social media, I ask the same questions. The results are the same wherever I go: NO ONE follows GM or Chrysler. I used to be able to say no one follows BMW until I gave a presentation with three BMW PR pros in attendance. (Two of them were following BMW, by the way.)

However, when I ask, “How many of you are following Ford on Twitter,” nearly everyone raises his/her hand. They also say in unison, “Scott.”

Ford has established a strong presence on Twitter because they’re supporting a real person—Scott Monty. We all know Scott works for Ford. Still, we feel a special connection with Ford because Scott makes us feel like we’re friends.

Listen to how Scott’s staying real while “doing social media” for a huge company. (Political wannabes, please listen to Scott’s message. YOU need it and WE need you to get it!)

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Get over it and—Keep Your Eye on The Ball

treypennington — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:53:45 +0000

Good perspective from @Ambercadabra:

The only thing that will ever really highlight the GOOD potential in the social media world is if the people who “get it” spend their time doing solid, progressive work instead of peering over their shoulder at the people “doing it wrong”.altitudebranding.com, Keep Your Eye on The Ball, Aug 2009

The whole article, and especially the comments, are worth reading and sharing.

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Radio program with Ted Murphy of IZEA

treypennington — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:44:18 +0000

Explosive. Radical. Hated. Loved. Unwelcomed. Embraced. Inevitable.

Radio Program with Olivier Blanchard

treypennington — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:01:21 +0000

Olivier Blanchard is known around the world as The Brand Builder. When I traveled to Exeter, England, I was warmly greeted by social media enthusiasts who promptly asked, “Do you know The Brand Builder?” Traveling to my hometown of Mobile, Alabama to help folks start a Social Media Club there, I expected a different reception. Didn’t happen. First thing folks asked, “Do you know The Brand Builder?”

The folks in Knoxville invited me to be the keynote speaker at their launch party for Social Media Club Knoxville. Gavin Baker, social media manager for Ruby Tuesdays, greeted me with the same question. Gavin was so enthusiastic about Olivier that I asked him to start over and let me record his testimonial on video. He did.

Olivier is well-known not because he’s good at self-promotion. What he’s good at is listening to people and then creating the content they need to satisfy their learning hunger and make progress towards their goals.

During our interview time together, Olivier shares his simple, yet ground-breaking model for social media return on investment (Twitter hashtag #smroi).

Olivier’s active on Twitter and is a robust content creator.

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Radio Program with David Polinchock of New York

treypennington — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:19:17 +0000

David Polinchock from New York is an explorer of the socialization of place and online brand experiences. He’s the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) of Brand Experience Lab, an innovative think tank, creating the next generation of brand experiences. His goal is to challenge marketers to create better stories and to understand how consumers want to hear those stories. For indepth articles of Brand Experience, visit David’s blog. Or connect with David on Twitter.

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From altitudebranding.com: On Social Media & Culture Shift

treypennington — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:04:04 +0000

Social media’s all the rage. How to measure ROI, what’s my return, are people buying—all good questions, but not THE question. Amber gets closer to the real heart of the issue here:

The challenge lies here: for most companies, adopting social media means changing their mindset about how they do business. Because the fundamental principles behind social media - and the reasons why it is so powerful - involve giving your customers a visible, valuable say in how you do things, and having the faith that doing that is just good business.altitudebranding.com, On Social Media And Culture Shift, Jul 2009

You should read the whole article.

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Social Media Reading List

treypennington — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:47:22 +0000

A friend of mine teaches at a community college in south Georgia. The school recently asked him to prepare a lecture series for using social media. He turned to me looking for good reference material to help him prepare and help his students succeed. Here’s the list I gave him.

Please add to the list or comment on the list by using the comments feature below. Thanks much.

Philosophy
Community: The Structure of Belonging
Peter Block
Key focus: We’re at a crossroad in history; we have the opportunity to redefine society. Start to seize the opportunity by changing perspective from problems to possibilities, from entitlement to generosity, and interests to gifts.
Note: If you’re looking for just one philosophical treatise relevant to social media, Community is it.

The Designful Company: How to Build a Culture of Nonstop Innovation
Marty Neumeier
Key focus: “the more technological our culture becomes, the more we’ll need the sensual and metaphorical power of beauty.”
Note: Anything written by Marty Neumeier is worth reading. Seems that Marty has a knack for whacking through the hype like pile drivers get through the sand. Both will get you solidly grounded on bedrock so you can build a stable structure. Though The Designful Company is not about social media, it does provide a necessary perspective for meaningful engagement.

Gonzo Marketing
Christopher Locke
Key focus: Conventional wisdom just isn’t. Whatever everyone is doing is probably the worst possible thing you can do.
Note: Though the sun has set on Gonzo Marketing, it is worth reading in order to be positioned to understand what’s working and what’s not. Mr. Locke will also help you develop a robust sense of humor as you look at what “smart” people are doing.

Join the Conversation: How to Engage Marketing-Weary Consumers with the Power of Community, Dialogue, and Partnership
Joseph Jaffe
Key focus: stepping back, listening in, and joining what’s already going on

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge
Key focus: “With and not to,” and embedding yourself within communities if you want to influence.
Note: Both Brian and Deirdre have significant presence on social media platforms and are well worth seeking out and connecting with.

Strategy
Neuro Web Design: What makes them click?
Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D.
Key focus: People aren’t as random as they seem; people behave in predictable ways for a reason.
Note: This book, along with Designing for the Social Web and Social Corp are published by New Riders in their Voices That Matter series. I’ve never been disappointed with a Voices That Matter book even though they are much more expensive than a typical book. Don’t let their price and size discourage you from buying and sharing.

The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to the New Social Media
Paul Gillin
Key focus: It’s not the new tools, it’s the new people with influence. There are more “important” people than you might have thought.

Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity—and How Great Brands Get It Back
Rohit Bhargava
Key focus: Unpack, throw away those stuffed shirts and rediscover the “soul” of the organization.
Note: Though Christopher Locke will make a good case for the impossibility of the corporate soul, Rohit makes a good case for ripping off the corporate façade to let the people express their souls at work.

Social Corp: Social Media Goes Corporate
Joel Postman
Key focus: Understand the basics of social media.
Note: This is the McGuffy Reader of social media written in understandable language for the corporate mind. If you’re looking for a “gift book” to give to your corporate friends who are still saying, “What is social media and why should we care?” this is it

Designing for the Social Web
Joshua Porter
Key focus: Understand why people participate and then participate with authenticity.
Note: This is another good corporate “gift book” to help your corporate clients understand necessary components and actions of and on social media.

Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide
Amy Shuen
Key focus: Great things happen to companies who create places online where people gather to “share what they think, see, and do.

Tactics
Facebook Marketing: Leveraging Social Media to Grow Your Business
Steven Holzner
Key focus: A primer on Facebook including numerous screen shots.
Note: This is a basic book on using Facebook. You’ll probably be able to learn most of the content of this book by simply jumping into Facebook and using it. The most valuable part of this book is the lengthy section on Facebook Ads. If you want to understand who’s using Facebook, understanding how Facebook Ads work is a good place to start. You’ll discover the richness of demographic data readily available to even the smallest marketer.

The New Language of Marketing 2.0: How to Use ANGELS to Energize Your Market
Sandy Carter
Key focus: Here is a wide cross section of available tools in the world of web 2.0 and how others are using them.
Note: Includes case studies of BIG company involvement in the web 2.0 world. This book is probably more intellectually satisfying for those with a more academic inclination. Published by IBM Press, it’s probably suitable for an advanced class in marketing or technological application. If found the illustrations and graphics to be helpful for understanding the author’s concepts.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly
David Meerman Scott
Key focus: Tactics and tools to bypass audience gatekeepers and reach buyers directly.
Note: David Meerman Scott is not only active on social media, but is also quite engaged on Twitter. If you write to him, you’ll most likely get a response from him.

Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business
Paul Gillin
Key focus: You’ll have to court people and demonstrate that you understand them.
Note: “Marketers must learn to engage with people according to their narrow interests because there may be no other way to reach them.” Do you have the patience to not only find those pockets of passion, but to also stay out of their way while encouraging them to find each other?

Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
Dave Evans
Key focus: Do something, even a little something, every day.
Note: Yep, I did actually buy this book. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The book met my curiosity need. The perfect application of this book is in the corporate marketing department. Before the big companies continue adding director level social media executives, they might consider giving this book to the most passionate twenty-something in the marketing or public relations department and then getting out of his or her way. They’d save a ton of money and most likely a ton of embarrassment, too.

33 Million People in the Room: How to Create, Influence, and Run a Successful Business with Social Networking
Juliette Powell
Key focus: There are many, many more people expecting to contribute and participate to and in the conversations going on about their problems and the solutions to them. The old command-and-control structure is dead.
Note: You may just want to review this quick read at your library. If you do, be sure to take note of the section on strong ties/weak ties and social capital. Both concepts are worth noting and exploring more fully in other works. Malcolm Gladwell highlights the significance of weak ties in his blockbuster best seller The Tipping Point and there’s an entire industry built around social capital. It probably is just that significant.

Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
Joel Comm
Key focus: Use Twitter to interact with customers in a whole new way.
Note: Joel Comm is a friend who’s not only popular on social media, he’s also responsive. In addition, he created a URL shortener with tracking capabilities built in: http://www.twitPWR.com.

Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business and Market Online
Deborah Micek and Warren Whitlock
Key focus: Using Twitter to meet new people and talk with them.
Note: This is a good start-up book for someone new to Twitter. If you’re wanting your forty-something (or older) boss to let you use Twitter for customer service or prospecting, give him or her this book and ask them to follow the instructions in the first ninety-nine pages. You will foster a new addiction for your boss! Another step you’ll probably want to take is immediately follow the thirty-seven Twitter enthusiasts listed on the Rave Reviews pages at the front of the book.

World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories
David Meerman Scott
Key focus: Would you please just jump in and start using social media, please?
Note: This is an information- and idea-packed book artfully designed and produced. Give it to your boss or hesitant client. Though you probably won’t actually get millions of people to spread your ideas by engaging on social media, at least you’ll have a chance at significant reach and influence through social media.

Nearly every book I’ve referenced here at least mentioned the concepts of story or storytelling. Because of the vital role story plays in enabling human beings to make and communicate meaning, I’ll create a storytelling reading list next. For the past six years I’ve been reading as much as I could find on storytelling and was active in the National Storytelling Association (and later Network). In 2007 I made my pilgrimage to the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee. I’d still like to go to the Storytelling Festival there some October.

Social Media Marketing Reading List | © 2009 Trey Pennington | http://twitter.com/treypennington
All of my social media profiles. You may freely distribute this with attribution to Trey Pennington.

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Some things change. Some things don’t.

treypennington — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:56:06 +0000

New media. Old media. Traditional media. Social media.

Media comes. Media goes. Some things stay the same. Companies and professionals may think they can “choose” not to participate in the “new” media. Maybe so. Maybe not. Their former employees, former clients, former suppliers, former customers, may just be already participating for them.

Being unknown, whether on purpose or not, defies the things that stay the same: people want to know the people they do business with.

Thank you to David Meerman Scott, author of World Wide Rave, for highlighting this penetrating video by the Business Marketing Association.

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Social Media Professor with Rob McNealy

treypennington — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:17:03 +0000

Rob McNealy is an extraordinary networker. Fueled by his passion to connect with and help as many people as possible, he’s built a tribe of over 100K followers on Twitter. More importantly, he’s following over 100K back! Instead of a celebrity using social media as yet another “let’s talk about me” forum, he’s using Twitter to truly engage with more people than anyone would have imagined just a couple of years ago.

On this program of the Social Media Professor on BlogTalkRadio.com, we spoke with Rob about what it takes to build, keep, and manage such a high profile on Twitter. Rob also shares his thoughts on a couple of tools for people seeking to find others in areas of common interest.

Rob McNealy on Twitter and on the web.

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David Armano’s Brand U.0

treypennington — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:44:55 +0000

Brand U.0 David Armano

View more documents from John Patterson.

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Storytelling and Compelling Social Media Content

treypennington — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:44:10 +0000

The storyteller doesn’t have a message to convey and he isn’t seeking to persuade. Instead, the storyteller works to help his audience see themselves living the story—he’s a carrier of the experience. Adopting the mind of the storytelling will help you create engaging content fostering an “experience” of who you are by getting out of the story to let your audience in.

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Facebook and a Radical Strategic Visibility

treypennington — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:28:26 +0000

Twitter and Facebook friend Mari Smith has a helpful chapter in Dave Lakhani’s new book How to Sell When Nobody’s Buying. She presents an intriguing concept she calls “radical strategic visibility” which she defines as “being seen in all the right places by all the right people at all the right times.” She also gives 30 specific action steps you can take in implementing you own “radical strategic visibility” endeavor.

To see Mari’s video on how to use Facebook in just five minutes a day, visithttp://snipurl.com/facebook5min

Mari Smith on Twitter: http://twitter.com/marismith
Trey Pennington on Twitter:http://twitter.com/treypennington
Dave Lakhani on Twitter:http://twitter.com/davelakhani
Dave’s new book on Amazon:

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What’s My ROI? Something to think about

treypennington — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:58:29 +0000

ROI is all the rage when it comes to serious discussion about social media. Businesses want to know the bottom line, how much money is in it for me, anticipated results. Though their are suitable ROI measures for social media investment, author David Meerman Scott suggests an ROI focus is misguided. There is value in the spread of ideas, and social media is a great platform for spreading them.

David Meerman Scott and World Wide Rave on Amazon.com.

David Meerman Scott on Twitter.

Trey Pennington [on video above] on Twitter.

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Taking the gloves off to make a meaningful punch

treypennington — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:43:04 +0000

Olivier Blanchard (aka @thebrandbuilder on Twitter) gets down-and-dirty with social media to rip the superficial cover off social media hype. The “easy days” of being enthusiasts for the soft-side of marketing are over. Now it’s time to get down to real business. The evangelistic fervor behind “engagement” and “relationships” is falling on not only deaf ears, but increasingly agitated ears.

True, relationship marketing has always taken longer than the pure transactional twist (arm-twist, that is). But, and it’s a big but, business leaders still just want their problems solved. Their big problem is “we need more people to part with their cash and send it our way.” Those who make the direct connection between social media involvement and actually reaching real business goals will be the “superstars” who get paid to help people.

(in my view, Olivier is already a superstar, and not just for this video; he’ll help you cut through hype to make something good happen for your business)

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Brian Solis Updates His Conversation Prism

treypennington — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:59:34 +0000

Here’s a March 30, 2009 update to Brian’s famous conversation prism for social media.

The Conversation Prism by Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas

Follow Brian Solis on Twitter for insight on using social media for effective public relations.

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Ev of Twitter celebrates Twitter’s “Big Day”

treypennington — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:50:53 +0000

Congratulations to Ev and Biz for getting the official Oprah blessing. True, Oprah is the market maker. Also true that Ashton Kutcher has added Twitter to the list of things on the Internet made popular by Ashton. So, congratulations to Mr. K for beating CNN to the “million followers” mark.

Some have said “celebrities have now embraced social media,” meaning that because Ashton has garnered over a million followers, he has “embraced” social media. Please consider this, it seems that Ashton has embraced Twitter the same way an addict embraces a narcotic—he needs more of something for his own benefit, not for the benefit of others.

The glory of social media is not efficient self-promotion. It presents us with an opportunity to embrace our neighbor and to be more concerned for others than ourselves. Social media makes it efficient for us to share our good stuff with those around us. It makes it easy for us to listen, gives us the tools to aid understanding, and helps us facilitate our neighbors’ quests for significant.

One wonders if what Ashton Kutcher has done cheapens our neighbors instead.

One question I can’t shake lose is, Mr. Kutcher, if you really do want to embrace social media (which means embracing, philosophically, your fans, and being more concerned about them than for yourself), would you please consider setting a new record? Would you please be the first person to 1. FOLLOW 1,000,000 people and 2. send 1,000,000 @replies?

Now THAT would be remarkable.

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Using Social Media to Build Networks

treypennington — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:44:38 +0000

Thanks to Bobby Rettew of Clemson University for setting up and hosting a panel discussion at Clemson University March 31, 2009 in McKissick Auditorium. The panelist were Olivier Blanchard, Steve Gonzalez, John Warner, Phil Yanov, and Trey Pennington. (links are to each person’s Twitter profile.)

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Why have a “funtastic” day?

treypennington — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:34:15 +0000

Bored with the superficial greeting, “Hi. How are you?” I routinely ask people instead, “Hi, are you having fun?” The greeting usually makes people stop, smile, consider what they’re doing, and then say something like, “Yeah, I guess I am.” If they’re not having fun, then they usually say something that opens the door for a word of encouragement or an actual meaningful conversation.

And, being a fan of Charlie Tremendous Jones as a late teenager, I enjoy the thought “life is tremendous,” which I translate into my own words, “Life is fantastic.”

So, desiring that others both have fun and a fantastic day, I shortened my wish to “I hope you’re having a funtastic day!”

Which, by the way, I hope you are.

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New Twitter Hashtag: #followANYtime

treypennington — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:05:34 +0000

Follow Friday #followfriday gives us all one day a week to promote our friends others might enjoy following. I keep running across and connecting with cool people all week long that I’ve found myself eagerly waiting for Friday to promote them. Now I don’t have to wait any longer. With my new hashtag #followanytime, I can promote cool people right away without having to wait ’til Friday anymore.

Now, I still plan to make a big deal out of #followfriday, but I’ve been liberated to promote friends every day of the week.

Please join me in promoting your friends, too, with our cool hashtag #followanytime.

http://twitter.com/treypennington

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Are we clear yet?

treypennington — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:10:25 +0000

There’s a lot of “communication” going on these days but are we making our point. Here’s what happens when everyone wants to have a “voice.”

Creating A Stop Sign - Watch more free videos

Submitted by wallstreetfighter

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The Definitive Guide to Social Media Releases

treypennington — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:22:37 +0000

Brian Solis’ anatomy of a social media press release.

read more | digg story

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The Conversation Prism

treypennington — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:13:25 +0000

The Conversation Prism, originally uploaded by b_d_solis.

Confused about Social Media possibilities? Brian Solis makes it crystal (and colorfully) clear. Now you can start with the end in mind, match it to the Conversation Prism, and focus on engaging in the conversation. The key is focusing on the PEOPLE part of the conversation as quickly as possible, not the technology.

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Social Media Magic with The Success Fool Alejandro Reyes

treypennington — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:55:59 +0000

Though she’s promoting another social media entrepreneur it is well worth reading for the philosophy she espouses. The promotion is also legit.

read more | digg story

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Happy birthday to Keith Ferrazzi

treypennington — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:04:03 +0000

In honor of Keith’s birthday today, here’s a review of his now famous book Never Eat Alone.

People who know lots of other people win. Keith Ferrazzi tells how he got to know lots of people and how they helped make him widely successful at Deloitte and then Starwood Hotels and then YaYa Media (sold to Yahoo!) and now as a marketing and sales consultant.

It’s amazing to me how many best-selling books simply present what should be basic common sense. As the old saying goes, maybe common sense ain’t so common.

Never Eat Alone is a mixture of how-to and basic life philosophy. You could have thought of it yourself. The difference between you and me and Keith is, Keith actually took the time to put the words on paper.

The BIG IDEA:
[read more from the original post]

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4 Things Companies Should Do To Really Prepare for SMM

treypennington — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:05:34 +0000

John addresses the bottom-line mental transformation corporations must pursue if they are to have any hope succeeding in the social media space.

read more | digg story

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Social Presence Tools

treypennington — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:02:26 +0000

Social Presence Tools, originally uploaded by fredcavazza.

Frederic Cavazza has a brilliant mind—he’s organized the social web into PICTURES; now I understand it a little better.

You should browse through Frederic’s photostream and then do a search for him on Flikr to see his many presentations on social media. Good stuff. [trey pennington]

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Social Media Does Not Replace Marketing Strategy

treypennington — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:18:39 +0000

In another great post Chris says, “Social Media Lets You Go Wide, But YOU Have to Make it Go Deep: The tools we use to create social media: blogging, podcasting, video, social networks, etc, are great at building potential relationships, growing community, serving an audience, helping people find your business, and several other things.
BUT…”

read more | digg story

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Uber Social Media Source List (by Chris Brogan)

treypennington — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:12:06 +0000

Chris did the hard work of organizing social media articles into useful categories to give you a competitive edge.

read more | digg story

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Social Media Landscape by Fred Cacazza

treypennington — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:02:20 +0000

Great comprehensive article identifying social media options. The chart is particularly helpful.

read more | digg story

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Free Web Host with Very Cool, Very Free, Community Friendly Tools

treypennington — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:35:46 +0000

Hit pay-dirt with a directory of Web 2.0 stuff. Hit even more pay-dirt playing with webnode.com. This is a free web host with free content-management-system built in. Looks like all AJAX; looks easy enough for anyone to use to build high-quality websites.

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Social Media Professor with Phil Yanov

treypennington — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:45:31 +0000

Podcast of the Social Media Professor talk show with guest Phil Yanov.

Phil Yanov writes and speaks about technology on the radio, in newspapers, and on the web. He is a peripatetic, writer, blogger, podcaster, and occasional video caster. In these venues and at the invitation of corporate clients, he discusses the personal use of technology and performance enhancing strategies for technology professionals.

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Twitter Conversations Broken; Users Moving To Friendfeed

treypennington — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:01:44 +0000

“Without Reply, Twitter turns into a one way telephone conversation. Pulling the feature out is equivalent to a frontal lobotomy - Twitter is still walking around, but there’s a blank stare in its eyes.

So why aren’t people screaming about the feature being gone? Because this time, they’re just heading over to Friendfeed…”

A social media wake up call? Ah, the art of conversation…

treypennington — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:57:48 +0000

Is the art of conversation lost? Isn’t “social media” all about the human interaction? According to Mark Collier, if you’re using social sites and tools as one-way channels to promote your content, you aren’t practicing social media, you are in broadcast media.

read more | digg story

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Ten Ways to Use a Blog

treypennington — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:54:30 +0000

To quote a famous turtle, “Focus, dude, focus.” Keep your blog posts from wandering with these ten ideas.

read more | digg story

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A sample social media toolkit

treypennington — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:30:29 +0000

Here are a few sample social media tools and what they can be used for.

Read this BEFORE diving into SMM

treypennington — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:43:58 +0000

Why you should listen before you leap. Social media is cool, way cool, but don’t fall in love with the technology before you fall in love with the people you help. Consider Mark Collier’s quick four points.

read more | digg story

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Fast Company: Facebook’s Pied Piper and Personal Branding

treypennington — Tue, 27 May 2008 03:02:27 +0000

Social media entrepreneur Mari Smith tells you how to jump start your career, build your business, and advance your practice using Facebook.

read more | digg story

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What Students Want to Know (about social media & real life)

treypennington — Mon, 26 May 2008 04:26:27 +0000

Now is Gone author Geoff Livingston offers great perspective, in Q&A form, splashing the cold, yet refreshing, water of realism on the prematurely gleeful faces of the get-rich-quick social media bandits.

read more | digg story

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Talk Show Guest Mari Smith

treypennington — Sun, 25 May 2008 11:16:30 +0000

Mari has been dubbed “the Pied Piper of Facebook” by Fast Company. She is a Relationship Marketing Specialist and Facebook Business Coach. She helps entrepreneurs to strategically grow their businesses using creative zero cost online marketing techniques. Her passion is teaching professionals how to develop powerful profitable relationships using social media, particularly Facebook.

Hear Mari Smith live on the Social Media Professor Tuesday, May 27, 2008, from 11:30 am to 12:00 pm (EDT). Tune into the show at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connecting or call in at 1-646-716-4404, or you can email a question for Mari.

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Talk Show with guest Amy Wood

treypennington — Sat, 24 May 2008 02:47:16 +0000

Hear today’s Social Media Professor talk show with news anchor Amy Wood.

Amy is a news anchor for television station WSPA News 7 and is active on social media networks. She presented insights from a professionals viewpoint on how to craft a compelling story, use social media to develop real connections, and how social media helps foster and enrich the sense of community.

Amy is a pioneer in the use of social media as part of the nightly broadcast news. Read her blog. To be a part of WYCW News for the Upstate of South Carolina, go to http:/www.carolinascw.com. Follow Amy on twitter.

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Tech made simple

treypennington — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:09:53 +0000

Get this widget!

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STOP Using Facebook!

treypennington — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:57:26 +0000

Shama Hyder writes an excellent article concerning the misuse and abuse on Facebook by marketers and spammers. Use it for what’s it’s intended for: it’s not about the technology; it’s the relationship.

read more | digg story

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Social Networking Map of the World

treypennington — Sun, 18 May 2008 18:43:52 +0000

Great post and map from Tim O’Reilly’s blog. (See his post for additional credits.)

read more | digg story

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Don’t Ignore Your Hometown Media

treypennington — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:04:13 +0000

Don’t ignore your hometown media if earning your way to Oprah and other national talk shows is your goal. Here’s why.

read more | digg story

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It’s Called FACEBook for a Reason!

treypennington — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:38:44 +0000

Most of us hear the word “Facebook” and think of a web app. Mari Smith brings us back to earth with a blinding flash of the obvious—Facebook is about FACES. Read her post here.

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Social Media Professor Broadcast

treypennington — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:55:12 +0000

With Jim Turner of New York.

May 13, 2008 episode of the Social Media Professor. Guest is Jim Turner discussing social media, Facebook, LinkedIn, and getting started with your online brand. The Social Media Professor radio show presents interviews with social media movers and shakers, information on leveraging social media, and tips on getting beneath and beyond the fads and technology so you can build genuine relationships in the commerical world.

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Free Online Reputation Management Beginner’s Guide

treypennington — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:21:15 +0000

Whether you’re “into” social media or not (believe it or not, there are those who are pretending they may opt-out of virtual life!), someone, somewhere, somehow may be saying something about you. If your off-line reputation is important to you, here are some tips on protecting your online reputation with equal diligence.

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Google Friend Connect

treypennington — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:44:07 +0000

Looks like Google is taking Facebook and social media straight to your own website. Click here to read today’s (May 13, 2008) release.

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How to create an online survey for free using Google Docs

treypennington — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:22:23 +0000

Use Google’s FREE Docs application to create online surveys and have the results posted in real-time to you website Here’s how.

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