Join us to hear David Murray discuss “De-Mystifying Social Media and How to Make Social Media work for Your Business.”
Date: Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Time: 7:30 AM — 9:00 AM
Ravinia Club
2 Ravinia Club Drive
Suite #100
Atlanta, GA 30346
David Murray (@DaveMurr) is the Social Web Communications Director for re:group (www.regroup.us), a fully integrated marketing and communications firm in Ann Arbor, MI and member of SEFF.
David has created fully integrated digital and social media campaigns in the health care, franchise, nonprofit, and both B2B and B2C sectors. David is a national speaker on digital communications and social media best practices. He is a published author on the subject.
Come, learn, and share your ideas with the group.
Bring your questions, too!
Register online today at
www.SoutheastFranchiseForum.com.
Advanced Reservations Are Required***
Deadline for Reservations is Friday, August 5th at 3 PM. Non-Members of SEFF and Guests Pay $15 per Breakfast Meeting.
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May 24 – 26, 2011 – re:group will be heading to New York for Blog World and the Social Media Business Summit the world’s largest and most comprehensive new media and social media conference. re:group’s social media director, David Murray, will be speaking to business owners on building their content bubble. We have just been notified that our session is ranked in the top 50 sessions of this 250 session conference. This three day event is one of the biggest and best social media conferences happening to date. Follow #BWENY on Twitter. re:group will also be covering the event and posting updates to our website.
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I had the pleasure of speaking at the very first WordCamp Detroit over the weekend.
My friends Todd J. List, Anthony Montalbano and their team put together a sold out program full of informative speakers, and a wealth of helpful information. Topics included picking an appropriate theme for your blog, SEO, PHP/CSS basics, video blogging, and more.
I was asked to present on a subject that we are very passionate about here at re:group – building helpful and effective content. This is something we absolutely strive for when working with our clients, and in my talk I stressed the importance of:
- Having a human voice through your content
- Becoming a trusted resource
- Leaning on your passion
- Building content people will want to share
- Being present if you are going to be online
- Listening
Click the bubble below to see our presentation. I also added additional helpful resources at the end:
I’d also recommend checking out the following presentations as well:
All presentations were recorded and will be released in the upcoming days. Thank you again to the WordCamp Detroit team for having us!
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One thing we like to stress to the clients we work with, is the importance of cultivating brand loyalty.
Consumers are spending more and more time on the social web, and are becoming increasingly savvy over which brands are truly listening, engaging, and paying attention to their needs. Smart brands will recognize their consumers loyalty, encourage it, and ultimately reward it. Read more »
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Recently I came across this presentation by my friend and social media/marketing professional, Scott Stratten.
Scott has a style all his own when it comes to talking about the social web and how we all need to start thinking differently when it comes to communicating online. Check out his presentation as he talks about:
- Getting people to your door
- Making it easy for them to open that door
- Using social media only if you are going to be there too
- How social media is an extension of customer service and communication of your brand
- How too many companies are faking passion and authenticity
- Selling Social Media as Influence
- Why social media doesn’t cure sucking (think BP)
- Why emotion is the new vehicle
- The three pillars of the social web: Know – Like – Trust
- How ROI is not the point
- Building relationships and creating life long value
- Owning your platform, and owning your content
Scott has a new book, “UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging” due out this fall. He will also be stopping by Detroit’s Social Media Club during his Unbook Tour in September.
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trust
Last week I attended a kick off reception for the Maker Faire that will be visiting Detroit and The Henry Ford Museum this summer. I will admit, my immediate impression of the Maker Faire is that it was just a chance for people to show off the stuff they built in their garage.
However, I learned that inventors, entrepreneurs, and visionaries are at the core of this event.
The speakers stressed the importance of trying new things. Of experimenting and tinkering to find solutions and discoveries. In this day and age this is more important than ever, and when it comes to the social web, this is equally important.
Social Media doesn’t fit into a box. It is an organic medium that constantly evolves.
This requires us, the handlers, to tinker and experiment with it.
There are many pieces that make up the social web and it requires a bit of discovery to find the best solutions for your clients. Now this may go against the grain and it is fair to say that clients may not want to pay you to experiment, but there really is no other way for it to work.
Social Media is not the silver bullet solution. It is but one component of the overall branding and marketing strategy. And though it may seem like a waste of time to experiment, the social web pays back those who take the time to discover its strengths. Like the inventors at Maker Faire, their value is in finding what works through trail and error. By taking the time to discover solutions, they invent and create things that couldn’t have happened without going through that process.
Throw it against the wall. Pay attention to what sticks and build off that.
That is not to say that you shouldn’t discount the importance of strategy. Social Media will eat you alive if you play with it blind. You do need to outline objectives and goals of what you want to accomplish using social media.
Just don’t forget that within that well defined and outlined strategy you leave room to tinker.
Image taken by Jon Wisby
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Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t truly understand Social Media.
Social Media is communication, and though I’m not a history major, I’m pretty sure people have been communicating since the dawn of time. Cave paintings were the first blog. Hieroglyphics the first tweets. We’ve always strived to communicate and have our message heard.
Communication is social media.
By communication I am referring to the internal desire to share stories, our history, news, what excites us, and what frightens us. These are human connections that drive our offline relationships, and it is the same connections that make up the social web.
The internet is simply the tool we use to communicate, and now technology has allowed us to break the 3rd and 4th walls into a new realm of connecting. You can talk to you neighbor down the street, or someone on the opposite side of the globe. Social Media defies geographic limitations.
Technology has enabled this to happen. But again, technology is not social media. Twitter, Facebook and other tools are inventions of technology. But they are just the instruments we choose to share our voice. The goal is still connecting. When Twitter disappears, rest assured we will find another way to connect.
So again, the tools are new, but they are not Social Media. Social Media is communication, and this is not new.
I keep harking on this because I’m very passionate about communication and what the Social Web is capable of. I don’t like to see companies or organizations fall into the deep side of the pool because they didn’t take the time to discover the rules that govern the social web.
Just remember the rules of engagement and honest communication that govern our offline relationships, transfer online. If you can get away from thinking of the digital landscape as bulletin board, you will be in a better position to humanize your brand. Then you will be able to connect with a far bigger audience than you imagined thanks to the social web.
Now that is something new!
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Hello!
Just wanted to take a quick moment to introduce myself. My name is David Murray and I am the Director for Social Web Communications here at re:group.
Okay, enough shop.
Time to get personal, because that is what social media is all about. Getting personal. Believe it or not, social media isn’t new. Oh sure, the tools are, but they are just that.. tools. Social media isn’t Twitter. It’s not Facebook either. It’s about communication and building relationships. Maybe you’ve heard that before, maybe not. The point is, don’t think of the social web as just another way to advertise. There are more appropriate channels for that.
Want a quick tip? The more time you spend using the digital landscape as a place to cultivate relationships and be human, the better. Why? People now have the option to tune you out.. and they will. Unless they get to know you, not your product.
What I hope to do is to show you how this can be done while sharing some of the things I’ve learned along this social media discovery. I’ll also provide some examples that I find, and point you to some people who are way smarter than me.
Whoops! I forgot to get personal!!
Well, you can find me on Twitter (where I spend most of my time), at most offline social functions, or around the internets. I’m also the founder of Social Media Club Detroit. When I’m not doing the social media thing, I like to play the occasional video game, cook, and watch movies.
I look forward to learning with you, so feel free to reach out to me anytime!
~David Murray
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