Archive for marketing

interns wanted: looking for dynamic undergrads* for social media internship

December 22, 2008 marketing, social change, social media, technology, twitter, web 2.0 No comments

Help, I’m looking for interns. Not just any interns, but really, really intelligent, innovative and fun ones! Do you want to be one or do you know someone savvy who should be? Then let please contact me at vanessa <dot> rhinesmith <at> gmail <dot> com.

Interns Needed for Health Social Media Startup
WEGO Health seeks passionate, super-sharp interns to work in our Boston office. You’ll contribute meaningfully to a variety of community, editorial and market-research projects that support and grow our community of health activists – leaders across dozens of health and wellness areas.

WEGO Health interns are major players who make big contributions. Our atmosphere is relaxed, our hierarchy flat. This is a great place to grow and learn.

Please be:
• A great writer and researcher
• Passionate about and fluent in social media tools (i.e., blogs, facebook, twitter, etc.)
• Have a deep personal interest in health and wellness topics
• Full of positive attitude and high energy
• Known for your sense of humor
• Able to bring a laptop to the office

You must work at least 12-16 hours per week for course credit (or just an amazing resume line!); this is an unpaid internship.

About WEGO Health:

WEGO Health is an exciting new company exploring ways to give consumers a voice in health care. Learn more at http://www.wegohealth.com/about-us.html
Location: Downtown Crossing

*Prefer undergraduate students, but not restricted to (especially if you make a compelling case).

how much is too much, what’s your personal quota

December 10, 2008 blogging, blogs, culture, facebook, marketing, media, reflection, social media, social networking, technology, web 2.0 No comments

In recent conversations, the question of how much is too much keeps finding it’s way into the discussion. Everyday I go through a routine of logging into Facebook, firing up Pandora, checking my blog stats, visiting LinkedIn, sifting through my RSS feeds, updating my Twitter, all while sipping coffee, checking my email and outlining my to do list. When will we hit virtual overload? I already have.

As I noted in a previous post (space: public v. private), I’m not only juggling my online presence and relationships, but also my physical ones. I’m trying to wrap up the semester, check in with my mother about various holiday related items, squeeze in coffee with a friend and have dinner with my husband.

For me, intentionally is key in all of my relationships, virtual or other, which means at some point I’m going to reach my personal quota and will be forced to reassess. This is what I’m doing now, and this is what more and more folks will do as new online opportunities and social engagements fight for their attention. As a consumer, participant and human how do we decide what activities are important to us? As a organization, website or producer how do we ensure that our objective provides the most value, community and experience that it’s worth spending what little time we have?

Seth Godin perhaps sums it up best:

The internet isn’t full, but we are.

bright, shiny and new doesn’t always equal effective communication

December 4, 2008 blogging, blogs, communication, internet, marketing, social media, technology, web 2.0 3 comments

3. Tim reminded us that a medium is just a “means of human communication.”  Media include everything from printed newspapers and blogs to smoke signals and church sermons (Courtesy of Tim Walker, Social Media Breakfast Austin).

I love this statement, it’s simple, to the point and something that is rooted in my own ideology. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the glitz and glamor of the tools. There are lots of them, but the tools won’t magically work by themselves, they need to be directed in a thoughtful manner. As a communicator, marketer, consumer, or other, you have a responsibility to determine if the methods of communication are appropriate to the task, goal or audience.

Miscommunication occurs all the time. There’s an art to communication, to understanding the recipient and how 500+ other factors can play with or against the message you are offering. Perception and interpretation are paradoxical, even more so with the onset of so many new means of communication. It’s easy to be persuaded by the shinier offerings, but sometimes the most effective means of communication is found in the most simple acts, a phone call, note, hand shake or cup of coffee.

So before you get drawn into the bright light, think about what you’re trying to achieve, who you’re trying to reach,  how they prefer to be conversed with and lastly, what you want that interaction to say about you, because the definition of your own reputation is inevitably wrapped up within the method(s) and means selected.

intangibles, roi and social media

February 4, 2008 blogs, internet, marketing, myspace, social media, social networking, social networks, technology, web 2.0 2 comments

The one class I’m taking this semester is managerial accounting. While I wasn’t so much a fan of financial accounting I found it an invaluable source of knowledge. Managerial accounting is much more my speed, but offers a unique challenge – a level of ambiguity in a realm of much gray and cost accounting methods that are all relative within reason.

Though it is within this space between the black and white that the accounting for social media occurs. As more and more companies look towards social media as a valid form of branding, marketing and development the question of ROI for such activities is being asked. So how do companies make the financial case for social media when so much of social media cannot be financially accounted for.

Beth Kanter has a great post entitled, Should You Quantify Love? Redux 2, that addresses a layer of this unique challenge.

I am just back from Legal Services Corporation and a keynote on ROI and Nonprofits. Stephen Downes pointed to a post by Jay Cross called “The Income Statement It Isn’t”

Jay Cross is exactly right. “It never ceases to amaze me how many people assess the cost and benefit of projects with accounting approaches developed in Venice in the five hundred years ago.” And, of course, such metrics are useless. “Organizations that make decisions based solely on things that are sufficiently tangible to be counted might as well consult a Ouija board to set their goals.”

In my keynote, I spoke about the importance of intangibles for a couple of reasons.

1.) Intangibles often come in the form of stories or anecdotes about the technology value and if used along with numbers can help make the case.

2.) The discussion around trying to quantify it – can lead to productive conversation about why the technology is important to mission. If the conversations focuses on the results, not the measurement unit.

I tried to make the point by raising the question, “Can you quantify the intangible?” Of course you can’t. But intangibles are important to note and often inform decisions.

The notion of intangibles in accounting seems almost contradictory, but as Beth states “intangibles are important to note and often inform decisions.” It’s critical to assess all the moving pieces, determine the risk associated with each and assemble a strategy that takes everything into account – not just the numbers, but intangibles and their impact on solidifying the desired outcome.

So then the other question is how does one begins to determine what activities would be valuable to the strategic picture – and therefore be leveraged to make a compelling case for resources, support and implementation. Nick Stamoulis’s post entitled, Social Networking: Are You Measuring ROI?, offers some valuable insight.

When it comes to social networking, there are a myriad of activities that involve time. Some of those activities may translate into additional business for your company, but many do not. For instance, finding and approving friends could lead to earned income if one of those friends becomes a customer, but how often does that happen?

One of the many challenges for full adoption of social media into corporations and other institutions is going to be this ambiguity of financial return. Companies are striving to attain their desired bottom-line and decisions are based on the numbers. This isn’t a new concept and has been driven into me throughout my academic and professional life.

But social media offers creative, sustainable solutions that live beyond such stringent monetary boundaries. Social media is valuable. That much has been established, but what makes it a compelling strategic direction is that the impact is not only on an organization’s bottom-line, but rather cultivates strength via relationships, confidence and loyalty – establishing a presence within a global context with an infinite reach.

friday things: social media marketing, marketing with a conscience & bags

February 1, 2008 blogs, internet, marketing, social media, technology, web 2.0 No comments

Friday articles/posts worth the read:

Marketing Monster “Why do companies fear social marketing?”

Why do companies fear social marketing (using blogs, social networks, and feeds)? The answer is fairly simple; they see it as unchartered territory. This is according to a recent Coremetrics survey of marketers (read more).

Portland Press Herald “Groups use ‘social marketing’ to aid environment”

Communities across the globe are turning to community-based social marketing to encourage environmentally conscious behavior, an idea pioneered by environmental psychologist Doug McKenzie-Mohr and based on the idea that sustainable behavior can be marketed using tried-and-true techniques, including peer pressure (read more).

And in an ode to handmade shopping:

moop “…a maker of real nice bags”. The bags are simple, yet eye catching, and the creator’s blog is wonderfully eclectic. Take a peak. I loved their bags so much that I simply had to buy (2)!

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