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Social Media Breakfast Maine Archive Page
- SMBME #7 – Creating and Using Social Media Policies
- SMBME #6 – Social Media in the Maine Travel, Tourism & Recreation Industry
- SMBME #5 – Social Media: Personal vs. Professional Brand
- SMBME #4 – Setting Goals and Measuring Results
- SMBME #3 – Social Media for Nonprofits
- SMBME #2 – Creating Trust and Communities Online
- SMBME #1
SMBME #7 – Creating and Using Social Media Policies
Creating Social Media Policies for your Business
Social media is becoming more mainstream and just another part of your businesses’ marketing strategy. Social Media sites like Twitter and Facebook are changing every second, information is flowing in real time, the conversations are raw and not always monitored.
Creating social media policies for your company is a great way to protect yourself and your brand. Policies give your social media marketing strategy vision and an outline of what is and what is not ok.
At this special breakfast we had two experienced locals show us why having a social media policy for your business is important and how to get started.
Sarah Wallace started the breakfast explaining why social media policies are important, what you should consider when creating a policy and who needs them. Sarah also gave us some poignant examples of damage control with social media and how to react when a crisis occurs. Sarah’s full presentation slides are below.
Brad Lawwill, general counsel for Pierce Promotions, was our second presenter. His storytelling and humor made his serious content a hit with the group. Brad’s Common Sense Approach to Creating a Social Media Policy clearly outlined what terms and content are necessary to have in a policy. Brad referred to social media as “old wine in a new bottle”, the concerns we have are possibly the same things we currently have outlined in our existing policies but maybe they just need to be updated. Brad’s full presentation is below.
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We were so pleased to be able to stream this sold out event with the help of Chris Cavallari of Filmosity Productions. Chris was also able to record the mornings presentations and we will have those available sometime in the future. Filmosity Productions is an award-winning Portland, Maine based media production company specializing in video and audio production, web based content, social media management, social media consultation, and live video streaming. |
Sarah Wallace works as a freelance writer specializing in social media writing services. She helps clients with their blogs, Facebook, Twitter, e-newsletters, web copy and press releases. In addition to performing these services, she also provides editing, consulting and analysis. Wallace has spent the past two decades writing for both print and web and has worked as a reporter and editor for various newspapers, magazines and web sites. She has also served as a technical writer for organizations like the Smithsonian and KPMG, a research analyst for the telecom industry and a screenwriter for PBS. Wallace currently maintains her own blogs and is a guest blogger for the Guiding Stars web site. You may learn more about Wallace’s writing services at http://www.sarahwallace.com or email her at sarah@sarahwallace.com.
Brad Lawwill
Brad Lawwill is Vice President and General Counsel of Pierce, a top-ranked, full-service marketing agency specializing in experiential, retail and promotional solutions. Pierce brings stunning reality to experience unlimited® – the philosophy that every brand has an experience within it and every consumer has an experience to share. Founded and headquartered in Portland, Maine with offices in New York, Washington, DC, Chicago and Bentonville, Pierce is fully-owned by Omnicom Group, Inc., and part of the Radiate Group of agencies, 25 best-in-class marketing services agencies. For more information, visit www.piercepromotions.com
SMBME #6 – Using Social Media in the Maine Travel, Tourism and Recreation Industry
Most travelers are starting their research online. How can you be found by them when they are looking and how can you form relationships with these potential clients online? Lots of industries are finding unique ways to promote their products and services online using social media, blogs and email newsletters. The travel, tourism and recreation industries have a lot of opportunity in this online space!
For this special topic we had thee local case studies of how businesses are using social media to connect to their customers in the travel and tourism industry.
Our first presenter was Heather Wasklewicz, Social Media Director for 32north, makers of Stabilicers ice cleats located in Biddeford. Heather had the not so easy task of creating on online community around ice cleats but she did a great job. With Heather’s help and a few trial and errors, 32north has the respect of a large Twitter and Facebook following. 32north also uses video to make a fun series of online videos promoting their product. Heather also shared with the group the effectiveness of cross promoting with other partners and organization.
Second, we had Norm Forgey from Maine Day Trip a company that created customized Maine tours for locals, tourists and cruise line passengers. Norm had a fact filled presentation on how people are using the internet to plan their next vacation. With the use of social media and the Maine Day Trip blog Norm has been successful promoting his company.
Our final example was how Sunday River uses Social Media sites and their own website community to build relationships with their current and potential customers. Nick Lambert and Darcy Liberty presented what tools Sunday River uses including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to communicate with their fans.
We were excited to do travel and tourism as a topic because it is such a good fit for social media. By connecting with your future and current customers online you are making it possible for you to let them help you with your marketing initiatives, which is what we saw in all three of these presentations. Social Media is simple word-of-mouth marketing but with new tools. Especially in this industry you have a good story to tell – the story of Maine. Letting your audience help you post pictures, share your videos, promote your services is better than any ad you can take out in any publication. Carl Natale did a nice recap of the day for MaineBusiness.com
Norm created Maine Day Trip in July, 2007 to provide private customized tours in Maine originating in the Portland region. The original target market was cruise ship passengers who were looking for something more extensive and informative than the bus tours offered by the cruise lines. The company has continued to expand its services to corporate visitors, hotel guests, and tourists who want a relaxing day off from driving or find that there is a lack of transportation to other towns. Relocation orientation tours and assistance services are now also offered.
Norm accepted a corporate relocation to Maine in 1999. He vacationed in Maine, with Mainer friends for over 15 years prior, and was already familiar with many tourist and scenic areas. His passion for Maine was fulfilled upon retiring from corporate life in 2007 and starting Maine Day Trip.
Darcy Liberty and Nick Lambert
Darcy Liberty is a Maine native who returned home to take on the role of Director of Communications for Sunday River after earning a masters degree and spending six years managing communications and media relations for Winter Park Resort in Colorado but finding the winter’s not cold enough.
Nick Lambert aspires to lead the carefree life of a ski bum but is frequently derailed by his duties as Brand Manager for Sunday River and Sugarloaf resorts, overseeing marketing communications and web development.
Heather Wasklewicz
Social Media Director for 32north makers of Stabilicers ice cleats located in Biddeford, Maine.
SMBME #5 – Social Media: Personal vs. Professional Brand
December 2009
This month’s breakfast was another sold out event at MPX! The topic was chosen after the question of ’should I be me or my company online’ kept resurfacing during our QA section of the breakfasts and a few requests came in on the website contact form.
We started the morning with Emily Brackett from Visible Logic, Inc. who broke down how people are deciding to choose whether or not to be their personal brand or their company brand online. Emily was found as a speaker after she wrote a great post on her blog, Who Are You Online? Personal Branding vs. Corporate Branding while Social Networking.
Emily’s full presentation is below
Our two case studies were Chrystie Corns and Chris Brown. Chris talked to us about how he has used social networking sites to promote his company, Bull Moose. He covered how they got started, some effects of this new form of communicating with their customers and stories of social media and his business.
Chrystie from Thirteen Thirty Marketing closed up our morning with her presentation on the importance of having a good personal brand and strategy. Chrystie showed the group the reasons you need to establish your personal brand (my favorite line ‘If you don’t have a personality… go get one’) and discussed the online and offline tools you need to get your personal brand in working order.
Chrystie’s full presentation is below
During our QA portion of the morning we got some good questions that I wanted to share here as well:
- How do I find local Twitterers in my area?
You can use special sites like Nearby Tweets, where you enter your zipcode and the site will find Twitterers in your area. You can also use the Advanced Twitter Search tool and enter in keywords that interest you and change the Places field to your area. Another good way to find quality Twitter users in your area is to use Hub Spot’s Twitter Grader. - How do I report a person who is squatting on the Twitter username I want and they aren’t using it?
Twitter Support has a helpful page if this is an issue for you. We know some people who have used the reporting tool and got the username they wanted relatively quickly. - How do I start creating social media policies at my business?
Policies are a great way to protect you, your brand and your company. The most simple set of social media policies should include – what you as a company will and will not do online, what your employees can and cannot do online and what members of the public can and cannot do with your content online. Continuity Engine has a great list of resources on their site but I have found the Social Media Policy the most useful so far. This is just a great document to give businesses a starting point. One other thing to remember is that your policies document should continue to grow as you get more experienced online with what is and what is not acceptable.
Below are Chrystie and Emily’s presentations:
Speakers
Emily is president of Visible Logic, Inc. Established in 2001, Visible Logic is a boutique graphic design firm that works across all media, from web sites to logos to print materials, to build cohesive and consistent identities for their clients. Based in Portland, Maine, Visible Logic builds complete branding systems and designs individual projects for clients across the U.S. They serve small businesses, not-for-profits, entrepreneurs and publishers who want to use high-quality design to compete with companies of all sizes.
Emily has a BA from Carleton College and a BFA in Graphic Design from The Massachusetts College of Art. This combination of liberal arts foundation plus graphic design education creates a skill set unique in the industry. Good graphic design is ultimately about communication. Having the “word” skills to complement the “visual” talent allows Emily to create materials that truly work as demanded—whether to inform, entertain or persuade.
Chrystie Corns is the President & Chief Strategist for Thirteen Thirty Marketing, a Portland Maine based web strategy and social marketing consultancy which works primarily with sales professionals and technology start-ups. She is fascinated by the power of personality and its effects on business. Chrystie, uses her professional experience in the areas of Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, and Branding to implement marketing strategies to bring out a company’s personality.
Chris is the Vice President of Bull Moose Music.
SMBME #4 – Setting Goals and Measuring Results
A packed house for this months Social Media Breakfast! We tried to tackle the popular topic of how to set goals and track social media to see if it is even working for you and your company. We had two local experts, The Rich Brooks and Monica Wright, share with us how to get organized, set measurable goals and some resources and tools for measuring the effectiveness of your campaigns. We finished the morning with Calvin Gilbert from Goodwill NNE who shared with us how they are tracking Goodwill’s social media effectiveness and what content works for them. All three presentations are below.
Rich Brooks
Rich Brooks is founder and president of flyte new media, a Web design and Internet marketing firm in Portland, Maine. His monthly flyte log email newsletter and company blog focus on Web marketing topics such as search engine optimization, blogs, social media, email marketing, and building Web sites that sell. He is currently an Expert Blogger at FastCompany.com and a featured blogger at MaineBusiness.com.
Monica Wright
Monica Wright works as SEO & Social Media Manager at VONT+HMG, a full service interactive agency based in Portland, ME. As a veteran online marketer specializing SEO and social media, she works with national and regional clients in a wide variety of industries including hi-tech, hospitality & tourism, and higher education.
Calvin Gilbert
Calvin oversees print and web development at Goodwill Industries of Northern New England
SMBME #3 – Social Media for Nonprofits
The Social Media for Nonprofits group was amazing. The presentations were very factual with lots of take home information and the attendees struck up a great conversation during the Q&A section. Below is a quick recap of the three presentations.
Alex Steed
Alex is a communication consultant for nonprofit organizations and advocacy group and specializes in community management and constituency activation. You can read more about him on his website www.alexsteed.com.
Alex, in his amazing storytelling style, compared social media listening to eaves dropping on a conversation at the Food Court in the mall (but less creepy of course). People are having millions of conversations online and with listening tools you can be a part of those conversations. Alex recommended everyone check out Google Analytics, Google Grants and Twitter Search (advanced).
Follow Alex on Twitter @alexsteed
Kaitlin LaCasse
Kaitlin is Idealware’s Communications and Social Media Specialist. She oversees Idealware’s research on social media methods and strategies for nonprofits, as well as Idealware’s own communications and social media tactics. Kaitlin’s presentation was so factual I could never do it justice trying to recap it so the entire presentation is embedded below.
Follow @Idealware on Twitter
Brian Clark
Brian is the program manager of STRONG Fathers, a program of York County Community Action Corp. that helps men be strong, skillful, active dads. Brian was our case study of a local nonprofit who is using social media to try to reach more people with information about his organization. Brian showed us the tools he is using like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, YouTube and more to start relationships online with fathers that could use his organization and to generally get out his overall message.
Brian is a great example of using listening online to find the communities that matter to his target demographic. Brian participates not only in the online communities that he enjoys but also the communities that the fathers he is trying to reach are participating in.
SMBME #2 – Creating Trust and Communities Online
More than ever, people research their purchases online before they enter the buying cycle. Using the resources available to them (web search, blogs, social networks) they can research your products, services, employees and general reputation. What will your customers find when they search for you?
No matter what your industry is, B2B, B2C, or nonprofit, making an appearance on the internet and managing your reputation on social networks is a critical part of new marketing.
You can use social media sites, blogs, your website and more to build trust with potential customers and form a better relationship with your current customers.
During this session of social media breakfast Maine (#SMBME) we will discuss practical tips to do just that that with some experienced local marketers.
Presentations
- Fund/Participation Raising in the Age of Interactivity or
Getting People to Do Things By Way of the Social Nets.Presented by Alex Steed
View more presentations from Social Media Breakfast Maine.
- Turning Your Personality Into Profit!
Know Me! Like Me! Trust Me! Buy Me!Presented by Fred Abaroa
View more presentations from CostaVidaFred.
- 10 Secrets to Developing Your Personal Brand
Online and In PersonPresented by Franklin McMahon
View more presentations from Social Media Breakfast Maine.
SMBME 1
Location: Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill
Date: April 21, 2009
Speakers: Lynnelle Wilson, Monica Wright and Stuart Foster
Read a blog reviewing the event here
