A Few of My Favorite Tech Toys

www.LinkedIn.com and www.Martindale.com/Connected: This week, look at your profile for a few minutes and add in your relevant work experience that your friends, associates, and network may be needing. It just needs to be a few keywords, but your update will pop up on all of your contacts pages. While you’re on your “view your profile” page, check out on the lower right-hand side of the page to see who else is relevant in searches for your profile. Is it someone you’d like to know?

My Mobile Computing Platform of Choice

http://bu.mp: I had a vendor introduce me to this new technology last week. It is a simple way to connect two smartphones by bumping together to exchange contact information. I’m sharing this one with my LMA colleagues for our upcoming conference.

www.evernote.com: I’ve been testing this product since reading about it in Forbes last week. Zachary Mannheimer, Des Moines Social Club Executive Director, was featured in the article about making the most of business travel. Between the webpage and smartphone app, I can share notes, voice message, files and more for immediate access.

Making Marketing Work in Your Organization

A great article in Ad Age about the Association of National Advertisers CMO roundtable with CMOs from Best Buy, Con Agra, Fidelity, and General Mills referenced transparency and chemistry as drivers for marketing.

First of all, Mr. Speros [Fidelity] said, you’ve got to realize that the clock is ticking. “Velocity is key, because you don’t have a lot of time to make a difference,” he said. “You have to get in very fast and make relationships with the right people, understand the hot-button issues.”

I love the word “velocity” in the relationship business. Also, consider that time is money. Set an agenda, stick to it, and stay cognizant of the time you’re using of your top execs. They’ll appreciate it and build the basis of a strong relationship (and maybe an advocate as well).

Of equal importance is to build a learning culture within the organization. Ms. Chow [Con Agra] developed a training system for social media with executives. I can’t think of a better way to develop ideas and partnerships at the same time.

So what does marketing look like in your organization?Are you working the floor, listening, sharing ideas and moving a thought to action? Think about your role in the context of these tweets from my buddy Josh Fleming @admavericks.

Everytime you’re w/a client, give them what they asked for, but always give them a new idea.

or

Tell them. Tell them again. Tell them what you told them.

By the way – kudos on the big win for best blog!

Social Media Triathlon

I’ve been bitten by the bug in a big way. I started training and racing triathlons in 2006, immediately progressing from a sprint distance to a 70.3 half-ironman in a season. I quickly learned success is in preparation and focus on training your strengths and weaknesses in the disciplines. Most people incorrectly peg the sport as swim, bike and run. That is where they go wrong – it is so much more – great sleep, understanding friends, nutrition, quality rest, fantastic training partners, regular massage, intense core, relaxing yoga, regular weights, weekly chiropractic, hardcore pilates, physical therapy, and most important, a loving, supportive family.

Look outside the simple swim, bike and run and figure out what is really necessary to succeed.

 

 

So how would social media relate if you looked beyond the obvious needs of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social networks? What do people in each of the social arenas need to be successful and how can you deliver in a Steve Farber-esque Greater Than Yourself way? Part of this is looking at social from the perspective of the customer, but the other is finding the right person who is ready to learn and capable of committing the time to learn.

As someone who develops people to be Greater Than Yourself said, “you can’t learn triathlon in a season… it takes years.” Social Media is the same way. Enjoy the journey.

#HMDM09

You don’t win if you don’t play and this was definitely the day to play with the players in local and regional technology.

Get your own knuckles at the knuckle tattoo gun.

Highlight Midwest “Big Blimpin'” was a great opportunity to get all of the thought leaders and business drivers in the same building to chat about ideas, opportunities, markets, and collaboration around technology. From the newest start-ups to 103 year-old companies, everyone was engaged and excited to talk about business. I’m most excited to check out the day’s interviews with Andy and Doug at http://managingtheedge.com/

Senator Charles Grassley joined the fun, met the attendees and gave opening remarks, I thought his presence added a level of credibility and visibility to the day.

I was honored to be a part of the team and thought it was a great new event to usher into the community. Kudos to the following tweeps for making it happen today – @jensenrf @rendadmregister @benstone @benfromgog @mikesansone @admavericks @smash50309 @tomflynn3 @catchfiremedia @shanereiser @justbrady @richdrake @bretttrout @davisbrownlaw @smartkindling @clairecelsi @doug_mitchell @andybrudtkuhl … and the tons of others I met and networked with – sorry if I neglected you on the list!

When Will Passion Strike LinkedIn?

What are you passionate about?

I love bicycles and am a member, lurker and poster of a handful of bike-related user groups since I got involved in late 2000. The people I watch and engage are thoughtful, knowledgeable, and approachable. I’ve learned quite a bit about the sport and the personalities involved.

I share my love for two-wheelers in a group of like-minded individuals.

So why don’t you show it on LinkedIn?

When we spend 40-50-60 hours a week doing something, it is hard to determine whether it is a passion or a necessity. Work is… well, work and if it was anything else, they’d name it appropriately.

This is the rub with professional social networking. It’s bland. It is sterile. It needs help and you’re the right person for it.

1. Ask what professionals need to be successful. Seriously. Ask people what their hot buttons are and listen. Engage and develop a relationship.

2. Introduce people to the network. If you think the network has potential, ask others to join and add content.

3. Put your personal brand out there. Social media is all about the personality, brand and message. Stick to it and be consistent.

4. Comment, critique and add value. Now, I’m not advocating flaming posts, but point out opportunities and ways to improve strategy and action.

5. Share your passion and bring out the passion in others. Thank people for their insight and compliment their commitment to the conversation.

Now, this isn’t exactly rocket science, but the ones who can help develop and drive the conversations will provide real value to the network.

Be passionate – people will thank you for it.

Why Would You Want to Ride Google Wave?

Ben Stone got the invite to Google Wave last week and added me pretty quickly.

First question was “what is Wave?” Once we spent some time with it, we learned the following.

• It is pretty new and prone to crashes, especially when running on a netbook (me);
• It isn’t very robust – a very simple interface and user functions;
• It IS lightning-fast collaboration on idea generation;
• It IS able to bring in conference call and video functionality;
• It CAN connect users from across the globe (or the street) to build out ideas and action plans.

We had a great first experience building out a workshop and learning how to use the tool. It doesn’t integrate with Docs or Spreadsheets. It is a separate platform from other Google products. It is a new product and will be upgraded over time – for now, it is just plain fun to be involved with something new and exciting in the tech world.

So… what do you think of the Wave so far?

marcthollander@googlewave.com