Posted by Kiki Mills on Wed, Mar 17, 2010
Onto Game 2 of the Tech Hub Foosball League - a multi-week championship tournament bringing together Boston’s best techies, strategists, and innovators for the opportunity to prove their foosball mastery and network with people in the space.
Game 1: Pinyadda, Boston on March 11
The Damage: Check it out!
Game 2: EchoDitto, Davis Square coming up this Thursday, March 18!
The Damage: Don’t know yet! But make sure to sign up your startup for networking, foos, and win awesome tech hub prizes. (And stay tuned for photos)!
The Tech Hub Foosball League is the result of a collaboration between Chase Garbarino of Boston startup, Pinyadda and BostInnovation and Bonnie Shaw, of EchoDitto. The seeds of the collaboration were planted during a conversation about what it means to be a startup working in the Mass Tech Hub, and how to create fun collaborations across the sector. Prizes for the tournament will include everything from a consulting workshop with the biggest names in innovation, to a shiny trophy for the office trophy case.
If you want to prove your foosball skills and network with the best the Tech Hub has to offer, sign up on their Facebook Group, and include a team profile. You can also find them on twitter @techhubfoos.
May the foos be with you!
Posted by Gena Folts on Mon, Mar 15, 2010
Who else is fed up with waiting in the pouring rain, the umbrella-thrashing wind, and the bitter cold with only one question on your mind; "where's my bus?!"
This weather has brought with it over 21 MBTA service delays since yesterday, affecting passengers on the Red Line, Green Line, Silver Line, Commuter Rail, and countless bus lines.
I can find out about these service delays through MBTA's website, but when I am already out the door and on my sprint to the stop I would rather use something like the MassTransit iPhone app, available thanks to the state's Open Data Initiative, a statewide program to release masses of valuable public data to the citizens of the Commonwealth for development of mobile and Web applications.
On a day like today, this new app is a godsend! But what about times when I'm not worried about rain, but instead pollen in the air or neighborhood crime? This is the topic of our upcoming event:
"Where's My Bus? - Govt 2.0 Strategies for Leveraging Public (Transportation and Other) Data" on Wednesday, March 24 at 6:00pm
We will hear from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, who is working with web developers to develop mobile applications that relay transit data in real-time on our mobile devices and in-store LED screens. This is great news for commuters, but also for entrepreneurs to transform spreadsheets about bus and T schedules, public safety figures, health data, and air quality information into useful applications. You can learn about interesting applications that have been developed using this data, and how you can use the information for developing your own mobile or Web application.
Most importantly: you'll be able to take shelter in the Dunkin' Donuts until your bus arrives, instead of living in the cold, wet, and miserable fear that doing so means missing the bus!
This event will take place at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center - 1 Memorial Drive Floor 11, Cambridge MA
Click here to learn more and register for this event.
Posted by Kiki Mills on Thu, Mar 11, 2010
We're really excited to announce the nominations for the inaugural MITX Future Leaders Group.
The Future Leaders Group (FLG) is the brainchild of MITX founder Michael Barron, who wanted to find a way for MITX to help cultivate the next generation of leaders here in Massachusetts. The FLG will consist of six leaders, designated annually, who will have access and exposure to MITX events and education; networking opportunities with MITX members; as well as direct engagement with the MITX Board of Directors. The group will provide the MITX Board with an understanding of current technology trends, pop culture, consumer behavior and new ideas.
Nominations were solicited from the MITX Board of Directors. The Future Leaders Group Committee is being chaired by none other than serial entrepreneur, word of mouth marketing pioneer and MITX Board member, Dave Balter, Founder & CEO of BzzAgent. According to his blog post on the Future Leaders Group, Dave wants to hear from those of you who know these nominees, telling him who should be one of the final six Leaders.
Individuals must have exhibited leadership qualities; be in the beginning stages of their career; have a focus on new media; and be eager, motivated and entrepreneurial in spirit. The FLG Board Committee will determine the inaugural group of leaders based on submitted applications.
Congratulations to our 23 nominees! In alphabetical order, here they are:
Tyler Bahl, Carat
Brian Balfour, Viximo
Justin Cannon, Lingt
Taylor Chartier, BzzAgent
Erik Finn Larson, Eons
Stuart Foster, Mullen
David Gallant, HubSpot
Jason Jacobs, FitnessKeeper
Cort Johnson, DartBoston
Ashrit Kamireddi, TripAdvisor
Meghan Kennedy, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Matt Lauzon, Gemvara
Jay Meattle, Shareaholic
Andrew Paradise, Aisle Buyer
Christine Petersen, Mullen
Seth Priebatsch,SCVNGR
Kyle Psaty, BostInnovation
James Reinhart, ThredUp
Ali Robbins,Tuck MBA Student
Raj Suri, elacarte
Rob Toof, ProctorCam
Matt Witheiler, Flybridge Capital
Wan-Li Zhu, Fairhaven Capital
Our six leaders for 2010 will be announced on March 31, 2010. Who do you think should win, and why -- let us know by commenting here.
Posted by Kiki Mills on Wed, Mar 10, 2010
We like soapboxes. They can be fun to listen to, maybe even stand on, when someone is passionate about what they believe in.
We've been on the soapbox for years talking about the vibrancy, growth trajectory and need for talent in the Internet business and marketing industry. We backed up our talk two years ago with data when we produced our first ever Market Sizing Study to actually define the industry and measure its impact on the region. We uncovered a $29 billion dollar industry that employs 69,000 people in New England (with 20% growth in 2008).
Then we added in our Hiring Intentions Survey to show that companies are in need of talent, especially entry level talent. In our November 2009 survey we found that MITX member companies plan to hire an average six entry level hires in 2010.
The net: We have an industry that continues to grow and one that is in need of talent.
Enter the Career Combine. We started this career event five years ago, and modified it over time as the economy has ebbed and flowed. Our mission is threefold - to educate students AND college career service officers about the industry and what jobs are available; to provide practical advice on how to look for a job, brand yourself and understand what these jobs actually do in a day; and last but not least, match students with employers.
So we are at it again - this year we've added in a new partner, Greenhorn Connect to further tap into the Boston entrepreneur ecosystem and support the young emerging companies who are in need of talent and resources to find the right people.
There are great companies and jobs here in MA, and they are hiring. I'm hearing it both anecdotally and seeing it in our job postings. Everyone is passionate about ensuring our students have opportunities here, so put your money where your mouth is and exhibit at the Combine.
See what happened at last year's Career Combine!
April 13, 2010 | 12:00pm - 5:00pm
Back Bay Events Center, 180 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA
Learn More and Register Here
See you there!
Posted by Rebecca Corliss on Tue, Mar 09, 2010
We're pleased to highlight another of our guest bloggers! Welcome to Rebecca Corliss, of HubSpot! If you, or someone you know, would enjoy joining our blogging team, please contact jessica@mitx.org.
Enjoy the read.
Bio: Rebecca Corliss is an inbound marketing manager at HubSpot, an internet marketing software company in Cambridge, MA. At HubSpot, she specializes in social media marketing and creative video content. She is also the executive producer for video podcast HubSpot TV and manages HubSpot's Inbound Marketing University certification program. In her free time, she sings with her a cappella group Common Sound. Be sure to follow her on Twitter as @repcor.
There are a million benefits to including video in a company's marketing mix. It's a wonderful content type that can give a company personality and a great way to teach new information. Also, by adding content to video sharing sites, you're contributing to a new channel that can help your company found by its best customers! (Did you know YouTube is the #2 search engine, second to Google?)
Jumping into video can be daunting at first, but there's no reason why you can experiment with smaller projects to get your toes wet. For the following projects, you can use a flip cam, a hand camera, or even a point-and-shoot with a video record setting.
Here are five beginner video projects to get you started:
1. Create a company introduction video starring your CEO or another executive. Ask your CEO to tell a two minute story about your company's mission and goals. What are your plans for the year? This video will give the public the opportunity to get to know your executive team.
2. Give a tour of your office. This video can be fun and simple. Get an enthusiastic employee to walk around your office and point out interesting details. This gives folks an inside view of your culture and what it's like to work at your company-- a great addition to a recruiting campaign.
3. Record a speaker at a conference. Get a few short clips of a speaker you enjoyed at a conference, or perhaps ask for a video interview with him or her after. (This approach can be used as a networking tool, too!) It's a great way to teach what you're learning to your network. However, make sure recording of speakers is allowed before recording and publishing online!
4. Interview employees or customers. Show off an employee's talent by interviewing him or her on a topic of expertise. Are you currently working to build up your customer testimonials? Why not interview a couple of customers about their experience with your service or product.
5. Do a silly or entertaining video that teaching something. Video is a great way to entertain an audience in a way you wouldn't be able to do with written word. Teach something in a creative way! Perhaps use music in your video, or you could have your marketing team act out a skit. Why not spoof a commercial?
Good luck with getting started with video! Now go out there and get creative, like MITX has with their panelist interviews. Check out the all new MITX YouTube Channel for some recent video shorts, and visit MITX.org for information on upcoming events, and more.
Posted by Katie Del Angel on Fri, Mar 05, 2010
Last night's event at UK Trade & Investment drew a crowd of diverse sorts with dozens of questions on social media integration and practicality - and industry pros and authors Lois Kelly, Erik Qualman, Larry Weber, and Dan Zarrella, with moderator Robert Davis, were ready to dish their best practices.
Attendees were able to send their questions in advance for the panel to address at the event, which allowed the audience to interact & ask their follow-up questions throughout. Here are some of the great questions and the candid comments the panel had in response:
Clients seem to consistently have a fear in becoming involved in social media because of the doors it opens for negative feedback - How can you get them over that fear?
Erik: Negative is a good thing - Not being talked about is even more negative than negative feedback because it's not being talked about. It's a positive in two ways:
1. It relies on the marketing team to listen, which leads them back into product development & gets them in the whole process
2. You can correct problems in an open forum
Lois: Show them the data.
FedEx is a key example of a company that used negative feedback to address problems and turn around the experience customers had - Customers were noted to be 5 times more loyal after a negative experience was addressed and consequently fixed. As Lois says, give your client 10 examples like this, and they can't disagree.
With all the negative feedback and "trolls" out there, what are the rules of engagement? When do you intervene and how do you moderate the feedback?
Lois: Lois advised the audience to read Patrick O'Keefe's books for digging deep into this issue and providing great best-practice ideas for moderation.
Who should have ownership of a company's social media activity? The marketing team? An individual? How can you be everywhere?
Lois: Lois cited that larger companies have been seen with whole social media teams (like Cisco and FedEx) that are part business consultants, part education & training, & part governance - and have been working great to get the brand voice out there.
Consumers often express their needs in the social media realm - Is it fair or smart for sales people to jump on those opportunities and respond?
The panel generally agreed that if people trust your brand and you reply in earnest (No used-car dealer pitch!), it will definitely add value for them and people appreciate that.
Where should you start involvement in social media? How much should you rely on free sites (Facebook, Twitter) vs. exclusive communities? What about niche sites?
Larry: Larry mentioned that while there are dozens of microsegmented social sites, they aren't even quite worth it yet because we don't have analytics for them all yet.
Lois: Lois emphasized that you need to determine metrics for success first to decide what kind of platform to use. For instance, communities like Twitter are great for lots of participation and engagement, while "gated communities" garner higher quality and expertise.
She stated that defining your goals for participating in social media (Get people to buy?Offer customer service?Address snarky comments?) helps clarify which platform offers the right community.
Erik: Check into larger networks before making your own niche community so you aren't just recreating. It's likely there is already a community on Facebook somewhere, and creating your own may not be necessary.
How can you create content that goes viral?
Dan: You can't create something to be viral. "It's not black magic" - It isn't as simple as making a "good" video; it depends on the medium, the audience, and a plethora of small factors you can't create for. (He also covered this on his blog, where he explains 5 elements to push your content in the right direction to become viral.)
Lois: People want personal stories rather than data - awe-inspiring, intriguing, stories.
Where does brand voice stop and individual conversation start?
The panel seemed to view the relationship between brand & individuals of the company as interrelated and interdependent - and is no different from any other personal dialogue. As Dan put it, "You can't friend a logo"; behind every brand account there are people. Whether you all have different accounts or not,they're still integrated.
Larry: For branding, stronger dialogue = stronger brand. Put content out there to spark dialogue.
Lastly, the panel was asked what they believed were characteristics of successful companies in social media.
Dan: Social media/social behavior must be in the DNA of the company.
Larry: Good companies are still successful for the same reasons as they always have been - transparency & honesty.
Lois: The company must be passionate about the customer & want to answer questions.
Erik: Listen, interact, listen, sell - not Listen then sell!
______________________________________
Find out more about our panelists:
Moderator: Robert Davis - VP, Digital Marketing, PJA Advertising + Marketing / @heyrobertdavis
Panelists:
Lois Kelly - Partner, Beeline Labs / Author of "Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing" / @loiskelly
Erik Qualman - Global Vice President of Online Marketing, EF Education & Author of "Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business" / @equalman
Larry Weber - Chairman, W2 Group / Author of "Sticks and Stones - How Digital Business Reputations Are Created Over Time and Lost in a Click / @thelarryweber
Dan Zarella - Social Media Scientist, Hubspot / Author: "The Social Media Marketing Book" / @danzarrella
Also, a special thanks to our sponsors of the evening, media6degrees & Overdrive Interactive!
Posted by Katie Del Angel on Mon, Feb 22, 2010
It was a packed house at
Hill Holliday for Friday morning's event,
Designing iPhone Apps: It's More than Just Beautiful Coding, where our mobile industry pro panel (
Raj Aggarwal of Localytics,
Steve Brykman of Apperian,
Anna Callahan of RaizLabs,
Dan Katcher of Rocket Farm Studios,
Bryan Maleszyk of Molecular, and
Yoni Samlan of Active Frequency) shared their insight on what it takes to make
iPhone apps that truly create lasting engagement with users, as well as considerations to keep in mind with the rising importance of the
Android. The panel provided some engaging cases for the audience to really understand the importance of things like prototyping and maintaining a focus in the application design process, and attendees were able to walk away with some solid takeaways and great pointers.
Brian Maleszyk
Brian Maleszyk was the first panelist to speak to some best practices he has found in working with iPhone app creation. He presented the thought that you really need to create with "Results-oriented design" in mind. He went on to explain that thinking about the goal is key, but make sure to think about the medium, too. Whatever platform you are designing an application for, SEO is still a critical factor, and often one that people tend to overlook for mobile. He pointed out that with over 60,000 apps out there, you have to make yours stand out. He concluded that the way to do that is to be sure to stay on top of measurement - measuring the app is important, but equally as important is measur
ement of what people are saying about the app. Brian's last words - "Start small - start really, really small" so you can really pay attention and design your app based on that feedback.
Check out Bryan Maleszyk's presentation here!
Anna Callahan
Anna Callahan presented her thoughts next, emphasizing the importance of prototyping. She started by explaining the importance to design your app to do ONE thing - and only one thing - and do it well. Allowing users to get in, do what they need to do, and do it quickly is the biggest goal, and prototyping is a big part of getting that right. She demonstrated the differences and problem areas of a two apps, which really dilineated how easy finding areas for improvement in design can be as long as you're willing to test things out. She also noted that you have to apply style - "You don't have to drink the Apple Kool-Aid", she said, but just don't let traditional web design ideas take over. For example, a home page isn't always functional and it loses valuable space within an app.
Anna continued with a few critical things to remember about user interface design. One of the things she noted was the concept of designing an app like a real object. Keep text and numbers to a minimum, and make the app a physical thing for more enjoyable engagement for the user. With that, she explained that multi-touch ergonomics were a big factor; remember iPhone users are using their fat fingers, not a mouse! Anna's key takeaway? "Prototyping is IMPORTANT - and fun!"
Check out Anna Callahan's presentation here!
Dan Katcher
Dan Katcher spoke next about designing gaming apps. He mentioned that games are different that other practical apps, but they still need specifics. Rules, rewards, etc. are important in creating focus for a gaming app. He explained that profiling is a major part of the design process; considering the needs, goals and potential features of the app are what eventually leads to a well-developed app. Dan emphasized that testing and prototyping with other people is really critical - getting other people to play the game and give feedback helps to completely realize all areas of improvement. If developers aren't having fun, it's likely the users won't either.
Steve Brykman
Steve Brykman presented next with an interesting look at some of his past clients, as well his best-practice pointers. He also emphasized the need to keep the app to the point. He demonstrated just how important that is with a few examples of prior customers with somewhat unrealistic demands to add uneccessary and irrelevant features to an app where they simply weren't needed. As Steve put it, "Don't add tech for tech's sake". You don't HAVE to add a feature to shake the phone or tap something just because iPhone can. You need to really understand the brand to understand what the app must achieve, and go from there. Listen to your clients - work with their needs and demands, mirror back their thoughts, and empower them. The point is that they know you know their brand and what it's about. He noted what might seem like obvious advice - check out their website thoroughly; if corporate thinks something is important enough to put on the site, it should probably be in the navigation bar of the app. But don't panic trying to put a site in an application - Steve's key tip - just streamline the app. Focus, and streamline so the app is to the point and still meets the customer's demands.
Yoni Samlan
Yoni Samlan spoke last about developing an application for Android, and how it differs from an iPhone. With the rising prominence of Android, he said you really ought to pay attention to the new opportunities - don't throw your iPhones and Blackberrys out the window, but pay attention and realize it's quickly gaining appreciation. He really stressed the importance of building in flexibility in the layout. While you can kind of force iPhone users one way, the tools available for Android apps really creates opportunities that you can use to your advantage. iPhone apps on an Android don't make sense - you really need to design for Android if that is what you want to do. Yoni also emphasized the idea of prototyping; he advised you should get your whole team using Androids to become really familiar with it because "[Y]ou'll never get it right if there isn't interaction". This enables you to really get the interface model right.Lastly, Yoni mentioned the difference between iPhone and Android are that market ratings are forever and don't get reviewed the same way, so make sure you do it right the first time.
Check out Yoni Samlan's Presentation here!
The panel wrapped up with an audience Q&A lead by Raj, which cleared up a few nagging questions for developers and interactive strategists. Anna responded to a frequently thought question - "How long is the iPhone app review process??" - saying that it really tops out at 2 weeks, but usually only takes one, which really answers why there are exponentially more apps for iPhone as opposed to Blackberry. Yoni even explained that now the focus is more on Android app development than Blackberyy, too. After attendees and panelists mingled and discussed the event and lingering questions, the Designing iPhone Apps event concluded as yet another great success with some really great feedback!
Posted by Katie Del Angel on Tue, Feb 02, 2010
Nearly two-hundred attendees showed up on Thursday, January 28th to attend the MITX Digital State event. Guest blogger for MITX, Daniel Schwartz of Donor Communications and from Northeastern University,volunteered this article in which he covers hot topics discussed by the expert panel throughout the night. Please feel free to leave any comments you may have on the piece or the writer below. Enjoy!
________________________________________________________________
A day after the President's State of the Union in Washington, we held our own in Boston - sort of. The icy conditions didn't hurt our attendance numbers as hoards of marketing and business professionals braved the cold, filling The Lenox "Dome", to network and get some insight 
on the state of the industry from respected industry veterans Noah Elkin, Adam Cahill, Julie Coulton, Sean Downey, Ian Fitzpatrick and Rob Griffin.
BIMA President Brian Cusack said a few words to settle the crowd, thanked our sponsors About.com and Double Click, then turned it over to Noah, who played the role of Peter Jennings.
The ensuing panel discussion touched on a number of issues but the prevailing themes were: doing more with less, evaluating data, privacy concerns and the marriage of social media and mobile devices.
On doing more with less:
It was generally agreed upon that 2009 was a down year; in fact, Noah said it was "one of the most difficult years in a decade" for the industry. Revenues were down across the board but, as expected, online revenues fared significantly better than anything else.
Needless to say, pressure is on to do more with less. Ian's solution was ostensibly fairly simple, hiring "people who get it," meaning people who know technology and don't need time to get acclimated. The need to hire more versatile employees was echoed around the panel. "The days of having 12 people in a room to solve a client's problems are over," said Julie.
Those 12 people, Rob argued, are still players, they're just doing different things. It's of vital importance to be able to communicate and collaborate effectively between agencies and different departments.
On evaluating data:
The notion of evaluating data responsibly dominated the second segment. Rob stated the problem best saying that you "have to know what the data and the value and the engagement is." It seems like a simple answer, but with the vast ocean of data out there, spanning different forms of media, it gets a little convoluted. Rob suggested breaking the data into small sample sizes instead of trying to put together some all-encompassing evaluation. "It's not the size that matters, it's how you use it," Rob quipped.
It's clear that we need new ways to learn from our data. Data like time of day usage is still far from complete. And, Julia suggested, that believe it or not, Facebook is underutilized analytically speaking because it's still hard to assign a value to your fan base and it's not clear how it helps SEO indexing.
On privacy concerns:
From evaluating data, the discussion segued into privacy concerns in tracking and sharing data, particularly those persistent Flash cookies. There was debate about whether people want marketing campaigns that are tailored to their personal preferences.
Altruistically, Adam stressed that transparency with customers is essential. Sean took that a step further and advocated self regulation within the industry, saying that being upfront will give marketers more leeway in terms of government regulation. Looking to IBA standards seems reasonable for now.
On social media and mobile devices:
Apple's move away from Flash, seemed to the panel, as an opportunity to exploit other mobile apps as a new (somewhat new) frontier.
Ian addressed the Twitter monster, suggesting that despite clients' requests, in most cases it's probably a better idea to collaborate with customer service and HR on a tweeting strategy, rather than a marketing campaign.
Ian also brought up another idea about linking social and mobile that's perhaps the most useful moving forward. The notion of linking RFIDs on products to social networks is huge for the industry. To be able to track what your contacts buy and recommend could mark a major shift in consumer patterns. It's a little 1984 and gets back to some of the privacy concerns, but it's not that far off.
New platforms and everything else aside, savvyness and creativity are still useful commodities. "Ideas are still king," said Julia.
A lot of interesting ideas got tossed around thanks to a lively panel and a responsive crowd. We want to take another opportunity to thank our sponsors, our parent organization MITX, participants and attendees for making the event such a success.
Thanks!
Posted by DJ Waldow on Tue, Jan 19, 2010
"It must be nice. You play around on Twitter all day long." I can't tell you how often I hear some derivation of that phrase. When I first started working in the email industry nearly 5 years ago, people used to say, "Oh. You're the guys who send spam, right?" While joking around, many used to - and still do - believe that email marketers (& Email Service Providers) are really just a bunch of spammers. The good news for the email industry is that I've heard this less often over the past few years. Email marketers are no longer seen as "the bad guys." Those who are doing it right are realizing a huge ROI. Perceptions are changing.
Similar to misperceptions in email, I believe that many are beginning to recognize the importance of the Community Manager (Director of Community) role in organizations. While some still think about those responsible for social media as people who "play around on Twitter all day long," I believe this flippant description is quickly on the way out.
Note: I use the titles, Director of Community, Community Manager, and Social Media Manager interchangeably. While there are certainly some differences between them, in essence the roles are quite similar.
So, what does a Director of Community really do?
Anyone who is involved with or in charge of social media within their organization must:
- Listen & Monitor
- Benchmark & Measure
- Respond & Engage
- Advocate & Evangelize
- Encourage & Cheerlead
- Innovate & Lead
Listen & Monitor
One of the first steps in any social media program is listening. Start with a simple Google search for your company name and/or brand as well as several of your employees. Chances are that people are talking. The chatter can fall into several buckets - praise (We love you), criticism (We hate you), or just noise (We are talking about you). No matter what the topic is, if it's related to your company, it's a potential opportunity to engage. There are several monitoring tools out there. Blue Sky Factory uses Radian6 as our main listening outpost. However, if you are just getting started and are a smaller organization, you may be okay with Google, Twitter Search, Blog Search, and a few other simple (free) tools. So, yes, I do listen and engage (and play?) on Twitter.
Benchmark & Measure
Beth Harte, Community Manager at MarketingProfs, talks a ton about the importance of setting goals and mapping your social media strategy to those goals. Yes - You can in fact measure the ROI on your community efforts. However, like any program, you first need to set some goals. Why are you getting started with social media? (See Jason Falls' post, "The Most Important Question is Why") What resources are necessary to build out a viable team? What does your social media program look like today (benchmarking)? What does success look like? Create these goals. Measure towards them. Review several times per year.
Respond & Engage
You are listening. You are measuring. Now it's time to engage with those who are talking. If a person mentions your company in a blog post, forum, tweet or any other online discussion, respond. However, it's critical here to respond like a human being. Yes - you want to be professional. Yes - you want to be a good steward of your organization. You can do both of these and still be human. As Jay Baer said in "How to Balance Your Personal and Professional Lives in Social Media" , "The fundamental truth is that your personal life is almost undoubtedly more interesting than your business life." Also worth reading on this topic is another Jay Baer gem, "Your Customers Don't Want to be Your Friend" . Bottom line is this: wherever people are talking about you, there is an opportunity to engage in the discussion - show you care, prove that you are knowledgeable about your product & your industry, and be helpful without selling.
Advocate & Evangelize
This is a big one. To be a Director of Community, it is imperative that you are an advocate for your company as well as your industry. When your name is mentioned, it should be synonymous with your business. In other words, if I am doing my job correctly, when people think about email, I want "DJ Waldow" and/or "Blue Sky Factory" to be top of mind. This only happens if you are engaging in the community - talking, writing, and evangelizing where your customers, prospects and peers are. Sometimes this means defending your industry - "Not all email marketers are spammers!". Other times it requires you to promote your industry (without the hard sell) - "Email marketing is not dead!" Either way, this role provides a unique opportunity to be the voice and face of your company and the industry. Take advantage of it!
Encourage & Cheerlead
Not everyone loves their job. Not everyone wakes up at 4AM inspired to write about their industry. Some people are 9-5ers. That is fine. In fact, it's great as it creates some balance and diversity. However, one of the major responsibilities of a Community Manager is to create positive energy within an organization. Internal education and encouragement is critical. Celebrate the successes. Showcase individuals and teams that are doing it right. Be sure your fellow co-workers know when people are saying good things about their work. If someone tweets, "I love [product ABC]!" let the the engineers and people who support it know. Cheerleading, motivating, encouraging, and "rallying the troops" should be part of your day-to-day.
Innovate & Lead
As Director of Community, you are often at the forefront of the latest and greatest technology. Your are "in the field" and "in the trenches" on a daily basis. You are seeing what is making other companies successful, learning what works and doesn't work for your organization. Take advantage of that knowledge. Innovate. Lead. Try. Fail. Risk. Learn. Adapt. One of the keys to the Community Manager role is to be on the cutting edge and communicate that knowledge internally.
In Closing...
I certainly do not have all of the answers. The role of Director of Community is a new one. I continue to see more and more job descriptions popping up every day. However, as a formal title, it's still very green. We are all learning together. If you want to read a very detailed description of the role from one of the first Director's of Community, I'd encourage you to check out "Being a Director of Community" by Amber Naslund of Radian6. Amber has also written an excellent Ebook titled, "The Social Media Team". Amber also happens to be an incredible friend and colleague as do others mentioned above (Jay Baer and Beth Harte).
Your turn. What do you think? Did I hit on the key aspects of this role? Did I answer some questions? Did I create some new questions? Do tell. See you on Twitter...
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
----
DJ is one of our guest bloggers, if you, or someone you know would like to join our blog team, contact jessica@mitx.org, and let us know who you like.
Posted by Kiki Mills on Thu, Dec 17, 2009
Talk about the right way to ring in 2010 for graduating seniors.
According to the MITX Hiring Intentions Survey, respondents plan to hire an average of six entry-level positions each in 2010. The survey was conducted to our base of 250 digital marketing, media and technology companies in October 2009. There was a 22% response rate. To see the full report click here.
A key finding is what MITX companies are recruiting for:
So the jobs are here, how do you get them? A few tips MITX can offer:
- Network, network:
70 percent of respondents cited colleagues and networking as the primary source to find talent. Identify the trade organizations, meet ups and other industry gatherings to grow your network. And take advantage of the StayinMA scholarship program which provides financial assistance to attend industry events.
- Internships are competitive, but plentiful:
81 percent of respondents said they offer internships. If you think you have to work for free, think again. 76 percent of respondents reportedly offer paid internships.
- Employers hire year-round:
88 percent of respondents said they have no set time for hiring entry-level talent. So if you graduate in January, don't feel like you have to wait until the spring for all the jobs to open up.
- Do your homework:
34 percent of respondents report "lack of applicable skills" as one of the biggest barriers to hiring entry-level talent. Find out what skills you need by attending industry events, doing informational interviews and internships, and by reading trade blogs and publications. Many associations publish their membership directory on their web sites which is a great way to learn about what companies are out there, and possibly hiring!
So What's Next?
Connect with MITX either through our website, on Twitter, Facebook, join us at a networking or educational event, or add your comments below -- and let us know what areas we can help you with as a student. Our 2010 calendar is being finalized as we speak, and we'd love to get your input.
Here's to a bright year ahead!