How to Say No to Social Media: Tips from @ESPN_ProdGirl at #BrandsConf

“We need to get a profile for Foursquare.”
“How about Yelp? Do we have an account set up for Yelp?”
“Are we measuring our Twitter usage correctly?”
“What are our fellow leaders in our industry doing with mobile?”
“Have we created our Google Plus business page yet?”

Perhaps you can relate to the high tides of demands as you try to stand your ground and navigate through the ferocious pace of all the moving parts in today’s digital, social and mobile worlds. With all of the demands circling towards you for solutions and answers, how can you answer intelligently with poise and purpose? @ESPN_ProdGirl has some insight on how to be that go-to-social pro within a large company and her secret to success just may surprise you. 

Meet Katie Richman, also known as @ESPN_ProdGirl. Social and sweet on the outside, fearless and wise from within. Her twitter profile says: Social for ESPN. Best. Job. Ever.

During her presentation at the Brands Conference in New York City last week she shared sage advice to those who share the role as social media professionals within large companies like ESPN. With the rapid changes happening in the new world of social media, there are many demands, directions and devices that can derail productivity and our overall success as social media experts. Just how does this ESPN Girl ride the tides with ease? She smiles and says, “It sounds counterintuitive, but the biggest lesson learned in the past few years of social at a big company… is learning to say NO to something social.”

The tips she shares on how to cope with the new social media noise can apply to any professional who finds today’s technology, media and marketing worlds somewhat overwhelming and anxiety-inducing. Her tips are enlightingly simple yet worthy of mentioning:

1. Take a reset day.

Retreat and remove yourself from the overwhelming requests. Schedule a day to re-boot and reset your mind. Go off-site if need be. Be intent to not respond to any requests or in pursuit to check off your to-do lists.  

2. Visualize your full plate.

What is the capacity of each day? There are only so many hours in one day. See where the demands are outweighing the realities. Notice where the gaping holes of resources are. Then, go to management with specific requests based on your findings. Be factual, respond with metrics.

3. Create a parking lot.

Put all of the to-do items in park. This isn’t to be considered a morgue per se, just a resting place to reassess all of the great ideas and demands against the goals. Time will tell when a to-do item is ready to shift into drive.

This is Katie Richman’s Parking Lot tool. She claims that it is usually full of parked projects.

Katie closed her presentation with a lasting truth, “You may think that you are giving 110%, but there is no such thing. There is only 100%.” True words of wisdom shared by a professional who has learned the art and reaped the benefits of How to Just Say No and be successful at social. 

If you would found these tips helpful, send her a tweet to tell her thanks >>

To catch Katie’s presentation in its entirety, visit the video recordings of the #BrandsConf 2011 here > http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18407514

Contributed by Andrea Cook, #140Conf Live Event Correspondent. Andrea Cook has brands and buzz on the brain. Since 1999, her Chicago-born consultancy, The Midas Center has provided award-winning marketing and media solutions to law firms, education facilities, non-profits, artists and hyper-local communities. She strives to support the noble game changers and life savers through social media marketing. She is a pioneer, coach, editor, cowork-owner and consultant for hire. Services vary, Live Event Correspondent services preferred. 

Human Side of Customer Support by @FrankEliason at #BrandsConf

Time to Be Frank at the #BrandsConf 2011, presented by Frank Eliason.

The provocative message delivered by Frank Eliason (@FrankEliason), SVP of Social for Citi and creator of Comcast Cares targets the heart of today’s branding dilema.

To be frank, Frank’s message was this: Holistically, the corporate structure is unable to have true brand impact when the full brand truth is broken by the disparate departments of an organization. 

With so much emphasis placed on the process of a successful call center and rewards given by the time a person spends on the phone during a customer service call, the process is clear, but what is the identity?

 The disconnect of the true voice of a company’s brand is causing an identity crisis that requires a new approach for success. Frank encourages c-level business leaders to consider all of the pieces, from brands to service to development and deployment.

He shares more about his thoughts on the true ticket being dropped by customer support departments on his blog: http://www.frankeliason.com

To catch his presentation in its entirety, visit the video recordings of the #BrandsConf 2011 here > HTTP://WWW.USTREAM.TV/RECORDED/18407514

Contributed by Andrea Cook, #140Conf Live Event Correspondent. Andrea Cook has brands and buzz on the brain. Since 1999, her chicago-born consultancy, The Midas Center has provided award-winning marketing and media solutions to law firms, education facilities, non-profits, artists and hyper-local communities. She strives to support the noble game changers and life savers through social media marketing. She is a pioneer, coach, editor, cowork-owner and consultant for hire. Services vary, Live Event Correspondent services preferred. more >> 

Today's Publicity Problem Marketers Face and How to Overcome It

Rohit Bhargava (@rohitbhargava) author and exec at Ogilvy was the first presenter introduced during the #140conf #BrandsConf community’s Brands Conference “Humanization of Brands.”

Rohit understands the broken process behind brands and presented examples of brand stories: the good, the bad and the ugly. He has discovered that the creators and the managers behind the brand aren’t responsible for the full life cycle of a brand. In fact, the role of today’s marketer who is required to spin stories and ice the cakes that taste like crap, is in the midst of a serious PR problem. Rohit calls this dilemma a modern believability crisis. 

How can marketing and media professionals cut through the mess, solve the modern believability crisis and make a lasting impression that is believable? 

1. Tell a story.

2. Celebrate the truth.

3. Be honest and true.

This unexpected honesty can be the solution that clearly connects people with the heart and soul of a brand and cuts through the cakes that taste like crap.

Want to watch the video clip of this presentation? Here you go:http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18407514

 — at New York City.

More on Rohit Bhargava, including the upcoming book titled Likeconomics, here you go: http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com

Contributed by Andrea Cook, #140Conf Live Event Correspondent. Andrea Cook has brands and buzz on the brain. Since 1999, her chicago-born consultancy, The Midas Center has provided award-winning marketing and media solutions to law firms, education facilities, non-profits, artists and hyper-local communities. She strives to support the noble game changers and life savers through social media marketing. She is a pioneer, coach, editor, cowork-owner and consultant for hire. Services vary, Live Event Correspondent services preferred. 

Social Media Marketing No-Hype No BS Guide Tidbits

Today's bookinar, webinar, a virtual online interaction, presentation, meeting or what ever you want to call it, of No Bullsh*t Social Media by Jason Falls and Erik Deckers brought folks together online seeking solutions, best practices and insight into the realm of social media. The first 250 attendees who participated received a complimentary digital copy of the new book courtesy of Infusionsoft and Convince and Convert's Jay Baer.

The one-hour bookinar began with an introduction to Jason Falls who was sporting jeans and a red t-shirt in Las Vegas during the live presentation. These are the fun personal tidbits that make online engagement and social networking stick. And, this was just the beginning of the story. 

Meet @JasonFalls co-author of No Bullsh*t Social Media  and owner of Social Media Explorer. Jason's Twitter bio reads: 

 Jason Falls thinks a lot. And shares. Sometimes it's useful even. 

And, from the information delivered during today's presentation, there is no doubt that this fella thinks and shares a lot. And, all of it: very useful. 

Here are some of the top takeaways that Jason shared:

- 81% of people with an Internet connection use some form of social media & interact w/ companies. Including Jason's mom.

- From moms to real estate agents, there are 170 million Facebook users.  

- 78% of these social media users interact with companies via social networking sites and tools, like a company’s Facebook page or their Twitter account.

- Companies like Fiskars knew how to 'cut thru the BS' and met a six month goal within 24 hours using social media.

- Greenpeace's Mr. Flashy Pants helped grow their brand, reaching new audience via social media.

- Companies and organizations are reaching more people, growing R&D, protecting and managing their reputation, being the media, building community and engaging directly with their audience members from the users, buyers to the media influencers and more. 

As a leader of the social media pack, Jason understands the rigorous changes and overabundance of information on social media and marketing that is available. He advises on how to start. "Find your number one problem. Is it that you need sales? Then, set goals, strategies and tactics. Define your objective with this 1/2/3 formula: What is your target audience? What is the level of engagement I can expect? When is my deadline?" This is the Who's Who, What's Happenin, Get er Done approach, or the basic Marketing 101 best practices, now applied to the new world of social media.

Defining your market and potential for growth is not BS. It is just the facts, metrics, proven best practices and "stuff" your boss, CFO, CEO, C-whatever loves. The tidbits told in this no-hype guide show how social media can be actionable, measurable and profitable. Jason shares examples of how a business used Foursquare to grow sales and he tells it like it is, "Miss Shirley's educated their customers, motivated and incentivized them. In no time they had increased their check-ins by 430%. But, is this an increase in sales, or just educating customers on how to use Foursquare?" 

What is most appreciated about Jason's no BS delivery is that he speaks the social media language clearly and uses real time stories. Want to better understand why brands need to be using social? Jason showed a photo of his hometown, Pikeville, KY., a rural town in the midwest with a population less than 7K people. Growing up in this community, did the Falls family fall for big brands like Ford and Target? No, they bought from Jim and Sally, the real people they knew, liked and trusted. That's real. There's no BS in the message of engagement and trust found in stories of small towns and moms. Jason says no to B2B and yes too P2P, or People to People.   

Want to dig deeper and get a grasp on why and how your company can use social media? If these freebie takeaways only flirt with your need for a thirst for knowledge, facts and metrics of social media, then you can do any of the following: 

-  Time travel back to the virtual book tour where Jay Baer gave attendees free copies of the book.

-  Download the book's first chapter, Ignore the Hype. Beleive the Facts >> 

-  Get updates on book tour, news and info and bring #NoBSsocial message to your group >> 

-  Buy the book and more >>

And, the next time someone says: 

Social Media? It's just about gossip, younger kids playing, or a fad.

You say, Social Media. It's about market share, brand power, return on investment and revenue.  

Today's post was part of the professional Event Correspondent services, as contributed by Andrea Cook during live coverage of the online book tour of the new book titled No Bullsh*t Social Media by Jason Falls and Erik Deckers, hosted by Jay Baer  and sponsored by Infusion Soft. Live Event Correspondent services increases exposure of your brand by transforming your event into rich content via social media channels. For more information about what key industry leaders are saying about this service, request a white paper >

Cowork Collection: Centre for Social Innovation

Our next Cowork Space we would like to share with you is from Toronto, Ontario. The Centre for Social Innovation has about 350 members and reaches out to change-agents. Their mission is to spark and support new ideas that are tackling the social, environmental, economic and cultural challenges we face today.

Toronto's Centre for Social Innovation is a nonprofit organization and has been growing since 2004. Not only do they have a strong online presence with a dynamic web site, facebook page and Twitter profile, they also have a thriving community of social entrepreneurs who are making an impact! Check out the Centre for Social Innovation online to learn more about the unique mission of this cowork space.  

Eli Malinsky, the Director of Programs and Partnerships shared some behind-the-scene photos of the signs they use for thier members as reminders on how to help manage the space. As coworking becomes more common for independent professionals, it is important to see how established cowork spaces like the Centre for Social Innovation manage the day-to-day responsibilities for a successful workspace. These signs, scattered throughout the Toronto space, are good reminders and suggestions for others interested in work place best practices.

Our favorite sign below is the one that reads, "Everyone wants a revolution but nobody wants to do the dishes." How about you? What are some unique messages you've seen in offices about the dishes or other rules that help keep your worplace functioning well? Leave a comment, or share details we can feature for a future post in the Cowork Collection > 

Centre for Social Innovation, Toronto, ON

The Midas Center Cowork Space strives to learn more about the emergence of the cowork culture. The more we connect with other coworking professionals, the more fascinated we become over the endless styles, stories, benefits and people coworking throughout the world. We would like to share the stories with you as we discover more about how this emerging activity is changing the workplace. 

We hope to showcase one tidbit of cowork spaces throughout the globe and will be sharing them with you in our Cowork Collection. If you would like to see more of the Cowork Collection on cowork spaces, click here >

If you would like to be part of the Cowork Collection, share your story >