Saturday, March 22, 2014

Igloo Software joins FIR as our latest sponsor

Igloo SoftwarePlease join us in welcoming Igloo Software as the latest FIR Podcast Network sponsor. Igloo, which offers a web-based platform for collaborating at work, will join Ragan Communications and CustomScoop as sponsors of The Hobson and Holtz Report.

Through the Igloo platform, employees can share files, get (and share) answers, solve problems, locate information and expertise, and tap into the collective knowledge of the company’s customers, partners and peers, from wherever they are.

For up to 10 people, Igloo is free, with per-user pricing after that. Gamification, social analytics and other state-of-the-art elements are built into the platform, which can be customized to reflect your organization’s image. Companies using Igloo’s intranet software include Kimberly-Clark and International Data Corporation.

Igloo Discussions

The company is headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

As always, we strive to identify sponsors whose products and services are relevant to the FIR community. We’re confident we’ve achieved that goal with the addition of Igloo to the Hobson and Holtz Report. Please show them your support by checking out the site and seeing what they have to offer.

Posted by shel on 03/22 at 07:46 AM
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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

FIR Presents Inside PR 366: Kelly Blazek, LinkedIn Connections, and Proper Communication

FIR Presents Inside PRMartin Waxman is back and we are grateful because he is much better at the intro and closing than Joe Thornley and me.

We kick the show off by talking about the Kelly Blazek crisis situation that happened a couple of weeks ago.

As a quick refresher (or the story, for those of you who missed it), the 2013 Cleveland Communicator of the Year received an email from a young professional who is moving to Ohio and searching for a job.

Because Blazek runs the 7,300 member marketing job board for the Cleveland area, this young woman sent her a LinkedIn message, explaining who she was, her business expertise, and what kinds of jobs she could do. She then asked to join the jobs board.

What she received from Blazek, in return, was both unprofessional and … strange … for a communicator.

Kelly Blazek reply

While we don’t beat this horse to death, it did create an interesting conversation about LinkedIn and how we each use the tool.

As it turns out, we have three different uses for it: Ambivalence, referrals, and contact management, which makes it an interesting look at how there really is no right way or wrong way to use social media. Except to not take your bad day out on someone asking or help.

Martin also mentions he hates the generic LinkedIn requests. You know the one. The, “I’d like to add you to my professional network” with no mention on how you know the person or why you’d like to connect.

He also talks about his pet peeve, which is people who have never worked with you asking you to write a recommendation.

After you listen, we leave the floor to you. What are your personal rules about LinkedIn connections?

P.S. While Terry Fallis’s new book, No Relation, doesn’t come out until May, as is his modus operandi, he is podcasting it for you ahead of time. Check it out!

Get this podcast:

FIR Community on Google PlusShare your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also reach Inside PR’s hosts by email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, or join the InsidePR Google Plus community or Facebook group. InsidePR is on Twitter at @Inside_PR. You can send us an instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR: Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Kristine D’Arbelles and Ashlea LeCompte.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

FIR presents Inside PR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by shel on 03/19 at 01:46 PM
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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

FIR B2B #5: The Truth about Leads with Dan McDade

FIR B2BPaul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg host the FIR B2B podcast. In this episode:

News & Trends

The latest CMO Survey finds that CMOs expect social media spend to grow from 7.4% of budgets to 10.1% in the next 12 months. In five years, they expect social to make up 18% of total marketing spend. Despite this trend, 49.2% of marketing executives say they haven’t been able to show the impact of social yet, and an additional 34.8% have only a qualitative sense of its effectiveness. Is ROI really that important or is learning how to use social media simply a requirement for doing business today.

Yesmail recently reported that half of all B2B emails are now opened on a mobile device, yet a BtoB magazine study released about a year ago indicated that only a pitiful 10 percent of B2B marketers had used mobile platforms in the past year. But B2B marketers are catching up. A recent Advertising Age report found that 38.6% of B2B marketers said they currently use mobile in their strategies and of those respondents, 47.3% use apps. Ihat’s up from 21% in 2012. This special report on FierceCMO looks at how mobile is impacting B2B marketing. That doesn’t mean everyone should go all in on mobile, but you should at least be aware of what devices your customers are using.

In related news, LinkedIn announced it is expanding its mobile advertising opportunities. Now B2B marketers will be able to directly reach customers and prospects via email on mobile devices by sponsoring the company’s InMail. LinkedIn continues to find new ways to monetize its more than 270 million members.

A survey Of 175 B2B buyers reveals what they want to see on vendor websites. The top choices are detailed contact information, case studies, white papers and articles. Nearly half see blogs as impacting their decisions. Further evidence that blogging is an imperative for B2B companies.

A fascinating chart from Experian shows the role of different media channels in customer decision-making process. Search is the top “greeter” while a website is the top “closer.”

Michael Procopio was one of the first group of LinkedIn members to get access to the new publishing features. He shares a comment about his experience.

Guest: Dan McDade

Our guest this week is Dan McDade, founder of PointClear, a firm that helps B2B companies with complex sales processes drive more revenue through effective prospect development. Dan is the author of The Truth About Leads, a book that sheds light on the little-known secrets that help focus B2B lead-generation efforts and get sales and marketing in alignment. Dan shares a horror story about the cost of poorly qualified leads and we launch into a discussion of the most common myths and mistakes about prospecting.

Closing rant

The future of your business is digital...or you’ll be…extinct. That’s the rather doom and gloom opening sentence from a recent Forrester report. With all due respect to Forrester, Allan disagrees.

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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Allan SchoenbergAllan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 03/18 at 09:28 AM
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Monday, March 17, 2014

Thought Leadership with Mitchell Levy and Michael Procopio, Episode 14: Mar 17, 2014

Thought Leadership with Mitchell and MichaelIn this episode of Thought Leadership with Mitchell and Michael (hashtag #TLL) we interview Vanessa DiMauro (@vdimauro).

Vanessa talks about thought leadership, community and social business.

Vanessa has had a diverse career, including a stint as executive director at ComputerWorld, director of online community for Cambridge Technology Partners, and vice president for strategy and research with CRX Systems. She has also been heavilyi involved with the Society for New Communication Research. More about Vanessa on LinkedIn and LeaderNetworks.com

Vanessa DiMauro

Join us 11 am PT / 2 pm ET / 7 pm GMT on Saturday every week. The show blog is Thought Leader Life.

Any comments or suggestions for the show please send them. Thank you for listening and if you like what you hear, please leave a review on iTunes! 

This episode was sponsored, in part, by THiNKaha.com, helping experts become thought leaders.

You can connect with Mitchell at MitchellLevy.com, @HappyAbout on Twitter, or join his Thought Leadership Best Practices Group on LinkedIn; and with Michael at MProcopio.com, on Twitter: @MichaelProcopio; or Google+: Michael J Procopio

Get this podcast:

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR presents Thought Leadership with Mitchell and Michael is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Michael Procopio on 03/17 at 05:11 PM
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Gina Joseph on AMP UP Your Social Media

AMP Up Your Social MediaGina Joseph is the Digital Engagement Manager for Cision, a PR Software Marketing Solutions company. Gina focuses on content creation, email marketing and engaging with clients.  Gina recently joined AMP Up Your Social Media’s host Glenn Gaudet to discuss the importance of content in social media marketing.

“If you are trying to kickstart your social media, do a lot of reading! I love RSS feeds! Look to see what is new and happening so you can share that content.”

Gina offers a few “tricks” for content creation:

  1. Meet regularly with your marketing and sales teams to have brainstorm sessions to decide on relevant content. Review questions and trends from your customers to create valuable content pieces.
  2. Create evergreen content (Q&As, Tip Sheets, etc.) that you can repurpose and repost.
  3. After you have your content, decide what the best avenues for sharing them are. Facebook? Twitter? Pinterest? Email? Who are you trying to reach and what would be most impactful?
  4. Rather than just reposting content from last season, refresh it with up-to-date trends or new tips and tricks.

About Gina Joseph

Cision's Gina JosephGina has a background rooted in the media and communications fields, including writing, marketing and public relations. In the past three years she has developed her skills in social media, and now uses social media platforms to engage with media professionals and to promote Cision. She uses social media tools to monitor customer inquiries, appreciation, complaints, and sales leads. She is constantly learning about new platforms and ways to connect digitally.

To connect with Gina email her at gina.joseph@cision.com or find her on Twitter at @cisionnavigator.

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Tweet about the show using #AUYSM or Tweet at us @AMPUpSocial. AMP Up Your Social Media is a proud member of the FIR Podcast Network.

FIR Community on Google PlusShare your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

Join the AMP Up Your Social Media Google Plus community or Facebook group. You can send us an instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

AMP UP Your Social Media is sponsored by:

  • GaggleAMP - Empower your employees, partners and resellers to amplify your social media.
  • SafeLinks - Know when your links on social media messages fail before you lose out on the people clicking on them.

The FIR Podcast Network is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Glenn Gaudet on 03/17 at 04:30 PM
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The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #747: March 17, 2014

FIRQuick News: The top 10 companies in the US doing the most to make their employees happier, Wikipedia considering change to paid-advocate rules, why every employee should be building weak ties at work, pushing back on Arik Hanson’s Digg preference with 21 reasons your boss should pay you to browse Reddit; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: Deloitte study says employees are overwhelmed; Dan York’s Tech Report: ICANN meeting in Singapore, Getty Images, the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web, and more; what to do if you’re up against Accenture or Deloitte in your next competitive pitch; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; listener comments from the FIR Podcast Community on Google+; the best PR advice you’ve never heard (from Facebook’s head of tech communications); Michael Netzley’s Asia Report: Andrea Vasceralli takes Singapore by storm while China cracks down on We Chat; 5 new shows this past week on the FIR Podcast Network; social media marks "the end of the focus group as we know it" says the FT;

Music by City and Colour; and more.

Get FIR:

Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report for March 17, 2014: An 89-minute podcast recorded live from Wokingham, Berkshire, England, and Concord, California, USA.

Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the "everything" RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday March 24…

Posted by neville on 03/17 at 12:01 PM
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Friday, March 14, 2014

FIR on Higher Education #6 – Dan Schawbel on Millenials, Workforce Needs and Higher Education

What are hiring managers expecting out of university graduates? How should higher education innovate to meet these expectations?

Dan Schawbel, an expert on workplace trends and Gen Y careers, addresses these questions on episode six of For Immediate Release on Higher Education. He also delves into a recent research study he led on the future of education. According to this study, 50% of students surveyed noted that they don’t need a physical classroom, 53% believe that online colleges are reputable and
 39% view the future of education as being more virtual.

I also provide a report on the recent Gallup study on what business leaders look for in university graduates, and technology correspondent Harry Hawk’s report focuses on Iversity, a platform for MOOC courses.

About Dan Schawbel
Dan Schawbel is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm. He is the author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success (St. Martin’s Press), which is a #1 Barnes & Noble business bestseller and was named the “career book of the year” by the Chicago Tribune. His first book, Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future, was a #1 international bestseller and was named the #1 career book of 2009 by The New York Post. Combined, his books have been translated into 15 different languages and are used as textbooks at many schools including Stanford University, Boston University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and The University of Texas at Austin. Both bestsellers were published before Dan’s 30th birthday.

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About Your Host

Kevin AnselmoKevin Anselmo is the Founder and Principal of Experiential Communications, a consultancy focused on education. He helps brands within academia - whether individual or corporate - communicate with stakeholders. He also teaches communications and public relations workshops to different individuals and groups.

Previously, Kevin was Director of Public Relations for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and prior to that managed the media relations for IMD Business School in Switzerland. In addition, he was an adjunct communications professor at Nyack College in New York.

Currently based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Kevin lived and worked in Switzerland for eight years and in Germany for two years. He has led public relations initiatives in various countries around the world.

Find Kevin on Twitter: @kevinanselmo.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR on Higher Education is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Kevin Anselmo on 03/14 at 08:00 AM
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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

FIR Presents Inside PR 365: MasterCard ties one on, Facebook going mobile and the New Klout

FIR Presents Inside PRGini Dietrich and I do a two-hander in this episode as Martin is on a train with only spotty online access.

This week we talk about MasterCard’s aggressive PR tactics around the Brit Awards, more evidence that we’re all going mobile and the New Klout.

MasterCard ties one on

Gini pointed to MasterCard’s efforts to tie coverage of MasterCard to access to the Brit Awards. Dominic Ponsford detailed exactly what happened, from the PR company’s suggestion that access would be tied to agreement to mention MasterCard through the reactions to the Twitter backlash.

Ponsford published the text of an email to a reporter in which MasterCard’s PR company asked reporters to agree to tweet MasterCard messages in their feeds. The PR company went so far as to suggest content for tweets before, during and after the event:

Pre event – e.g. Really excited to be heading down to @BRITAwards tonight with @MasterCardUK #PricelessSurprises

Event night – live tweeting from the event including @MasterCardUK handle and #PricelessSurprises and to retweet @MasterCardUK tweets throughout the night where appropriate

Post event – tweet directing followers to @MasterCardUK BRITs YouTube videos

Needless to say, this prompted a backlash, with Twitter comments like this:

Good press coverage is hard to bribe. For everything else there’s Mastercard. #PricelessSurprises

— Felicity Morse (@FelicityMorse) February 19, 2014

The managing director of the PR agency didn’t back down, arguing that:

“The role of the PR agency is to pursue all coverage opportunities on behalf of its clients. This includes providing accurate brand references from the outset, for use across all platforms. It is a two-way conversation between the journalist and the PR in order to reach a mutually beneficial outcome. Editorial control always remains with the journalist.”

Gini and I discuss our views about this type of tactic. Gini sees this as an illustration of the fine line between legitimately promoting an event and the questionable offering of a benefit for coverage.

I see it as a clear example of tied coverage. “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. You give me reference to my client and I will give you access to the awards.”  Yes we have seen this before. Think of auto journalists flown to exotic locations to review new cars. But in recent years, the trend has been against these kinds of junkets, with many news organizations telling their staff to refuse the benefits. “You can’t blame a guy for trying. But you can blame the other guy for playing along.”

What do you think of MasterCard’s media relations approach? Too cheeky? Or taking fair advantage of the an opportunity. Or somewhere in between.

Canadians go mobile with Facebook

The world truly is going mobile. New stats out of Facebook Canada indicate that Facebook Canada is making more money on mobile devices than on PCs and stationary devices. Of Facebook’s nineteen million Canadian users, ten million check their Facebook account once a day via mobile versus only four million who check it daily from non-mobile devices like desktops.

To me, this just underscores the importance of think mobile first. If you are thinking about communicating with people primarily in front of PCs or laptops, you’re failing to follow the audience where they’ve actually gone. They are looking at the mobile devices in their hand.

Gini cautions against following an overall trend without looking at your specific circumstance. In her experience, many sectors are lagging behind in the move to mobile, with many of her clients’ sites continuing to receive the majority of their traffic from desktop applications. It’s important that you know where your traffic is coming from. So check your analytics.

A New (Improved?) Klout

And finally, we discuss the new Klout. Gini finds it useful, because it surfaces content from people with whom she already engages. Gini also finds the measurement tab to be useful in that it’s suggests which individual pieces of content have generated the greatest engagement. For my part, I find the metrics to be even more dumbed down than they used to be and of the dubious value. It appears to me that Klout is positioning itself as a tool to assist content creators in competition with established players like HootSuite or Buffer.

What do you think? Is the new Klout a step forward or moved to irrelevance?

Get this podcast:

FIR Community on Google PlusShare your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also reach Inside PR’s hosts by email at insideprcomments@gmail.com, or join the InsidePR Google Plus community or Facebook group. InsidePR is on Twitter at @Inside_PR. You can send us an instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR: Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Kristine D’Arbelles and Ashlea LeCompte.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

FIR presents Inside PR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by shel on 03/12 at 12:40 PM
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Craig Jamieson on AMP Up Your Social Media

AMP Up Your Social MediaCraig Jamieson is a Managing Member/Owner of Adaptive Business Services. Craig shows businesses how to leverage social sales tools, techniques, strategies, and Social CRM to increase their revenues.

Craig recently joined AMP Up Your Social Media’s host Glenn Gaudet to discuss the importance of social media in B2B sales.

[Through social networking], my connections convert to opportunities, and most importantly, these opportunities find me, rather than me having to go out and cold prospect.

Craig offers these tips to get your sales team started on social media:

  1. Understand the concept of the social media ecosystem and how it all works together.
  2. Understand the psyche of the sales person; typically their mindset is not marketing. You need to make social media fast, clean and easy.
  3. Teach your sales team how to not only networking using social media, but also create status updates and share content…this is how they will start to see results.
  4. Provide your sales team with content (good posts that are connected to landing pages, blog articles, etc.) that brings attention to them and the company or the product/service.

Craig would love to hear from you! Chat with him on Twitter @CraigMJamieson or email him at craig@salesresultsllc.com.

About Our Guest

Craig M. JamiesonCraig M. Jamieson is the owner and manager of Adaptive Business Services, a DBA of Sales Results LLC. Craig has been a Boise resident since 1982. Craig’s entire career since 1977 has revolved around business to business sales activities and he has held posts as a business owner; local, district, regional, and national sales manager; and as a trainer and consultant. His workshops and seminars are consistently rated 9+ out of 10 by those who attend and he also served as adjunct faculty at Boise State University where he taught “Salesmanship”.

For the past five years, Craig has owned and operated NetWorks! Boise Valley, which is the most sophisticated and serious leads group organization in the Treasure Valley and is currently two groups strong. He is a strong believer in all things “networking” and blogs extensively on this topic including the recent addition of social media applications as they relate to business uses only.

Throughout his business career, Craig has consistently deployed CRM solutions in his business ventures and is uniquely qualified to evaluate these tools from the standpoint of both management and the individual salesperson. He is very familiar with Salesforce, Zoho, ACT! and a number of other applications. Craig understands selling, social media, and CRM.

Please note that this episode was recorded outside the normal studio quality that we have used in the past. We apologize for this, but the conversation was so insightful in terms of getting into the mind of how salespeople look at social media, we wanted to share it. Thank you for bearing with the variable sound quality.

Get this podcast:

Tweet about the show using #AUYSM or Tweet at us @AMPUpSocial. AMP Up Your Social Media is a proud member of the FIR Podcast Network.

FIR Community on Google PlusShare your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

Join the AMP Up Your Social Media Google Plus community or Facebook group. You can send us an instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed.

AMP UP Your Social Media is sponsored by:

  • GaggleAMP - Empower your employees, partners and resellers to amplify your social media.
  • SafeLinks - Know when your links on social media messages fail before you lose out on the people clicking on them.

The FIR Podcast Network is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Glenn Gaudet on 03/12 at 11:40 AM
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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Linked Conversations #11: Author, Speaker and Online Consultant Paul Gillin—3/11/14

Linked ConversationsWelcome to the latest episode of Linked Conversations with Chuck Hester.

In this episode I cover LinkedIn’s fourth quarter earnings – including a breakout of how they make their money. I’ll also talk about their acquisition of Bright, the data-savvy Job Search startup and what it means for members.

My guest this week is Paul Gillin, author, speaker and online marketing consultant.  Paul has published more than 200 articles on the subject of new media while maintaining two blogs and contributing to several others. Paul’s books include The New Influencers (2007), Secrets of Social Media Marketing (2008), The Joy of Geocaching (2010), Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), and Attack of the Customers (2013). He wrote the monthly New Channels column for BtoB magazine for seven years before that publication was folded into Advertising Age at the end of 2013.

Paul GillinPaul is a veteran technology journalist with more than 25 years of editorial leadership experience.His website is gillin.com and he blogs at paulgillin.com and Newspaper Death Watch.

Paul is also the host, along with Allan Schoenberg of the FIR B2B podcast here on the For Immediate Release Podcast network.

More about Paul can be found on his LinkedIn profile:

Don’t forget to check out LinkedConversations’ Google+ community and our LinkedIn Group: “The Podcast I Can’t Name Due to the Rules Group!”

So thanks for listening and if you like what you hear, spread the word!

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FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the "everything" RSS feed.

FIR presents LinkedConversations with Chuck Hester is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by shel on 03/11 at 08:37 AM
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Thought Leadership with Mitchell Levy and Michael Procopio, Episode 13: Mar 8, 2014

Thought Leadership with Mitchell and Michael
In this episode of Thought Leadership with Mitchell and Michael (hashtag #TLL) we interview Jay McKeever, Director of Worldwide Marketing at Cincom.

Jay talks about thought leadership, social marketing and social selling.

More about Jay on LinkedIn


Jay McKeever

Join us 11 am PT / 2 pm ET / 7 pm GMT on Saturday every week. The show blog is Thought Leader Life.

Any comments or suggestions for the show please send them. Thank you for listening and if you like what you hear, please leave a review on iTunes! 

This episode was sponsored, in part, by THiNKaha.com, helping experts become thought leaders.

You can connect with Mitchell at MitchellLevy.com, @HappyAbout on Twitter, or join his Thought Leadership Best Practices Group on LinkedIn; and with Michael at MProcopio.com, on Twitter: @MichaelProcopio; or Google+: Michael J Procopio

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FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR presents Thought Leadership with Mitchell and Michael is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Michael Procopio on 03/11 at 08:17 AM
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Monday, March 10, 2014

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #746: March 10, 2014

FIRIntro: Dan and Neville got together in London on Friday night for a chat, recorded and posted as an FIR Interview;

Quick News: Omnicom buys into Instagram paid ad program for $100 million, Greenpeace accuses P&G of organgutan-habitat destruction, the Church of England follows Sweden Twitter example, why Digg and not Reddit is a must-read for PR pros; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: Getty Images opens up library of 35 million images for free sharing; Michael Netzley’s Asia Report: social media and the missing Malaysian airliner, Tencent’s WeChat makes a bold move into e-commerce, and more; social visual tools are headed to the enterprise; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; listener comments from the FIR Podcast Community on Google+; O2 aims to transform customer service in real time with #TweetServe; Dan York’s Tech Report: thoughts on a week in London, teleprompter apps for the iPad; last week on the FIR Podcast Network; volunteer communicators form ad hoc agency to help Ukraine government messaging;

Music from Drive-By Truckers; and more.

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Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report for March 10, 2014: An 88-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Wokingham, Berkshire, England.

Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the "everything" RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday March 17…

Posted by neville on 03/10 at 01:01 AM
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Sunday, March 09, 2014

FIR Interview: Dan York and Neville Hobson in London, March 7, 2014

[L-R] Dan York and Neville Hobson

FIR correspondent Dan York spent the past week in London at IETF 89, the conference of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), in his capacity as senior content strategist at the Internet Society.

The IETF is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of internet architecture and the smooth operation of the internet.

In far more an informal conversation than an interview, Dan and FIR co-host Neville Hobson met up in the evening of March 7 to talk (and reminisce) about the internet, the milestone of the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web, and more, in a wide-ranging discussion that began with Dan’s perspectives on his week in London at IETF 89.

Their conversation embraced views about online security, privacy and identity, issues of trust surrounding government eavesdropping and surveillance post-Snowden revelations, and the "Internet of Things." It included Dan’s and Neville’s perspectives and ideas on what communicators need to be thinking about and doing that will help others understand the changes that online technologies bring to society, to organizations, to individuals.

  • Technical aspects: The conversation was recorded on an Olympus LS-14 portable digital audio recorder in WAV file format; final MP3 file production was carried out with Adobe Audition 3.

Get this podcast:

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the "everything" RSS feed.

This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music - On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

Posted by neville on 03/09 at 01:01 AM
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Thursday, March 06, 2014

FIR B2B #4: Avoiding the Landmines of Employee Advocacy Programs

FIR B2BPaul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg host the FIR B2B podcast. In this episode:

LinkedIn is opening up its content platform to all members. Does this present a quandary for marketers? Should you continue to invest resources in your own blog or move much of that activity over to LinkedIn? The benefit of publishing on LinkedIn is that you get access to an existing audience and built-in analytics and sharing features. The downside is that your website doesn’t directly benefit. Is there a way to get the best of both worlds or is the LinkedIn company page destined to become a more important destination than your company website?

New research says nearly 90% of ad agencies are interested in social media and online video, but a majority question the value. Is video really all that useful to B2B marketers? Are those disagree somewhat on this. Paul points to the wildly successful Van Damme Epic Split as evidence that B2B companies can do truly remarkable things with video, but Allan thinks examples like this are few and far between.

Introhive has an infographic that assigns value to different digital media in the B2B sales cycle. It includes some surprises. For example, in the lead generation area, YouTube SlideShare and “Content” are considered strongest while Facebook is categorized as “Poor.” YouTube is also noted as a top performer for lead generation but a poor choice for lead nurturing.

Our special guest this week is Chris Boudreaux, founder of Social Media Governance, a website devoted to best practices in social media accountability and governance. The site was originally created to host a database of business social media policies but has now been expanded to include research and Chris’ frequently updated blog.

Chris has taken a particular interest in customer advocacy. He provides advice on how to mobilize customers to spread the messages of a business.He recently wrote on Social Media Today about how employee networks can minimize information overload.

His book, The Most Powerful Brand on Earth, tells how brands can “transform teams, empower employees, integrate partners and mobilize customers to beat the competition in digital and social media.” He also just published a buyers guide to tools that enable employees to speak on a brand’s behalf.

Activating employee ambassadors is not cut and dried. There may be regulatory issues to consider, and employees who aren’t well briefed on what they can and can’t say can hurt a company more than help it. People in different roles may also need to be activated differently. There’s also the risk of doing too much. If the brand creates too many social media accounts it can tax resources and create a perception that the brand is simply producing noise.

In the closing rant, Paul vents about legitimate publishers citing terrible research.

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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Allan SchoenbergAllan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 03/06 at 09:53 AM
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Wednesday, March 05, 2014

FIR Interview: Eric Sauve, co-founder and CEO, Foko (think of it as Instagram for the enterprise)

Foko appAnything that takes root on the Web eventually finds its way into the enterprise. Social visual communication has exploded in the last few years with the success of Instagram, Pinterest and other tools, along with the surge in photo sharing via Facebook and other social networks. Creative internal communicators found ways to take advantage of these external resources for internal purposes, but how long would it take before tools designed for employee-to-employee photo sharing emerged?

Foko is the first app designed for the enterprise. Launched at Demo 2013, Foko earned coverage from GigaOm, Simply Communicate, and BetaKit, among others.

In this FIR interview, co-host Shel Holtz talks about the app and its potential uses with Foko co-founder and CEO, Eric Sauve.

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About our Conversation Partner

Foko co-founder and CEO Eric SauveEric Sauve is the CEO and Cofounder of Foko, private photo sharing for companies. Previous to Foko, Eric founded Tomoye, an enterprise social software company which was acquired by NewsGator (now Sitrion). At Tomoye and NewsGator, Eric helped manage social business Intranet deployments at organizations such as the US Army, John Deere, Citi Bank and more.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Check the FIR website for information about other FIR podcasts. To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the "everything" RSS feed.

This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music - On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

Posted by shel on 03/05 at 07:34 AM
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