People ask me all the time why I live in Oklahoma. I think the last week showed us the best and the worst of my beloved state. The strongest winds on the planet tried to tear us apart in two days, yet we courageously braced ourselves and selflessly helped each other after the storm clouds passed. THAT’S why I live here. Neither a man-made bomb nor mother nature can destroy our hearts or our spirit. That’s why this Memorial Day weekend, it’s only appropriate my blog is dedicated to the Oklahoma storm victims, just a few of the heroes and how YOU can help no matter where you live.

I can’t imagine the parents who dropped their kids off at elementary school on Monday and now won’t be able to hug them this Memorial Day. Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones hurting right now. About two dozen are dead in a number of communities ravaged by storms this week. How can YOU help? First? Please take a moment this holiday to remember these communities: Moore, Shawnee, Bethel Acres & Meeker. While you’re at it… honor the heroes as well. Hundreds (probably thousands) of people put their lives on the line to save, rescue and help others. The teachers who used their bodies to cover students.. the homeowners who pulled neighbors into their storm shelters, the rescuers who wouldn’t give up. It gives me chills just thinking about it. You can even spread the love about it by sharing Facebook sites like Moore Oklahoma Tornado Recovery or the Twitter hashtag #PrayforOklahoma.

Second, you can lend a hand. Sure, if you live nearby… you can put some elbow grease into helping some of these communities recover. Whether it’s helping charities collect and deliver supplies or volunteering at a shelter, no job is too small. But also, it’s going to take a lot of time and money to recover. You can text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to a group that is always there in times of disaster. You can also designate your donation go to the Salvation Army Oklahoma Tornado Relief Fund. There are so many more great charities and churches helping out, just make sure you thoroughly check them out before handing over your money.

Finally, you can buy some of the items that Oklahoma business have so graciously made to help our recovery. Many of these business owners are my friends w/ hearts of gold.. who put their money where their hearts are as soon as their neighbors were in need. I know I can’t list them all… but here’s a few that truly touched my heart and are making a difference:

The Vintage Pearl

100% of The Vintage Pearl‘s “Love for Oklahoma” charm necklaces ($48) are going to the American Red Cross to help relief efforts. Here’s Erin Edward’s blog about it.  They sold out immediately and Vintage Pearl is giving the Red Cross a check for $150,000!!! WOW!! (Because of the demand, Erin is offering the necklace again until Sunday, May 26th, 2013. This round, 50% will go to the Red Cross – $24 out of the $48 price tag. So remember, if you’re interested in getting one and helping the relief efforts this way you MUST ORDER before Memorial Day.) Here’s the link to buy it.

Rustic Cuff

Rustic Cuff is donating 100% of the profits of each of these three particular $38 cuffs to the Salvation Army Tornado Relief Fund to help in the relief efforts for the Moore and Shawnee, Oklahoma tornado victims. (Jill Donovan told me the red background with the drawing of the State of OK in the center was made by 4th grader Carter Davis from Owasso, Oklahoma…after Monday’s devastating tornado hit. His mom graciously allowed Rustic Cuff to use his heartfelt artwork to create a cuff to help the victims. Thanks Gina and Carter!) Here is the link to buy it.

Happy First

Debbie Vinyard has been making t-shirts to help out charitable causes for years… and tragedy in our own state is no exception. 100% of the proceeds from this $25 Okie Strong will go to the American Red Cross. Here is the link to buy it.

I have another young entrepreneur’s effort I’ll add this weekend.. but his product isn’t quite ready yet. Still, I’m so impressed by his efforts to help out…. so, more to come.

Now… I challenge YOU!

How can YOU help honor, remember & help the victims this Memorial Day Weekend?

Is there a brand that’s going above and beyond to help with the recovery that you want folks to know about?

Manti Teo’s “girlfriend” brought fake social media profiles to the forefront, but it’s not an isolated incident. Unfortunately, social networking sites have great potential for abuse and it’s only the latest way scum try to do what they’ve done for centuries – take advantage of others. I don’t say this to scare you, but rather to prepare you. In fact, I just did a segment with local TV station KJRH-TV about a recent heart breaking example. The station was contacted by a war hero who’s Facebook identity was stolen in order to milk money out of innocent women on Facebook. The picture above is a fake page, using the very real pictures of a a local Staff Sgt. He had no idea someone swiped his “identity” to swindle women until one of the victims got suspicious and tracked down the REAL soldier. (There’s a special place in hell for that scam artist.. but I digress.) Because social media is here to stay, I want to hone in on what you can do to protect yourself and possibly discover bogus profiles.

Don’t be naive!

DON’T make the following things public on your profiles:
Full name (particularly your middle name)
Social Security # or Driver’s License
Home Address
Birth City and State
Date of Birth (particularly your year)
Graduation Dates
Pet Names or other things you might use for passwords

This doesn’t mean cancel anything and everything… just know there are ways to be smart about what you share and with whom you share it. For instance… on Facebook, you can make your birthday and month public but not the year of your birth.

So, how do you do that on Facebook, for instance? Click on the wheel-looking icon in the far right corner and scroll down to “privacy settings.”

Make sure all of your settings are set up for friends only. You’ll want to check these settings at least once a month because Facebook is always changing. (I always say.. the only thing that changes faster than life is Facebook. Yes, you can quote me on that….)

If you use a public computer, you meed to log off properly from your social media accounts (Or any accounts for that matter!). If not, the next person who sits there may pretend to be you.

Plus, it’s more than logins, privacy and passwords… think before you post. Don’t mention that your family is about to leave town and you worry if your plants will survive w/out you. While this might not get your identity stolen, it might assure your belongs find a new home. Along the same lines, disable GPS or location functions on pictures if you’re going to be away from home for an extended period of time.

Be Proactive

Google yourself regularly. This is not just for public figures anymore. Google all spellings of your name and nick names. Check out any social media sites that come up. Yes, there may be plenty of other people with your name, but is the picture you too? Google your name on images. Do any of those pictures trace back to sites with which you’re not connected? Do the same thing with a search on Facebook.

Also, it’s smart to monitor your credit which you can do once a year for free. Not only can scum use your identity to break hearts, steal money and lure children.. but they can use what you post to tap you for everything you have.

Be a Dog w/ a Bone

As an investigative reporter, I interviewed more identity victims than I can count… and each of them spent 5-7 years clearing their name. To make this clear.. THEY DID NOTHING WRONG and yet THEY had to spend years making things right. In this day and age of social media, nothing has changed. It may be easier than ever to steal your identity, but its just as hard as ever to clean up the mess.

Appeal directly to the social network where the offense happend… and don’t give up. Keep after them, even if they say there’s nothing they can do. They’re not going to react with lightning speed, but if you can prove who you say you are, they should remove the offender’s account. Law enforcement can’t keep make laws fast enough to keep up with our changing technology, so unfortunately, the burden is on us to not give up.

Again, you don’t have to stop using social media… just be smarter about it. That’s why I love social media STRATEGY. Think before you post and realize you need to protect yourself. What safety measures do YOU take? I’d love to hear from you….

Great article from Experian ~ Facebook Fraud: Identity Theft through Social Networking
Great article from Discover Card ~ Staying Safe on Social Media

Click Here to see more of the KJRH-TV news story. 

The images from the Boston Marathon still haunt me. They take me back 18 years ago when I was a reporter at the ABC affiliate in Oklahoma City. When a bomb went off at the Murrah Federal Building… we only had traditional media to get the news out. It was one of the first terrorist attacks on American soil. I reported non-stop for weeks.. only taking breaks to sleep. It’s something you never forget… and every tragedy like this brings it all back.

But what has changed? The way we learn and communicate about tragedies like this. In fact, I wrote about the effects of social media on the deadly twister in Joplin two years ago. But w/ the Boston tragedy, I saw even more effects AND things we can learn. Here are my thoughts.

AUTOMATION… JUST SAY NO!

You know who looked inhuman, out of touch and TOTALLY not relevant on twitter last week? Those who automated posts. While they were posting about butterflies and rainbows (or even worst, their special of the day), the rest of the world was focused on the bombing in Boston.

I can’t echo (& RT) enough what social media pioneer Gary Vaynerchuk tweeted. Social media is about customer service in real time, being relevant to what’s going on and at least APPEARING as though you care about the world and people around you. Whether you do your own social media postings or farm it out… DO NOT AUTOMATE!! I laugh when people talk about the cost of implementing their social media. My question to them is… do you want robots greeting customers the exact same way when they in their store? No way! People wouldn’t buy and they certainly wouldn’t come back or recommend their friends visit. Automated social media is the same thing… only the implications can keep people from doing business w/ you before they even step foot in the store. Be real… be YOU on social media.

ILLEGAL TO IMPERSONATE

While automation is a big mistake, this one is just cruel and possibly criminal. As soon as the alleged Boston bombers were identified, journalists and citizen-sleuths looked to social media for their “digital footprint” – where they are Facebook, what had they posted on twitter. Unfortunately, the scum also came out of the woodwork to impersonate the suspect that was still alive.

While it’s immoral, is it illegal? It depends on what they say. In the fake account above, there’s a threat against the lives of police officers which is a crime, online or off. While my post college alma mater,  The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, had words of warning for journalists trying the get the scoop, I’d like to warn the public. Don’t believe everything you see on social media. And if you’re thinking about “playing a prank” on social media, things like this are NO LAUGHING MATTER and could land you in REAL hot water.

SOCIAL MEDIA HELPS IN TRAGIC TIMES

Now for the good news! The week of the bombing we got all kinds of information through twitter… from following reporters on the scene, to health and safety information, to survivors using tweets to let loved when know they were okay when the lines were jammed. The Boston Marathon Facebook page gave constant updates on the situation as it unfolded. The Boston Police and FBI asked for all digital pictures and videos of the scene to help them stop the perpetrators. The list goes on and on….

This was so different from the past… when people wondered the streets and hospitals looking for loved ones, reports were much slower to come in and images of suspects was almost unheard of.

Some of the social media posts have brought information while others brought comfort. I don’t know about you… but I didn’t feel alone. We weren’t isolated watching TV. We could get the latest and pray with others… straight from our smart phones. Social media helped us connect with friends and strangers… so we could talk about our feelings and fears. (In fact, here’s a conversation I had w/ actress Holly Robinson Peete.)

In some ways, we have not changed at all in 18 years. Unfortunately, there are still villains who try to destroy us… but they are far outnumbered by the unbelievable heroes (first responders, volunteers, etc). What we’ve added, though, is a whole community to lean on for information and support. While a few misuse the tool, I believe it has done far more good than bad.

I hear all the time…. “why should I tweet? It just seems like a waste of time.” My standard answer? “You’re apparently not using twitter very strategically.” Sound silly? Let me tell you about social media client Original Scent. The founders developed the product and launched it in 5 weeks. We had about two weeks to create a buzz about this unknown product. EEKS!

The first thing we did on twitter? Schedule a Twitter Chat the Monday before the launch. Think of this as a super duper twitter power hour. Basically, for exactly one hour… the Original Scent twitter account and asked the founders (Nicole Winnaman, Marley Majcher and Sarah Horowitz) why they created the custom fragrance bar. We asked Sarah (celeb perfumer) what’s in a scent? How do people create their own. We encouraged everyone involved to use the hashtag #OriginalScent so we could track the hour and see how many were involved and what was said. (A hashtag is basically a twitter topic. For more on hashtags… check out my blog “What The Hashtag?”)

The results for the hour were OFF THE CHAIN!

Twitter Trending topic on Monday, March 11th (One of the top 10 topics on twitter during that time!!)

Reach – 52,609

Exposure – 299,494

Suddenly twitter was buzzing about #OriginalScent and it paved the way for the red carpet, star studded launch. So, how can you create a successful twitter chat?

Research your hashtag

Make sure no one else is using the hashtag. For instance, I was at a women’s conference that decided on a hashtag but never went to search.twitter.com to see who else might be using it. Interestingly enough, the EXACT hashtag had been used for an international drag queen festival and so the conversations were interesting to say the least. You don’t have to “register” a hashtag or do anything special… instead you just make it up. However, a little research can help you pick a well branded hashtag that won’t get jumbled in someone else’s message.

Build up is nice but not necessary

It’s fabulous if you can let folks know ahead of time that you’ll be answer questions and talking shop for an hour. But we didn’t really have that luxury b/c there wasn’t a built-in audience (remember we were building from scratch). We did, however, announce and register our Twitter chat on several Twitter chat schedules across the web. This strategy in addition to adding Original Scent to various online Twitter directories helped increase our reach. Other than that, we just got all the key players involved… scheduled it on the calendar… and went for it.

Reason for the chat

Don’t just chat to…. well…. just chat. Have a reason. Is there a product launch? Is there someone your customers would like to get access to for an hour? Are you highlighting a certain skill set to help people live a better life? When it comes to a chat… think WIIFM: What’s In It For Me? And by me… I mean YOUR clients/customers. During our twitter chat, folks got unbelievable access to celeb perfumer Sarah Horowitz (Madonna, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Biel & Sarah Michelle Gellar), Celeb Party Planner Marley Majcher (Britney Spears, Pierce Brosnan, Sofia Vergara & Gwyneth Paltrow) and Entertainment Power Broker Nicole Winnaman  (Ellen DeGeneres, Justin Timberlake & Fergie). Figure out what YOU can offer for an hour that will be beneficial or interesting to your clients/customers.

Questions before hand

It’s a good idea to send a list of potential questions to those involved. It give folks a chance to gather their thoughts because they’ll need to answer in 140 characters or less.

Influencers involved

Between the founders, Real Housewives of NYC star Kelly Bensimon and myself… we have a pretty significant following. So all of our peeps were able to track the conversation which lead them to often join in with their own questions.

Humor is key

Have fun!!! Sarah & Nicole had never really tweeted before our power hour… and we were on the phone up until the moment the Twitter Chat started. We joked about that… it showed they’re human and willing to try new things. Marley joked about the best ideas (including Original Scent) are usually hatched over a bottle of wine. (Agreed!)  The point is… don’t talk like a “brand”. Instead you want to talk like a REAL PERSON!! (Novel idea, huh?) People like to do business with people they know, like and trust. So, let your pees get to know YOU. They’re buying who you are even more than what you sell.

I challenge YOU to consider a Twitter Chat. It could open a whole new world. What do you think?

(Btw- want to learn more about this social media project? Check out my blog “Live Tweeting from the Red Carpet: Why EVERY Brand Should Launch This Way.”)

Thanks for reading… and see you on the social side!

I don’t know about you… but I’ve always wanted to reply to specific comments on my Facebook w/out bugging everyone or being too belated in the thread that it really isn’t relevant anymore. If you feel the same… you’ll like Facebook’s new messaging service! Now, you have a choice to “like” or “reply” to a comment.

When I stayed w/ my father for his open heart surgery and the comments came flooding in on Facebook, Dad and I sat in his hospital bed and read every one of them. At the time, we wanted to comment directly to each person… but other than sending direct messages, we had no choice but to hit “like” for the comment. That’s why I LOVE this new option. Now you can hit “reply” to a comment and it will appear directly below the corresponding comment.

I’ve included an example of how this looks. Ballyhoo Creative Group just put up a new profile pic from our trip to California… and I was able to add my 2-cents directly to individual comments. See how it’s directly below and slightly indented from the original comment? I believe this makes comments less confusing and more relevant as well as connected.

I’m also told… Facebook will prioritize your newsfeed according to your interaction. Those comments that get lots of replies get top billing over those that don’t. This will help Facebook Pages (fan/business) that have lots of followers.

Officially, this replying system is only available for Facebook Pages right now.  Also, the “reply” option is only available when you use FB from your computer.. it’s not a mobile option… yet.

What do YOU think? I’d love to hear!!

Thanks… and see you on the social side.

I just finished one of my favorite projects EVER… and one of my most challenging. Three high-powered LA entrepreneurs launched a totally unknown product in only 5 weeks and  we had about 2 weeks to create the social media buzz for it. Hello?! Well, these gals (Nicole Winnaman, Marley Majcher and Sarah Horowitz) can rock ANY casbah, so I knew THEY could deliver… but could our social media team? We circled the wagons (Diane White PR, Ballyhoo Creative Group and my SOCIALVENTION peeps) and went to work.

Sure… we had a launch that included an amazing product (design your own fragrance), a red carpet complete with celebs (Jeff Goldblum, Kelly Bensimon from the Real Housewives of NYC & Melora Hardin from The Office!), and three relevant, rocking, business-savvy co-founders who make things happen. While those three things certainly helped the social media magic, it wasn’t the secret sauce. What was? Our strategy!

Certain things that we did on this project can help YOU with your business… especially if you have an event or you’re launching a new product (things that are becoming my specialty).
Who are the stars in YOUR community? Having news people there is great! Is there a charity angle you can include that will encourage them to not only cover it, but actually get personally involved? Jeff Goldblum created his signature scent to benefit Oceana.org, but Diane White PR also got local LA TV personalities to drop by the launch. They talked about it on their social media & on TV!

Also, who’s influential on social media in your area? Here’s a photo with the social media rock stars at the event – @CindyWMorrison, @LoriMoreno, @DailyDimmick, @BryanMMoore & @ThePartyGoddess. They ranged from bloggers to #OMGinsider… and we all shared Original Scent with our followers. (I added it up… and just the peeps in this photo alone have a twitter reach of 334,230!! Whoa.. that’s some valuable real estate!)

The Monday before the event, we did an hour long twitter chat. Basically, during that hour, we asked the co-founders questions, chatted with celeb perfumer Sarah Horowitz about fragrance and we asked followers what scents they like… all via twitter. I was so impressed with the buzz it created – almost an Original Scent twitter power hour. In fact, #OriginalScent became a trending topic which means it’s one of the top 10 topics on twitter (VERY HARD TO DO!). The Twitter Chat turned out to be epic because (you have to remember) this was basically an unknown brand.

We launched an Original Scent giveaway w/ 9 winners. We strategically did this contest to extend the reach beyond California to spur online sales after the launch. It not only boosted Facebook “likes” on the fan page but it helped fans spread the word. (That’s so important because while only 36% of people trust traditional marketing, 81% trust comments, reviews, suggestions, etc even if it’s online from someone they don’t know! Creating raving fans who’ll help spread the word about your brand is HUGE!) In a week, we had nearly 600 entries that were pretty targeted since the prizes were a custom scent and wine… definitely of interest to Original Scent’s target audience.

Chris from Ballyhoo always says “it’s Facebook… not logobook.” He’s so right. We worked really hard to post lots of pictures, 1-minute videos from the founders and memes to get people talking. People are visual… we wanted folks to “know” the co-founders b/c all three are amazing women as well as understand why they started Original Scent. That’s the kind of thing that leads to “buy in” to the brand. The memes are something that encourages people to share… they’re funny, show personality and are all the rage at the moment. Here’s an example (and our most “engaged” post):

This is such a NUGGET of what we did as a team, but the launch was amazing and the social media buzz was the bomb.com. We just proved that w/ the right strategy, you can go viral in record time and social media DOES pay off. Hopefully you’ll spend more than 2 weeks building up to your big event or special, but this proves that it CAN be done. And it’s worth every minute!

(Btw- here’s a pic of the Ballyhoo Creative Group from Oklahoma at the lauch – Don Kreutzweiser, me, Jake McDaniel & Chris Ransdell)

Thanks for reading, and see you on the social side.

Before this week’s national championship football game… most of the nation had never heard of Katherine Webb. Then the ESPN cameras showed the Alabama Quarterback’s girlfriend while announcer Brent Musburger gushed about her on-air. The beauty queen was an instant hit. Hello… dazzling girl watching her college quarterback sweetheart.. it’s the American Dream, right? In the past.. that might have been the end of the story unless she got an endorsement deal. Not anymore… now we can all get to know the 2012 Miss Alabama because of social media – specifically twitter.

It was a given that Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron and the Tide would be hot topics on twitter as they faced off in the national championship (and ultimately won) against Notre Dame. But once Webb was featured in the stands… SHE became the social media sensation. Her Twitter followers went from 2,300 before the game to almost 225,000 as I’m writing this article (& it continues to rise!). At one point, she was gaining 1,000 followers per minute! Holy Hannah!!

Social Media Attention Can Mean Serious Traction.. **IF** You Leverage It

Now, not all of us can be Miss Alabama or find ourselves the muse of a nationally televised event, but we can leverage our followers. Through twitter, Webb didn’t just APPEAR to be a hot topic… she BECAME a hot topic. IF she leverages these new followers… she’ll build upon the initial “star factor” and it can be a game changer in her life. Here’s why… and what you can learn to propel your own brand:

Immediate Access

For decades, stars have been discovered at ice cream counters (Lana Turner), on YouTube (Justin Bieber) or from shots on the jumbotron (Pamela Anderson). But for everyone “discovered”… there are hundreds of thousands who aren’t. That’s where twitter really helped Webb. Immediately, people began googling “Katherine Webb”… and her twitter account popped up. 90,000+ people followed her during the game alone! In no time at all…  Donald Trump, the owner of the Miss Universe organization, tweeted that Webb will be asked to be a judge at the upcoming Miss USA pageant. Also, Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett tweeted her his phone number with a date request, which prompted McCarron (the QB boyfriend) to tweet back. (See below.. it’s hilarious!)

Remember… when someone hears about your business, catches you on a news segment/commercial or sees a friend “check in” through social media at your business… it’s “game on”! They can instantly “friend” you on Facebook or “follow” you on twitter. Now you have an opportunity to engage with them NOW. Look at EVERY fan/follower as a potential client/customer. They ALREADY “like” you enough to check you out… now it’s time to be strategic and make them a fan for life.

“It’s All About Me” Curse

Katherine Webb can follow the Kardashian’s strategy of, “Hey…look at me!!” That may not seem like a bad thing since the Kardashians are worth more money than I can count. But people forget, the matriarch of that family is clever like a fox and has leveraged their name into an empire. But that’s the exception, not the rule. The danger with the “it’s all about me” mentality is that folks will eventually tire of you. (Think: child stars, teen heart throbs & David Hasselhoff.) Unless you figure out what YOU have to leverage… you’ll soon be forgotten. We all need to realize that followers are VALUABLE real estate – they are initially interested in you, so you need to figure out what you have to offer of value.

What’s Your STRATEGY?

I hope Webb can offer her followers more than (gorgeous) pictures of herself on twitter.  If she were my social media strategy client, I would help her figure out her goals to make all this more than 15 minutes of fame. How? It’s exactly how I would coach YOU! Answer these questions:

What do you have of value to offer friends, fans and followers?

Do you have an area of expertise? For instance, I post social media strategy tips on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Give things that may be of value to their lives…. basically, it’s a reason to CONTINUE to follower you. (According to one of my corporate partners, Constant Contact, 90% of people who “like” a Facebook Fan page NEVER come back… which means after a few months, you drop of their newsfeed. Offer up a reason fo them to come back and visit you!)

What are you fans/followers telling you?

Yes, you gotta engage to keep people. Nothing like meeting someone and all they can talk about is his or herself. Instead, listen to what your following is interested in hearing. Answer questions. Be… a REAL person, not a marketing machine. (According to Constant Contact 36% of people trust advertising, but 81% trust recommendations, referrals, comments and compliments. Powerful stuff!)

How can you let fans/followers get to know you and still stay true to your brand?

I think Webb was quite brilliant on the Today Show this morning when she said, ““I’m flattered at all the attention, and I’m humbled… but I’ll do whatever I can to help the team out and support A.J.’’ People want to do business with people they know, like and trust. The fact that she’s pretty and appears to be smart and humble? TRIFECTA!!

My advice to you? Occasionally let fans/followers see behind the curtain of your brand to see who YOU are. That doesn’t mean you have to be trivial. I travel with this obnoxiously cute suitcase. I tweeted a picture of it and said, “No one will ever mistake this as THEIR suitcase as I travel the country speaking this year.” See how that shows you my personality AND stays true to the brand?

What is your ULTIMATE goal?

Only Katherine Webb knows her goals. According to the Miss USA website… she graduated from Auburn last year with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Administration. So, maybe she’s looking for that perfect job and can use her new connections and status to not only find the job, but secure it.

As a business/brand, ask yourself what you want to accomplish through social meda: Do you want new leads, higher revenue, more exposure or simply foot traffic. Only YOU know the answers to that. But if you’re strategy isn’t accomplishing that.. then figure out what WILL get you where you want to go.

Turning A Profit

Katherine may actually see tweets = dollars (endorsement deal?). She’s got some major celeb status going at the moment. I wish her the best and hopefully she’s surrounded by grounded and business-savvy people who can leverage her incredible moment in the sun. But, just like the rest of us, she needs to know that strategy is both the engine and the roadmap that keep the buzz going and the goals in sight. In fact… I think I’ll tweet her about it…

No matter how I’ve tried to distract myself this week.. it’s still overshadowed by the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting one week ago that left 27 people dead – including 20 of them 6 and 7 year olds! So, I blogged about it Monday… explaining how social media has affected the tragedy. Facebook, twitter and other platforms have given us an outlet to quickly get information and express our grief.

In a follow up blog today… I want to pass along a way to use social media to actually help the victims of this national tragedy. This idea comes from John Haydon from Inbound Zombie Marketing. It’s simply brilliant!

John Haydon specializes in helping non-profits market on social media so he put together this Facebook Cover Photo to help collect donations for the Sandy Hook community. You can actually link this cover photo to any number of charities helping in Connecticut. Why do this? It not only puts your support up front and center on Facebook for everyone to see, but shared fundraisers on average raise $18 more in donations!

How can you join the effort?

1. Download the cover photo (created by John) in 2 different ways: by going to my facebook cover photo or by going here (and right click on the image).

2. Change your cover photo to the Sandy Hook donation artwork. (See pic below)

IMPORTANT:  This cover is NOT for use on Business or Fan Pages because it violates Facebook’s guidelines on page covers. You can ONLY use this cover photo on your PERSONAL PROFILE.)

3. Add the http:// clickable link in the photo description. Now, I know it says “click the tree”… but actually like any cover photo, if you click on it.. it’ll take you to a description of the photo. That’s where you can put the donation information link and an explanation. (See below)

4. Find a great organization to support. I love what John’s doing through crowd funding to raise money for the Newtown Youth Services (a United Way organization).. but you can pick any non-profit that fits your mission. Here’s a list of groups that I found:

~Newtown Youth & Family Services (You can always contribute to this group through John Haydon’s campaign.)

~Newtown Parent Connection

~United Way of Western Connecticut

Any other ways you’ve seen folks using social media to help our neighbors in need? I’d love to hear about it!!

WTAMU President Pat O’Brien

Picking exactly 7 strategies for my commencement speech at West Texas A&M University wasn’t an accident. Seven is considered a lucky number.. and let’s face it, you can’t discount luck when it comes to success because sometimes you’re simply in the right place at the right time. However, West Texans know… you can’t always create your own luck no matter how hard you try. (Think dust bowls & tornadoes.) Sometimes you survive and truly thrive because of your beliefs and sheer determination. Therefore, 7 strategies seemed perfect – strategies with a dash of luck. Here are the cliff notes of my speech on December 14th, 2012 on the WTAMU campus.

1. DO What You Say… & SAY What You Do

Too few people in this day and age actually DO what they say they’ll do. Even the smallest lack of follow through can cost you. For instance, I recently passed on employing a friend’s intern b/c the gal decided to text her boss saying she wouldn’t be showing up anymore. So stand out and be the one person folks KNOW they can depend on to deliver.

Also, don’t forget to tell people WHAT you do for a living. I used to only offer social media strategy, but learned many folks need someone to carry out that plan. When I added staff and started doing strategy blueprints AND implementation, I forgot to tell people! It was my own fault when I learned some potential clients were looking to hire someone else to run their social media. Don’t overlook the obvious and make sure you can state what you do in one sentence.

 2. Don’t Take “NO” For An Answer

“NO” can be a powerful word, and if given by the right person… it’s can be a good indicator to proceed with a caution. But in this world of naysayers… “NO” is thrown out way to much. We currently have a society that thrives on drama, scandal & lying to get ahead (Reality TV, anyone?). Don’t let “NO” crush your dreams because you’ll never accomplish anything really great. I was told I would NEVER get a job right out of college in OKC TV. So I found out when the General Manager at the ABC affiliate had his coffee break and made sure I met him in the station cantina. No one had ever done that and he hired me within weeks.

 3. Be Flexible

There are no guarantees in life… especially in this economy. Our grandparents & parents often enjoyed lifetime careers and pensions. Times have changed. My generation will reinvent 3 times and new graduates will reinvent SEVEN times. (There’s that 7 again…) So don’t get too set in your ways or secure. Stay true to your core values and beliefs, but be able to bend with the wind so you don’t break.

 4. It’s Okay To Fail… (gulp!)

I was devastated when my 20 year TV news career came to a screeching halt because of the economy (my contract came due during a massive layoff at the station). However, it’s not about how hard you fall, but it’s how high you bounce that counts. After my “failure”… I created my own business with clients ranging from network TV correspondents and CEOs to national franchises and solopreneurs, used social media to market my self-published book which sold more copies in just the first month than 97% of first time authors ever sell, and spent the last two years traveling to 28 cities with my mentor & Girlfriend Tory Johnson on the Spark & Hustle National Tour. Who would thunk? Not me… at least not until I failed. My father (a psychologist) says you can either be a victim of failure OR you can use it as an opportunity to grow and learn.

 5. Surround Yourself With The Best

The book I wrote was all about surrounding yourself with people who will be with you through the good, the bad & the ugly. When you start to think you’re all that and a bag of chips, these guys will keep you from being you’re own worst enemy. They genuinely celebrate your success and lend you a shoulder to cry on in tough times. However, you need more than BFFs (Best Friends Forever). Make sure you create BBFs as well. Best Business Friends will help you learn, grow and succeed in your professional life. For instance, I created a Mastermind Group w/ three of the smartest and most successful women I know. We decided to try meetings for 3 months… 3 years later, I can’t imagine my business or life without them. Another BBF is Tory Johnson from Good Morning America. She always challenges me after successes saying, “That’s great, but are you making any money?” Having her a phone call away is like having the Dali Lama on speed dial. (If you haven’t caught on… surround yourself with folks SMARTER than you!)

 6. Don’t Make Success Too Complicated

When I originally figured out my social media business “train” pulling out of the station… I hadn’t laid the tracks or planned the route! (EEKS!) So, there were times when I frantically put down tracks right in front of the train just to keep up. It would have easy to say “Wait, I’m NOT ready!” My Dad (psychologist) says we often procrastinate what we don’t do well or are scared to tackle. So, just suck it up and know the time is good enough RIGHT NOW to “get ‘er done”. Don’t wait and don’t make it hard: a simple, one-page business plan is fine and here’s no reason to reinvent the wheel when you don’t know something so just ASK SOMEONE.

 7. Tech Tools Level The Playing Field

It’s no longer the ones with the most money who always win. Social media has given us all the same voice.  According to my corporate partner Constant Contact, 36% of people trust advertising. On the other hand, 81% of people trust referrals, recommendations & comments even if it’s online from someone they don’t know. So, you can see why it’s so powerful when someone talks about your brand through social media. (Speaking of your brand… YOU are your brand. Anything you post is there forever so please make smart decisions.)

Also. social media is a chance to think local and go global. People are shocked when they hear I met Tory Johnson through Twitter instead of TV. Your world awaits!

Surrounding myself w/ the best: my parents

This is the way I turned a very public layoff into a national brand. Was some luck involved? Definitely. Was most of it due to my 7 strategies and West Texas determination? You bet. NOW is your time to take the buffalo (WTAMU mascot) by the horns and create the life you want and deserve.

As a human being, a mother and someone who witnessed first-hand the horror of the OKC bombing… I immediately began crying when I read about the tragedy in Connecticut. How could something like this happen?! How could someone be so evil to attack the tiniest souls who can’t protect themselves?! There are so many questions (and so many prayers).. but few answers. So, I’m handling this the only way I can… by writing.

There has been so much violence and death during the last few months from cowardly bullies and sick individuals who have no regard for life and only want to destroy the lives of others. A movie theater… a mall… and now an attack on 6 and 7 year olds. While gun violence, school safety and mental illness are topics we MUST discuss… I can’t solve those issues in my blog. Therefore, I’m going to write about a topic that I know well: social media and it’s effect on a tragedy like the one Friday.

 A Source of Information

When I covered the OKC bombing in 1995 as an anchor and reporter.. social media wasn’t around. It’s hard to imagine that we barely had email back then. At first, I felt intrusive doing live shots at all hours from the scene and interviewing family members. I changed my mind when our TV station started a “Help For The Heartland” drive to collect supplies for search & rescue workers. Within an hour we had a line 3 miles long for folks to donate dog booties, Water, beds, you name it. That’s when I realized that people didn’t want to just cry and watch the drama unfold… those not directly involved were right there with us! They were praying and wanting to do whatever they could to help us survive and somewhat eventually heal from a tragedy that took away the innocence of our nation. (The 1995 Murrah Federal Building bombing took the lives of 168 innocent people including 19 children under the age of 6)

While this current Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy strips away another layer of innocence much liked the OKC bombing.. the way people get their information has changed. Think about where you were when you learned of the bombing and got updates versus where were you Friday when you learned about the Connecticut shooting and how you got updates? I was in the car on my way to deliver the commencement speech at West Texas A&M University. Instead of being glued to a TV (like most folks 17 years ago), Twitter, Facebook and network news apps were my only source of information. (I was NOT driving.) Such chaos and heartbreak should never happen, but yet I was able to immediately pray and wonder what I could do to help. I’m not alone. I would imagine hundreds of thousands of Americans first heard about the shooting MUCH differently more than a decade and a half ago… much less a couple of years ago.

 A Sense of Community

Instead of waiting for a newscast or a newspaper, we are learning in almost real time about the heroic principal and teachers. Those stories can give us comfort and remind us that evil hasn’t taken over. Yes, some images become overwhelming… but that’s not new. The picture of baby Baylee Almon being carried out of the Murrah building day care by a firefighter will be with me until the day I die. These images can help us understand the enormity of the disaster. It’s no longer something “so far way” and disconnected from us… but instead we realize we’re in this together and together we will some how get through it. Social media has become a place where we can connect with our neighbors and strangers across the nation in real time.

 A Sounding Board

I think a lot of people want answers and they’re turning to social media for that because it’s a place where we can voice our outrage, pray together, and maybe find some hope when hope seems lost. Keeping emotions pent up isn’t a good thing. So having a place to share, even if you’re at home alone, is very important. And eventually, if the folks in the Newtown community want to read what well wishers have said, they have it documented for them. They KNOW they’re not alone… that America is behind them. I remember the notes and flowers along “the fence” surrounding ground zero in OKC was a huge comfort to the families. Many of those mementos are forever enshrined in the OKC Memorial Museum. These days, though, you don’t even have to be within traveling distance to let those affected know you care and that you honor those innocent lives lost. (Dozens of memorial pages have been set up on Facebook, including SandyHookRIP, featureing stories of  heroism nd pictures to honor the victims.)

The Bad With The Good

I was appalled to hear yesterday in a live news conference by Connecticut State Police that some people have been posing on social media as the dead gunman. (Btw- I won’t ever utter his name because he doesn’t deserve my breathe which is instead saved for the victims and survivors. PERIOD!)  I truly think there is a special place in Hell for these folks and somehow that gives me peace. Regardless, I’m so glad to hear this “misinformation” is a violation of federal law and the Connecticut State Police plan to prosecute. I’m so glad to hear that while certain posts may be painful to those already so hurt, there’s also a legal consequence! Any human being who can turn such a tragedy into a joke or their own profit deserves to pay the price. Social media may be free… but stupidity and cruelty comes with a price.

TV and newspaper outlets covering the tragedy have rules of ethics and they must answer to their viewers if they offend. That’s not the case with social media. Anyone can post anything they want. Whether we see it immediately, every action DOES have a consequence. I’m hoping peer pressure will keep many on social media honest and realizing that they must face themselves in the mirror (as well as their friends/followers/fans). Regardless, I still think the social media good outweighs the bad.

We talk about what a small world it is. But it’s never smaller than when we go through a tragedy together. Social media is a wonderful place to get information, feel a sense of community and get your feelings out.

Speaking of the victims… I want to honor them myself and I thought this NBC Story about the victims is so powerful: Watch Story