It’s always a good workweek when there is a little volunteer and learning time in the mix. A highlight of my week was attending the Communicators Conference, an annual event co-hosted by the PRSA Portland Metro Chapter and OCIABC. In addition to the luxury of a day to spend on professional development, I assisted with monitoring and managing the conference’s Twitter feed throughout the sessions.

Although events often punctuate our worklife on Twitter, much of our team’s effort on social networks revolves around how to keep day-to-day content fresh and exciting for followers in between special events. So it was educational in itself to watch how usage of Twitter unfolded throughout the course of just one day and what type of presentations and speaking styles prompted the most tweets.

Here are some tips for community managers who find themselves live at the helm of a Twitter feed at an event:

1. Housekeeping. Monitor for questions at the start of the event and session starts. I noticed that the most questions I experienced were at the beginning of the day, and usually about “getting settled,” such as how to connect to the venue’s Wifi. Prompt responses on Twitter helped generate goodwill among the more active attendees.
2. Time event updates to optimize attendee views. I found that more attendees paid attention to CTAs and reminders on Twitter near the close of sessions, during lunch and networking opportunities, when they were more likely to check their mobile devices for updates.
3. Let attendees carry the news. It’s so powerful when third parties endorse you. Let users tweet the nuggets of insight from speakers, then retweet attendees on the event feed to recognize them for their effort.
4. Praise and give thanks. Although this sounds more like Sunday school than a business event, some of the most retweeted posts from the event thanked individuals for their contributions and praised good work.
5. Reward good behavior. At a recent event locally, organizers decided to reward the most prolific Twitter user with a small prize. That’s a great way to up your numbers among power tweeters at the event.
6. Benchmark. Run a Tweetreach report on your event hashtag at the end of the week (or pull your other event metrics) vs. the day of the event. That way you will be sure to include additional reach and impressions from follow-up conversation after the event.
7. Cross-promote. This sounds deceptively simple, but it’s easy to lose track of while you’re live at an event. A few well-placed tweets at lunch and during the networking hour about the organization’s Facebook page helped us boost our following considerably.

It takes a keen eye and extreme talent to enter a Porsche 911 design contest.  That’s what CMD’s Jeremy Gates did when Fast Company created a contest to encourage designers to take the essence of the sports car and create something completely new.

Jeremy designed a hard-shell backpack that combines the classic lines of the Porsche 911 with the modern look and feel of today’s sports car. Jeremy’s design has made it to the top 25 of 400 participants, a huge accomplishment.

The entire CMD team is proud of Jeremy for his creative design and we’re going to rev up the engines in hopes that he wins and takes home the grand prize.

To find out more, we asked Jeremy about his project:

“Having the chance to participate in Fast Company’s Porsche-driven design contest has about as much appeal as you could hope to find. Porsche is one of the classic examples of function-inspired design, and the length they go to realize this idea is represented in their attention to detail, continual evolution, and unending passion.

What inspired Ferdinand Porsche to design the first Porsche was personal to him, but the result is timeless and speaks to the world. And great design has this element at its core—whether it’s industrial, graphical, or branding—something personal that speaks to you, that makes you feel great to be part of it. This works both ways, both for the consumer and the designer, when done honestly and passionately. And with Porsche you have the perfect alignment of all these factors.

The idea of providing an open contest like this is smart, and reflects a realization that the best ideas come from open collaboration and true passion. It has been exciting to play in the realm of inspired industrial design. And just a whole lot of fun.”

Good luck, Jeremy!

Of the hundreds of interactive sessions at SXSW this year, the Q&A with Pinterest Co-founder Ben Silbermann was definitely one of the highlights for me. Having surpassed 11 million users, Pinterest was one of the “buzz products” at the conference. There was certainly greater acceptance and interest in Pinterest, as its meteoric rise in user base in the past months has earned it a little respect.

Silbermann enlightened the audience about the original motivation for Pinterest, which was to provide a forum for collecting online. That’s a single-mindedness in app development that I find really fascinating—pick a fundamental human behavior (i.e., collecting) and build around it.

He added that his main method of market research was to go to a local bookstore and study the lifestyle categories of consumer magazines on the shelf. In his mind, Pinterest needed to be “beautiful” enough to show off the same sorts of images that appeared in print. He is especially interested in the real-world connections that users make to their pins, such as recipes and crafts, and he hopes Pinterest will help users discover things “they didn’t know they wanted.”

Of interest, Silbermann said he was pleased to see the new uses of Pinterest popping up in the past several weeks, such as satire boards, (think Presidential campaign), and museums using it to stimulate interest in and sharing of their collections.

What’s on the horizon from Pinterest? Silberman outlined several items, in addition to the consumer-friendly changes to its terms of service that appeared this week:

1. Improvements to the Profile to allow users to trace the path of pins to influential people
2. Expanding the platform to iPad and other devices
3. Releasing an API—but he said this would only happen when it was fully ready and stable
4. Expanding sources of pins, like video, and adding better attribution

As you can imagine, he played his cards close to his vest when it came to business model and monetization. Commenting on the recent affiliate link program on Pinterest, he said that was a trial to better understand user behavior, and has been discontinued for the moment.

Craving more? PC Magazine also published a nice recap of Silbermann’s talk.

How are you using Pinterest lately?

As a CMD filmmaker, no one believes in this idea more than Ron Bourke.

For years, Ron has been behind the camera, directing hundreds of shoots for dozens of CMD clients. For brands and companies, Ron has found just the right words and created enough magic to turn even the most ordinary thing into something extraordinary.

Then one day, Ron found out about a story that didn’t need anything extra to be extraordinary. It just needed to be told.

In his documentary, “Lessons of Basketball and War,” Ron has begun unraveling the story of a real-life drama playing out in a seemingly ordinary Portland middle school. At this school, refugee teenage girls from war-torn Somalia have coped with how to adjust to a new life, a completely different culture, and overcome the tribal rivalries and violence of their past – through the help of a principal and the game of basketball.

The film follows the school’s principal, Kevin Bacon, and this ragtag basketball team through a year of challenges, disappointments and occasional victories. As the girls adjust from the wartime horrors of east Africa to the cold, gray drizzle of Portland, Ron’s goal is to focus on the deeper story of belonging, the meaning of community, and how peace can be inspired by something as simple as the game of basketball.

A labor of love, Ron hopes to complete the final editing of this stirring documentary and bring it to life by raising money through a grassroots funding effort at Kickstarter. To learn more about “Lessons of Basketball and War,” visit Ron’s Kickstarter site: http://kck.st/x5KLTY.

At CMD, we are inspired by amazing talent and story tellers like Ron, and we hope you are too. At a special event being held at CMD on March 7, from 6-7:30 p.m., Ron and Hosford Middle School Principal Bacon will tell the tale behind this incredible basketball team, preview the footage, and describe what it will take to complete the film. It’s a story worth sharing; we invite you to come by and learn more or consider supporting this fantastic project through Kickstarter.

Many of us who make the rounds of industry tradeshows know that working an event can be at once exhilarating and exhausting. We are taking care of our booth duties, catching up with coworkers, and meeting new colleagues and customers, while at the same time trying to soak up the latest knowledge—all during the space of only two or three days.

Have you had the experience of coming home from an event and thinking: “I wish I could have captured that booth demo on video or at least taken a photo”? When it comes to events, the decisive moment cannot be recreated. If you’re serious about capturing it, you have to come prepared.

The capability and skills to capture photo and video content that is presentable and usable in a business context is becoming more valuable (and marketable) in the workplace, regardless of what our individual job roles may be. At CMD, our earned media team regularly makes the rounds of shows with clients, and we serve as embedded journalists—capturing demos, executive sound bites and b-roll to use on owned social networks during show week and throughout the year. Our work takes us to shows as varied as New York Comic Con, National Retail Federation, HIMSS, GDC, IDF and more.

Coming back to the office with a gem of a video sound bite that your communications director can actually use for YouTube, or a still photo that might make it into a newsletter or onto a web page is something that we can all contribute to. It just takes a little bit of advance planning.

In the tips below, we’re assuming a video shoot at a tradeshow booth, with demos and spokespeople from one’s own company and external parties.

1. What’s your story? Even a short 90-second YouTube video should have a discernible story. Whether it’s a sneak peek of a new technology or an expert’s perspective on an industry trend, think about what you’d like the “headline” of your video to be. That will guide what you shoot at the event.
2. Give an ear to your audio setup. Tradeshows are extremely noisy environments, meaning the ambient microphone built into your camera is totally inadequate. In this setting, to be usable, even an informal video requires pro audio equipment. Check to see if your camera has a mini audio input for a microphone. If it does, you’re in luck because you can easily add a professional microphone setup. Consider renting, borrowing or otherwise scrounging a lavalier microphone kit. This is a common rental item at professional photo shops, usually renting for about $25 a day. If you’re serious about capturing presentable video, it’s worth it.
3. Give an eye to your lighting. Although a tradeshow booth may seem bright to your eye, it is quite often dark from the camera’s point of view. Work with available lighting and maneuver your subject into a brighter area of the tradeshow environment. Consider stepping outside and shooting in daylight, if it works for your story.
4. Shoot “b-roll.” When creating a short video story, take some additional footage that can augment the main subject. Don’t worry about sound for this kind of thing; the point is to gather additional visuals that can be edited together with your subject.  When it comes to b-roll, always shoot more than you think you need.
5. Make a plan for editing. Even the shortest and simplest videos can benefit from an editor’s touch. If you are handing off your footage to someone who has editing software and skills, this is where your b-roll will come in handy to enliven the visuals of your story. Consider adding slides with explanatory information and your contact info at the beginning and end.
6. Be mindful of permissions. If your story includes interviewing people who are not full-time employees of your own company, come prepared with your company’s standard photo release form and ask each person interviewed to sign one. It’s easier to get this done onsite than it is to do it after the fact.

As an example, here’s a short video shot at a tradeshow with a commonly used consumer HD video camera, available light and a professional mic kit:

http://youtu.be/LROmfc503X8 (Timber Products)

With thousands of headlines and tips being shared on Twitter alone each hour, we think it’s helpful to share our favorites—the articles and blog posts that really stood out this week as being most relevant, interesting and insightful. Browse the list and then tell us about your favorite article this week.

Sarah Biedak: Why We Seek the New: A History and Future of Neophilia – An interesting look at why we all are always trying to discover the next best thing.

Jesse Davis: Social media measurement is difficult. There’s no one tool that does it all, no one strategy for measurement, no one department that owns this space, but this article by Fast Company has some interesting thoughts about how to organize, strategize and analyze social media ROI.

Melissa Lion: I don’t condone crying at your desk, however, if you’re up for a bit of a weep and some very beautiful stories from people all over the world, check out DearPhotograph.com. And hand me a tissue.

Julie Yamamoto: Video: where good ideas come from http://youtu.be/NugRZGDbPFU.

Gary Rubin: How social media is changing college athletics and recruiting. http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/football/story/_/id/7510010/social-media-makes-mark-recruiting

Stefanie Week: Ever wonder what those tech-savvy youth are doing online and with their mobile phones these days? Ekaterina Walter from Intel compiled an impressive list of the top stats for how Gen Y is using technology.

What did you read this week?

Meet the new cloud consumer

Are you ready for the next billion? There are 7 billion people on the planet today, and another billion are predicted to arrive in the next 10 years. A child born today will experience a terabyte of data in a single year. She will own her first computer by the age of five. And with another 15 billion connected devices coming online in the next 3 to 4 years, the way she will experience the world will be fundamentally different than the way we understand it.

The new cloud consumer is redefining ownership. This generation understands that people don’t own entertainment content anymore—it’s simply borrowed from the cloud.

It’s time we start thinking about brands in the same way.

Tips for succeeding in the cloud

Encouraging your consumers to become your brand advocates is the new currency of the cloud. Creating opportunities for them to have authentic peer-to-peer communication is the best way to continue to build an engaged customer base. Doing so enables your customers to promote your brand far more effectively than relying on traditional top-down messages, which often come across as heavy-handed, no matter how clever the headline.

No matter the type of cloud platform, and regardless of who your customer is, be it a Fortune 500 CXO or a 14-year-old girl who is considering diet cola, the following guidelines can help build your brand in the cloud.

Content. King of the Cloud.

Drive your success by giving your consumers content they can own, feel a part of, and share with their peers.

Create engaging content. Think infographics instead of whitepapers. Short videos over lengthy manifestos. Develop animations and simple, useful tools and apps that encourage customers to engage with your brand.

Embrace a syndication engine. Engagement is not a one-time event, it’s an ongoing conversation, requiring constant encouragement and updating. Push content out to your consumer regularly and consistently.

Create content that is adaptable to all devices, but optimized for each platform. An incredible iPhone app looks less impressive on the iPad, for example.

Brand your content, not the content container. Find subtle, smart ways to keep your brand ever present within the content, not just on your landing page.

Going beyond Content

Add a thought leadership strategy to the mix. Doing so positions your company and brand as an innovator. It’s critical, especially considering how quickly data—and brand advocates—move in the cloud.

Capturing the Cloud

Are your customers talking about your brand? If so, where? And how often? Use a dashboard that provides a single view of your brand’s relevance across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (and many others).

Track your brand’s impressions and reach in the cloud. Use analytics to figure out how many people are seeing your brand and, even more importantly, sharing it with friends and colleagues. Doing so can help shape content responses and further maintain your brand’s momentum in the cloud.

While the cloud can aid in building your brand, increased awareness isn’t the only benefit it has to offer. At CMD, we believe that taking your company to the cloud can help reduce costs, improve efficiency and boost flexibility. What do you think some of the biggest advantages of the cloud will be for your business in the future?

Yes, it’s a few weeks into the New Year, but we haven’t reached the Super Bowl yet, so it’s still legal to share resolutions for 2012.

There’s a lot of coverage right now about personal resolutions like eating healthy food and exercising, however brands and marketers should also consider activities that they want to change this year. If 2011 wasn’t up to par, or you wish you had done things differently when it came to your marketing activity, you’re not alone. It’s healthy to take a pause and review what worked and what didn’t over the course of the last year, and make appropriate adjustments.  Now is the time to evolve and learn from the past.

Our team here at CMD did a lot of evaluation on the strategies and tactics that we implemented for our clients over the past 12 months and without question, it was helpful. After all, the definition of insanity is performing the same function time and time again and hoping for a different outcome. The bottom line? Status quo rarely works.

So, here are three resolutions that brands should strongly consider in 2012 if they want to shake things up and keep evolving in 2012:

Plan, plan, plan: It’s easy to look quarter-by-quarter, but nothing brings clarity to a marketing initiative like looking ahead 12 months, especially when it comes to content on your social channels. Take a shot at planning out your content for the year by asking yourself, “Where are all of our tradeshows? What messages do we want to hit, and when is the right time to deploy?”  Just like attacking a cluttered closet that you’ve been meaning to get to, keep the valuable content items and toss the rest. It will clear your mind and your marketing plans.

Pull the trigger:  How many of you have an idea in the drawer that’s never seen the light of day? Like a bowl-induced, New Year’s Day football coma, inertia kills marketing success quickly. Sitting on an idea or making a plan and thinking it to death doesn’t generate results. Take a proactive approach this year, trust your agency to deliver a campaign that hits your objectives, and go for it.

Remember traditional PR: Because I’m in the Earned Media/Public Relations group at CMD, I’m biased toward utilizing traditional PR channels. I love calling the desks at publications and pitching a great story. Social media has dominated the conversation the past four years, but remember that there are still traditional media outlets that can spread your word far and wide. They are looking for content. A few strategic pitches could bring you more good luck than a dish of black-eyed peas (it’s a Southern New Year’s tradition, look it up.)

What are your marketing resolutions for 2012?

More social media choices reveal different reflections of ourselves—is the picture always clear?

Some futurists predict that one day, we may not feel so compelled to post, update, check in and share as much as we do today.

But right now, the irresistible drive to publish what we’re doing, thinking and experiencing—and the social media platforms to do it on—seem to be getting more prolific by the minute. You also may have noticed your audiences are getting pickier to boot. Now, you pretty much need something new, interesting and unique to say, show or share on each social media channel you adopt (much to the chagrin of those who use handy little apps to simply spew the same thing across all their digital profiles).

This is a good thing for better, more fitting content, but it’s also causing users to have an identity crisis of sorts. The conflict is no longer just about whether to friend an old flame on Facebook. Oh no. The dilemmas of these new offerings draw out and surface the multiple dimensions and personalities that can be found within ourselves, forcing us to decide whether the reflection that social media mirrors back is an accurate one. Consider just some of the soul-searching the average social media user now has to ponder:

-        Should I let my personal and professional life mingle on Facebook and just how awkward could it get?

-        How and what do I focus on in conversations I have with my Google+ circles? Should I share with everybody?

-        Will my obsessions with unicorns and knitting be best featured on Pinterest?

-        Is Tumblr going to be about my serious professional self or completely focused on my cat?

-        Do I want to share my fondness for fried foods on Instagram?

-        What will my coworkers think when they see I’m the mayor of Spartacus on Foursquare?

-        Will my friends listen to my Spotify playlist and believe I’m hopelessly behind the times?

-        If I tweet about these things, will I confuse my followers or run the risk that my boss will see it on LinkedIn?

Here are a few suggestions to help you organize and manage your somewhat split social media personalities:

Partition out of respect, not because you have something to hide

Ok, so you mainly tweet about your profession via Twitter. Given that, it makes sense that the photos of your cat you upload on Instagram may not interest your Twitter followers. Therefore, separating the two is probably a good idea. But the idea is to look at it from your audiences’ point of view and spare them things they may not find interesting, not to try to hide anything from certain people out of fear or embarrassment about what they might see. With that in mind, however . . .

. . . If you’re worried your mother, boss, spouse, etc., might see something, it’s probably best not to share it.

Common sense rules here. It really doesn’t matter how protected you think your circles are, or how well you’ve blocked select content from certain groups of friends, someone can still easily quote you or take something you’ve said and share it with others. With social getting more searchable, and open APIs, it’s pretty foolhardy to believe online activity will always be protected from view and won’t pop up in a search somewhere at some time. Which gets us to the next point . . .

. . . Don’t be so rigid about building those walls

This may seem contradictory to the first point, but keep in mind that the most interesting folks and brands on social don’t always stick to the party line—randomness of conversation, sharing something that may not be strictly in the wheelhouse of what you mainly focus on—is simply part of the culture. So if you want to share that particularly adorable picture of your cat in the bathtub via Twitter, even if it’s outside the things you typically talk about there, do it. Just don’t do it all the time (again, respect for your connections always reigns). That said . . .

. . . It’s ok to sit on the sidelines

Just because you’re using a channel, you don’t always have to swim with the fish. Sometimes, you can sit on the banks and enjoy the stream. For example, amazing photos are shared via Instagram every day. If you don’t feel like putting your photos out there for everyone to judge, it’s perfectly acceptable to join Instagram simply for the viewing pleasure of seeing what others are posting.  Finally, as with everything else in life . . .

. . . Decide what’s right for you

Social media is awesome for people who like to discover and explore. But not everyone is comfortable revealing so much online. That’s smart, and it makes sense to be protective and cautious. Figure out what works for you and don’t feel pressured to participate just because everyone’s doing it and it’s the hot new thing. This also goes to the point of sheer practicality. Unless it’s your job, let’s face it, managing all this stuff is incredibly time-consuming, as it takes lots of care and nurturing. Therefore, decide on your personal favorites and focus time and energy there if you’d like, vs. trying to do it all.

As you try out social media tools, what are some of the ways you use them to share different dimensions of yourself with others? What are your thoughts and suggestions for how to best manage it all?

No one can deny the amount of marketing noise that exists during November and December. It’s a busy time of year for shoppers and marketers alike. Here are a few creative concepts that stood out to me this season:

1. Etsy’s Gift Ideas for Facebook Friends. Everyone wants to give a unique, one-of-a-kind gift to that special someone, and Etsy’s community of crafters and specialty designers is the perfect place to find those gifts. That’s why the Facebook app on their site caught my attention. Here’s how it works: Use the app to select one of your Facebook friends. Etsy will then serve up a handful of suggested gifts based on the information from your friend’s profile. And, shhhh, it’s all secret so that your friends won’t know you’re shopping for them!
2. eBay’s Give-A-Toy Store. Now here’s a great idea that attracted both offline and online audiences. eBay set up interactive window displays in New York and San Francisco. Passersby used their eBay mobile app to scan the QR code on the toys shown in the display to make a direct donation to Toys for Tots. Users not in New York or San Francisco were able to make donations online.
3. American Express’ Small Business Saturday. Now in its second year, Small Business Saturday has become a mainstream movement – securing local TV coverage and even an official declaration from Mayor Bloomberg. The social media extensions for this campaign were endless. One cool thing they introduced this year: Sync your American Express card with either your Facebook or Foursquare profiles, and if you spend at least $25 at a small business, you’ll get a $25 credit on your statement.
4. Intel Partners with The Pioneer Woman. I think I’d be remiss in this post if I didn’t include a brief, shameless plug for a holiday campaign that the CMD team worked on this season … right? Knowing that gift givers are quite busy during the holidays, CMD and Intel went right to the source instead of trying to avert attention elsewhere. Intel and one of the most well-known female bloggers, The Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond), teamed up to host a holiday card challenge where readers submitted their digital works of art for judging by Ree. The effort tied together Ree’s passion for digital photography along with the visual capabilities of Intel’s latest technology. Extensions on Twitter and through a charitable giving effort also helped drive momentum for a monthlong program that drove engagement in spades.

What are the creative concepts that you came across this past holiday season?