Cinderella's Social Media Engagement Lessons for Marketers

Once upon a time in a land far, far away....

Photo: wikipedia.org Creative Commons 2.5

You know the ending of the Cinderella story: She gets her prince and lives happily ever after. Before there was an "ever after," there was a path to her prince and actions she took that led to her engagement.  (Yes, engagement  has a double meaning in this blog post!)

How did Cinderella get to that magical point of engagement? Below are Cinderella's social media engagement lessons for  marketers.

1. Little blue birds are the best helpers.

Cinderella sang, and her little blue birds showed up to help her.

Marketers:  Your Twitter audience can be your best resource for product reviews, customer service and generating ideas for new products or services. Talk to to them, ask their opinions, and listen to them sing with you in the harmony of your brand. It truly is a magical thing when this happens!

2. Always have faith in your Fairy Godmother.

After her stepsisters cruelly destroyed the dress she planned to wear to the ball, Cinderella broke down in sorrow, beginning to lose her faith in dreams; However; her faith was still strong enough to summon her Fairy Godmother.

Marketers:  When your brand is attacked by online "trolls" who only seek to damage your brand reputation, have faith that your brand champions and advocates will be your Fairy Godmother to come to your rescue.  

Nashville Networking: Lessons learned from "New Business Networking"

I thought I knew a lot about networking until I read the book,  New Business Networking, by Dave Delaney. Seriously, my friends refer to me as the "queen of networking" in Nashville. Of course, I don't  claim to know everyone or everything, but I have met a few people along the way in creating and growing  Social Media Club Nashville.

Dave Delaney, author of New Business Neworking

New Business Networking has tons of stats mixed in with tips on using the latest social media and web tools. It is also peppered with stories of Dave's networking journey in Nashville. Similar to Dave, I made my way to Nashville via Jackson, TN and networked to meet friends who later ended up becoming co-workers. Small world!

I often refer to Nashville as a big small town where you are two degrees of separation from anyone you want to meet. I enjoy being a connector of people, organizing Social Media club Nashville events, and bouncing ideas off of others as I guide my Marketing career.

I'm pretty skilled at networking (if I do say so myself) but there's always more to learn!

Building Relationships Just Got Easier with LinkedIn Contacts

My LinkedIn Contacts "Rolodex" is now my personal Social Relationship Manager.

LinkedIn Contacts iPhone App views

I have over 1,700 contacts and growing on LinkedIn! I've always considered LinkedIn a digital Rolodex, adding connections as I meet them or see them pop up in LinkedIn suggestions. I've been looking at the new LinkedIn Contacts features and LinkedIn Contacts iPhone App to see what might make my life easier and improve my networking time management.

I synced my iPhone with the LinkedIn Contacts App and my LinkedIn Connections so I always have the most up to date info for my contacts. It also provides "on the go" networking with up to date activity from my network.

One feature I really like about LinkedIn Contacts is the daily reminder/task list called "your day" on the desktop version and "to do' on the app version, which conveniently suggests networking activities with my network based on things going on with them such as a new title or birthday -  Following Relationship Rule #1: make it about them! LinkedIn Contacts makes it easy to reach out to say "congratulations" and it helps me to always be "in the know" when I bump into people at events.

Lessons from Derek Young on Being a Trusted Advisor

I haven't written a blog post in a couple of weeks. I've been waiting for some inspiration to hit me in the head. Good news! Today at NAMA's Marketing Power Lunch, it did! I would describe the program as comical and amazing.

The speaker was Derek Young, a corporate advisor to companies such as Dollar General, Cracker Barrel, and Tractor Supply Company (and those are just the Nashville ones). But don't get me wrong, aside from telling us he has billionaire and Dollar General founder, Cal Turner's cell phone number, he's not a "name dropping" kind of guy.

If fact, one of the lessons learned from his presentation is to "Give people the flowers before they die," meaning don't wait to tell people they are great. Show your appreciation now.