@BasilPuglisi

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Will Airtime Re-Humanize the Internet?

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The internet has left some parts of humanity more isolated from one another while simultaneously connecting them in ways we never had in the not-so-distant past. While it has certainly done far more good on the connection end than it has done bad on the isolation side, there are still many things that we are losing in communications with one another when we converse, relate, and communicate through social channels that are limited to text based chat or platforms. Many people who communicate for fun, as well as many others who use internet communication options for business are simply not finding themselves satisfied with the amount of human interaction in their digital communications.

In the Beginning

Long ago now when the internet arrived for public use, IRC, or internet relay chat was the usual medium of choice for those who desired interaction with others in the digital world. It was very basic, but users were able to chat, trade files through DCC sends and connects, and keep in touch, in real time, with users from all over the world. What an amazing experience it was. It still is, however, many vital elements important to human communications are lost in these digital transmissions.

  • Gestures
  • Body Language
  • “Eye- to – Eye” Contact
  • Attitude
  • Character

In general face-to-face conversations with the people in our lives we can see all of these things. Dig a little deeper into the real person they are, grow to understand their gestures and body language to gauge their reaction to the world-at-large.

Now and In the Future

Airtime’s founders, who also met over an IRC in those early days of the Internet, have created an incredible alternative to those stale, distant, disconnected textual conversations online. One-click Facebook integration on Airtime means there is nothing more than the one required click to get users started. Users need only make sure they have a web cam connected to get started.

With Airtime, users are both the audience and the performer. You can chat up your Facebook friends, or pair up with a stranger by selecting filters such as nearby in your city, common friends, or even friends of friends.

Airtime allows users to video chat with one another or drag their own videos in from sites around the web like YouTube, and watch them together. Rumor has it that Airtime is also considering incorporating synchronous music listening and a platform for group chat with mobile apps on the way ‘very soon’ according to Airtime developers.

Although there are plenty of other ways to communicate through video, most of those platforms are tethered to desktop applications such as Skype, that still lacks some of the sharing options Airtime provides. Inspired by his own plight during a distance separation from his own girlfriend,  Sean Parker, co-founder of Airtime, decided it felt pretty distant to have to share a video with his girlfriend and then sit back, wait, and listen to or watch her reaction to it. He wanted them both to be able to watch it together, enjoy it simultaneous. A real-time human connection on a digital format.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

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What is Tout?

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We have had many Pinterest and Instagram-a-holics since those two stormed their way onto the social scene. However, short of YouTube we have had very few platforms that have provided us with a quick and easy method for uploading videos. Until now. Tout is a social media platform that enables users to take their own videos, up to 15 seconds long, and shoot them to their Facebook, Twitter, email contacts, or even SMS. With an engaging reply feature, Tout users can enjoy “Tout conversations.”

Combining social networking with the true power that video has to increase conversation and engagement can be a powerful force to be reckoned with when it comes to getting a social buzz going.

Tout Experiences

  • Some brands like USA Today, Access Hollywood, The Weather Channel, and CBS are already using Tout to interact directly with their audiences resulting in comments, questions and conversations that help extend the reach of their presence on the internet as well as traditional television.
  • Users can view video updates from their friends as well as some big celebrities or record their own Touts that can be shared with both family and friends. With real-time updates, high-quality video and “video everywhere” features, Touters can stay in-the-know about the events in the lives of those who are important to them.
  • Many celebrities such as Katie Couric, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Greta van Susteren, and Jeff Probst have begun using Tout to get connected personally with their fans. Big name stars like Stephen Spielberg and Madonna have actually answered Touted questions from fans from the red carpet.

Tout is beginning to change how people interact on social platforms. With more direct interaction in real-time, distance and disconnections are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Social sharing with a more vibrant experience in sound, motion and high-definition color and quality means that for many in the business of social, those things that cannot be shared fully in a still photo have become more up-close-and-personal in rich video media.

Get Touting!

Anyone can sign up at Tout.com and get started creating their own 15 second videos. Do not underestimate how powerful a message you can convey in those few short moments. Users can log in through the site, integrate with their Facebook account, or head to the Android store to grab the app. Check out this fantastic introduction video for Tout.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp5apxRKs3M&w=640&h=360]

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

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Boosting Revenue with Social Media

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For many marketing companies, management of corporate or small business level social media has become a full-time endeavor. For this reason it can be vital to learn what impact your efforts are actually having on your brand awareness. Gaining this knowledge will help you to understand what it may take to boost your business’s bottom line.

The Noisy Social Media Environment

Social media networks are busy places. Once a user has built up a large friend or fan following, the information can stream by at light speed. There are plenty of opportunities to place ads to garner that extra attention from those who may not be able to meticulously pick through their social media networks information, but still scan it for an overall idea of what the internet world had to offer today.

In a recent release of a study by the Adobe Digital Marketing Team, some statistics may have shown why consumers and businesses may not be benefiting from social media like they could.

  • 36% of tweets with valuable content are swallowed by a more boring majority.
  • 37% of those who do use social media networks say that the ads they see are not very useful.
  • 63% of social community managers spend more than 30 hours per week.
  • 26% spent 41 to 50 hours on their community administration and management.

Account proliferation seems to contribute to the overload currently experienced on social media networks. The Adobe study showed that many companies with over 1,000 employees, had an average of 178 social media network accounts. Not only can this clog up the networks, but it can also make full brand analytics rather difficult to test in some cases. Many social marketers also report that they feel they lack resources. Many of those also reporting that they often struggle to measure ROI, which ironically, does not help for getting new resources.

Measuring Social Success

There are obviously many business, large and small who are utilizing their Facebook fan pages to great benefit for their businesses and brands. Facebook and YouTube both have emerged as leaders in social marketing successes. These two market leaders dwarf their competition with an unparalleled critical difference in terms of time spent by users on those sites.

The study also showed that recommendations from other social users can affect the level of enjoyment a possible consumer may feel about a video.  When it comes to websites and content, the study also showed that users tend to stay logged in more than twice as long when doing so with social plug-ins.

Many other social networking and social media statistics found in the study can also be vital to understanding how to implement

Social sharing increases email click-throughs

CTR without sharing shows up around 26%.

  • Twitter – 5.0%
  • Facebook – 5.4%
  • LinkedIn – 9.6%

People use social networks to find local business

In 2008 4% of consumers reported they used social networking sites to find local business.

  • 2009 –  7%
  • 2010 – 9%
  • 2011 – 15%

Social Drives Sales but Faces Perception Challenges

During a self-assessment of women’s marketplace influence, 73% of young adult women described themselves as influential information sources. It also showed that orders that come in via social media networks are commonly larger than those through more traditional digital means such s email, search engines, or even ad displays. In the same realm, the study showed that social sharing can actually trickle down to orders. A quarter of online shoppers who shop at least quarterly, and log into their Facebook accounts at least once a month have made purchases based on a social recommendation.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

Display Ads and Tumblr [News]

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Technically, display advertising, or banner ads, are graphical advertisements on the web that pop up next to, above, blended into or under content on emails, web sites, or even IM applications. This video is very short but provides a great overall understanding of what display ads are and how they work.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUT5H723Ii4]

What Benefits Will Display Ad Networks Have on Your Business?

Just like magazines or newspaper ads, you can expect to receive the same type of benefit from display ads in exposure for your business and hopefully in an obviously increasing customer base. However, unlike magazines and newspaper ads, the flexibility of the internet lets us advertise to a worldwide community, expanding a business’s horizons endlessly. Display advertising also has distinct advantages over the more traditional formats.

  • Businesses can target specific options such as behavioral targeting options or direct choices in demographics allowing them to expertly direct ads only to their most vital audiences.
  • Performance of your ads can be tracked as part of your daily marketing campaign to allow you to measure metrics such as clicks, conversions, and impressions which will allow you to calculate your ROI.

Top Display Ad Networks

Although the list is constantly changing, some of the top display ad networks in the country include:

  • Yahoo Network
  • Google Ad Network
  • ValueClick Networks
  • Turn Media Platform
  • 27/7 Real Media
  • Adbrite

News in Ad Display  – Tumblr

A couple of years ago, CEO David Karp of Tumblr was asked what his feelings were on display ads. At that time he shared that they turned his stomach. Not something he wanted for his blogging platform. Very recent news shared that he may have found himself eating those words a bit when he shared that Tumblr plans to begin selling ad display units to advertisers. So far, the platform has survived without any ads but users will soon begin to see them displayed on their Tumblr “Featured” section of the dashboard.

Tumblr dashboard
Tumblr dashboard (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Advertisers should be able to pay for ad space beginning May 2nd. Tumblr currently hosts over 52 million blogs with a growth rate of approximately 50 million posts per day.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

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Can Social Media Change Education Paradigms?

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Sir Ken Robinson; author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies. He was Director of The Arts in Schools Project (1985–89), Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001) and was knighted in 2003 for services to education.  You can view the RSA animate video “Changing paradigms in Education”
 

I watched the video of Sir Ken Robinson’s “Changing Paradigms in Education” talk given at the Royal Society on the Arts on YouTube.  I don’t remember how I came across it but I was in awe.  I watched 4 or 5 times over. I wasn’t surprised to hear someone else talking about how current public education is failing our students.  Sir Ken Robinson’s simplistic approach to making small changes that can have significant impact on our children’s education was inspiring. I can see why it went viral.  Sir Ken’s key points hit many of the core issues I believe our evolving education system is now facing.
His views are not new.  The Montessori Method from the 1890’s involves the teacher in viewing the student as having an inner natural guidance for his or her own perfect self-directed development. The Reggio Emilia philosophy founded after World War II is based upon the following set of principles.  Students must have some control over the direction of their learning; must be able to learn

Image c/o www.edweek.org/

through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing, and hearing; have a relationship with other students and with material items in the world that students must be allowed to explore and must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.
So what has changed? Sir Ken Robinson talks about how education reform can work.  The current US education system was established during an Era of Cultural Enlightenment and the Industrial Economic Revolution.  That education model worked for a while. We were automating and building our communities.  People worked in factories or offices.  Technology was changing American society. Health and medicine evolved due to research technologies.  Many of our teaching programs developed over time met the variety of skill needs for our society.  As we move forward in the technological revolution factory like school settings and un-stimulating classroom learning are becoming obsolete, so we find ourselves asking “What’s Next?”
According to Robinson, We are changing education to prepare our future generations but we don’t know what that future will hold since there is such rapid change.  We are also trying to reform education to adapt to cultural changes while maintaining cultural identity, as the world’s cultures connect.
The System Requires Change
So how do we change the system without totally starting from scratch?  Our education infrastructure is expensive so we can’t build a new one. Many people are hesitant to scrap the current system fearing unknown outcomes.  There are ways Social Media could bridge the gap.   Technology has enabled society to catch up with Montessori’s revolutionary methods of teaching.  Collaborative learning and divergent thinking can take place in classrooms leveraging many of the Social Media tools we have today.
Image c/o ioanalazarov.com/

Preparing today’s students for the unknown and quickly changing cultural and economic climates, must include the new ways we are communicating.  Creating stimulating learning environments, allowing students to express knowledge through their creative means can be achieved by integrating Social Media technologies.  Communication modalities are changing our lives, and we must adapt our teaching methods to work with emerging technologies.
We must raise standards to compete in the changing world economy. What should the standards be?  Some tests can designate a person genius and others label them special needs.  Who will set the standards?
Sir Ken says to change the Education Paradigms we need to think differently about human capacity and get over the old conception of Academic, non-Academic, Abstract, Theoretical…etc. Most great learning happens in groups- Collaboration is the stuff of growth.  The current education system is crucially due to the culture of our institution: the Habits of our institution and the habitats they occupy.
I believe there are opportunities to make great strides with small changes if we introduce methods for implementing Social Media at different levels throughout the education spectrum.
Author:
Marilyn Zayfert is a passionate digital strategist implementing online and mobile applications. She is a results-driven sales and marketing strategist with a proven track record of achievement and demonstrated success.  Marilyn founded illumiNET Creative Media in 2009. illumiNET Creative builds and implements online marketing strategies for local businesses. Twitter @mzayfert  / Website http://www.illuminetmedia.com / Facebook: Mzayfert / Google+ Marilyn Zayfert
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Did you try? A Look at the data from #SMWsmac [InfoGraphic]

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What can you do in 16 days? Try!

With just under a month before Social Media Week 2012, it came to our attention that NYC did not have a daylong event that was tailored to teach the small business owners and professionals how Social Media is and can be used. On Feb 1st, 2012 dbmei authors decided to launch Social Media Action Camp! The event which a few days later became an official part of Social Media Week was set for Feb 16th 2012 at the Roger Smith Hotel in NYC.

Data provided by Synthesio , and a few other sources .

The event tag #smwsmac generated over 1,000 tweets! Which represents about 5% of the social media activity in New York City. The Social Influencers reached over 116,000 followers and generated tweets in 15 countries globally!

In addition to the info from Synthesio, we also know that:

  • 102 people  attended throughout the day
  • 128 viewers at one time on LiveStream
  • 976 views on the Live Stream Channel
  • 1484 tweets to date #smwsmac
  • 71 check-ins on foursquare to the Roger Smith Hotel

The Official Social Media Week event page hosted on SocialMediaWeek.org generated 177 Facebook “Likes”, 250 “shares” on LinkedIn and 834 tweets that did not feature #smwsmac as a tag. Making the event the most socially shared event for ALL Social Media Week 2012 globally!

The Social@Olgivy Movers & Shakers platform supported by Kred featured organizer @BasilPuglisi as the top influencer for Feb 16th and both @BasilPuglisi and @dbmei as the top 5 influencers for the following day Feb 17th 2012.

The event was a mix of speakers featuring some of the digital names like Google, Klout, Synthesio, StumbleUpon, EmpireAvenue & Constant Contact. The event featured digital media professionals like David Meerman Scott, Amy Vernon, Mardy Sitzer, and Lujure’s Nathan Latka. Lisa A Burns, representing Corning Inc.,  spoke about the wonder of how a Fortune 500 Company used YouTube to capture more than 17 million views. Then the dbmei authors Bill Corbett Jr., Jeff Ogden, Craig Yaris and Basil C. Puglisi contributed their take on using social media to generate action!

The real success resulted from the response that the attendees reported.   The mix of content and style presented,  generated useful information in many areas with actionable advice and solutions.

“The diverse group of presenters offered extremely valuable best practices and actionable advice. It was also nice attending a social media event that didn’t cater to newbie’s or skeptics”  said David Gise

The event exemplified the point that “you don’t know till you try”, and while we have a long list of things we can do to make the next event even better, it’s an important point for dbmei as well as the individuals involved to say not only did we try, but we succeeded. If you take nothing else away from the article, we hope that when a opportunity presents itself, you be so bold as to try and make it happen.

 

New Facebook Ads Platform Goes Live on February 29th

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Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...
Image via CrunchBase

Facebook plans to release a new ad platform on February 29th that may profoundly change the way business is done on this social media network. Peter Corbett of iStrategyLabs, a social media marketing firm, recently said the following,

“The company expects the new ads to perform 40 to 8o percent better than its previous product”

That is a serious and significant increase in ad performance. Peter also posted a helpful PDF and Slideshow that seem to have come from Facebook that introduces the new ad platform.

Facebook Premium Ads Overview

[scribd id=82289675 key=key-1labfziiyerffsz1rkus mode=slideshow]

Facebook Premium Ad Guide

[scribd id=82289681 key=key-ml1e2c124st5qe456l0 mode=list]

Expected to be released at the fMC Marketing Conference, both documents reveal that Facebook’s plans to provide advertisers the opportunity to take any type of content and turn it into an ad. The new system will replace many of the classic premium options as well.

  • Premium Events
  • Premium Likes
  • Premium Polls
  • Video Comments

However, Marketplace Ads and Premium Ads will still be available.

The new Premium Ad platform will make content that is posted viewable to your Fan pages fans and subscribers, as well as adding the ability to target any Facebook user, even non-fans.

The slide above shows us that Facebook is directly sharing with advertisers that they can expect at least a 40% increase in user engagement, while gaining 80% in branding, with 16% in fan rate increase from the soon-to-be released Premium Ad platform.

Ways to Use the New Ads

Advertisers will be able to do a few more vital tweaks on the new ad platform.

  • Event Advertisement – Advertisers will now be able to create hype around their upcoming business events.
  • Update Engagement – Any update will be capable of conversion to an ad. Questions, polls, and other media updates can be very engaging ways to improve your ad campaign.
  • YouTube Love – Video ads can have very positive results. Send extra traffic to videos by building a comment base.
  • 90 Characters – Only the first 90 characters of the new ads will be visible to browsers. You will need to optimize on those as much as possible. Find a skilled copywriter if you are not sure how to do this.
  • Strategic Updates – Fashioning a fan page that helps to encourage followers to leave positive reviews on your products or services will enable advertisers to use those updates as ads. This provides a level of social proof in advertising.

It definitely looks like Facebook ads are going to undergo some improvements. DBMEi will stay current on the successes or failures that advertisers will experience once the new ads go live.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

How to Get the Most Out of Your Social Media Advertising

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The field of advertisement has changed immensely over the past decades. Online advertisements have replaced almost completely the printed newsletters, which used to be so effective. If, at first, the companies used to advertise online and build their own websites and buy virtual ads, today, social media is the new way of advertising.

Now, I am not saying that billboards, direct mails are not working at all, but the internet advertising takes it to a whole new level.With more than three billion users, more than half of them belonging to a social website or another, the internet is the perfect market to advertise. More than that, social network websites are being seen more as a successful strategy for advertising than a way to find “the perfect match”. The most important social sites are:
1. Facebook: over 800 million users
2. Qzone: 500 million users (China networking website)
3. Twitter: 200 million users
4. RenRen: 180 million users (China networking website)
5. Myspace: 150 million users
6. Badoo: 120 million users
7. Bebo: 115 million users
8. LinkedIn: 100 million users
Talking about social websites, the first things I should mention is, of course, Facebook. With almost 1 billion users, Facebook is the most popular social website. Companies are obviously taking advantage of that, and, as Lon Safko (social media expert and co-author of “The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success”) said, they try to visualize Facebook as “a huge business watering hole”.
Next stop on the list is Twitter; companies create accounts, get interested people to follow them and advertise through the 140 characters tweets. The strategy is targeting by using hash tags and concentrated tweets.
LinkedIn has revolutionized the social media advertising campaigns. With millions of professionals seeking for jobs, experts, business opportunities, networking opportunities, LinkedIn is slowly, but surely, aiming for a higher spot on the list.
Companies are usually skeptic when taking on the social media advertising. It seems like no one can compete with Coca Cola, Starbucks or any of the well-known brands. But statistic show otherwise. The following list show the main changes companies have observed when getting into social media advertising:
  • 88% – generate exposure for the business
  • 72% – increased traffic / subscribers
  • 62% – improved search rankings
  • 56% – new business partnerships
  • 51% – generated qualified leads
  • 49% – reduced overall market expenses
  • 43% – improved sales
Now here is a fact that may seem odd: small and average sized businesses spend three more times on social media network websites and blogs than the larger ones.
Old-school ads used to redirect you to a new tab, the landing page of the particular website, when clicked. Now, business and brands, redirect their potential customers to their social media sites (Facebook, Twitter etc.) The new ads work like a mini website, giving you the opportunity to read real time Facebook posts and tweets without leaving the page you were browsing through.
The number of companies and business that agree with the fact that social media is one of the best way of advertising is sky rocketing. Whether they just started or are experienced here’s the percentage of them:
  • 30% of those who just started are really considering investing more in social media marketing
  • 45% of business with less than 12 months of experience are happy and eager to continue their social media advertising campaign
  • 68% of companies with 1 – 3 years of experience are extremely satisfied and continue advertising on social media networks
  • 87% of those with more than 3 years in the business have seen great results and are waiting for more
The number of new social media websites is increasing as their users, but there are some websites that every company relies on when it comes to advertising. Some of them are more preferred, some of them are less. Check them out:
1. Facebook: used by 92% of the companies.
2. Twitter: used by 84% of the companies
3. LinkedIn: used by 71% of the companies
4. YouTube: used by 56% of the companies
5. FourSquare: used by 17% of the companies
6. Groupon: used by 7% of the companies
7. Myspace: used by 5% of the companies
Video Marketing – 80% percent of companies see this as a new addition to the advertising strategy and plan to use it as often as possible in 2012. YouTube is the main website preferred with more than 70% of votes.
Outsourcing – More and more company owner are outsourcing their social media marketing. This is not still a trending strategy, but it is very effective and large brand are using it. The tasks that are most outsourced are:
1. Design & development: 17%
2. Content Creation: 10%
3. Analytics: 10%
4. Monitoring: 7%
5. Research: 6%
6. Strategy: 6%
7. Community management: 4%
8. Live tweeting of events: 3%
Be sure to take advantage of this new growing strategy and analyze how are you standing in all the areas from above and which can really use some improvement.
Last, but not least, social media is not used entirely exclusive. When combined with traditional marketing strategies its influence becomes even stronger. The greatest results succeeded when social media was combined with:
  • E-mail marketing – 64% of the users are extremely satisfied and continue using it.
  • Event marketing – 60% plan on increasing their use of event marketing, because of its success.
  • Press releases – 43% are really happy with this old-school strategy.
  • Webinars – Used mainly by small business (42%) this is a great way to “put yourself out there”.

They say 2012 it’s the year when all businesses will start using social media as a powerful marketing and advertising strategy. With more and more apps, video and photo sharing, live events coverage, you will have in your hands a lot of smart tools to choose from.

Author:

Katlyn M. is a freelance writer and car insurance comparison specialist, and personal trainer. In her spare time, Katlyn enjoys swimming, hiking, and helping her friends save money on car insurance.

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Find A Lifetime of Success in 2012 by understanding “Time” & “Why?”

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Ready to understand why some people are far more successful than others?

Brace yourself! I am going to share my perspective on why 2011 was such a success for me and give you something to think about in 2012. Here’s the funny part, I made more money in 2011 than I have ever and that little fact actually has little to do with why I was so successful in 2011.

I have had some great mentors and it’s all due to listening! You see those that know me might think that I am more of a talker, but I do a lot of listening. The fact that I actually hear what I am listening too makes it all the more effective. A lesson that’s valuable for life and Social Media.

TIME

In the movie “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” the Character Gordon Geckko turns to a young man and tells him that “time is the most precious commodity that I know of” a statement of absolute truth! While Einstein argued that time could be something of perception, in the case of the “theory of relativity” scientists make assumptions and simulations that space-time and other aspects of physics and astronomy  do not change the current state of time, in relation to the phenomenon of life.

During my masters program, we studied a concept that fascinated me on its own, supply and demand. The wildcard here was that demand was driven by perception. The concept became even more exciting when later we talked about the monetary value of leisure! The economic evaluation for leisure comes when there is not enough value to make the individual work more, or in the tipping point where the individual is willing to work during a time period traditionally reserved for leisure.

Time is clearly something that holds financial value, and in the case of supply and demand, we have a market where supply is consistent. There is only so many hours in a day, so many days in a week, so many weeks in a month and so many months in a year and so many years that we live. However, what if life is not as long as we believe it to be? The supply may be shorter or  longer then perceived. Demand seems to be the one thing in America that we do not have in this equation.

Whatever you choose for your profession, do not let it dictate your life. Travel, Family, Exploration and the Art of Doing Nothing are just as important and I believe a healthy part of a successful life.

WHY?

I will tell you right now, if you work for or with someone who answers “Why?” with “because I said so” or “that’s how we do it” RUN!

That person is likely, lazy, selfish and/or just plain ignorant! Yes, ignorant! I have had these people just like everyone else and it made for a negative professional career experience in the fields of education, banking and sales. There is probably nothing more dangerous to the health of an organization, its culture, and our economy then these people. “Why?” is crucial to success!

Why is how we learn, grow and develop. It is crucial to success both for individuals and organizations. A supervisor, manager or superior has an fiduciary responsibility to both the organization and the client to teach their subordinate everything they know. I pride my work in student affairs with the notion that I had started teaching my staff from day one what I do and why so. In my absence, everything, for at least a while could run as consistently as if I was still there. If you don’t believe that you should prepare for your absence, then what will you do if you should be promoted? Do you not believe that your people are  more effective contributors to a culture where you have empowered them?

A small business owner should have the same relationship with their consultant and media professionals, if you do not invest the time to teach them about your business how will they be able to understand its culture? If you do not understand “Why?” the consultant or media professional is doing something then how will you know what to do in their absence or to communicate the evolution of the business. You may not be able to do what others due, either because of talent, skills or time, but you still better understand why they are doing it.  

Both “Time” and “Why?” are a crucial part of life, not just business or professional development. Adapt a plan that encompasses learning and educating the “Why?” to those around you, and you will find “Time” which will bring you prosperity in 2012.

It was a great 2011, I am looking forward to an even better 2012! Hope you’ll Join me!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WahafF8Y_E0]

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Professional Spotlight: Stephanie L. Schierholz (NASA)

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Stephanie Schierholz is the Social Media Manager for NASA, buts that’s not all. This talented professional like many others also participates as a active member of other organizations. At the time of this article she is president-elect for Women in Aerospace, an inaugural member of the British Council’s Transatlantic Network 2020, and a member of the Public Relations Society of America.

Stephanie earned her MBA at Georgetown University and also holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and English.

Stephanie’s most recent work is in a new frontier at the Space Agency, as the Social Media Manager. It was during the Social Media World Forum in New York City that dbmei staff learned how NASA had a thriving social media presence and how it had been built by the brave souls who volunteered their time to generate a new communication tool for NASA. Unlike many other agencies and organizations NASA cannot advertise, which until recently left the agency at the hands of reporters. Now social media provides NASA with the opportunity to communicate and reach out to millions of followers. In addition to the recent TweetUps, they had the opportunity to do some location based services checking in on Foursquare, from SPACE?

Stephanie is passionate about change and everything space, but what you might miss is the underlying message about how she does that, it’s through communication.

While most can get lost in causes and ideas, Stephanie has stayed true to the core value that it’s all about communication. Stephanie sees social media as a “tool” that has done wonderful things allowing people and organizations to communicate. This was relayed intensely when she talked about both her experiences at NASA and with the British Council’s Transatlantic Network 2020. Stephanie shows great interest in communications being the tool to understand one another, in fact when faced with the question “What advice would you have for young people who face struggles and failure?” Stephanie immediately went back to her core explaining that critical evaluation has to be done to understand the “why” and ask questions to both yourself and the people around you.

Stephanie’s advice seems to consistently be about communication and exploration, she urges young professionals to reach out to experts but not be afraid to try something new, and again understand the “why” if someone is critical or when you face failure. Stephanie also warns to be careful, if you do something make sure you enjoy doing it because once you become the expert, it’s only natural that you’ll be expected to do that from now on.

As the President Elect for Women in Aerospace, Stephanie is passionate about opening the doors and setting up support systems by both men and women to help generate more resources for women to seek out careers in “everything from aviation to space and all that in-between”.

Stephanie was raised in Colorado, and has done quite a bit of moving around, but says she is enjoying the east coast for now, and in talking to her you can’t help but wonder if this star eyed professional has something more grander in mind for her future.

Stephanie Schierholz seems to be paving her way to something great, based on the roles she is in now and her passion for exploring new ones, you cann’t help but expect we will be hearing a lot more about her as time goes on.

As of today, Stephanie Schierholz is a passionate and professional contributor to society, social media and a role model for communicators everywhere.

Video: Interview done via Skype has been edited for sections to share on the post and via YouTube, the video is edited from the 45 minute original video to 15 minutes and includes sections thought important by the author.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQwpsXnBTU]

dbmei.com previous article on NASA from Stephanie L. Schierholz Presentation at Social Media World Forum North America:

#SMWF: NASA’s ‘Out-Of-This-World’ Social Media Engagement Success

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