Approximately six weeks ago the first Raleigh Media Leaders event was held at The Busy Bee.  Over 150 professionals from marketing, advertising, media and technology gathered for an evening of interaction and stimulating conversation.  The event was unique in that there was a grand prize for the evening, a drawing for “Lunch with The Leaders,” a lunch with three area media leaders with three media leaders attendees.

I was fortunate enough to be the host for the lunch held at The Pit BBQ.  The Leaders that volunteer their time for the event were:

• Andy Beal (@andybeal), Online Reputation Management Consultant, Founder of Trackur.com & MarketingPilgrim.com
• Patty Briguglio (@pattybriguglio), President, MMI Public Relations and guest contributor to Fox Business News
• Barrett Joyner, Development Director of The Healing Place of Wake County NC and former President of SAS North America

Joining our leaders were three very special business people.  Karen Albritton, president of Capstrat was the first winner and a media leader in her own right.  The other winners included Charlotte Goodman-Smith and Christine Fawley of Pleasure Mechanics and Richard Knott, a freelance graphic designer.

Lunch With The Leaders at The Pit

After introductions we began a great marketing discussion around how to market your business especially when you are new to a market.  Charlotte, Christine and Richard are all new to the Triangle area and own their own businesses.  They face challenges in getting their name out and breaking into marketing and media channels.

One great strategy that Patty recommended was to work with non-profit associations and attend networking events like Media Leaders as well as Ad Club, Triangle AMA and AIGA.  Barrett offered great advice to keep reminding associations of the important contacts they have and how to get introductions.  By offering your services to help the association you can get great network connections.  Patty also suggested that when attending professional association meetings ask people if they hire freelancers.

Patty also told them to make sure you tell your story because, “if you don’t then others will tell it for you.” I could not agree with her more.  Being in control of your message is vital to marketing your business.  Patty reviewed the process that her firm does when meeting with new clients, the first step is to find out everything about them. What is their story? What are their goals? Then, develop a strategy and supporting PR program to deliver.

The discussion then centered around media and PR.  Patty noted that reporters write about trends and if your business has a story relating to a current trend then you may have the ability to get their attention.  Another tool that Andy mentioned was Help A Reporter Out where reporters ask for sources for stories they are currently researching. HARO allows you to find a possible media placement by offering expert advice, thus creating exposure and awareness for your brand.

This lead into a discussion around personal branding and the use of social media.  Andy gave a great tip on whether you should start by blogging.  He stated that sometimes it’s better to find a blog in your subject matter area and offer to write a guest post.  Many times these blogs already have a larger following that what you would be able to build in the near term and will drive more visitors to your web site or online presence. Another tip Patty offered was to enter award competitions and benefit from the publicity generated by the award and related events.

Andy also spoke about becoming an industry expert and getting quoted in newspapers, magazines and website articles.  He noted that small articles can sometimes lead to larger ones so many times he offers his opinion to bridal or travel publications since someone is reading that publication that may work at Inc. or Fortune magazine and then contact him for another story.  Barrett states that research is important to stories so play a part in it and offer your expertise to reporters.

Lunch with The Leaders did not disappoint to say the least.  Not only did Patty, Andy and Barrett offer great advice to Charlotte, Christine, Richard and Karen but everyone had the opportunity to make another business connection.  I feel that our leaders learned about our event winners as well, asking about how they started their businesses, their backgrounds and what brought them to the area.  The BBQ was not bad either! Thanks to The Pit (@ThePittBBQ) for sponsoring the lunch and providing a great atmosphere.

Again my thanks to the other Media Leaders team members for creating the event that lead to this lunch: Phil Buckley (@1918), Morgan Siem (@morgansiem @mediatwo_social), Dan London (@danlondon) and Sarah Burris (@sarkatbur).   What’s in store for the next Media Leaders event on April 6?  Register now to attend!

I’ve included information about our Lunch with The Leader winners as well if you would like to learn more about them.  And thanks again to our Leaders, Patty Brigulio, Barrett Joyner and Andy Beal.

Our Lunch With The Leaders attendees:

Christine Fawley
Charlotte Goodman-Smith
@learnpleasure
www.pleasuremechanics.com

Karen Albritton
@kalbritton
www.capstrat.com

Richard Knott
www.RichdDesign.com

For more photos from the event, view the Flickr set.

Last night was the second Ignite Raleigh held at the Lincoln Theatre in downtown Raleigh. Ignite is a unique event in that it is an idea exchange where presenters have 5 minutes and 20 slides to communicate their message. I thought last night was better than last year’s event in many ways and have compiled my top 10 list from the event.

10. New faces: I think it was great that all the presenters were new and there were no repeat presenters from the first Ignite. Fresh ideas, new perspectives and personalities really made the event fun. Also I met several new people last night and made some real life connections of people that I’ve had many virtual conversations. I also was able to meet family members and friends of friends, thanks for the introductions.

9. MC: Zach Ward (@zachward) did a great job last night. He came up with jokes on the fly and wearing the red tights and tutus and getting in the Phonebooth was hysterical. Zack was even better than last year and he did a great job last year too!

8. Social responsibility: Several presentations had a real message for all of us. From energy conservation to health and fitness to social responsibility on a global scale, several presenters opened people’s eyes and ears to how they have an impact.

7. Sponsors: Was glad to see Bandwidth.com (@bandwidth) and Phonebooth.com (@phonebooth) sponsoring the event. A local company like this being involved in the community really demonstrates a new commitment beyond the traditional approach. The other sponsors are also great to be a part of the event.

6. Education: I learned a lot last night. From George Smart’s (@georgesmartTMH) great presentation Mayberry Modernism – Why the Triangle is America’s Hotspot for Way Cool Houses to Jess Commins’ (@renewabelle), presentation on How to save $100+ with a DIY energy audit there was some great information and learning.

5. Fun: Anytime you get 700+ people together you have to make them laugh. I think the presenters did that very well and several even laughed at themselves when making jokes or waiting on slides.

4. Sex sells: I was very interested to see Charlotte Goodman-Smith & Christine Fawley (@LearnPleasure), 20 Little-Known Facts about Sex & Pleasure presentation and have to admit it was well done. Also Natasha Crawford (@natashacrawford), coming out and saying forget about your single friends, they’re hos was awesome!

3. Pride: I know several of the presenters well and was really proud of the job they did. It’s not easy getting up on a stage and presenting in front of a large audience. Much less if you have a time limit and have to be spot on. The two presenters I’ve known the longest did a great job: Chris Moody (@cnmoody), Everyone Needs a Dumb Guy and Janet Kennedy (@jkennedy93), 5 Bucks is Change you both were great.

2. Community: I’ve lived in Raleigh most of my life and have a huge amount of pride in this community. I have gotten grief over the years when travelling or working in other parts of the country when saying I’m from Raleigh, North Carolina. I do my best to educate others that hey we are not dumb hicks acting like southern stereotypes that have been perpetuated in the media for many years. Last night showed the spirit, talent and creativity of our community. Thanks to Jay Cuthrell (@qthrul), his Redneck Guide to Silicon Valley reminded us how to laugh at ourselves and shows how stereotypes can go both ways!

1. The ladies rocked it! From Lisa Creech Bledsoe (@glowbird) giving her 13 Reasons Women Should Take Up Boxing to Charlotte Moore (@cavaticat), Nerd Girls Unite! Fact: Women Don’t Have to Be Lame, the ladies really showed up and took the stage last night!

Thanks to Our Hashtag (@ourhashtag) for once again putting on the premier event and doing a great job organizing sponsors, volunteers, speakers and all the elements that go into the event. If you’ve ever done event planning, trust me it’s tough. As much as you prepare there are always unforeseen challenges leading up to and during the event. Congratulations to Wayne (@waynesutton), Jeff (@jeffreylcohen), and Ryan (@theRab) for all your hard work!

Also thanks to all the presenters for taking their time to prepare, practice and courage to get on stage and speak.

Click here for my Flickr gallery. Thanks to everyone who posed!

I had a great networking opportunity last night when I was able to meet Chris Brogan, a leading social media marketing professional (and most will say the top person in his field) and author of the book Trust Agents.  My good friend Dave Thomas, Social Media Manager at SAS invited myself and some local social media geeks and gurus to a great evening at The Pit BBQ to meet Chris, Justin Levy and some of his team from New Marketing Labs.  It was a great pleasure to meet them as well as other people from SAS who I know well and others I had an opportunity to meet for the first time.

It’s awesome to meet someone with such knowledge, experience and star power in your field or any person with some degree of celebrity.  At the same time it’s similar to when my good friend Jimmy Shoaf worked for bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine and several others back in the Grunge days.  I had opportunity to meet those guys as well, on tour with Lollapalooza, backstage at the 9:30 Club in DC and even driving Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell to The Five-O on a Sunday night before their first show in Raleigh back in 91!  By the way, nobody knew who they were or how famous they would become, we played pool and it was a low key Sunday night at our favorite bar.

In all of these instances the avid fan in me wants to say, “You’re so great, tell me how you do it?” But I know these guys, especially the rock stars, hear that all the time and get tired of it.  What they really want to do is just be themselves and meet other people.  I know if I had to be “ON” all the time as a public persona I would tire of it too and build a big house with gates and hide out at times!

But the real value I derived from last night was seeing all the people that I interact with on a regular ongoing basis in my local business community.  Several of the people I know from business relationships by working with SAS over the past four years.  Others are former co-workers and marketing peers that I know from my involvement with Triangle AMA.  And there was also a group that I would call my Internet family that I’ve met and engaged with online using social networks that has enabled the opportunity to meet and get to know them.  What I get out of theses connections is solid information, experience and best practices, advice, humor and most of time friendship.

So instead of being the annoying fan I like to meet the Chris Brogans and Jerry Cantrells of the world and just see who they are, tell them I like what they are doing and learn a little bit about who they are as a human being.  The evening was a great event because it was just that.  The conversations centered around what holiday preparations and traditions, our families, events and a little social media strategy.  My takeaway from meeting Chris was that he was a big Beatles fan like me and an extremely engaging and intelligent person regardless of his current position.  So when you meet the bigwigs or anyone else in your field be yourself, engage in a conversation and see where it leads to.  LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and all the networks are in place for us to engage each other in meaningful conversations, storytelling and transactions.

Social media and networks are a means to an end.  Networking is key in building and maintaining your career.  Take for example my good friend Chris Moody.  I met Chris when he was interning at SAS in 2006.  His team was working on measuring partner engagement and he impressed me and was a really genuine person as well.  His internship ended and we stayed in touch over the past few years, seen each other at events and grabbed a few lunches to catch up.  Recently he called me to ask me to be a reference and he got a great job at Bandwidth.com.  I was happy to help him out and enjoyed seeing him garner the right position for his skills, talent and enthusiasm.  I know that Chris and I will be talking about marketing and other kick ass technology for many years to come because we have a great professional and personal relationship.

I do want to thank Dave Thomas and the team at SAS for engaging with such talented individuals like Chris Brogan and allowing us to share in their experience.  I want to thank Chris and his team for their time and interaction as well.

Are you engaging your local community in your field?  Have you used social networking to find others like you?

SEO Meetup had another great meeting last night at Media Two on Your Brand Presence & Managing it Online.  Phil Buckley @1918 and Morgan Siem @morgansiem presented some timely and relevant examples on the topic.  Phil began with the concept of that with social media and powerful search engines like Google, our lives are online in some form or another.  Our personal and professional brands are easily scanned, judged and interacted with online as much as in real life with more of the little people getting a bigger voice in the conversation.  So how do you manage our online brand?

The overall strategy revolves around owning and managing your brand versus ignoring it or refusing to admit it exists.  We've all heard people say, "I don't do Twitter, I don't get it, too much junk." True there is mindless banter on social networks but that does not mean there is not value in the conversations as well.  I equate it to any media consumption by the public whether it's art, music, film, food, etc.  There is always junk out there but we use technology, tools and communication to cut through that to get to what we desire most.

Therefore you don't want to be invisible or portrayed incorrectly because you did not want to join the conversation.  Owning your brand and name online is just as important as it was before the web when you fought for customers' attention via print, radio, TV advertising and PR.  The challenges are still the same but the method and channels have changed.  In the case of reputation management we still have to deal with crisis communication but have found that social networks can be a powerful tool to react faster and deal with groups or individuals with more relevant information versus the entire customer base with a single message.

Morgan demonstrated how to measure brand impact and determine who is in the conversation with a demonstration of Radian 6 analytics software.  Her presentation used the recent Pit BBQ Tweetup as the data source.  By analyzing the online conversations she was able to determine how the event was perceived by both attendees as well as others.  One of the strategies Morgan demonstrated was to determine who the key influencers are during a campaign.  This allows you to drill down to a specific traffic stream to determine impact and sentiment.  Based on that information you have the ability to engage stakeholders, influencers or customers directly and with targeted message.

Other tools discussed included Filtrbox, Techrigy, and Trackur.  With the explosion of social networks, tools and integration, monitoring and research applications will continue to evolve and scan more data.  Of course there is also the big player in the search market, Google who recently launched some new features in Google Analytics that I'm preparing to dive deeper into on my own sites.  The end result of the growth of these companies will mean more choices and better pricing models to meet your needs.  Whether you're a large advertising agency in NYC or a one man consulting practice in Wake County!

If you have not attended the SEO Meetup I encourage you to check out their site at http://www.meetup.com/RaleighSEO/.  The group is a good mix of marketing, PR, developers, web designers, business professionals, entrepreneurs, etc.  Plus they have handouts to allow you to focus on the discussion versus having to capture the basic stuff by writing notes.  Great job Phil and Morgan!