Lessons from my Father

Lessons from my Dad started before I knew the value that these would make in my life, personally and professionally.  Growing up I never realized how much he would commit to my success along with building the moral foundation that travels with me today.  Being lucky to still have my Dad around, I relish the moments that we spend together and continue to talk almost daily.

My dad came from humble beginnings but through his drive and creativity made the most of what he was dealt.  He does not have a college education but what I would put up against anybody on Jeopardy.  Some of my best friends are also some of his admires because of the lessons he taught them during the many years of coaching.  When I come in contact with past friends and teammates they always ask how he is doing and commonly express what an influence he was in their life.

The Lessons

1.  Commitment
     My parents just celebrated 51 years of marriage!  He has been sober for over 30+ years.  Works out 5 days week - hiking, yoga, weights, brisk walking with hills.  Has been a faithful fan of the Dodgers, Angels and LA Kings no matter how the season has gone. 


2.  Passion
    When my dad stopped drinking he needed to find an outlet that had better consequences on his health but still provided the thrill.  What did he choose - birding of course.  He has a passion for animals and converted that passion into trying to find as many types of birds he can (then checks them off his list). 

3. Strategic
    He conducts his daily research online, checks hot lines (this is true, if there is a rare bird spotted people call too report), makes his plans depending on weather, road conditions, traffic and then communicates (calls and leaves a note) where he will be located in the case we need to find him.  His strategy also comes from being a coach (Football and Baseball).  He was one of the best knowing how to design game strategies that would exploit the other team's weaknesses while capitalizing on his team's strenghts. 

4.  Networking
    I was not aware of the networking skills my dad possessed until I started talking with my own children about how to be social.  Ever time my dad and I are out, no matter what place, he strikes up a conversation with somebody.  Now that I am aware of this skill, I have taken the time to observe his approach and style.  What I found amazing was his approach, he first observes the person and the environment compiling a brief inventory on the person then makes the introduction with a question.

5.  Humor
     My father religiously reads the comic section in the newspaper daily.  If it is a good one, he cuts it out and saves them in his wallet to share with others (again, networking skills).  He reminds me constantly about keeping a sense of humor even when times are tough. 

 

WCNGroup is a full service Brand and Marketing agency deeply rooted in developing successful solutions for brands that match their marketing and sales goals. From brand research, customer discovery, events, creative, digital marketing and social media. 

How Facebook will Celebrate 700,000,000

Facebook is on the verge of celebrating 700,000,000 users according to reports by SocialBakers.  This number has many doubters pertaining to the real number of users vs fake accounts; accounts that are barely used and accounts of the deceased (morbid, I know).  When you are the top dog there is always going to be pessimist decrying why this position is not validated.

But, I am a marketer and concerned about, "How Facebook will Celebrate" this monumental achievement.  Will they hold a major press conference Live on Facebook introducing the 700,000,000 user?  I know if Richard Branson (@richardbranson) had this type of PR opportunity he would take full advantage of this potential marketing goldmine.

Historically, Facebook has not be one to celebrate these milestones but as the brand matures through the product life cycle, marketing activities in addition to product enhancements must take place.  My advice to clients is always, "You have to make news to get news", meaning if you want some type of press coverage, word of mouth, viral, blogger coverage etc, you have to make news for them.

I have several ideas for this momentous event but want to hear, if given the opportunity, What would you recommend?



WCNGroup is a full service Brand and Marketing agency deeply rooted in developing successful solutions for brands that match their marketing and sales goals. From brand research, customer discovery, events, creative, digital marketing and social media.

 Don't let Marketing Dinosaurs sour the rEvolution.

*Amazing Video produced by Socialnomics.

WCNGroup is a full service Brand and Marketing agency deeply rooted in developing successful solutions for brands that match their marketing and sales goals. From brand research, customer discovery, events, creative, digital marketing and social media.

Authenticity in Business

"Truth is like the sun; you can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away",
Elvis Presley
Great way to start the week by coming out of the Monday morning gates knowing that if you want to create a credible, long lasting business it will take complete transparency from all levels of the organization.  Nobody or business can hide these days, not even Osama.  Camera phones and the Internet have changed the landscape for ever no matter if you are a small business or large, the playing field is transparent.



WCNGroup is a full service Brand and Marketing agency deeply rooted in developing successful solutions for brands that match their marketing and sales goals. From brand research, customer discovery, events, creative, digital marketing and social media.

App Friday

What is your favorite App?

Toddler Stage of Social Media

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm", Winston Churchill

Social Media is at the "Toddler Stage" of development both at the platform and utilization stage. The main player (platform) at this moment is Facebook. They are continually making updates to the platform and extremely attentive to user requirements. These updates are sometimes good and sometimes not beneficial. It is like the majority of social media platforms, a free platform so you cannot sink your entire social media plan into just one tool.

The utilization of social media is where the most effort and concentration currently lies (for most). Some companies have the "build and they will come" mentality, that just by setting up a variety of platforms that their audience will be there and interactive. This reality is only half-correct for a handful of companies that have a large audience already in existence. For example, Domino's pizza can set up a presence on a platform and inform their audience using their main utility (website) that directs customers to their facebook page. From their 9,000+ stores with millions of customers served they are going to secure millions of fans seeking promotion information, deals etc. I continue use this example when discussing social media clients because they should not view this type of social media success as what they can achieve overnight.

Having "likes" or "fans" does not guarantee social media success! This is where social media is currently at in its utilization development, a Toddler. The size of your "fan" like base does not dictate successful utilization of social media marketing! As I stated in the previous paragraph, size is not the only measure (KPI) of social media success. Anybody can appear to be a "Social Media Rock Star" if they were tasked with starting Domino's social media Facebook page. *see recent DigiDay article, "The Like Trap".

Likes or fans are the shorthand currency of social media now.  But everyone knows likes don’t tell the whole story, or even most of it.  From DigiDay article "The Like Trap".

Toddler development is characterized by four key components:

• motor development - this is about body posture and large movements of the limbs and the developmental road to walking
• fine motor development and vision - this is about manipulative skills leading eventually to being able to do complicated manual tasks
• speech and language development and hearing - this is about language development, which is a key human characteristic.  
• personal and social development - this is about the development of self and interactions with others

Let's transfer these toddler stages of development into social media development.

• Motor Development - this about social media posturing or presence.  Is your presence true to the branding of the company (look and feel)?  Is your social media strategy integrated in all facets of your company (customer service, sales, marketing, operations...)?
• Fine motor development and vision - this is about utilizing current technology within the social media platforms that allow for visitors to navigate within the utility in addition to the company being able to utilize robust back end analytics to measure and evaluate activities.
• Speech and language development and hearing - this is the key to understanding and communicating with your social media community.  Listening should always be a key tracking activity because this provides an understanding of what topics and concerns your community is passionate about. 
• Personal and social development - Once you have established a base of communication sentiment this will dictate how you will interact with the community.  As we engage with our community both at a one-to-one level and group, we will develop personal relationships with our community thus allowing what social media is designed for - Social development.

 Toddler development comes with daily attempts, successes and failures.  The lessons learned from these events takes time to internalize for continued improvement.  We must evaluate the attempts, opportunities and teachable moments in order to successfully navigate the Social Media Toddler stage of development.
 

Social Media Strategy

Vision without action is a daydream.*Action without vision is a nightmare. Proverb Japanese

Social Media a 5 Year Old Can Understand

If you had to explain Social Media to a 5 year old,  

what would you say?

Bruce Luce of Social Media

Bruce Lee revolutionized martial arts by bringing together creative movements, training and nutrition.  Bruce Lee was obsessed with learning and developing his own style.  He studied film techniques, script development and fight sequences.  He then brought all this together on film. 

As Social Media evolves from its infancy stages there are several key figures that are revolutionizing social media and leveraging it for brands.

Who are these current Bruce Lee's of Social Media?

If you know of one, please comment with a link to their online work.

Highlights from 2010

What a roller coaster year 2010 has been.  I use the term "Roller Coaster" because even when a roller coaster is at a low on a straight away it is still traveling with speed.  One of the most important components of a successful Advertising/Marketing/Digital Agency is the ability to evaluate past work of the agency and others then transform that into teachable moments within and outside the agency.  In my past work (Psychology) we called this "teachable moments".

Teachable moments can be overwhelming, just ask a parent, but the key is knowing when the right environment exist that will elicit the best response.  This past year seemed to be moving at light speed with the meteoric rise of the desire for almost every business to be have a Social Media Strategy.  In several blog post I discussed the "Scammers, Spammers, Internet Marketing Experts and Network Marketers" and how they all claim to be Social Media Experts, Gurus, blah, blah, blah and to run as fast as you can from them.  Knowing that Social Media and even Search Engine Marketing is changing daily, it is virtually impossible to be an expert in this moment.
*follow the few key leaders in the industry who amass all the new tools, apps, data, strategies and news.

A few highs for WCN Group this year:

• TedxConejo assisted client with Marketing & Sales achieving a sell out for the 1st annual conference
• Secured Product Placement for brand Skitter Toys on "The Ellen" show.
• Secured Print Placement in "Seventeen" Magazine for apparel client Three Peas Co.
• Created Social Media Strategy & PR outreach for World Record Setting client Ventura Deep Six Team
• Developed PR plan for client Roberts Surfboards providing 10 minutes of prime time News Coverage in Los Angeles market

Thanks for the ride to the above WCN Group agency client's and the others not on this list.  We had many "teachable moments" that we will continue to implement and share with clients.