I graduated from Suffolk University this past May with my Bachelors of Science in journalism degree, concentrating in advertising (Say that 5 times fast). I’m extremely lucky to have found my first job not only shortly after I graduated but with such a great company! Everyday I am faced with new challenges and I look forward to learning a lot more in such an exciting industry.

There’s one last thing you should probably know about me. I love sports…Watching them, that is. I spent my college years waitressing at a sports bar connected to Fenway Park called Game On and it is ultimately what got me to where I am today. I met some truly fabulous people and had the time of my life. You might be asking yourself, “Why is she telling us this?” The answer: My first official blog entry is based on the wonderful sport of baseball.

As some of you may know, tonight is the 2011 Home Run Derby on EPSN. What is already considered an exciting event for baseball fans across the globe just got more thrilling thanks to social media. This year, players like David Ortiz and Justin Upton among others, will be interacting with fans via twitter and Facebook during the competition. This will definitely be awesome if there happens to be a brawl like last week between Big Papi and whoever’s pitching because let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to hear a little bit of trash-talking between the players?! It’ll also be interesting to see what fans ask and the responses they receive on top of pictures and live videos from the Derby.

It’s amazing that something like this is even possible today and I think MLB will get a lot of positive feedback as a result. Of course, part of me secretly hope it turns into too much of a distraction for everyone except for Ortiz so he can win but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

The same Connecticut based company that brought you dolls of the ‘manliest’ TV ad men is now bringing you the “Tweet This” Anthony Wiener –  uh, I mean Weiner doll. In addition they will also be selling an adult-only version for an additional $10.

Weiner, who announced a short time ago that he will resign after the social networking scandal, should probably be on the look out for my next planned blog post: Twitter Etiquette for Dummies.

Strategis has worked on an inordinate number of social communications campaigns for Higher Education. Through testing and tracking we found some great successes, but most importantly we have found some failures. These failures can turn a great idea into a great waste of time and do more harm than good. Especially in the eyes of the folks in the Presidents Office.

1.  Having the wrong expectations

When starting any campaign we strongly suggest setting some expectations and goals. It seems when it comes to social the expectation is that it can solve all our student recruitment problems. A well planned social communications campaign should not be meant to replace your student recruitment campaign 100%; it is there to augment it. Your expectations should be to increase engagement through current students on the networks. By highly engaging those students you will drive awareness through their friends. As a byproduct of having a social communication campaign that is engaging you are able to increase enrollments, but not as a direct correlation to the campaign.

2.  No segmentation

Facebook and Twitter can’t be everything to everyone audience. You must keep in mind that what interests your Alumni won’t necessarily interest your Undergraduates. It is imperative to have segregated channels and content to match those channels. Alumni, Graduate, Continuing Education and Undergraduate should all have their own pages.

3. To much sell sell sell

We have found this is the quickest way to see your fan base quickly decline overtime. Your fan base is attempting to engage with you on a social level and doesn’t expect to get barraged with a sales message all day. They want to be informed, so provide content rich information that is useful (school events, closings, registration hours…). Your audience knows who and what you are and what you have to sell.

4. Bad customer response

This is a simple one. If someone posts to your wall or tweets you respond back quickly. They probably are looking for some quick information and would like a quick response. There is no one single best way to stop engagement in it’s tracks than bad customer response.

5. Don’t push… Pull…

Social communications is meant to be conversational and engage your audience. You should appear approachable through your content. You must foster an environment where your fans feel comfortable in interacting with you on your channels. These interactions will drive awareness which in turn drives consideration and ultimately drives sales.

As the social communications freight train turns in to a high- speed locomotive C-Level Executives are being forced to truly embrace the idea of positioning their companies in the social space. Not just for the short, but for long-term growth and sustainability. I have seen way to many general posts that speak about the utilization of social and rarely any addressed to Senior Executives. We all know their buy-in is critical! Here is my attempt to bring some light on what the C-Suite should keep an eye out for and consider.

1. Follow the crowds

You must position your company where the people are. Twitter and Facebook both have a significant amount of random content, but there is a serious side to these networks that shouldn’t be over looked. Simply said your time and financial investment must be put where people are spending their time.

2. It’s all about relationships

The day when a CEO would/could spend all day on the phone has passed us by. Electronic communications is here. Social gives you a great opportunity to build relationships and drive brand. Building meaningful engagements through corporate channels and through your own personal handles. A simple link on your email to your blog or twitter account would work. But I don’t have the time? Sure you do and you must.

3. Be an expert

What easier way to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Individuals hang onto every world of an expert and take it as gospel. A well crafted strategy and schedule will put you on track to do so.

4. Get personal

The C-Suite has been known to keep the stern corporate image up at all times. We all know you are human with a heart and would love the opportunity to see you open up. For those of you that don’t know me I work with my wife Dolores. Dolores is our CFO at Strategis and my CEO at home. I have written several posts and have been interviewed countless times on how to balance working with your spouse. My answer is always, I do what I am told. Honestly our skill sets complement each others extraordinarily well so there isn’t much overlap in responsibilities and over the years we have settled into a great rhythm. I firmly believe my transparency in both written word and face-to-face interaction has helped bring insight as to what Strategis as a company is all about.

5. Beware of internal social communications

Just as the power of external social communications can transform your business so can internal social communications. The quick delivery of ideas and instant feedback are speeding up the creative process and cutting time spent. That hour meeting can now be gone and ideas can be shared with the click of a mouse.

Some tools to consider: Google Buzz, SAP Streamwork, Yammer and how about Foursquare.

You would have to have lived under a rock over the past few years not to have realized advertising has changed.  And it’s not just due to shrunken budgets.  With the advent of the internet and digital technology, clients can now customize their specific message to a specific person at a specific time.  There’s just one catch.   Figuring out how to do this is very complex.  Marketing and advertising has jumped form 6 channels to thousands which then often spawn other channels.  Likewise, consumer attention has never been so fragmented.  Think Ipads and mobile phones.  And as if this weren’t enough there is now real-time two way communication with consumers yielding significant might.  Think Yelp.  Gone forever are the days of one-way controlled messaging.

Alas, there is a silver lining in the chaos.   Smart and nimble agencies who understand, stay abreast, and dare I say, stay ahead of internet marketing and digital technology will thrive.  The one caveat is that agencies must be able to educate clients about the new realities of advertising.  Sure client can do it themselves.  But do they have the immense amount of time and energy necessary to acquire the expertise and stay abreast of the new marketing technologies and then implement them effectively and consistantly or do they want to run their companies?

Better yet did you know about it?

I think we all have seen the growth in use of 3rd party applications on Twitter such as HootSuite and TweetDeck. Some statistics put their usage at 30% and growing. Most people that I have talked to don’t access Twitter through their interface preferring a 3rd party application. I think the true number that accesses Twitter through a 3rd party application is as high as 50%. With that type of migration and the need to monetize itself it was only time to integrate multimedia into the stream so it resembles a more sophisticated web app.

Please share your thoughts and comments and how you access Twitter.

Twitter’s recent growth is mainly the result of mobile usage.  The official Twitter mobile apps have significantly helped the company on this front. According to a recent Twitter blog post, “16 percent of all new users to Twitter start on mobile now, as opposed to the 5 percent before we launched our first Twitter-branded mobile client.”

The following chart, provided on the Twitter Blog, shows the top ten applications people have used to access Twitter in the last 30 days.

This data shows that smart phone clients are important to the growth however there are even more people who use the mobile Twitter web site and/or SMS. These new services offer users the convenience of accessing their Twitter accounts from just about anywhere. Which do you use?

I’m sure my most astute and loyal readers (or just my mom) will remember my last Twitter post, and yeah, I was a little harsh and down on the tweeting trend. (For the rest of you, here’s the link if you want a refresher). Today, I’m changing my tweeting tune and I want to finally give a shout out to Twitter and say “Thank you, thank you very much” while doing my best Elvis Presley impersonation, swivelling hips and all.

Try all you want, but you can’t make EVERY conference or event. Whether it be a scheduling conflict, location, money…..you get the point. But as you know, conference organizers/twitter users can generate a hashtag for their event and create groupings on Twitter (example: great idea by @ACupples to make tuna sandwiches in the park on a 99 degree summer day at #hottunaconf) so if you can’t make it, follow on Twitter and it’s like you’re there anyway!

I know what you’re thinking: it’s not the same thing as being there. No, it’s not, but it’s close enough and better than nothing. You can get the highlights of the conference at your desk or on your phone and feel like you’re (kinda) in the audience.

Sometimes missing things (like the tuna conference) and getting highlights is really enough!

If you guys haven’t noticed, I’m a Twitter fan.  It’s been useful for me personally and professionally.  I think it’s entertaining and helpful.  I’ve been known to jump to its defense when I hear the commonly uttered phrase, “I don’t get Twitter.”

My common defenses:  you can meet new people and network; start some great conversations that wouldn’t otherwise be started; you can find great content you normally wouldn’t see. Oh, and maybe Ashton Kutcher will tweet you, or you can follow Lindsay Lohan’s drama… Yippeeee!

When I saw this article, “Candidates’ kids help out on Twitter”  I finally uttered those words, “I DON’T GET TWITTER.”

We all know that cute kids are a part of many effective marketing campaigns. Whether it’s the E-Trade babies or the local Sullivan Tire grandkids halking tires during the Red Sox games: it works.  Is there a difference between using children to sell goods and using children to sell your political image and help your campaign? The part that really stuck out to me was: Nicole Cahill, daughter of state Treasurer Tim Cahill said, “If we see something out there we’ll spin it. We’ll tell people the truth.”

Whether right, left, red state, blue state, or disillusioned, I feel like this is a slippery tweeting slope.  Will this spawn a new profession  of Tweetwriters/screeners?  Are we supposed to believe that politicians, who carefully maintain their image, will let their children just say what they want about their campaign?  I’m sorry, I don’t buy it and I normally “get Twitter”.

 @ACupples

In an interview Jonathan Fildes for BBC News, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone announces that we may see commercial accounts this year. Stone reiterates that Twitter will “always be free to everyone whether it’s commercial or personal,” but the paid features will be an “additional layer of access to learn more about your twitter account; get some feedback, get some analytics so you can become a better Twitterer.” This is a paid service I’m excited to hear more about. Monetizing Twitter is something we’ve been waiting for, and I appreciate that the founders understand that the everyday Twitterer would never cough up a dime for the service.

Paying for the Projo on the otherhand… First off, the wishy-washy statementI read in the PBN was that Providence Journal parent company A.H. Belo Corp. is considering charging for online content for one of its three papers (The Journal, The Dallas Morning News or The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, California). The move would also remove the publication’s content from popular news site Google News. I wonder what you all think about the Projo possibly charging for online content (as if the 8 million requests for you to sign up as a registered user aren’t annoying enough).

This makes me think back to another moment in the Biz Stone interview. Stone recalls co-founder Evan Williams‘ response to the statement “Twitter is fun but is not useful.” “Neither is ice cream,” he retorted. In the same respect, how could we compare something that is neither fun nor useful…