I feel as though I have a new marketing mantra every week.
Last weeks was: “Successful brands start with a conversation.  From there good relationships are built that produce more transactions.” Not sure who wrote it, but THANK YOU whoever did.  This is kind of a no-brainer statement, but the idea is to take these conversations and harness them on a SM, NM platform that can be used by our sales force.  It will take a while for a little idea to bubble up, but we are gaining ground on the importance of SM & how it can REALLY work in business & if we are the last ones to start using it…we will once again be playing catch up.  Baby-steps, Baby-steps, Baby-steps,

NEW MANTRA!
Steven Stark wrote a short article that talks about the success Target had when they brought in Bob Thacker.  Steven points to the following 5 items that state why he is a dream client & that these atributes will follow him well now that he is working with Office Max.  I am applying my comments based on my 10 month experience here at MPC Computers & my road to educating, implementing & driving toward a New Media marketing integration plan.

Wow, i can’t believe we are launching our MPC Community in less than a week!
At aproximently 3am on August 29th, the first of 4 email blasts will go out to the “5k”, the 5,000 current MPC Customers.  Wow.  Deep Breath!

Now that their is hope for a New Media/Social Media program at MPC, my next step is to really define who should blog for us internally, what their calendar should look like & how I should inforce motivate them to write a blog at least 1x/week.

But first, back to the finite details of the site.  So excited.

We are in shock & awe!  We are actually going to launch our new community to 5000 of our customers starting August 29th through September 1st.

Ali has been spearheading the training to all the sales teams & individuals with great success.   Of course there are always the typical comments of “it is just bad timing” & “I don’t want my customers talking to each other, they might say bad things!”  Well, if they are saying bad things, it is probably already happening, people don’t tend to bottle up issues like that.  We will now have a place to hear the conversations & act on them when needed.  I loved what Angela said yesterday…”it is time to knock down the walls & start communicating with our customers in a way that has never been done before at MPC.” 

Considering we are the last computer manufacturer to launch a community site, we are positive & hopeful of the success of the site.  Customers have been asking for one for almost 3 years now & the fact that we can finally deliver this to them with enthusiasm, I feel very confident in saying this is going to be a great moment in MPC history.

whoo hoooo!
-jen

So, who is MPC?  What is MPC?  You’re in Nampa?

I get these questions all the time from fellow Treasure Valley (aka: Boise area) friends along with, “what does MPC stand for” and “that’s Micron right?” 

We are going through changes so we are figuring this all out too.  Our Media Relations expert Michael Boss commented to a fellow Treasure Valley resident’s comment HERE on my page asking “What is MPC’s Brand?”  He starts the post like this:

If MPC were a person, we’d be at that angst-filled, “poised between childhood and adulthood” stage that all of us suffered through with varying degrees of success.

Enjoy the banter…and by the way, a good sense of humor is always needed. 

So my position here at MPC is still unofficially labeled as “New Media Specialist”, which I am just fine with!  Angela is getting me involved in a bit more strategy of how & where to use New Media (I use “New Media” as an overarching 60,000 ft. view of how marketing is used today on the internet (blogs, podcasts, social media, social networking) vs. Traditional Media being print, tv & radio) in different opportunities that come along & ones that we make…which stay tuned, we are rollin!

With ample of time, we wanted to start advertising/marketing a career fair specifically for tech support that was going to take place on site here at MPC.  The event was slated for 8/1 & 8/2.  We started with graphically perfect banner ads at careerbuilder.com & the top page banner at idahostatesman.com.  We also scheduled radio spots starting one week before the event along with the same banner on Kizzn & Magic’s streaming radio (WAY cheap BTW-they are looking for exposure!).  Well due to the fab banner that Wendy created as of today we have filled 26 of the 30 positions…and we are 2 weeks from the event!

Angela said the last time they did a career fair all they did was print classified ads & radio ads & they got a horrible turn out!  Even the gal at the Statesman said that we were getting more traction than they were for a Career Fair held about the same time.  It was all about the visual!  Wendy, you are a rockstar!

Could it be right time, right place?  Yes, we all know that…but it just goes to prove that a majority of the people/consumers are “looking” online.  If you are there and you have the right message: you will win!

If you are reading this, most likely your answer would be “how can your marketing mix not have social media?”
There are a lot of companies out there that don’t get “it”…”it” being how to use the new tools (blogs, podcasts, vidcasts, social media sites, linking, tagging, etc, etc, etc). 

My job has been to educate those on what social media is, what it does, show what value it has, explain new tools & how we can/should be using them…etc, etc, etc!  But the truth is, I have been doing this for two and a half years & some are just now getting wind that they “have to” have one of these components of new media in order to be taken seriously in the market anymore.  My job is to teach, guide & inform my Director of what I believe we should be doing & in turn, she has to explain it to her boss as to why we should be blogging. 

I admit it, that I can be a bit overwhealming when I get on a roll…it’s because I love making changes in a company that I know will have a positive result (aka: great ROI!).  So this list by Chris Brogan will explain a lot of the catch words that we use on a daily basis to those that are unfamiliar, but want to learn!

So for the last 3 weeks I have been working on making Mike Boss’ WordPress blog site ready for NECC in San Antonio. 

There were 3 things we wanted the site to provide:
1.  A holding place for our Caricature portraits -via Flickr
2.  A brief Utterz (audio & picture) of the interview Mike had just completed w/one of four major education publications
3. A mp3 Podcast from the above mentioned interview (btw: love Twitter, but look out! Here comes Utterz!)

For those that know me (and my skill set) know that I am not a programmer by ANY stretch of the word.  But what I do know is the message that we need to project and that there are certain apps that talk to other apps & I know that those apps can help us make a great first (public) blog!  I don’t want to be one of those “failed” blogs that Jeremiah has talked about recently!  I don’t FAIL well.
It took some time to research the best options, routes of delivery, a lot of testing and a few rounds of training…but we did it!
Wendy polished it off beautifully with her HTML knowledge & as we were heading out to Taco Friday today (on a Thursday) we said the look of the site reflected Mike’s laid back personality!  Couldn’t ask for a better representation!

So big thank you’s to:
Angela Lewton for giving us the green light to do something way outside the box of “normal”…
Wendy Fox for the beautiful skin
Mike Troverfor trusting me on putting the caricatures on Flickr that would be displayed on a site that would generate “repeat customers”
and MIKE BOSSfor your beautiful vision of what New Media means to you & expressing it so eloquently next to me: the over excited, “over-enthusiastic”, 2.0 passionate gal!

Have a GREAT 4th of July & stay tuned for our next baby step! 
-jen

Just wanted to post out there that the Lithium project is on hold.  I have been told until January 2009, but you never know, someone might bring it back to life next month.

We have other “2.0″ tools happening, more in the form of new PR strategy, which seem to be getting really great feedback.  Hopefully we can expand on that success & get MPC more “social” on the web.

Social Media is not a trend & it is vital for a company…just as email is today.  I hope that there will be enough outside education on this subject with-in the decision makers spheres (not just me) which will lead to a sense of urgency to get back on track.

This is a GREAT little video by Common Craft who state that Social Media is as easy to understand as ice cream.

Check it out here.

My friend & former co-worker, Tac Anderson blows me away. When it comes to early adopters he is even beyond that title. If GM decides to open their truck plants back up to start building flying cars, Tac would be the first in line.

His latest posts he talks about FriendFeed and the multiple applications he uses to aggrigate all his conversations there.  Wow.  I am in awe of the technology that emerges every day so that we can all stay connected.  I can completly see the reason why forward thinking companies see understand the benefits of using new media tools to stay in contact with their customers.  In a downward, commodity-driven market the company that will emerge the winner will be the one with the best customer experience (notice I didn’t say service – that is toilet paper, we as consumers already expect superior service).  It is about releationships that are developed outside the 9-5 timeframe, you want to know someone as a human being, not just a customer. 

As for Tac’s flying car…by the time we all roll around to getting one he will have rocket shoes.

I challenge you to start with two communication tools outside a phone: a blog & a Twitter account.  Then we can let people like Tac rummage through discover the next best thing…and use what he used a year ago.