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Think back to your high school cafeteria. When you first walked in, the dozens (or hundreds or thousands, depending) of voices suddenly hit you like a wave. That’s Twitter.

The teachers and nerds may be discussing the latest news at their tables – stuff you need to know. The cheerleaders and jocks are probably gossiping at their tables – stuff you don’t need to know, but what you probably care about (even if secretly). And the emo kids are off at their own table, talking about some weird things you wouldn’t really care about. Then you have your own table with the people you communicate with the most. Now, from time to time you probably go over to where the drama kids sit because of that cute guy and sometimes you hang with the cheerleaders because your friend Becky is trying out for the squad this year. You join in the overall conversation.

Twitter = high school cafeteria. You only have a limited amount of time (140-characters exactly) to converse and get your point across.

So, you’re done with lunch and now you have to go to your locker. This is Facebook. Your locker is connected to those directly next to and above/below it. Those are your friends. On the outside you have a dry erase board where you put messages, like “2Good2B4Gotten” and your friends write messages to you like “I Wuz Here.” That’s your status update and wall. Inside your locker, you have your books, class notes, lip gloss and a pin-up of Justin Timberlake. Those are your apps and personal information. (You may even have a moldy sandwich … that’s like Farmville.)

You following me? Twitter is the cafeteria – everyone is in there, communicating, eating, sharing. While everyone is technically on Facebook, your own Facebook world is limited. Now, you could certainly open up your locker to everyone – but chances are you would only give out your locker location to certain people. Facebook is about building a community and having a conversation within that community. Twitter is a global conversation, open to all. (If you’re not down with the high school analogy, think of Twitter as a buffet in Vegas.)

Do you dig, or am I completely off the mark on this one? What are the differences between Twitter and Facebook in your opinion?

So, below are my choices of spring color palettes (which you’ll see all include a shade of green):

What are some of your go to colors? And how do you make sure that they aren’t dominant in all of your color palettes?

In my next blog I’ll explore how to get out of a design rut.

BLOGS
Blogging before the event can be a great way to get attendees excited and also spread information important to the event. If you already have a blog, add a new category committed specifically to the upcoming event so your users can easily follow. If you don’t have a blog, or the event is of a substantial size, build a stand-alone blog strictly dedicated to the event. We recently did this for FENCETECH (one of the fastest growing tradeshows in America; you can view the blog at fencetechblog.com) We used it to promote the event and its sponsors, as well as keep attendees informed of things to do around the destination city, information about seminars and exhibits, and a whole lot more. We also did some live blogging from the show floor and some of the major events occurring during the show.

EMAILS
Email is another great way to keep in contact with your attendees. We usually keep the emails to a minimum farther out from the show and increase them as the big day gets closer. Of course, the main purpose of the emails is to increase attendance, so that is a focus of each email. However, we’ve found great responses and more interest in the emails we send when they include more information that is useful or interesting to the recipients, such as information on key networking events or fun things to do around the city the event is taking place. It should all be focused around the event, of course. Emails are also a great way to promote all of your other social media.

FACEBOOK
Creating an event on Facebook is relatively easy and it’s a great start! Promoting that event through Facebook ads and interactions can help grow a lot of interest. Facebook allows you to get extremely precise when narrowing in on your target market which can limit wasted advertising dollars and make paid advertisements extremely cost effective. Leading up to the event, it’s good to remind your fans and keep promoting the event in some of your interactions with them.  During and after the event, Facebook is a great way to keep your fans abreast of what’s going on as well as allowing them to have a forum where they can share pictures and thoughts or questions about what they’re experiencing.

TWITTER
There is no better way for massive, instant communication than Twitter. Before the show, grow your Twitter audience (followers) with informative, relevant tweets or promotional tweets to get them excited for the event. Once the event starts you can also use it to communicate last minute changes in schedules, special events or offers, or keep the people who couldn’t attend in the loop about what’s going on. Since Twitter is such a great tool for back-and-forth communication as well, you can really get a pulse of what everyone at the event is thinking and feeling and respond to any questions or concerns as well as engage everyone in attendance in a new way.

YOUTUBE
Not every event is appropriate to be broadcast on YouTube as many in the business world contain sensitive information, but if the content being discussed can be shared publicly, YouTube is perfect! Since videos usually only go up during the event or after, it is mostly a value added service to attendees but can also be a great way to generate interest in your next event from other YouTube users. A great way to do this is through attendee testimonials.

There are many conventions and trade shows that are going the “social media” route – along with FENCETECH/DECKTECH’10, we’ve also noticed conferences such as the Big (D)esign Conference, the HOW Design Conference, and Food Fete using sites such as Facebook and Twitter as alternative ways to connect with attendees. Building a solid foundation with high expectations for the usage of social media now will ensure that your next big event will be the talk of the town.

Due to his hard work and dedication to the industry, Dillehay has achieved his profession’s highest honor – the Certified Association Executive designation, earned by less than five percent of his colleagues. “This credential has to be recertified every three years in order to stay on top of new developments and opportunities,” Dillehay explains. “It’s an honor and privilege to have maintained the CAE designation throughout my career.”

Dillehay was also honored with the Presidential Award by the Georgia Society of Association Executives in 1999, an association that he remains active in today. “This is an exciting industry to be a part of, and I am grateful for my career,” Dillehay states.

Dillehay is committed to giving back to the community as well. He is involved in his local church and serves as a leader for his son’s Boy Scout programs. Dillehay Management Group is affiliated with several local and national charitable organizations, including the Let Them Hear Foundation, The Adoption Center, Make A Wish Foundation, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and many others.

Congrats on 20 years, Chuck and here’s to many more!

Ah, yes – the dreaded presentation where the presenter thought it was vital to put every word from their presentation onto the screen. Presentation – FAIL! Here’s usually what happens next – instead of the audience anxiously anticipating what the speaker will say next, they skip ahead on the screen and ultimately end up tuning out the presenter. What’s the point of listening if it’s all right there in front of you?

Here’s a few tips to make sure that you’re actually heard in your next presentation:

1. Focus on the key points. What are the main ideas that you want your audience to take away from the presentation?

2. Illustrate rather than spell out your points. Do you have a dramatic statistic that you’d like to focus on? Don’t hide it in copy or another boring chart, instead find a dramatic photo and use it as a callout.

3. Add some humor. Think about it – humor can loosen up any crowd and help keep your audience’s attention. Just make sure to keep it business appropriate!

I challenge you to go ahead and break the vicious cycle of copy heavy presentations! Only you can prevent snooze-fests! And let me know if you have any other suggestions on how you make sure your audience hears you during presentations.

• 93% of business decision makers use the Internet for business every day and most of them have taken action as result of seeing an ad on a B2B website.
• 84% of business people use the Internet to research products and 71% buy products.
• Forbes/Insight reports the Internet is the C-suite’s top information resource for locating business-related information
• Over half C-suite execs search for information themselves and continue “clicking around” to locate the right information
• The “researcher” needs information to “sell” others in the decision-making path – provide the information needed and they will become your champion.

How Do I Reach My “Target Decision-Maker?”

First, make sure your website is relevant and stays relevant.  Ensure it is fully (search engine) optimized and that you keep it up to date.  An active blog is a good way to achieve both goals and can establish your company or firm as a “thought leader” or “innovator” by sharing information on routine basis.  You can provide information of interest to the C-suite, engineering department, or purchasing and serve multiple target markets.

Combining relevant web content and search engine optimization is the very essence of a strong Internet presence today.

Reaching Out to the C-Suite

Beyond relevant content and search engine optimization, consider search engine marketing and ad words.  But before scurrying into search engine marketing, consider Antonio Altamirano’s insight.

“ . . . We need to understand one thing clearly. The C-Suite is probably one of the most passionate personalities that you will find online. They are not only passionate about their businesses but also about their hobbies, their families and their causes. They have an unwavering belief on what they do and a flawless commitment to their duties. Furthermore, personal improvement in many aspects of their personality is continuous. This constant evolution strengthens their character and deepens their core beliefs.”

So, you can reach him or her through SEM syndications focused on business and finance, sports interests, professional networks and associations, vertical niche market websites, local publications, and personal and CXO level blogs and wikis.

That’s how to reach the CEO and, as Antonio suggests, strengthen your marketing credibility by placing relevant ads that will compliment the content being consumed – if it’s a golf site, speak golf; if it’s a finance site, talk money.

Marketing Your Business and Products

To help B2B prospects find your company and its products, you need an effective website and must invest in search engine optimization – to assure an online presence.  Both the website and your search engine strategy will need to be maintained – they can’t just be developed, posted, submitted, and ignored.

Make your website a valuable tool or resource to your target markets or use it to get feedback or input from customers.  For instance, airlines make flight schedules available to plan travel, allowing you to print boarding passes, and sells tickets.  How often do you go to your favorite travel site because it offers 24-hour convenience and valuable information and/or services?

So, rethink the role and purpose of your website.  What do you need to do to tailor it to you multiple target markets?  How can you make your company and its website more relevant to the C-suite and your target markets?  What are some strategies you’ve used in the past?

Bibliography

The Rise of the Digital C-Suite, Forbes Insights in Association with Google, copyright Forbes 2009.
B2B Marketing and Understanding the C-Suite, Antonio Altamirano, Facebook
B2B Online Marketing Guide:  5 Critical Principles, B@B Marketing Online
Estimated Internet Usage Differences by Basic General Social Survey Demographics
Seismic Shift in Internet Age Mass, Jack Loechner, Feb. 11, 2009, Research Brief From the Center for Media Research.

Todd Jackson, product manager for Google Buzz, called it “an entire new world within Gmail.”

On the other side of the aisle, Facebook is allegedly working on an email client that it is calling Titan. This news has come amidst yet another “Facebook facelift,” with the social networking site releasing more changes to the home page, specifically within the toolbar, with Messages, Notifications and Friend Requests now drop-down menus on the left-hand side of the screen.

There is a strong Internet buzz that Titan will kill off Gmail, especially since it is rumored that Titan will be able to be configured with any email client. With over 400 million users, it does seem that Facebook can’t really go wrong with this move. You can already search the web with Facebook. You’re connected to anyone who you want to be connected with. You can update your Twitter account through your Facebook status update with a special app. So if you incorporate email, would you have any other reason to leave Facebook.com?

I’m actually pretty excited about the changes within Gmail; however, I am a little skeptical about any true success. People are looking for the “next Facebook,” not another Facebook. We’re looking for something different that fits our needs in a better way. For a long time, we thought MySpace fit the bill just fine until Facebook one-upped them. If Google/Gmail had something truly innovative, then this would be an entirely different blog post. But they’re not one-upping anyone here – they’re just copying Facebook and hoping that the Google brand will encourage people to switch over.

What Google does have going for it is that the company has a strong track record of responding to consumer needs and desires. With that history alone we can expect several versions of Google Buzz to update our Gmail accounts over the coming months. And there are unique features that have been announced, and I’m sure there will be many more to come. For example, Buzz will be location-enabled on your phone, so it will know where you’re at without even being told. Ignore the creepy factor, and that’s pretty neat. But I’m not entirely convinced that those features will be enough to persuade people over to the Google-verse.

Who knows? Maybe two years from now I will be eating my words and Facebook will be as irrelevant as MySpace is, with Buzz leading the way. I do think Google is on to something with Google Wave, so perhaps they’ll end up mashing together Wave + Buzz + Gmail to create something that will end up eating the Internet.

The first wave is scheduled to start today; hopefully this won’t be on such a limited-basis release as Wave was. I also can’t find a date on when Facebook’s Titan will be released, though I’m thinking that will be sooner rather than later in an attempt to stay ahead of Buzz.

The best news about all of this? With some of the best online sites duking it out, we all win.

This winter 2010 edition features a wrap up of the ninth annual Making a Difference Discovery Day 2009. National, state and local industry experts gathered in Atlanta for the Executive Briefing – Making Accessible Travel and Tourism a Reality in Georgia, presented by GCDD in collaboration with G3ict and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. This year’s theme was different than previous years’ by aiming to make Georgia a model that the rest of the country and world could follow in creating accessible travel situations.

“Atlanta has so much to offer, and has a strong and proud disability community,” Keynote speaker Eric Lipp stated. “Atlanta ranks eighth in top locations to visit in the United States, and in the south Atlanta ranks second only to Orlando.”

Also in this latest issue:

• Parent Protection Act: Employers, Employees Explore Benefits
• Real Communities Initiative Gets Underway
• Be Counted: Census 2010

Published by GCDD, this quarterly magazine can be downloaded here.

Do you know about Bowser, the Miniature Schnauzer?

Meet Bowser.

Bowser came into my life when he was seven weeks old. I was fresh out of college, adjusting to living on my own and the 40-hour workweek. He fit in the palm of my hand and looked more like a rat than a puppy.

Anyway, I was looking at Bowser the other night (he’s now almost three years old and gets fatter every day), and I was thinking that Bowser knows the secrets to all anyone really needs to know about marketing. After the jump, allow me to explain.

1. It’s all about image. When I’m out with Bowser, people love him! They want to run up and pet him. And he looks super cute. He looks cuddly and friendly. But the truth is that he’s a really mean guy. He’s always trying to bully me out of my bed, and he really doesn’t like strangers. He loves bossing other dogs around. In fact, Bowser’s kind of a jerk. But that doesn’t stop people who should know better from trying to get on his good side every time they see him. My one friend is always bringing him cookies while my grandmother plies him with toys. Bowser knows his image is very important, so he is always just nice enough to keep people coming back for more.
2. It’s all about looking for innovative ways to solve a problem. When his tennis ball rolled under my bed the other night, he first tried to solve the problem by pulling my sheets off of the bed. When that didn’t work, he tried to crawl under the bed but found he was too fat to fit. Finally, he tossed another toy under the bed to knock the tennis ball closer to the side so he could grab it with his paw. Instead of leaving the problem or waiting for me to fix it for him, he took matters into his own paws and came up with a method that worked for him.
3. It’s all about planning …
4. … and it’s all about going with the flow. Bowser is a creature of habit; he gets his dinner on time every night. He goes on his walk at the same time. If I’m five minutes off, he’s very vocal about letting me know. But he also knows when to just roll with things – I’ve moved around a lot in the past three years, and he always handles that well. So while he is accountable for sticking to a schedule, he can also adapt to challenges thrown his way. An important lesson for marketing!
5. It’s all about relationships with key people. This relates to #1. As I’ve mentioned, Bowser is not really that “Norman Rockwell” dog – he’s talkative and a bully. But he knows who the main people are – and he knows how to butter them up. He knows my mom will give him treats from the table and he knows my dad will roughhouse with him. He knows my one friend will always scratch his belly. With these people, he builds on his positive image and continues to cultivate those key relationships. (Maybe you could call those people his target markets.)

Bowser also understands the value of an online presence – he currently blogs and tweets.

Is Bowser a marketing genius? I don’t know – but I think he’s on to something. Even if you don’t think you can learn much about marketing from him, you can learn how to pilfer off as many cookies as possible before people realize just how many you’ve had.

And that information is priceless.

What marketing information is Bowser missing? Do you think his marketing strategies are decent or do they need some improvement? What’s your favorite kind of cookie?

Marketing genius?