Maybe you Tweet it, maybe you put it on Facebook. Maybe you stick it in your Tumblr and tag it. These are our outlets for further publicizing cool websites, trends and, really, your own Web savvy. Did you know Twitter would blow up before Ashton joined? Have you casually mentioned the growing market around online video advertising in a recent conversation with a friend? Are you 18-24 years old?
LaunchSquad is looking the tuned-in, tech-savvy who can spot and speak to emerging Web trends. As the early-adopting generation, we’re more than equipped to not just to participate in the latest web offerings and also predict what’s huge, what’s next and mostly – what’s really COOL. If this interests you more than you think it should, you’re not alone – join the Network of Cool and get your voice and savvy heard: http://networkofcool.com/join/
See this post for more details – it’s by a web-savvy guy, much like yourselves, who is working with LaunchSquad to form this group of advisers to lend your expertise on what’s cool – plus you can win things.
It came rather quickly, I’ll admit. In fact, it wasn’t until this last weekend that I realized that I moved to San Francisco 1 year ago on July 4th and started my job 1 year ago today, July 7th. To think of where I was then, quaking in my new heels, ready to burst with questions and anticipation, head equally full of knowledge meant to prepare me for adulthood, never expecting the road that I’ve traveled to get to NOW.
I adjusted at first — and this could have been shock, at the time — rather easily. Emotionally tackling the sometimes-turbulent road from easing in, yet hitting the ground running, then phasing to swallowing pride and comfort for the challenge of taking criticism, learning to work hard, sleep less and take it all in stride. The last few months have seen the much more enjoyable transition of becoming a team player, (more detail-aware — I’m making progress, people) being confident that a job well done means client satisfaction and not personal gain, and realizing that loving my job makes me luckier than most.
That said, I have sorely neglected this blog, which turned out to be a vehicle for employment for me, and I’d like to take this post on this momentous day to make some resolutions for the new year as a “LaunchSquadder” and an employed person.
For this blog I resolve to:
Post 1-2 times a week
Write well
Discuss current media issues
Discuss more challenges for the (intended) benefit of those who come after me
Write response posts
Link more relevantly
Present clear and active thinking about my work, my life, and my goals
I will listen more and better
As an employed person I resolve to:
Do more phone pitching
Read more literature on the train
Post on the Exclamation blog more
Make fewer typos
Continue to be an early-adopter of new technology as it remains a fantastic way to stay engaged in the space
Take on more writing-intensive projects
Understand the give-and-take with journalists and pursue more mutually-beneficial relationships
Recognize my responsibility to myself to commit to more responsibility, initiative and leadership on my teams.
Every day, be thankful for my current employment and the daily opportunities presented to learn and be taught.
Every day, do better work than I did the day before.
The nice thing here is that I generally believe that this framework will not only make me a better employee and PR professional, but also a better and more committed person to not only my work, but my future and the opportunities it probably bring. Hopefully.
Anyone else closing in on a year and having some thoughts about it? Let me know what you guys are thinking… Maybe I’m the only one who’s seeing this as some existential milestone, but I have a feeling I’m not alone.
Also — a quick “Congrats!” to my coworker, Sara Schulte who also started last year on 7/7 at LaunchSquad.
On March 4th, the partners of LaunchSquad invaded New York City to attend the PRWeek Awards ceremony on March 5th. Feeling like the underdog, they came with a resilient and celebratory spirit to be just considered.
The next day, LaunchSquad was in full campaign mode, even knowing that the decision had already been made, “Tweeting” their support for LaunchSquad and filling the #PRWeekAwards Twitter thread with LaunchSquad spirit, prompting clients, media friends and friends of the firm to also show their support on Twitter. Working from the New York office at the time, I watched throughout the day with my NY colleagues as Tweets came in with similar messages:
It was just cool. And what ensued? LaunchSquad was named PRWeek’s Boutique Agency of the Year!
We’re all tremendously excited by the honor and it was amazing to be there when it was announced. The awards ceremony was held at Tavern on the Green. It was really cool to see the partners of the firm see the fruits of their labor and their dreams for LaunchSquad come to fruition and recognition, especially. We all knew LS was great. The award was just a testament to how great work can come full circle. Very cool.
From left: Jason "Throck" Throckmorton, Jesse Odell, Jason Mandell and Brett Weiner
To hear it from their point-of-view, please see the What’s New post at: LaunchSquad.com: http://www.launchsquad.com/blogs/whatsnew/?p=237
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Also, PRWeek showed a photo of the winners in Times Square the next day:
Pretty rad all around.
See the PRWeek story here: http://www.prweekus.com/BoutiquePRAgencyoftheYear2009/article/123801/
PR Week announced a while ago its finalists for the PR Week Awards (announced in March 2009 [insert nail biting here]). Prepare to be overwhelmed by how rad this is:
As you can imagine I’m pretty excited. You should be too.
On a tip from Kelli Matthew’s PRos in Training blog, to which I still subscribe, I read the post by Julia Roy called “Getting More Twitter Followers and Twittering for Business.” In the post she talks about gaining more Twitter traction – a whopping 4,000 followers – and how she decides to follow people back.
STUDENT TWEETS: Everyone has to start somewhere.
I started Twittering in February with no idea what I was doing. How did I become acclimated? I was online three or four times a day looking up tech news, reading Mashable and TechCrunch, NYT Tech columns, PRWeek, Business Week, poring over Google Trends, getting GMail alerts for news and blog posts on PR and Social Media, virtually all of the blogs in my Google Reader were tech and PR blogs. I needed to be able to engage with the people who were on Twitter about things that were important to them.
When LaunchSquad, found me on Twitter, though, it was because I’d “tweeted” about one of their clients – Vivaty.
TWITTER ON THE JOB?
JetBlue was one of the first business Twitter feeds that I followed and actually tweeted back at. They are one of the best Twitter business models I’ve seen.
When I started here, one of the first things I was asked to do on each of my accounts was either establish or revamp their Twitter activity. I wrote a Twitter strategy based on a case-study on JetBlue’s Twitter activity.
WHY I PAY ATTENTION: Their 4,800 followers are resulting from updates about their flight schedules, flying/travel tips and steady responses to customers and other Twitterers.
WHAT I TAKE AWAY:To be savvy with customers and Twitter, you need to pay attention to what they’re saying. People often express frustrations with software and companies on Twitter.
Another great example is Mighty Leaf Tea. They’re hardly tech, but they’re in the East Bay and so here in San Francisco – and silicon valley, we’re big fans. They’ve got great, unique flavors which makes for great “Tweets”.
WHY I PAY ATTENTION: They’re not tech. At all. They sell tea, for god’s sake. But they come up with useful ways to discuss their products over Twitter and currently have 500+ followers in their pocket.
WHAT I TAKE AWAY: They post “relevant” issues and articles and are engaged in their industry beyond just their product – like the above post: List an interesting article and bring it back to the product. Very nice.
THE SKINNY
I suggest before taking on a client’s Twitter campaign, work on beefing up your own feed in addition to the rest of your online presence. Social media savvy applied to personal uses can only help when you’re asked to do it for a client.
A friend of mine and former intern here at LaunchSquad, Ben Kessler, has a great blog as well as a juggernaut Twitter following (currently at 579) and has managed 6,200+ updates so far – In September he averaged 24 updates a day. Makes me tired just thinking about it.
In my own case, I eventually found an even balance for my Twitter feed: my initial rabid tech/PR discourse combined with a cultural commentary (articles, music, film, events) and have – to reinforce Julia Roy’s point – seen a steady increase of 5-10 new follower’s a week.
Once you’ve honed this aspect of social media – and not to imply, by any means, that I have – you’ve become a valuable asset to any company, client and agency as they all are trying to figure out what Twitter means and could do for their business.
Well, this thing proved useful. I’m now at LaunchSquad in San Francisco because they thought I was very “forward-thinking”, “heavily-invested” and “visible” as far as social and new media. Sa-weet.
I love it. I love it all.
OK – Honestly, it’s super weird just uprooting myself so quickly and so completely. Holy Moses! I have been removed.
My friend Corina and I in - I think it's Russian Hill - January 08
My first week is almost over and have been placed on very active accounts. The tech culture here is ridiculous and I’m falling in love with it. I love being totally immersed in all that I studied in my PR classes and finally getting to use what I learned toward a greater goal.
Expect a new understanding and level of gosh-darn competence.
