I love my new iPhone 4 and the two of us have had so much fun taking photographs and HD video these past few weeks.  The purchase of my new phone also coincided with my discovery of the Hipstamatic app! Oh what fun I have had taking funky pictures with this app here in Northern Ireland and in Sardinia these past 3 weeks.  I have always been a keen amateur photographer through the years, and this app just makes me jump around with joy when I see some of the results it produces. Here are some of my favorite shots over the past weeks.  The app is only $1.99 or £1.29 and it will unleash a whole new creative side to anyone who downloads it.

Thistle at the Dreen in Cullybackey

Carnlough coastline detail

Rowing boat in Carnlough Harbour

One of many cafe macchiatos I had in Sardinia

Gelateria in Alghero

Wind stricken tree in Porto Torres

Cactus plants in Castelsardo

Underwear hanging device, Castelsardo

Ivy on a wall in Castelsardo

June 30 was Social Media Day.  The good folks at Mashable came up with a day in which social media enthusiasts and users around the world could come together and celebrate social dialogue and the tools and platforms enabling the “revolution” of social media.  Mikail Belicove then wrote a great article the following day on Entrepreneur.com entitled What’s Missing From ‘Social Media Day’ which essentially concluded that what businesses and organizations need is a Social Media Strategy Day.  He referred to how many businesses fall away from social media after the 90-day trial period because they fail to actually devise a long-term strategy.  I saw this in the U.S. and now here in Northern Ireland.  It seems that everyone here is now jumping on the social media bandwagon, but I can already see signs of of many of these companies and organizations running out of steam because they lack vision and a clear communications strategy.

The people at Digital Brand Expressions, claim that nearly 60 percent of businesses today don’t have a strategic media communications plan to guide their social media efforts.  In evaluating whether you should be using social media for your business or organization, it is essential to first fully determine what your media communications strategy is across all media platforms whether they be print, broadcast, or online social media. Step back firstly and determine a clear vision of the core purpose of your business or organization and then develop a credible and authentic voice to communicate this purpose through traditional and online media.  You need to go back to the drawing board again, familiarize yourself again with who you are, how you are currently perceived by your audience, and how you would like your organization to be seen and talked about.  You then need to determine the resources you have at your disposal to develop and maintain a social media presence.  Don’t just hand it over to the intern or a junior level assistant.  Executives and senior staff need to be involved in this as they are the ones who know their organization/business and industry best.

So, take responsible initiative and invest in developing a media and social media communications strategy.  Be sure to keep it flexible in this ever changing and expanding online media world, and remember to evaluate it on a regular basis. In a nutshell: planning, action, reflection…

David Woodward wrote a very interesting article earlier this month about the power of social media in bringing down a brand through negative PR, Reputations at Risk.  I concur 100% with his simple conclusion that brands can fight back negative social media PR by converting criticism into meaningful customer relationships. If you open up your brand to social media (which you have no choice but to this day and age), you have to prepare yourself to handle criticism as well as praise. If handled properly, criticism can actually be a terrific opportunity to build your brand and your reputation. You can channel the negativity and turn it into a positive.   Word of warning though, don’t depend on established/traditional PR & advertising agencies to be able to do this right for you though.  Many of these agencies are still in the pen and paper age.  David Jones, chief executive of Havas Worldwide, an advertising and marketing agency that represents Nestlé, in a statement made a couple of months ago labelled social media platforms as being “inherently negative”. Needless to say, never look at Nestlé for tips on how to use social media effectively.  They have failed woefully in this regard to date.

I believe that effective corporate communications (and this includes social media) boils down to four essential core components and these are truthfulness, transparency, humility, and helpfulness. If people see that you are reflecting these qualities on your website, in the news, in your ads, and on social media platforms, they will sing your praises. Stop trying to hide.

BTW, examples of large companies that are doing social media well include Cisco, Intel, Burger King, and Starbucks.

I have to admit that in many ways I do fall into the tendency of being addicted to gadgets.  The fact that I am practically counting down the hours until I can get my hands on the new iPhone G4 is testament to my level of addiction.  That said, I have taken very conscious steps in the past couple of months to find a balance and schedule in OFF-time from my various gadgets every day.  Gone are the days when I would sit in a meeting or presentation and check my email, Twitter/Facebook accounts regularly on my iPhone while also trying to focus on what was being said.  I used to think that I could juggle it all, that I was a master multi-tasker, but now if I’m truly honest, I realize that I wasn’t giving my full focus to any of these tasks and that really, in many ways, I was only adding to my stress levels and ADD tendencies (incidentally, I do believe that all of us suffer from some degree of ADD nowadays).  One other thing that I make a point of doing now whenever I have a particular work task to do, is log out of email, Facebook, Skype, Twitter for a couple of others to get the task completed.  Sometimes I also switch off my phone.

Learning to be more mindful and present in the moment is something that we all need to work on if we are going to survive this ever increasing digital information revolution.  I am currently reading this great book that I wish to recommend: “The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems” by Dr. Ronald Siegel.  What I love about this book, is that Dr. Siegel has done a superb job blending in science along with psychotherapy and spiritual tradition into a very easy-to-read format with lots of examples and helpful exercises.

Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board Newsroom

The New Orleans-based Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board has launched a dynamic new newsroom site - www.LouisianaSeafoodNews.com – to manage online news and crisis communications as a result of the devastating impact on the seafood industry caused by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The site was developed by The News Group Net and launched just 10 days ago. It is already filled with news stories about the fishermen, chefs and the seafood industry. The site is being updated on a daily basis and includes personal stories, photos and video on the ground.

News Group Net LLC – based in Washington, DC, and Austin, TX – has developed similar sites for Imperial Sugar Company, Cargill and Louisiana Sugar Growers.  Armed with a team of journalists who research and craft the stories, the firm specializes in creating online news sites quickly to manage communications during crisis situations.  They are doing a terrific job of bringing out real and legitimate stories from the source.  Their extensive use of images and video to accompany the stories really shows us the true scope of the damage this oil spill has had on the Louisiana seafood industry.

I recently attended a conference in Rome where Paul Hughes, senior partner and creative director at Lava Design, gave a presentation on branding. Incidentally, Lava Design just won the European Design Agency of the Year Award for 2010.  To sum up Paul’s presentation, he explained that the main elements needed in effective branding strategy were: Imperfection, Incompleteness, and Impermanence. We live in an ever-changing, ever-developing world with constantly changing needs and demands placed on people and companies.  Flexibility is key in this process.  We need to recognize that in building our brand we have to leave room for improvement, expansion and flexibility.

I hadn’t quite realised that I was following this little formula when I wrote What to do when “You” are the brand.   I can safely say that my brand ticks all 3 of those boxes.  That only means I’m on the right path though, as I have to keep working on learning and improving my brand constantly as I go along.

This past weekend, I attended a rather alternative business conference in Rome with the theme: “Make.It.Meaningful”.  While surrounded by the ancient ruins of Rome,  this conference focused its attention on what we can do in our workplaces on a daily basis to contribute to building a new global civilisation.  The goal of ‘make it meaningful’ in a sense, is for us all to wake up one day and think “Thank God it’s Monday, I’m going to make this week meaningful!”or “I get to make my contribution to building a foundation of values in my workplace to help establish a sustainable, ever-advancing civilisation”.  Pie in the sky goal? Yes, the cynic in all of us would say that this goal is hopelessly idealistic and unattainable.  It’s almost like much of society (especially in Europe) has been conditioned to view work as being hard and unpleasant, and that if you are enjoying it, there must be something wrong.  We have also been conditioned by materialism to seek instant gratification in everything we do, so if it’s going to take too much time and effort to attain a certain goal we will just sweep it aside and continue complaining basically.

Changing our whole attitude to work as a society is not going to be an easy task, nor is it going to be something that we can accomplish in a week, a month, or even a year… So, how do we go about climbing this Mount Everest of a task? How do we start breaking down this very big picture? Well, this is where the philosophy of small steps comes in.  One doesn’t just wake up one morning and decide that they are going to hop on a plane, fly to Nepal, and climb Mount Everest.  There is a whole set of steps to follow before you even reach the foot of Mount Everest. Here are the small steps that I am going to take in the coming months to apply a values-based approach in my work:

1. Continue to embed a values-based approach in my work and life in general.  Ensure that I am applying truthfulness, honesty, humility, compassion, to name but a few values, in all my daily interactions with people.
2. Find at least one other like-minded person in my line of work (I am self-employed, so the formula is a little different to folks who are employed) and start a discourse with them about how we can better apply our values in the workplace.
3. Expand this little circle of friends/colleagues/associates and reflect on the efforts we have made to apply this values based approach in our work.
4. Well, let’s keep it simple for now, and give it the space to take on its own shape! The key is to “act” and “reflect” on a regular basis to ensure progress.

If you have any other suggestions on baby steps I can take in the coming weeks, please comment below.  Also, if you happen to live in Northern Ireland and would like to accompany me on this trek, please let me know.

It has been a fun last 6 weeks figuring out how best to present myself and my consulting services online to the Northern Irish market and the big wide world at large. This website along with my presence on various social networking sites are, and will continue to be, a work in progress.  I guess that’s what I love about the communications and social media industry in the digital age, it is constantly evolving keeping everyone on their toes.  It challenges you to constantly learn and improve.

I came across this terrific post by Chris Brogan, a world-renowned blogger and social media entrepreneur, who has been in this line of business for over 10 years, “When You Are the Brand“.  This post provides great insight and advice on setting up and maintaining a personal brand.  I really agree with him on the aspect that personal branding is all about community and being of service to your community, not the other way around.

Well, good luck to everyone out there building their personal brand.  I have also found this blog to be quite a valuable resource, http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/

Zomppa.com

Zomppa.com is a food magazine blog that I have had the pleasure of being involved with over the past year.  The whole concept of “Zomppa”, which is the Tibetan word “to meet,” is to bring people, play and passion together under the banner of food. Food is much much more than just what we eat, it has so many socio-cultural-economic-political facets to it, and through this blog we endeavour to explore these in a fun, colourful and educational way. You will also find plenty of original yummy recipes!

Check out today’s birthday posting Happy Birthday to new blogs, babies, and beginnings

Also, learn more about the eight main contributors of the blog by visiting the contributors page.

It all started out as a closed group where you could communicate and share information with people you chose to communicate with.  Now, your default privacy settings are pretty much open to the world at large! I have no problem with all the features that Facebook is introducing, in fact, I find it all rather exciting and fascinating to watch.  All I ask is that you give people the choice and ownership over their own privacy settings, or at the very least, when you make changes to the privacy settings have a window pop which informs users about the changes and gives them the option to go and change their settings.

Most people that are on Facebook are not terribly internet savvy and will have no clue that there even is an issue right now with their privacy settings.  Even if they did hear about it in the news, they probably do not know where to begin to change their privacy settings. To go and change your privacy settings, please refer to this article in PC World: Facebook: 5 Privacy Settings You Must Tweak Now.