Seek out Real Relationships in Life and Beware of How You Present Yourself to the World in Social Media
Credit: "The Atlantic"
Last week I had the pleasure of speaking to the graduating class at Thomas College, which is where I earned my MBA in 1994.
I told the graduates that the good news is that they may be earning their diplomas but the bad news is that the learning cannot stop.
Technology is changing at such a pace that they need to use their education to continue to learn every day. I’ve encouraged my employees to keep pace with changing technology in communications so we can use the most up-to-date techniques and tactics for our clients.
I also referred to an article in the current edition of “The Atlantic” magazine called “Is Facebook Making us Lonely?” by Stephen Marche that talks about how social media is replacing real relationships between people.
Many people have lots of “friends” in social networks but in all reality they are extremely lonely. This is very sad to me.
I encouraged the grads to know the difference between a Facebook friend and a ‘real’ friend who you know and trust. My mantra has been and will always be that social media should supplement real relationships, not replace them.
Credit: "The Atlantic"
Finally, I encouraged the grads to be mindful of their online profile as they go out and look for a job. I asked them to Google themselves and see what comes up.
I related the story of a grad from another college who wanted to work for NMC a couple years ago and he was sure he was the ideal candidate. But when I pulled up his profile on Facebook, there were photos of him getting drunk and acting in a way that I would consider to be unprofessional.
I said that presenting yourself to the world in this way is not the best route to get a professional position.
Thanks to Bob Moore, the director of advancement at Thomas, for asking me to share my thoughts with this year’s graduates.
I hope that my words had an impact on the students and helped them realize that the way you ‘package’ yourself for a professional career will influence your job search significantly, and that social media should enhance their real relationships (it’s “social” for a reason).
All-Inclusive Resort Nurtures Relationship with Guests
Today’s Maine Maven is Mark Osborn, the general manager at NMC client Linekin Bay Resort (LBR). Osborn, a New Jersey native, has been the G.M. at the Boothbay Harbor resort since 2010, but his family connection to the property goes back nearly 100 years.
LBR General Manager Mark Osborn on vacation in Peru
Osborn’s grandmother, Martha, was a counselor in the 1920s at Linekin Bay Camps – the summer camp for girls started in 1919 by Grove and Elizabeth Branch. The girls’ camp was transformed into the current family vacation resort in 1946.
The Osborn family later began spending summers on Linekin Bay, and occasionally stayed at the resort, which is now owned by the third generation of the Branch family and is New England’s only all-inclusive sailing resort.
Osborn owned and operated The Thistle Inn in Boothbay Harbor for four years, converting the property to a fine dining and lodging establishment in 2003.
As the G.M. at LBR Osborn has added a public restaurant and bar, overseen upgrades and improvements to guest accommodations and common spaces, overhauled the resort website and strengthened the resort’s reputation as a popular wedding destination during the early and late summer season.
Osborn has a business degree from Ithaca College, and enjoys traveling and seeking out new culinary experiences.
Sharing the Importance of “Real” Relationships
This afternoon, Nancy is speaking at the Thomas College convocation about the relationship between social media and career success.
Nancy will share with the graduates that they need to build real relationships that are supported by social media rather than the opposite.
Photo credit: Thomas College Facebook page
Nancy received her MBA from Thomas in 1994 and is looking forward to speaking today.
Photo credit: Thomas College Facebook page
Local Nonprofit Spreads Message of Empowerment Through Social Media, Website and Employees
Our Monday Maine Maven today is Darryl Wood, the executive director of Life Enrichment Advancing People, Inc., better known locally as LEAP.
LEAP is a nonprofit agency providing a variety of residential type supports for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The support required for individuals is based on functional needs and is developed through Person Centered Planning.
Providing individualized support to people in Central and Western Maine, LEAP works to empower persons to lead joyful lives with dignity, independence, and autonomy.
Darryl has a medical background in nursing. He is interested in leadership and best practices for nonprofits, as well as supporting people with IDD.
On a personal level, Darryl loves to spend time with his family and in the outdoors. An avid sportsman and woodlands wanderer, he maintains a Maine Guides license, in hopes that someday there is part of a living in that.
Is Your Brand Ready for an Audit?
How to deposit into your customer’s memory bank and accrue interest
By Renée Black, NMC Account Coordinator and Graphic Designer
You’ve got an excellent handle on your company’s marketing plan this year. You’re doing traditional advertising, you’ve got a website, you’re doing cost-per-click (CPC) marketing, and you’re even on Facebook and Twitter!
You’re doing everything you can to make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest trends and working hard to hit your targeted demographic, but (there’s always a “but”) are you maximizing your impressions?
As a marketer, of course, your ultimate goal is to affect your audience in such a way that they will remember your brand, service, and/or product. When a message is received, the brain undergoes a series of cognitive processes to categorize where and how the memory will be mentally filed.
Will your message be filed under short-term, long-term, or sensory memory, or will your message simply be forgotten? The strategy and consistency of your messaging contributes to how (and if) the viewer will categorize your brand.
Extensive research shows that repetition and consistency hold certain power to persuade human behavior. Several studies have concluded that it requires at least seventeen impressions of a brand before a consumer will consider a product trial.
If you have several competitors within your market, it may take even longer for your audience to actively associate your brand with your product. To achieve best results and maximize your return on investment (ROI), you should conduct a “communications audit” to evaluate just how effective your impressions are.
A communications audit consists of five key factors that contribute to brand consistency and thus, effectiveness.
Award-Winning Editor Becomes Renowned JDRF Advocate
Writer and advocate Moira McCarthy is today’s Monday Maine Maven. Moira was an award-winning newspaper editor and investigative crime reporter before she reached her goal of working as a top ski writer.
Moira was east editor for Snow Country Magazine and is currently a contributing editor at SKI Magazine, SKI AREA Management Magazine and is the weekly winter sports columnist for the Boston Herald.
She has published five books on everything from golf to skiing, to raising a child with diabetes to raising teen girls (the last would star Linda Blair, were it a screenplay).
Moira was president of the Massachusetts American Cancer Society and president of her children’s school PTO (where she raised 100 times more than any other president had in one year).
When Moira’s youngest daughter, Lauren, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, she turned all of her donation time to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and its mission for a cure.
Moira has served on almost every committee of JDRF’s International Board, was “ChairMom” of their International Children’s Congress, president of the New England chapter and was named JDRF International Volunteer of the year.
Moira is an avid tennis player and holds a number of club championships and is a tepid golfer who holds some really cute golf hats. She lives in Plymouth, Mass. with her husband, Sean. Moira’s daughter Leigh, 25, is a teacher. Lauren, now 20, is thriving as a student at George Mason University majoring in – what else? — political communications.
Moira considers herself part Maniac because she’d skied with Paul Schipper and has made jello shots from a Maine cookbook.
Schooner Mary Day is Ready for Spring
At NMC we’ve been noticing signs of spring’s arrival throughout Maine. We’ve felt it at our offices in Augusta and North Anson, and we hear about it from our friends and clients around the state.
Today’s Fab Foto features our friends of the schooner Mary Day in Camden. With spring upon them, Captains Barry King and Jen Martin are busy booking windjammer vacations, sharing news on their Facebook page, and, most importantly, getting the beautiful schooner Mary Day ready for the season!
Below is a photo of Captain King and his crew after uncovering Mary Day this past weekend (photo credit to Mary Day’s crew member Zachary Simonson Bond).
Make sure to read Captain King’s own blog to see more of the uncovering process at MaineWindjammerBlog.com.
Captain King and his crew uncover the schooner Mary Day. Photo credit: Zachary Simonson Bond
My Mother Told Me to be Careful About What I Write Down on Paper
When I was in elementary school, my mother used to always tell me not to write anything down on paper that I wouldn’t want the whole world to see. That was back in the day when we would be writing notes to other kids and passing them through the grapevine during class. (We were so naughty!)
The same thing applies on the social Web. You shouldn’t post anything or write anything on a social network that you wouldn’t want the world to see.
Your personal brand is your professional brand and vise versa. Anyone who thinks there is some kind of separation is sadly mistaken.
It is quite likely that if you are applying for a job, the prospective employer will look at your Facebook profile even if you’re not friends.
About a year ago, a young man contacted me repeatedly, insisting he was perfect as a candidate to work for Nancy Marshall Communications. I looked him up on Facebook and there, I found a whole slew of photographs showing how social a person he was.
The photos showed him drinking copious amounts of Budweiser and playing beer pong. It showed him in many states of drunkenness, partying in all sorts of venues, proving that he was not only social, but he was worldly, too!
His friends had commented on his posts about how hysterical he was after pounding so many beers while simultaneously bouncing a ping pong ball, so he was athletic as well!
I enjoy a good party as much as most people, if not more, but when you are trying to establish yourself in the world, you can’t assume you can paint one picture of yourself on Facebook and another picture of yourself on LinkedIn, and only your friends will find you on the former and professional contacts will find you on the latter!
So, remember what my wise mother said and don’t post anything on social networks that you wouldn’t want the whole world to see.
MPBN’s Rooks Discusses the Difference Between Hosting and Reporting
Today’s Maine Maven is MPBN on-air personality Jennifer Rooks. Jennifer joined MPBN in June of 2007 after spending more than13 years at WCSH-TV in Portland and its sister station, WLBZ-TV in Bangor, where she worked as a general assignment reporter and weekend news anchor.
Since 1994, Jennifer has covered a broad number of Maine issues in every corner of the state.
She has twice won an Edward R. Murrow award: In 1998, for coverage of Maine National Guard and Reserve soldiers deployed in Bosnia and Hungary, and in 2003, for the documentary “Citizen King,” about independent Governor (and former Maine Watch host) Angus King.
Jennifer grew up outside Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia, and her master’s in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.
Jennifer worked at television stations in San Francisco and Monterey, California, before coming to Maine. She and her husband Mike have two children.
1.) Jennifer, you have been an on-air television personality on a network station, WCSH, and on a PBS station, MPBN. What are the differences between the topics you cover?
At MPBN, I host Maine Watch – a half-hour public affairs program. I focus much less on the breaking news each day than I did at WCSH, and much more on the broader issues affecting the state.
For example, last week, we focused the entire Maine Watch program on the idea of creating an East-West highway in Maine.
If I were reporting daily news, I would have covered the topic differently… I might have attended the public hearing about the East-West highway bill and produced a 2-minute story for the 6:00 news.
Another obvious difference is that I no longer stand outside in cruddy weather for StormCenter! ;-)
“The Social Media Revolution”
Today is our Social Media Boot Camp at The Senator Inn in Augusta.
In preparing for this momentous occasion, I have been thinking about social media and how it has changed my life.
It was in November of 2007 that I attended a workshop presented by Shel Holtz, one of the pioneers of blogging. The workshop was part of the annual conference of the Society of American Travel Writers in Manchester, England.
Shel inspired me to start my blog at www.maineprmaven.com in order to post my thoughts and writings about the evolution of PR.
He inspired me to think about the ways that we, as marketers, can build communities of supporters for our brands through blogs and social networks. Thank you, Shel Holtz!
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