First off, I’d like to day thanks and wow!
Thanks to all the folks who worked on the Strategic Leadership/Social Media for Social Good program at UR’s Jepson School. An especially big shout out to Sue Robinson Sain and Ryan Smartt of ConnectRichmond. The program was outstanding and I was humbled to participate and present to those great people in attendance.
For those who have asked, here’s a copy of my slide presentation. Feel free to use them to spread the word.
Also here’s the video shot by the folks at the University of Richmond. On this page is all related video from the program including other speakers like the wonderful Gradon Tripp (THEY LIVE, inside joke) and fellow panelists, Cynthia Price from ChildFund, Aaron Dotson of Elevation, Scott Pharr of PharrOut and Conoway Haskins of Senator Jim Webb’s staff. Also a big thanks to Lisa Schaffner of UNOS (who else had telethon flashbacks?)
Enough thanks, now some thoughts. (People reading this outside of Richmond, you may want to stop here. I will spend the rest of this post being a true homer).
After Thursday’s Social Media Club event with Gradon speaking about nonprofits, and Friday’s event I am left with the strong feeling that we in Richmond are on the edge of something special. Folks that come in to speak from out of town are amazed by the numbers of people who come to social media events, understand what they are talking about, and beginning to add social media into their marketing arsenal.
Back in the 80’s led by a number of talented, aggressive advertising agencies, Richmond was declared one of the leading advertising towns in the United States. Companies from all over the country came to Richmond to work with these agencies and prosper from the agencies’ knowledge. To a varying degree companies still do that to this day.
I think Richmond can position itself similarly in the world of social media. But to do that we need to work together.
We need to continue to support the Social Media Club and encourage its leaders to bring in social media leaders from around the country (and not trash it because it doesn’t offer an open bar for each meeting).
We need to share our knowledge with each other and form an open dialouge about what works and what doesn’t.
We need to share in each other victories, like with Cynthia and Geoff Livingston have done in a short time with ChildFund, and learn from those victories, applying those lessons for our clients and businesses.
For my part, my wheels are already turning. I plan on sharing some ideas with folks in the coming weeks and hopefully begin working together to keep building on this success.
Richmond can become a center for not only was social media is but for its evolution. We have the interest, the talent and the excitement already generated. Working together to can do something pretty cool.
We need to build on this excitement. Big opportunities like this don’t come along very often.
Hodges Blog 
Andrew Miller
/ July 27, 2009Good thoughts, Jon. I think we will see a lot of innovation in the social media space and Richmond might as well lead the charge.
Another point worth mentioning is social media’s impact on other advertising channels. We’ve all seen more integration between traditional and social media (although more is always possible).
In my experience as a search engine marketer, social’s impact on search behaviors and search advertising is enormous and still relatively untapped by most marketers. I have enough thoughts on the topic to fill a separate blog post. Thanks for the idea!
Sue Robinson
/ July 27, 2009Thanks for the reflections, Jon. I absolutely think you’re on to something when you suggest that we “work together.”
In working with the Social Media Club and our committee in planning Friday’s conference, I have been in awe of the energy, knowledge, transparency and openness of this community within our community. Everyone seems to willing to share and learn from each other.
We’re putting out a survey today to evaluate the conference and I’m looking forward to feedback from attendees on what next steps may be in order to continue the conversation face-to-face.
Andrew Miller
/ July 28, 2009Jon,
One more thought sprang to mind. The RichmondWiki project satisfies all of the criteria for being classified as “social media”. A wiki, by definition, is collaborative and communal. Anybody can add or edit content. There is no profit motive, no bias, no agenda.
It’s a great place for nonprofits to seek additional exposure on the internet.
Even though the interface is ugly (same open sources software as Wikipedia) and some knowledge of wikitext is required for advanced editing, new features are being released all the time that truly democratize the aggregation and distribution of knowledge within a community.
My day job as an SEO consultant is fun and pays the bills (see my other comment above), but curating the RichmondWiki motivates me the most. I am looking forward to moving back to RVA in December when my wife finishes school. I hope to drum up more support for the project in the hopes that others are just as interested in creating a community resource as I am.
daren
/ July 28, 2009Great post – Just subscriped to your RSS feed.. Thanks
Very interesting post – Might be old new, but it was new to me. Thanks.
Gradon Tripp
/ July 30, 2009I have come here to chew bubblegum… 😉
It was great meeting with you, Jon, and hearing your take on professional for- and non-profit organizations’ use of social media.
Richmond is a city rich in social media knowledge, and I’m grateful for the chance to speak to two wonderful audiences.
I hope to come back to Richmond in the near future, and would love to connect with you again then. Of course, you’re more than welcome to come up to Boston, too!