Gemma Went is the Director of Red Cube Marketing, a communications agency integrating Marketing, PR and Social Media. With 10 years experience in Marketing and PR, Gemma is working collaboratively with businesses, large and small, to ensure their communications activities help them to achieve their business objectives, engage with their communities and build brand awareness. You can follow Gemma on Twitter or Linkedin.
G: How and why did you get into social media business?
G: I’ve been in the comms game for over 10 years. I started my career in-house, heading up the Marketing and PR at a number of businesses within the creative sector (an industry I simply love) and later as a consultant. My grand plans to set up Red Cube started in the summer of 2008, originally as traditional comms agency. That plan soon changed as I became immersed in social media. By the time I launched in January 2009, I had started to integrate social media into my offering. Being a bit of a social animal at heart, it seemed a natural extension to me, plus the opportunities it offered my clients excited me, particularly SME’s who get the chance to level the playing field.The transparency and ‘realness’ of social media appealed to me greatly, it works perfectly with my own values and Red Cube’s ‘no fluff, no jargon, just common sense’ focus
G: What is it like to be a real Social Media Citizen?
G: Well, being social is as easy as being ‘me’. However keeping up with social media as part of a daily routine can be tricky to manoeuvre when client work takes over. I start the day by browsing Google Reader, digesting posts that keep me abreast of news and developments. When I find great content, I schedule it to be published on Twitter throughout the day through Hootsuite. My primary goal for social media is to help people, so this content tends to be around Brand, Marketing, PR and of course, Social Media.
I tend to check in on Twitter throughout the day, responding to people, answering questions and retweeting anything I find interesting. I also pop in to LinkedIn and Facebook once or twice a day and engage there. As I run a blog, The Cube, I regularly work on my editorial calendar (which usually runs two months in advance) and know what posts I’ll be writing and publishing that week. I tend to publish 2 per week and book in 3 to 4 hours once a week to write and edit those and any other guest blogs I may be doing. Doing it this way is the only way to keep me consistent (otherwise I’ll just forget).
Trey Pennington is a marketing pro, business connector, and storyteller for business who’s passion is helping people uncover their hidden treasures and put them to work. He uses social media to connect with audiences around the globe. HubSpot ranks his Facebook profile as one of the most influential in the world and his Twitter profile in the top 0.01%. Trey helped start ten Social Media Clubs in the US, UK, and Australia and routinely speaks to groups about using social media to make connections and have conversations that lead to commerce. You can follow Trey on Twitter or Linkedin.
T: The explosive growth of social media affords the commercial world unprecedented opportunity. The opportunity is not where people expect it, though. Many are looking at increasing ROI and profits through efficiency. The real opportunity is more fundamental and we’ll explore it’s unexpected source.
G: Why do many marketers still fail to integrate social media successfully into their broader marketing strategies?
T: Much of commercial communications comes from established professional disciplines like public relations, advertising, or marketing. Those branches of communication developed over long periods of time, have generations of experienced practitioners, and have developed substantial, documented bodies of knowledge to support their on-going practice. Social media popped onto the scene from a different source—it bubbled up from kids. The grown ups saw social media as kids’ stuff. Instead of embracing social media and applying disciplined thinking to incorporating the new media into marketing programs, the professionals let social media evangelist develop independent strategies for each emerging platform. The tide seems to be changing. Now each established discipline seems to be embracing social media and experimenting with it to see how it supports business objectives. I’m hesitant to label the experiments as “right” or “wrong,” however, I do suggest those who see social media as a free broadcast medium will tend to have less fulfilling experiences with it!
W: I don’t think of social media as a thing to get into. The term is an attempt to describe how technology, some being what is also described as “new media” is affecting business. To say that I was “in social media” would be like a business saying the are getting into phones or automobiles when they use those tools. Yes, some people are in the social media business, just as some businesses sell phones or cars. I hold that the revolution is business and life will come from this enhanced communications capability, regardless of what business you are in. We can choose whether to use it, just as we can choose whether to use a phone or automobile.
J: Like everyone else I saw it as a way to communicate more easily with my friends, and later on, potential customers.
G: What is it like to be a real Social Media Citizen?
J: I monitor Twitter and Facebook and Linkedin all day. It’s always there, but not a huge part of my day. I find it a distraction actually and I’ve been trying to spend less time worrying about it. When I do, I get more real work done.
Jesse Stay, the self-proclaimed "Social" Geek, is a well-reputed speaker, author, blogger, and entrepreneur, who writes and consults on the topics of social media and new media. Jesse wrote two books, his first book, “I’m on Facebook–Now What???“, discusses the possibilities of improving your career, family, business, and life through Facebook. His second book, FBML Essentials (O’Reilly), focuses more on technology and how developers can learn from the Facebook developer platform.
Note: Social Media Citizens collaborate with different blogs in Europe & US. This interview was conducted by Tachelle Daniels from internet radio talk show CEO Today.
Posted in CEOsComments Off on CEO Today: Interview with the founder of SocialToo – Jesse Stay
Helen Lynch is a community manager at Yell.com, UK’s leading local search engine. Helen also blogs about technology and social media at Zath. You can follow Helen on Linkedin or Twitter. Read the full story
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Jonas de los Reyes is a lead community manager of Yahoo! in Southeast Asia. Jonas has over 10 year experience in online marketing and is very passionate for all things social media. Jonas also blogs at his personal site. You can follow Jonas on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Read the full story
Posted in Community Managers, InterviewsComments Off on Interview with Community Manager: Jonas de los Reyes from Yahoo!
Ida Vega Santana is a community manager at Sony Iberia. For the last 5 years she have been exploring online communication world and developing her community management skills at companies like Heineken, BBDO and the likes. She also blogs at her own blog IdaVega.com. You can follow Ida on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter.Read the full story
Posted in Community Managers, InterviewsComments Off on Interview with Community Manager: Ida Vega Santana from Sony Iberia
Gemma Went is the Director of Red Cube Marketing, a communications agency integrating Marketing, PR and Social Media. With 10 years experience in Marketing and PR, Gemma is working collaboratively with businesses, large and small, to ensure their communications activities help them to achieve their business objectives, engage with their communities and build brand awareness. You can follow Gemma on Twitter or Linkedin.
Jonas de los Reyes
Ida Vega Santana
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