The First Snowfall of the Season in Northwestern Montana, Glacier Country

If you turn down all your background noise and turn up the volume on your computer, you’ll hear the chirping of the birds and the flutter of their wings as they seem to be enjoying the fist snowfall of the season just as much as I did.  I hope you have three minutes to relax and enjoy. (This video was taken with my new iPhone 4S HD and is totally unedited).

The Muir House, by Mary DeMuth – Finding Home

Family dynamics are challenging enough without any secrets to be running from. But in the case of our main character Willa Muir, the dynamics from her past are nothing compared to what she’s about to confront when returning home for a necessary and very uncomfortable visit.  I thoroughly enjoyed the characters of The Muir House, each with a well developed personality and strong sense of who they really are, or in Willa’s case, who she wants to become.

If you’re in a place in your life when you’re ready to stop running, self evaluate, get some answers and draw people closer rather than further away, then this book is an absolute must read. Willa’s introspection is a lovely mix of emotion based on inquisitive cautiousness to heartbreaking distrust and playful flirtation depending on which character she’s confronted with. I say confronted because she’s on a journey with many unknowns she must look at with new eyes. Willa isn’t simply unlocking secrets in this book, she’s exploring people, values and a whole surge of emotions. I adore her beau, Hale, who’s steadfast admiration never seems to waver, even though he knows he needs to continue on his own path due to her reticence to commit. Having been here at least once in my lifetime, this is something I can totally relate to, and this tug of war with love and commitment was subsequently the linch pin that had me turning page after page.

When an old boyfriend named Blake comes into the picture it’s easy to see how the comforts of this first love pull her further from Hale, whose faith, stability and desire to marry Willa would be the perfect fairy tale ending. Our author, Mary DeMuth, unfortunately denies us the opportunity to see them strolling down the isle. This brings me to one of only two objections to the book. I wanted to see Willa and Hale together because I selfishly, and perhaps romantically wanted to believe that seeking, healing and knowing would end in a total unveiling of vulnerability and readiness for Willa to commit.  And yet,the author actually lets you decide for yourself if they end up together or not. Maybe Willa needs to continue to grow. As for the Mother, I felt robbed of the opportunity to really get to know her. I wanted more information, more memories and more meaningful dialogue where this highly tumultuous relationship is concerned.  Instead, we’re given the opportunity for total fulfillment in Willa’s relationship with Mrs. Skye, clearly my very favorite character in the book.

I was immediately enamored by Mrs. Skye, who’s well developed soul has been around the Muir House forever. Her timing, her discretion, her strength and overall dynamic disposition are softened as we get to know her through her rich and pivotal position in this plot. I would love to read a book entirely based on her life behind the scenes at the Muir House. The twists and turns of the Muir House are tied up into a nice ending, which left me satisfied and happy that Willa has the answers she needs to move on. I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this book, which you can purchase and hopefully enjoy for yourself at Amazon.

Is Your Social Media a Hit or a Miss?

Facebook is not a numbers game. Many business owners obsess over getting that golden Facebook number up, (of course I’m referring to the number of Facebook Fans, or people who Like your page). So when the numbers stagnate…You can read the rest of Connie’s blog post for Montana Business here: Is Your Social Media a Hit or a Miss?

Living in the Now, not in the Know

Florida…specifically…Fort Myers Beach Florida.  Beautiful white sand. A narrow island in the Gulf. Dolphins everywhere. Stingray at my toes.  You’d think in a tropical paradise like this you’d find people running along the beach Bo Derik style, but no. Hard core drinking and Fried Grouper with fries is typically the catch of the day. And yet…there’s a certain je ne sais quoi about the people here that I find absolutely intriguing. It’s slow. Painfully slow. But somehow pleasantly slow too. People aren’t in a hurry to do much of…well…anything! They’re more relaxed. They stop and chat on the street corner, the grocer, the post office and the deli as if they have nothing else on their agenda. I’m so confused. Are we on vacation here people? I don’t think so. What’s going on? Don’t we have deadlines? Meetings? Calls to make? Horns to honk? Who’s following up on what with all this idle chit chat? I’m jolted out of my own head when it suddenly starts to rain. One of those fast and furious tropical, late afternoon rains.  I throw in the towel, realizing another day has gone by and not much is accomplished. Leaving my umbrella behind, I decide to walk along the beach, getting totally soaked. Thinking, thinking, thinking…who are these strange people and why do they move so slowly? Actually…I begin to think…and more importantly, it seems,  HOW do they move so slowly? Hmm. With the rain on my back and a cool breeze in the air, I may or may not be starting to think - I wanna get me a piece-a-that! The next morning I’m at a little Greek hole in the wall ordering my favorite spinach feta omelet. Still in a state of ponder, I ask the owner, a tall, thin Greek man with long grey hair and a very thick accent,  how long he’s lived here and why he stays. He said he moved to the beach twenty years ago because it was slow. He said it’s the rhythm of the water. It’s pace; beautiful.  Natural.  It’s the moment. The present. It’s all about living in the Now. Some call it Life. He looked at me with a look of recognition, as if to say “Yeah, don’t worry about being such an ignorant gluck. I was there too. Twenty years ago. It’s never too late to slow down.” He smiled and asked me how the omelet tasted. Never better. And THIS is the point of Social Media. It’s about living in the now, real time, building relationships with real people, and at times, when you least expect it, with people you least expect to be building a relationship with.

What is the difference between Social Media and Public Relations?

Open Mindedness and palpable respect and admiration for one another always sets the tone for a great meeting.  So with the right tone and a room full of marketing professionals, I was asked a question that comes up time and time again: “What’s the difference between Public Relations and Social Media?

Social media allows you to amplify your reach in ways that marketing on television, the press and the radio simply can’t.  Public Relations Firms typically send out press releases, schedule events, appearances, and primarily work within the Business to Business Community. They typically talk to the editors, journalists, producers and the planners rather than the actual public. I like to think of the PR people as “the ones who are working really hard behind the scenes to make you look good.”

Your Social Media Managers, on the other hand,  are the ones who know the inside out of your business and the people who you’re actually out in the real world talking to. They’re not there to sell or to push, they’re there to build relationships and respond to people with the stealth like awareness that every move they make represents the company. They have their eye on what’s happening in the community and what people are saying out and about town. They’re the connectors and the socially engaging individuals who understand the types of questions that your clients are asking and are prepared in a moments notice to answer them.

Like most people who thrive in marketing, your social media staff should be able to see the big picture, connect the dots, come up with unique ideas for your company and use the voice behind the company to express these ideas. There’s another misconception that just about anyone can jump on board the social media train. It goes without saying that if you truly enjoy being social, this is a career path you might want to explore. But not just anyone can do the ” creative and critical thinking” that’s required to become a strategist. Ideas and making connections with like minded, value oriented people is clearly part of the equation.

Nancy Cawdrey Gallery Goes Social: Social Media & ROI

Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey Gallery & Studio, Bigfork, MT, USA

When I first met Steve Cawdrey, he was open to the idea of using Social Media to market Nancy Cawdrey Gallery, but he was definitely reticent. Steve, like everyone else who doesn’t truly understand the nature of social media marketing, wanted to know about ROI (Return On Investment). After all, he’s a business man. His job is to generate revenue. Simply put, he wanted to see results and he wanted to know how long it would take to see them. But as someone who has been using  Social Media Marketing for a number of years, it’s almost maddening to me to hear this question FIRST.  Why? Because there’s a misconception that Facebook, Twitter and any other social media platform is similar to the ad campaigns of days that are now long gone.  Social Media is absolutely NOT a numbers game. Social Media, when used correctly, is about building relationships, creating your personality, providing on-line customer support and company branding that will eventually lead to increased revenue. Your strategy, simply put, it to build relationships.  Your tactics are what follows.

Most businesses depend first and foremost on revenue, and it’s very difficult to explain to someone unfamiliar with social media that being social and making money are totally natural and compatible; all in good time.  It’s how you DO social media, and in what context you do it that separates good social media marketing from bad. Social Media is not about self promotion. It’s about greeting the customers who walk through your door, but the doors have transcended all notion of space by way of technology.

Social media allows you to amplify your reach in ways that marketing on television and and radio cannot. For example, last week we saw that 13 people from Italy have liked our Nancy Cawdrey Facebook Page ( http://on.fb.me/lTnavR ).  For us, the joy is in seeing that our brand has reached Italy. The frustration is in not quite knowing how we did it. One thing is certain, social media does NOT have boundaries. So if we want to take our Social Media Marketing to the next level, we could start speaking to our Italian fans on Facebook using their native language which Nancy speaks fluently. The challenge lies in the fact that we want Nancy to focus on what she does best, which is to paint. Nancy isn’t a big fan of technology. She prefers to interact with people who visit her in her studio or at gallery’s where her artwork is on exhibit. This leaves the social media up to me, and I don’t speak Italian. However, if we were to engage with our Italian guests on Facebook, we could potentially start building relationships with more people in Italy, who will potentially start sharing our links, who will hopefully be curious enough to start perusing the website: http://bit.ly/pjS1ml.  Next thing you know, Voila!  The Nancy Cawdrey brand is alive and well in Europe.  Here’s the point of this little example: your audience is global and if you want to increase your revenue, you will not take this for granted. So it’s my role to be thinking about how to capture this market and build these “likers” into long term relationships. (P.S. – Steve can’t come to the phone right now, he’s studying his Italian).

Nancy at a recent exhibit at Hayden Hays Gallery

So, although the ROI from using Social Media isn’t immediate, it IS  measurable and the investment is typically far less than the investment made when using a combination of print, television, radio and billboard campaigns.  In fact, when you’re thinking in terms of investing in traditional media, you ask the salesperson “how many households will this potentially reach?”  And when doing so, you’re looking at 2 things: the actual household numbers and the actual printed MEDIA itself, which can be very satisfying.  People who hesitate to invest in Social Media are typically skeptical because they don’t see the shiny ‘tactile’ bobble that comes through printed material. If you want to see fast results using social media, create a video, post it on You Tube or Vimeo, and watch the number of viewers grow incrementally. Like I said, there are several tools to measure your social media investment.

Let’s be candid, the first several months after introducing a Facebook Business Page  are extremely time consuming and labor intensive. You must constantly be getting to know the people who’ve taken the time to actually “like” you while reviewing and readjusting your targeted demographic. When it comes to leveraging social media to increase sales, you must develop and appreciate your new on line relationships and navigate your target market using the precise combination of social, intellectual and technological skills.  Using these new relationships, coupled with good old fashioned ad campaigns that incorporate promotional components can yield results and make your message stickier by being authentic and engaging, versus just promotional. At some point, you’ll reach what I call your “sweet spot,” which is the spot where momentum starts to kick in, and THEN once you’ve created the personality of your brand and you have a captive audience, you can start to incorporate your promotional tactics, which in the case of Nancy Cawdrey gallery, will be a variety of contests and promotional giveaways to the people that we appreciate for taking the time to look at Nancy’s work via our Facebook Page. ( http://on.fb.me/lTnavR )

In summery, Social Media is about thinking in terms of the big picture, your long term goals and the brand that you’re creating using technology as the platform. You can’t ignore someone who likes you on Facebook. If you do, you’ve just missed an opportunity to greet them at the door.

Please enjoy the ride with us by copying this link and pasting it into your url: http://on.fb.me/lTnavR

Connie Cermak, Today’s Guest Blog for Montana’s Famous Western Artist Nancy Cawdrey

I’ll never forget the day I met Steve Cawdrey. He is an amazing man with the energy of a cheetah and the kind of candor that requires some pretty thick skin. He’s detailed to the point of fanaticism, which is completely necessary given his position as Manager and all things behind the scenes of Nancy Cawdrey Studio and Gallery.  Nancy is a Montana hero, though her work is clearly known throughout the entire Western United States.  I’ll do whatever I can to see that her artwork makes its way into Chicago. In fact, I’ve already selected a few pieces in her new “Chefs” collection that I believe would be a perfect fit in any of the Rick Bayless restaurants. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this brief blog about my initial experience with the Cawdrey family: http://bit.ly/iqNbn5

Do you have the skills to become a Community Manager?

The 5 C’s of Successful Community Management:

1. Content – Bring value to your community.
2. Context – Provide a deep understanding of the participants in your community.
3. Connect – Think about the value provided by connecting members of your community.
4. Continuity - Sustaining efforts over time, ensuring a productive, enjoyable community.
5. Collaboration – The idea of working with a community to share, engage and grow collaboratively.

What to look for when hiring your Community Manager:

1. Articulate – S/he must speak and write well, and be comfortable doing it.
2. Social – S/he must enjoy being social. S/he should be comfortable and confident in all social settings.
3. Professional – S/he  must be able to stop and think. Discretion is mandatory.
4. Adaptable – You can’t prepare for the reaction of your community. Flexibility and the ability to adapt quickly are key to a successful community.
5. Enthusiastic – Passion begets passion. People are seeking inspiration today more than ever. Sincere enthusiasm spreads throughout your community.
6. Connected – Must enjoy connecting people to people, initiating introductions constantly.
7. Organized – Must enjoy heavy content and be able to create and maintain a content calendar of events (Tweet Ups, Blogs, Posts, etc) to build and maintain your community.
8. Polite – Must be courteous under any circumstance, respond gracefully under pressure, and express gratitude for every member in your community.

93% of the World’s population 40 years and under is using Social Media to promote their skills, their servics or their business. They no longer trust advertising, they trust the word of their peers. They’re already out there talking. It’s up to you to go find them, and make sure they’re talking about YOU.

Please join me and my team for a Social Media Seminar at the Flathead Lake Lodge on Wed. 1/19 from 1-4pm in beautiful Bigfork, Montana. Register by phone: 406-837-3334, or e-mail: seminars@bigforkweb.com

Also: Please “Like” our Facebook Page http://on.fb.me/eZReVq or follow us on twitter @indigoweb_cc And hit us back with your FB Page so we can “Like” you too!

What is a Community Manager?

WHAT IS A COMMUNITY MANAGER?

In addition to Blogging Agents, Community Managers are one of the fastest growing professions in the United States and Europe. The emergence of Community Managers as a profession blossomed in 2007 as on line social networking was raging into mainstream and social media was subsequently evolving into a marketing platform.

This is a full time sport and it’s here to stay! Your business can’t afford to stay disengaged.

Every network has some purpose, whether it’s to stay connected, discuss common interests, or promote a belief, brand or service. Community Managers are the leaders behind this purpose. They hold the creative and collective vision of their social networking community,  managing relationships and collaborative processes built on strategy and ideas implemented in real time.

What is Social Media?

What exactly IS Social Media?

Social Media is a constant study of what’s trending right now. It is the hottest revolution since the Industrial Revolution. It’s the result of an economy that’s gone bust, and a population that wants to know the people behind the brand and just exactly who it is that they’re giving their money, their time, and their loyalty to. The rules change and evolve constantly and you need someone on your team to be on top of it with every twist and turn. This is the first time in the history of advertising that media is done in real time, with real people.

Social Media is about inspiring people to want to get to know you, your people and your brand. Social Media is about the following 3 things: Transparency, Authenticity and Engagement. It’s that simple.

It’s not about the platform, it’s about the community and building relationships.

Any on line campaign that doesn’t have a real community, with real people behind it AND out in front of it doesn’t have a social media platform, they merely have a campaign. Social Media is about connecting the people behind your brand with a real world scenario. It’s about making people feel connected to the people behind your product or your service. It’s about building relationships. It’s about engaging people in mini conversations that enable them to experience a real world scenario with you and your brand. And it’s all done in real time.