by Michelle Lentz

I love it when my city hits the national news for something other than race riots or boycotting Robert Mapplethorpe. In fact, I can proudly say we’ve come a long, long way since those days.

The latest national news out of Cincinnati is what’s being billed as The World’s Largest Tweet-Up. I’m not sure if that’s accurate on a number of levels, but it doesn’t matter. It’s good marketing for a good cause, and a great example of a non-profit using social media to raise awareness.

Last July, musician Katie Reider passed away at age 30 from a rare form of cancer that attacked the left side of her face. It left her blind in one eye and unable to do what she did best – sing. Katie was a local musician for us, but she’d been on the national scene as well, and was one of those artists spotlighted on WB shows like Dawson’s Creek.

500Kin365.org, was created in May of 2008 with the help of Katie Reider’s loyal fanbase to reconnect and introduce 500,000 people to Katie Reider, her music and her story over the next year, as she continued to undergo treatment. The site took off, and the goal is to introduce 500,000 people to her music. Two sets of Katie’s songs can be downloaded for only $1 each on the site and 100% of the proceeds to go help pay off the family’s exorbitant medical bills.

Now for the Tweet-up. About 500,000 people attend our annual Taste of Cincinnati event on Memorial Day weekend. Until last year, the Katie Reider Band had entertained at the food festival for almost 10 years. This year, Taste of Cincinnati will spotlight the Katie Reider Stage, presented by Avalon and Metromix.com Cincinnati at P&G Gardens, as the first stage in the history of Cincinnati named for a pioneer of gay and lesbian rights and as the first stage in the annals of Taste of Cincinnati named for a performer. I told you we’d come a long way.

The goal is for everyone to tweet awareness of the whole deal. 500,000 attendees might equal 500,000 downloads of Katie’s music. Called 3 Tweets 4 Katie, the campaign uses the shorthand Katie used in her everyday life.

Tens of thousands of tweets are expected to fill the Twitterverse over the Memorial Day weekend in honor Reider’s life and music. The Friends of Katie Reider encourage peeps around the world to adopt new Twitterminology and embrace a Reider family tradition: “3″ means “I love you” and “4″ means “I love you, too.” With tweets limited to 140 characters on Twitter, organizers believe the Reider family tradition of “3″ and “4″ may likely gain a global following as new Twitter shorthand.

Remember, you don’t have to be at Taste of Cincinnati to participate. You can tweet directly from the 3 Tweets 4 Katie site and show your love for the cause. Your tweet will help expose other people to Katie’s music and help achieve those 500,000 downloads. Or you can just spend $1 and download a set of her songs.

Here’s a a YouTube clip from Katie Reider’s last show:

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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Sites: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

I’m off live-blogging a wine festival today (I know. Poor me.)  Kevin Dugan, whom you may know from the Bad Pitch Blog or the Strategic Public Relations blog has offered to fill in for me. Kevin was lucky enough to attend the P&G digital summit earlier this week, and here is his synopsis of the event.
- Michelle

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The first moment of truth is “the time it takes shoppers to make up their mind about a product” according to The WSJ. It’s a tight window at three to seven seconds, so P&G considers it the most important marketing opportunity for a brand.

Earlier this week I joined Peter Kim, David Armano, Jason Falls and representatives from companies including MySpace, Hulu and Google to help shape the first moment of truth with social media for 100 P&G employees.

Loads of Hope
40 nerds teamed up with 100 P&G marketers to help raise funds for disaster relief through Tide’s Loads of Hope project. And we did just that…$20 at a time. $50,000 was raised in four hours employing everything from Digg, blogs and Twitter to MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and a host of niche community sites. Tide matched the $50K for the $100K in all.

The teams that broke down into smaller groups, around specific strategies, were able to test more ideas more easily and quickly. They focused on the ones that did work and dropped the ones that did not gain traction. This is a great lesson that can be applied across marketing projects in my opinion.

The competitive, reality TV nature of the event was intense as the final minutes approached. The digital dashboards shown above were posted throughout P&G’s learning center and clearly added to the urgency of the experiment. In one view we tracked sales, site visits and conversion rate for each team while the Twitter Feed tracking the event scrolled at the bottom – all in real time.

It’ll All Come Out in the Wash
Post-event we have the predictable, armchair dissection of the event by pundits. But most critics miss the point of this exercise.

This was a starting point for P&G — a learning exercise designed to show the power of social media that organized itself transparently around a good cause.

In the process 3,000 people got a t-shirt and, most importantly, $100K was raised for a great cause. The P&G marketers that continue to participate in social media will come to understand its true value which includes better customer relationships and, done correctly, establishing a personal dimension to their brand.

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Kevin Dugan attended the P&G event and has been blogging at Strategic Public Relations since 2002. More recently he created The Bad Pitch Blog.

by Michelle Lentz

Every now and then, something exciting happens here in Cincinnati. This week, our local giant Procter & Gamble brought in the digerati so that P&G could learn more about social media. You may have seen folks hawking Tide t-shirts on Twitter? That was the P&G Digital Hack night.

We weren’t all lucky enough to attend that event, but a lot of folks came out for a happy hour the evening before, sponsored by Cincinnati’s rather wildly successful startup, ShareThis and organized by our Social Media Breakfast team of Daniel Lally, Dave Knox, and Kevin Dugan. The event took place at Bootsy’s, a rather hip restaurant co-produced by Bootsy Collins and local restaurateur Jeff Ruby.

I took photos, but I’m no Brian Solis.   Full event photos can be found on Flickr.

Ben Lerer (Thrillist), Dave Knox (P&G), Chad Sims (Hyde Park Blast), Adam Paulisick (Nielsen Online)

Chris George (MySpace), Tim Schigel (ShareThis)

Dave Tokheim (SixApart), Heidi Browning (MySpace), Emrah Kovacoglu (TotalBeauty.com)

Phil Wierbinski (MySpace), Chris George (MySpace)

Bobby Uhlenbrock (Ample), Kevin Dugan (PR Blog / FRCH), Josh Fendley (Ample)

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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

by Michelle Lentz

I try to keep the overly personal stuff out of bub.blicio.us, but these are social media related.

First off, I always get to announce when Brian is speaking somewhere, but this time – it’s me! I’m thrilled to have been asked to speak on a BlogHer ’09 panel: Food Blogging in Time of Recession. I know, I’m not a food blogger. But what’s food without wine? I’ll be speaking, I think, on both finding Recession Wines as well as how to be a wine (and food) blogger during a recession. It sort of cuts back on fancy dinners and such – unless you’re a bit creative. BlogHer is happening in Chicago this year on July 24-25.

Next, my wine blog is up for a local award, although I fully admit there’s a popularity contest element here. In fact, I sort of feel like I’m campaigning for Prom Queen. That said, I’d love if you’d vote for me in the City Beat Best of Cincinnati Awards. My wine blog, among others, is listed as potential Best Blog. (I really wish they’d broken it out into categories, but they didn’t.) All you need to vote is an email address – no worries about whether or not you actually live in Cincinnati.

Once you get to the survey, you can vote on just about everything in the city. (Again, I wonder why they only have one category for blogs.) It’s a fun survey. You can fill out as much or as little as you wish. The BLOG category is listed under PUBLIC EYE. Select the drop-down list and scroll for MY WINE EDUCATION (http://www.wine-girl.net). Do I think I’ll win? Well, my fingers are crossed, but all my favorite local blogs  – and closest friends – are nominated too. The competition is stiff. But at least I’m in the mix, yes? You have until March 1 to vote, so vote soon!

Right. So, we’ll now return to our regularly scheduled programming here on bub.blicio.us.

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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel, Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

Nominee for City Beat’s Best of the City: Vote for My Wine Education under Public Eye > Blog:
http://www.bestofcincinnati.com/

by Michelle Lentz

Cincinnati has a surprisingly huge social media community. Maybe not surprising. I suspect, due to P&G, we have more marketing agencies per square mile than anyone but Madison Avenue, and a lot of them are embracing social media. Today was our 5th social media breakfast, which sold out in under an hour, and it featured Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora. You can view our Twitter stream and see Tim’s 55 minute presentation on UStream

Pandora is that amazing internet radio project you have on your iPhone and quite probably on your computer. As you might know, they’ve recently added ads to their stream. The ads are extremely targeted and you can get rid of them for $3/month.

Their new advertising stream is very very targeted. If they wanted to, they could target 35-year old women in Cincinnati who enjoy Weezer (i.e., me). They are thinking about branching out with this. For instance, would you like to opt-in to an email that tells you your favorite band is playing at your local club? Taking that one step further, what if it also told you that a band you might like is coming to a club near you? Pandora does have the recommendation thing down, although they see themselves as a radio product, not a recommendation engine.

I was also intrigued to hear about their fight with the government over radio fees. Remember the big uproar back in early August? Tim had told The Washington Post that Pandora had a real possiblity of shutting their doors for good as the government had raised the fees on Internet Radio. Well, apparently enough of you got upset and wrote your congressmen. In fact, email accounts and faxes on Capitol Hill were jammed enough that it made a difference. Pandora, and other internet radio stations, are currently wrapping up a second round of talks with Congress. Grassroots worked.

Here’s a few more tidbits I learned today:
- Pandora was the most downloaded iPhone application of 2008. (Okay, I knew this, but thought I’d re-share it.)

- When they launched the web site in November 2005, they rather quickly ramped up to 50-60K new users per day.

- They’ve done virtually no marketing, but have grown by leaps and bounds. In fact, they grew by word of mouth, using occasional Google AdWords. Tim has also traveled in the last 2 years, conducting over 200 town halls across the nation. One of his first, in NYC, attracted 2 people, and a recent (albeit canceled) one in NYC attracted over 1000.

- Of the 600,000 indexed songs, 85% are played every day.

- They see every communication (email, tweet, etc) with a listener as an opportunity, not a cost. In fact, they respond to all communications with their listeners.

- Pandora is going to be everywhere. For example, Ford is integrating Pandora into their cars via SYNC.

My friend Krista Neher was there, brilliantly snapping photo after photo. So as Brian would say, I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story. View Krista’s entire SMB5 Photostream on Flickr.

SMB Founder Bryan Person and our local SMB impressario Kevin Dugan

The early morning crowd at LPK for Cincy Social Media Breakfast #5

Tim Westergren

Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora

Our Social Media Breakfast was sponsored by Lucrum and LPK.

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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology
Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

Nominee for City Beat’s Best of the City: Vote for My Wine Education under Public Eye > Blog:
http://www.bestofcincinnati.com/

by Michelle Lentz

Locally, I followed @Cincinnati_News on Twitter. I’m not sure who runs it (neither is anyone else it seems). The web site on the profile is the City of Cincinnati site and the tweet sources information from several local news stations and the local newspaper. Of course, the bio also says “a great place to live, work, and play” and then sources all the bad news, so I’m not sure how great an advertisement it is anyway.

Now, this particular Twitter account has always had a small problem with tweeting in annoyingly huge chunks. But it was something to which we all adjusted, as it was a good source of news. But last week, someone made the decision to add Magpie tweets.

What’s Magpie? As the tagline says, “convert your tweets into bling-bling.” Sign up and monetize your tweets (and irritate your followers). Advertisers give a tweet to magpie, who looks at its members. It finds members that would be interested in this tweet and sends it out. It shows up in the timeline of the person who signed up. Of course, if you’re subscribed to that person, you see it too. In their FAQs, Magpie actually says “So keep your followers happy and don’t risk annoying them with too many magpie-tweets.”

When Magpie first debuted, it was a big question. Will people unfollow someone because they use it? Well, in Cincinnati at least, that answer is yes. We don’t want advertising – and annoyances – in our Twitter feed. The solution is peaceful protest of course – simply unfollowing.

You can see some of the reactions here and in the screenshot below. @Cincinnati_news followers were not happy that their timelines had been co-opted for advertising.

Would you unfollow someone using Magpie? I did. I always say that readers – of your tweets or of your blog – are smart. They don’t mind occasional self-promotion. We all do it. But turn your feed into an obvious ad and people are going to walk away. You’re not the only one out there with the information, and they want your opinion, not your obvious zeal for monetizing. No one is going to judge you for monetizing things, just be subtle about it.

UPDATE: It looks like all the commotion was a little much for @Cincinnati_News. They’ve taken down their Twitter account.
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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology
Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

by Michelle Lentz

This is pure self-promotion, but let me have a minute to promote a new class I’m offering, called The Art of Blogging.

Here’s the thing – there are a lot of people out there who have blogs, but they don’t know how to really use them.  You see, there’s a lot that goes into writing a blog. You need to know who your audience is, understand what they want, and find your own unique blogging style. This 4-hour seminar focuses on just that – content creation and everything that goes with it. The course is geared towards business blogging, both large and small, but anyone is welcome to attend.

We don’t just talk at you; the class is an engaging discussion to help you improve your blog. Remember, I’m a trainer and instructional designer, so this class is actually structured so that you’ll learn something. What will you learn?

1. What is a blog?
In this portion of the class, we’ll define blogging, understanding what makes blogs different from your average web site. We’ll discuss what blogs you enjoy, and why. What makes you participate? We’ll talk about the ROI of corporate blogging and review some successful corporate blogs.  We’ll also talk about other (non-corporate) uses for blogging.
2. Blogging Goals
At this point, we’ll define goals for your blog. There are a few goals you should always have. What else do you want to get from your blog? What are your ideas for reaching these goals?
3. Blogging Voice
In this section, we’ll define and understand your audience and your style. What does your audience want to hear? How do they want to hear it? We’ll work to understand subtle marketing on a blog and developing your conversational style. We’ll also dive into sharing opinions on blogs, and whether you want to share them with your readers.
4. Content
The most important thing on a blog is content. We’ll talk about where to find it and how much to research. We’ll discuss consistency, quantity, and quality. Curious as to where to find images that you can legally use on your blog? We’ll cover that too. Finally, we’ll review how to deal with proprietary information and blogging about your company.
5. Blogging Etiquette
We’ll cover the 10 Commandments of Blogging, as well as other tips and tricks, including page breaks, linkbacks, internal links, corrections, and citations. We’ll also talk about comment moderation and dealing with negative commenters and criticism.
6. Quick Tips for Growing Your Blog with New Media
We’ll finish the day with the phenomenon of talking to yourself, etiquette for commenting on other blogs, understanding tagging, and some basic SEO principles. We’ll also cover RSS feeds in more detail.__
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Takeaways:
A new comfort level and knowledge for maintaining your blog, participant guide, and access to a private class-only wiki for on-going discussion.
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Cost & Payment:
$179

Credit card accepted via Paypal. To pay with a check by mail or at the door, please contact events[at]write-tech[dot]com. Credit cards will not be accepted day-of.

Download a course outline.

When?
November 18, 8 am – noon

Where?
Hamilton County Business Center
1776 Mentor Avenue
Suite 160
Cincinnati, OH 45212

How much?
$179
You can register online and pay via Paypal. Alternatively, you can contact me and we’ll arrange payment via cash or check. Credit card payments will not be accepted day-of and you must be pre-registered.

Anything else?
Make sure you tell your friends and colleagues. I’d love to see everyone there!

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Contact Michelle with your news, apps, and events via email, Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed. Visit Michelle at Wine-Girl.net and Write Technology. You can also catch Michelle presenting on Twitter at the upcoming DevLearn ’08 in San Jose.