Reach Beyond Your Network on West Virginia Day

Continuing on this creative tradition, Jason Keeling is leading WV bloggers and social media mavens on another exciting project aimed at helping to build a better West Virginia. What better occasion than the state's 147th birthday to harness the power of social networks to do something good for the Mountain State! We've all been invited to submit a request. I look forward to seeing what everyone needs and helping out in any way I can.

So here's my request: I need to get connected to Ivanka Trump or her publicist for an opportunity / idea related to my recently published book that I co-authored with Emily Bennington. I believe our book can really fit with and fill a need on "The Celebrity Apprentice."

West Virginia Day (June 20) provides an ideal time to celebrate the Mountain State’s many unique qualities, but it also offers us the opportunity to do something for the state’s betterment.

The online community is invited to join this year’s “a Better West Virginia Network” effort, intended to help connect organizations, businesses, and individuals according to their need(s).

For the most part, everyone has some need or challenge that can be solved through networking, and the Internet is an excellent medium for publicizing such needs and generating worthwhile connections.

Maybe your nonprofit needs more volunteers. Maybe your business needs new clients and/or employees. Perhaps you need a new job. Maybe you’re looking for someone with specialized knowledge to complete a project. Perhaps your community has a specific need.

In some cases, making local connection(s) could suffice, while other instances may require help from outside of the state. Think locally, nationally, or globally, whichever applies best to your circumstances.

Here’s how to participate within the “a Better West Virginia Network.”

First, identify and describe the need(s) of your organization, business,
community, or individual circumstance.

Second, publish this information on your blog or website, and forward the link to me via email: jason(at)keelingstrategic(dot)com.

Third, return to this blog on West Virginia Day, where a list of the various submissions will be posted.

Lastly, visitors will be encouraged to peruse the compiled list and help make any connections.

Hop on over to A Better WV for full details.

Moving WV Fitness (#FitWV) Closer to the Tipping Point

The idea of using Tipping Point tactics to overcome obesity in West Virginia became a little closer to reality today, thanks to an insightful editorial by Dawn Miller at The Charleston Gazette.

West Virginians try to tip scales on obesity
Dawn Miller - Editorial Page Editor
The Charleston Gazette
August 7, 2009

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- If we all behave like cold germs, could we infect each other to better fitness and health?

Here is one of the most tantalizing ideas. Back on West Virginia Day, local PR guy Jason Keeling asked his blog readers to discuss solutions to the state's problems. Skip Lineberg, co-founder of Maple Creative in Charleston, chimed in with a "fragment of an idea." He posted it on Twitter:

"Let's make a Fitter West Virginia using tipping point tactics to overcome obesity."

Lineberg was inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's work on tipping point theories -- the phenomenon often seen among infectious diseases or social ills. One kid comes to school with the flu, and the next day a few more are infected. The next thing you know, half the school is home sick. Kind of like the way one day you had never heard of Twitter, and the next day it seemed to be everywhere.

Could West Virginians intentionally use this phenomenon to effect a more desirable change? Instead of giving each other the croup, could we, as Lineberg suggested on his blog, tweet our workouts, use Facebook to note fitness efforts, start conversations about the subject, support leaders who support fitness, encourage each other?

People responded, posting short notes on their workouts, hikes and meals.

As if they read our minds, or our Twitter posts, researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control last month released "Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States." It reads as bad as it sounds, but it's full of jewels.

[Read the full article.]

Thanks, Dawn! I know the #fitwv movement just got stronger today, much like our energetic, healthy supporters get stronger every time they exercise.

[Here's more on the #FitWV conversation thread on Twitter.]

Readers, I pose the following hypothetical question: what does any of this WV fitness stuff, #fitwv and Twitter have to do with marketing? I contend that in today's marketing environment, tactics like viral marketing and online PR are not only opportune--but crucial! If we can use a zero-cost project like this one to elevate an important conversation and to affect behavior, what else might we be able to accomplish!

Three Marketing Guys

Search No Evil
Inspire No Evil
Speak No Myths of Evil

Pictured above (left to right): Justin Seibert - President, Direct Online Marketing, Wheeling, West Virginia; Skip Lineberg - Chief Creative Officer, Maple Creative, Charleston, West Virginia; and Jeff James - CEO, Mythology, Charleston, West Virginia.

Photo courtesy of Jason Keeling, photographed at Next Generation Marketing, Huntington, W.Va. May 13, 2008.

Using a Web 2.0 Tool to Prepare a Web 2.0 Seminar

Jason Keeling and I will present “Business for Breakfast” at the Charleston Marriott’s Whitewater Grille tomorrow morning. That's Friday, April 25, from 7:30-8:30 a.m. We surely hope to see you there!

Our focus will be Web 2.0: Blogs, Pods and Twitters — How Emerging Internet Technologies Can Enhance Business Communications.

We’ll be discussing the growing importance of blogs, podcasts, and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. We will discuss the significance of these technologies to West Virginia businesses and organizations.

In a bit of an unconventional twist, we utilized a Web 2.0 tool, a Zoomerang survey application, to poll our audience in advance of the presentation to assess their familiarity, needs and expectations. Here's what we learned:

• There's an absence of understanding of the phrase "Web 2.0" (53% have not heard of it).
• Likewise, most folks do not understand or utilize RSS (69% have not heard of it).
• More respondents (80%) have been to YouTube than any of the other social media.
• Twitter and Flickr were among the lowest (17% and 15% familiarity, respectively).
• Most (84%) are familiar with blogs, either publishing their own blog or reading blogs.

Most encouraging to us was the fact that a strong majority (67%) of respondents agreed with the following statement: "I believe that Web 2.0 tools are viable tools for business applications." Now that is precisely the foundation for learning that we plan to build upon tomorrow. Thanks to this valuable, advance information from our audience, we have content that has been carefully tailored to their needs.

The event is sponsored by The State Journal, SCORE, and the West Virginia Small Business Development Center. We greatly appreciate their support.

West Virginia's Business Potential in a Web 2.0 World

Jason Keeling and I will present “Business for Breakfast” at the Charleston Marriott’s Whitewater Grille, on April 25, from 7:30-8:30 a.m. The focus will be Web 2.0: Blogs, Pods and Twitters — How Emerging Internet Technologies Can Enhance Business Communications. We’ll consider the growing importance of blogs, podcasts, and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. We will discuss the significance of these technologies to West Virginia businesses and organizations. We are also utilizing Zoomerang to poll our audience in advance of the presentation to assess their familiarity, needs and expectations.

Pre-registration at http://www.score.org/ is appreciated. The event is sponsored by The State Journal, SCORE, and the West Virginia Small Business Development Center.

Add questions and comments here or at aBetterWestVirginia to get the conversation started early.

Branding Historical Sites Can Be Tricky

You will enjoy this insightful and thought-provoking guest article from our good friend and colleague, Jason Keeling.

The former Weston Hospital (W.Va.) had capacity to provide for up to 2,000 mental health patients until it closed in 1994. This National Historic Landmark remained quiet until 2007, when a contractor purchased it for $1.5 million. The new owners recently decided to market the location by its pre-Civil War name, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.

That decision has drawn the ire of several disability rights groups who claim the terminology is derogatory and outdated. Ann McDaniel, executive director of the Statewide Independent Living Council told the Associated Press: "It's like turning back the clock to a time we don't want to go back to...I think they could still do what they want to do without being offensive."

The owners claim that reverting to the original name is a matter of historical preservation. Commentator Hoppy Kercheval points out that the old mental hospital in Williamsburg, Va. is known today as it was more than 200 years ago as “The Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds.”

So Marketing Geniuses, do you believe using the Weston Hospital's old name is an appropriate branding strategy, or should a more politically correct title be selected?

Jason Keeling is a PR Consultant, a fellow blogger and an all-around smart dude. His contributions as a young business leader in West Virginia were recognized in 2006 by The State Journal, which named his as a member of its Generation Next: 40 under 40.

Guest Post: The Emergence of Business Blogging

Our good friend and fellow blogger, Jason Keeling, kindly agreed to share his views on the emergence of business blogging. Thanks, Jason!

In the 1990s Web sites emerged as the newest tool in which businesses and organizations could communicate to their target audiences. Today it’s rare to see an advertisement that does not direct consumers to some sort of Web site. However, the standard Web site could eventually become a thing of the past, given evolving online technologies and consumer preferences. The challenge for traditional Web sites is that they typically provide only one-way communication from the company to the viewer. This was fine in early stages of the Internet, but the Web is becoming a place for social interaction, not just consumption of information.

Given this phenomenon, the “blog” is becoming an ideal medium for businesses to market and differentiate themselves. A blog is essentially the same thing as a Web site, but with a few important differences, given that blogs are simpler to update and they usually allow viewers to respond to the information provided. Such two-way communication is often intimidating to companies used to completely controlling the content on their sites.

Blogs originated as a medium for individuals to share personal information, experiences, and opinions. Although this is still the most common perception of what constitutes a blog, it is important to realize that the business community is beginning to use this medium as well. Corporations such as Dell (Direct2Dell Blog), Southwest Airlines (Nuts About Southwest Blog), and Sony (Sony Electronics Blog) have recognized that building customer loyalty requires communicating with their audience, not just to them.

Jason Keeling is a public relations consultant and founder of aBetterWestVirginia.com, a blog focused on culture, economy, and government.

Birth of a State. Birth of a Blog.

Wednesday, June 20, marked the 144th birthday of the State of West Virginia. While that was reason enough to be excited, it was not the only cause for celebration. Wednesday also marked the birth, or launch, of a cool, new blog, A Better West Virginia. I'm pleased to share with you the following message from its founder, Jason Keeling, as we wish him great success.

Today marks West Virginia Day (144th anniversary of statehood), which serves as a reminder of the state's rich history, and provides occasion to reflect upon its future. Communication professionals within the state have a significant role to play in building and promoting aBetterWestVirginia. Those outside would benefit from learning more about the realities of our unique state, and in doing so helping to break down the stereotypical imagery of Appalachia as "backward."

There are many forward-thinking organizations, businesses, people, and initiatives in West Virginia, it's simply a matter of "getting the word out." It is in this mode of thinking that aBetterWestVirginia.com is being launched today, and although the site isn't designed to cover marketing and public relations specifically, the discussion of West Virginia culture and economy will certainly be relevant to these disciplines.

Thanks to the Maple Creative team for the opportunity to post here today. Marketing Geniuses in the state and across the globe are welcome to join the conversation at aBetterWestVirginia.

Welcoming an Exciting New Blog to the WV Scene

I have received advance announcement that Jason Keeling's new blog will launch tomorrow. I know Jason. He's a great guy with some wonderful insights to share. He truly understands the value of collaboration, cooperation and teamwork.

This new blog, appropriately titled, A Better West Virginia, promises to focus on helping make West Virginia a better place to live and work, through informed discussion of public policy issues and cultural issues. Can't wait to see it!

Kudos to Jason Keeling, and marketing geniuses like him, who have embraced blogging as a business tool and as a means for effectuating positive change.