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.

Zappos Truly Engaged with Customers

Twitter can be kind of fun. I've been on it for about a year. My lovely wife is now on it, too. And so is her sister. While we were poolside at the beach this Labor Day weekend, we were doing a bit of Twittering. One of our observations was that--now this year--the Crocs style of shoe appeared to be quite out of style. So I put out the following Tweet:

Observation from the beach::: Crocs are soooo 2006. What's the hot new beachy
footwear? @zappos? 01:43 PM
August 31, 2008 from txt

Notice the @zappos. I had a hunch that the world's leading shoe merchant might have something to say about the question.

Not more than 48 hours later, I got a reply. Not just any reply--but a reply from the CEO of Zappos. Here was his response:

i don't know if there are any new beach footwear brands this season! at
least none that i personally know of...
Zappos.com CEO -Tony / zappos
--
follow me at http://twitter.com/zappos
reply on the web at http://twitter.com/direct_messages/create/zappos

That, my friends, is one incredible example of managing your online presence and finding ways to connect with customers. Kudos to Tony and the other marketing geniuses at Zappos. We'll have more great marketing examples--of customer engagement, of creating loyalty, of inspiring raving fans--from Zappos to share in the days ahead.