Things You've Gotta Know About The Big E

Today was a labor of love... on this Labor Day. I worked to finish a PowerPoint presentation for Friday's volunteer orientation. I love planning orientations I find out so many cool things... like:

1. There is a thebigetv channel on YouTube.
2. You can purchase discount food coupons, rides on the Mardi Gras floats, & Midway tickets online!
3. The Big Marti Gras Parade is Cool
4. The Craz-E Burger

Brooms, Telephones, and Email

As I prepare for an advanced social media class this winter. I've been thinking a lot about questions I've answered over the past several classes. One being who should take charge of "social media" within an organization.

In reading the article "Does social media belong in PR or marketing division?" from iMedia Connection (a daily publication I choose to have delivered to my email box every morning) I find I want to answer the question with a question: "Does the telephone belong in PR or marketing divisions?" Sounds silly. Social Media is a tool, just like brooms, telephones, and email. In most companies every department who needs the tools should have access to them. Why limit your thinking about social media? Keep your mind open to the concept that social media is a tool to access the hearts and minds of those you wish to communicate with... like your telephone. Imagine your grandparents having the same discussions when telephones were first brought into the workplace. One phone, one desk, one person.... we've come a long way baby! Each member of your team, whether janitorial, sales, marketing, or senior management have reasons to utilize social media tools.

This reminds me of a tour I attended with Granite State Ambassadors to the Best Western Executive Court Inn when they first opened in 1999. As information specialists who staff visitor centers in New Hampshire, "GSAs" are fortunate to take insider tours of locations so we can help guests traveling to NH. What stands out from this particular tour (taken over 10 years ago!) is the encounter with the laundry lady. She brought us down into her domain deep into the hotel's bowels. There she talked about how much laundry she did each day while folding sheets. For some reason she went off on a tangent about how she takes lipstick stains out of sheets... FASCINATING... not only the process (which I don't remember) but the fact that she takes the time and pride to do that.... From that moment on, I've sent hundreds of people to that hotel confident that they will have sparkling clean sheets.... Now Tweet, Blog, Facebook that "Marketing Department"!