The Power of Social Media, a Photo & Shelter Dogs

In the next few years we will have about 35 ZB of information out on the web. We are continually putting out more data and thus, more connections out on the web. With the increase of mobile and more relevant engagement, you personally may only be 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon.

With like interests bringing folks together, there was one powerful story that strengthens my belief in social media good. Case in point:

IMPACT. This photo made an incredible emotional impression on anyone who saw it.

From 'The Lazy Pit Bull: The Power of Social Media'

"The incredibly sad photo above is Nico, a 6 year old deaf Dogo Argentino who was in a Los Angeles animal shelter in the summer of 2009. The photo paints such a heartbreaking picture of a dog's life on the inside. Nico was broken. Defeated. Done. He had given up and lost all hope, as so many shelter animals do.

It's a hard photo to look at, isn't it? But this photograph changed Nico's life.

When the photograph hit the internet, it broke the heart of everyone who saw it. Thankfully some hearts were broken in a good way. People felt motivated to do something. They wanted to change the ending of Nico's story.

People started sharing Nico's photo and his story. And since the internet world is a really small place, word spread like wildfire.

The people who would become Nico's forever family found his picture on the shelter's webpage. They took him home and integrated him into their family, and since then they've added a canine sister for Nico.  

So the next time you're perusing Facebook and you come across a photo of a shelter dog, stop. Think about it. Ask yourself how you can help. And then believe that you can make a difference."   People with like interests can merge together in this great big world. A simple click helped this pup. By the way, Nico ended up in Noblesville, Indiana.   SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE   Take a look at how far social media's reach can be:  

Source: InfographicLabs.com

Source: InfographicLabs.com

Source: Infographic labs 


By the way, I connected with my little girl online. Originally from an abandonned litter from Abilene, TX, her dog family found themselves at Arfhouse Chicago. One of the happiest online connections I have ever made.

Source: Sutton Studios

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/04/23/48-significant-social-media-facts-figures-and-statistics-plus-7-infographics/#lEKA8Mb3mOOd0Cgc.99

Dreamforce: Like!

Recuperating from a inspiring tour of how to best manage our data. WIll be mining the Chatter feeds and talkking with colleagues on how we can make this happen. Thanks Dreamforce.

Tales from the Cloud

For those that did not see the Marketing Keynotes - here are the sessions!

The Corporate Team - Mary Beth & Julie 

Me & a mule. That is all. (that's me on the right).

For those that did not see the Fireside Chat with Richard Branson 

And because I am still very proud of this foto I took, I'd like to share again:

I met a lot of very good folks and would love to still connect with other Dreamforce attendees!
Twitter Handle: CindyKaplan6

Marketing Forecast: In the Cloud

The Marketing Cloud

We've got data. What is it telling you? How do you manage it effectively?

5 Marketing essentials: 

1. Listen. 
2. Create content. 
3. Connect. 
4. Amplify content. 
5. Streamline - Workflow & automation. 
6. Measure.

Social Listening

Don't wait to talk. Listen.

Social Connections = Connections 2x more likely to buy from you.

Understand those in the Conversation - what are they telling you?

Conversation Clouds filtered by the insights you determine. A marketer's dream.

 

GENERALLY Speaking

Gen. Colin Powell and GE's Jeff Immelt Talk About Leadership

Human beings are the most important part of the organization. 

Service economy is where we should be, to own our supply channels, be closer to our customers. 

The Future.

Young people are digitally connected.  But you still have to inspire them, give them a sense of purpose, show them that you respect them and trust them so that machines don’t get into the way of human interaction.  

We need to start educating our kids for the jobs of tomorrow.

As leaders, we should inspire. 

We must give our teams something to value, to believe. 

If we share those common bonds, you get trust.

This creates character. This creates high performing teams.

Insights in the Cloud

 5 Ways to Create a Global Customer-Obsessed Culture to Drive Profits by Bluewolf
 Be responsible for your great customer experience

1. No one can own the customers, but someone owns the customer moment. Narrative affects buying decisions.
2. Be in customer shoes
3. Be in employee shoes
4. Be in executive shoes
5. Invest in employee engagement (people) moreso than technology; there is a 2:1 ration of investment in employee to technology.

Sell to Who's Buying: Sales & Marketing Strategies to Find the Mobilizer
GREAT Discussion From The Corporate Executive Board Company @CEB_Challenger 

Find your 'Coach'

Identify the Stakeholders in the Organization

 NOTE: Skeptics are better than Blockers

Where Does Your Sales Team Focus?

 

Get to the MOBILIZERS

How to Quickly Get to that Mobilizer! A Disqualification Process
Lead Thought-Provoking Insight

• Healthy Skepticism -  Though provoking questions - YES
• Interested in Greater Good? Me (Talker or Climber) vs. We (Mobilizer)? 
• Communication Style? Facts (Mobilizer - Go Getter or Skeptic) vs. Opinions (Teacher)?

• Healthy Skepticism -  Though provoking questions - No
• Do they share useful Information? Yes (Friend or Guide) or No (Blocker)

How to Engage Mobilizers

SALES CLOUD: Optimizing the Lead-to-Close Process
Powerful case studies from Salesforce.com customers and partners

Challenges to Optimize in an organization:

• Vision
• Alignment
• Data
• Process

 

Sales & Marketing Process MUST be in Sync

Each Aspect is Essential - the Process is Incremental 

Share KPIs so We all have Skin in the Game

Keep it Simple. Document.

The Social Revolution

BUSINESS IS SOCIAL
70% of all businesses use social media.
$1.3 trillion contribution to the economy.
There has been an 123% growth in social business interaction.

For CEOs, social networking is the most important aspect to engage a customer 
- 2012 IBM Global Study

Impressive stats. And an impressive line of folks to tell that story.

Buddy from Cake Boss. 

STOP. Chatter Time. From my time - MC Hammer.  He can move better than some young folks.

The Social Revolution is a Trust Revolution. 
Social data helps us understand issues proactively and address that much quicker. Organizations need to build that trust.

Mobile is at the Core.
Businesses need to innovate and collaborate. On the go. 
Yelp is a great example of being at point of need.

By 2017, CMOs will spend more on technology than CIOs. - Gartner

Mastering the Next Technology Wave
Overall focus is being shaped by:

• Globalization
• Millenials
• Vituralization
• Cloud Computing

Data is Exploding
Zettabytes are a trillion gigabytes. By 2020, there would be 35 ZB of data.

SIR RICHARD BRANSON.
Keeping the customer experience at the forefront. NAILED IT.
I am a new convert to Virgin America based on my flight here.  

Philanthropy. Share the success for the better. I respected him already, but when I heard his stance on the earth, preserving the ocean and especially sharks and the horrible fin industry, I became an even bigger fan. I share his perspective, his values - I will go out of my way to do business with Virgin.

Good on you, Sir Richard.

Connecting Intelligently

Being new at Dreamforce is somewhat like experiencing HD and surround sound for the first time. A deeper look or sense of what I've traditionally experienced.

First of all the scope is incredible - tens of thousands of attendees learning about how to improve sales, technology and marketing efforts. Within the first two hours I was at sessions, I heard folks speaking Portuguese, French, German and Chinese.

A few lessons learned from a marketing focus - 

SOCIAL MEDIA PRIORITIES in an organization requires:

• Periodic audits
• Coordination and alignment
• Engagement & creating gravity (how we draw people to us)
• Responsiveness
• Sharing of content
• Measurement
• Scenario models
• Company goals drive our social media goals
• Technology is the enabler; people are the solution

THE SCIENCE OF INBOUND MARKETING with Dan Zarella. Dan has holds the record for the largest webinar ever. 

This session offered a look into the various channels of social media and what to consider in order to generate and keep awareness. The analysis presented went as detailed as when to tweet, what terms offered better response and looking at length of posts in correlation to shares/re-tweets. A good perspective on nuances to engage a customer.

LEADING INBOUND MARKETERS TO FUEL GROWTH

Practical best practices from organizations using salesforce.com. What apps are they using to streamline their processes so a one-man marketing operation can accomplish distribution, tracking and more.

DASHBOARD FOR DUMMIES 
My first foray into seeing how to create a salesforce.com dashboard.


MUST. LEARN. MORE.

Lots to absorb my first day. Good thing the facilities know their audience.

Being a first-timer at Dreamforce

I found this Infographic very helpful on what to expect.

Can you clarify that tax issue?

Limited Liability Companies and their tax implications. 

Working on a client dealing with these issues? And perhaps you need a little more guidance than the normal channels? May I suggest accessing an expert?

David Cartano, JD author of CCH Expert Treatise Library: Limited Liability Companies: Federal and State Taxation and industry expert is answering your questions for the rest of the month. Simply send in your submission, and answers will be posted.

CCH's Ask an Expert Series involves some of the best experts on complex tax issues. Check out some of the popular questions and answers:

Tax Practice & Procedure with Claudia Hill
S Corporations with Robert Jamison
Taxation of Compensation & Benefits with David Cartano

Helpful insight on what your colleagues are dealing with and how an expert would approach.

About that 3.8% Medicare Surtax . . .

Just recently, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the 2010 health care reform legislation, including the provision that imposes a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on unearned income for tax years beginning in 2013. 

• How does the 3.8% investment surtax work?
• What is net investment income?
• What is modified adjusted gross income (MAGI)?
• What are the threshold amounts?
• What are the best strategies to reduce MAGI?
• What are the best strategies to reduce investment income?

Being a tax professional, are you ready for how this will impact you and your clients?

As Publilius Syrus once wrote "Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings." 

And with CCH, you can get good sense on this complex topic. 
Some helpful resources for you:
CCH Tax Briefing: Supreme Court Upholds Health CareLaw; All Tax Measures Preserved
CCH Tax Briefing: Health Care Reform Act 
CCH Tax Briefing: 2012 Tax Policies Of The Major Presidential Candidates 
CCH Predicts Taxpayers Will See Relief By Way of Inflation-adjusted Indexing 

Many more references are available on CCH's IntelliConnect.

The Tech Byte - Dreamforce 2012

I just recently found that I am having the opportunity of a learntime next week! I am one of the fortunate 70,000 expected people attending Dreamforce. As described by TechTarget:

"It's a computing show fit for rock stars and a popular military leader.

Appearances by The Red Hot Chili Peppers and retired Gen. Colin Powell should only boost the buzz surrounding Dreamforce 2012, Salesforce.com's 10^th annual conference."

NEW RELEASES Coming
Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff discussed a few new product releases that I want to learn more about - especially work.com - enterprise versions of Dropbox and Okta which are called  "Chatterbox" and "Salesforce.com Identity." These can be described as:

"Chatterbox, like Dropbox, is a collaboration tool, albeit one for the enterprise. Identity aims to do what Facebook and Google are trying to accomplish -- that is, to serve as a single sign-on to social media. In this case, Salesforce.com will be the hub to manage other enterprise applications.

Benioff also referred to a human resource tool Salesforce.com will unveil -- Work.com -- and a contact management tool that will track information about a contact on Twitter or elsewhere on social media, link back to the customer support database, create a case, and then escalate it as necessary." - Tech News World

With more than 650 expert-led sessions, more than 350 cloud computing companies showcasing more than 1,000 solutions, thousands of attendees and about 4 days to absorb it, I hope osmosis kicks in.

I'll be tweeting (be twittering?) on what I discover - CindyKaplan6. It's almost like a scavenger hunt, and I'm ready for the adventure.

I 

And so it begins.

I am at an age where I thought I had a good foundation of experience and knowledge. 2 kids, 1 patient husband and 2 dogs later, I realized I still have a lot to learn. 

So I am formally setting forth a documented educational journey on all things I've always wanted to know. 

For instance, did you know that a German Shepherd's bite force is 240?

Yes, this one of our Bite Force Quotients of 240.