What’s Going on in Charleston Social Media

One thing I’ve learned since moving to Charleston, S.C. more than 8 years ago, is that people love to communicate. Yes, some may call it gossip, but since we’re consistently ranked in the most polite cities in the U.S., we’ll call it communicate .

It’s a given that the social media scene in Charleston is not at the same level as New York or Chicago, but we’ve held our ground and made some big strides in the past year. I think the strength of social media in Charleston rests on the back of the hospitality industry, which is a huge industry in the lowcountry. Social media is a great fit for restaurants, resorts and attractions, so it just makes sense that the Charleston area is staying on top of these new trends.

How’s Charleston doing exactly? Well, our mayor, Joe Riley, is on Facebook with more than 3,000 friends. Our fine city is represented on Facebook by multiple pages, with friends totaling almost 200,000. We also have an active and growing Twitter community and a Social Media Club!

With all the colleges in the area, more and more teens with smartphones keep showing up. This young techie demographic continues to push our social media progress forward. Geo-location has grown tremendously in the past year. When I check in on Foursquare downtown now, there are at least 20 specials listed nearby. Let’s keep those specials coming, Charleston!

So far, one of Charleston’s finest social media moments was when we banded together and spread the news virally about Walmart’s “Help Fight Hunger” campaign. Together we helped to rank the city 5th and win $100,000 for the Lowcountry Food Bank and Trident United Way.

We’d like to list a few of the social media super stars we’ve met in the Charleston area. Many of which you can find profiled as the Step Ahead Social Media Star, an honor we choose monthly for those who successfully use social media for business!

Jane Perdue – @thehrgoddess

Shauna Heathman – @MackenzieImage

Tanya Brown – @95sxbrown2gg

Andy Paras – @andyparas

Heather Solos – @HeatherSolos

Andra Watkins – @andrawatkins

Reese McFaddin – @healthinsgal

Leslie Haywood – @grillcharmer

Live 5 News – @Live5News

Charleston City Paper – @chascitypaper

Charleston River Dogs – Facebook Page

Spoleto Festival USA – Facebook Page

Social Media News of the Week: May 23, 2011

Let me start off by saying I’m throughly relieved to have survived The Rapture last Saturday at 6 p.m. so I could bring you the Social Media News of the Week! Here are some great tweets from that infamous day!

Speaking of Twitter this was a week full of 2 big updates for the social network. You can now get more detailed email notifications and they have bought TweetDeck! For the past few weeks there have been speculations Twitter would acquire TweetDeck but it appears that they actually did. Do you think there will be any major changes to the platform even though they are keeping their staff and location in London?

On a lighter note, I want to congratulate Scotty McCreery on winning American Idol. According to Mashable, Twitter predicted this by mentioning his competition and rumored love interest, Lauren Alaina. I just love American Idol – what’s your guilty pleasure?

The State of Indianapolis Social Media

Last fall, I returned to the city where I went to college and spent the young adult years of my life – Indianapolis. I’d spent the last 8 years starting a family in Charleston, S.C., but my husband and I ultimately we decided it was time to return to our roots and let our children grow up around family. We also missed the bigger city and all it has to offer in the way of entertainment and convenience. Colts anyone? Butler basketball? We were glad to be back .

From a business perspective, I would be opening a branch of my company, Step Ahead, which manages social media for businesses, in the midwest. Before I left Indy for Charleston, social media didn’t exist. By the time I returned, Facebook was taking over the world . So after watching the growth of social media and its use for business in the south, I wasn’t sure what I’d find in regards to openness of social media in the bigger city. I assumed it would be more accepted here and further ahead, but I was shocked to find it wasn’t.

Indy has a great social media community and a vibrant group of Twitterers, certainly larger than in Charleston, though the Twittering crowd there is definitely passionate, albeit smaller. There’s definitely some social media evangelists in Indianapolis furthering the cause! But when it comes to business use of social media, I dare say it’s further behind the south. I was flabbergasted! I thought the south was always last!

I think Indiana businesses have reached the point where they understand that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like are here to stay and they need to be doing something with these tools, but I’ve found a general resistance to looking for outside help and using qualified experts.

Businesses continue to pile it on the internal public relations or marketing person, who even if they love social media, are unlikely have the time to devote to making a social media plan for a business actually produce  measurable results. In the south, it seems more businesses (but far from all) realize that this is beyond their expertise. Let the accountants do the accounting. Let the lawyers handle the legal stuff. And let the social media experts handle social media. They’re ready to invest a little in social media and see what it gets them.

Indy, I’m surprised at you! I don’t want to discount the businesses here who are doing it right because there are some great examples – National Precast Concrete Association, Scotty’s Brewhouse, Delivra, Butler University — but you seem to be the exception, not the rule. Let those of us who believe in the power of social media and the marketing results it can generate – beyond just awareness to actual revenue – continue to spread the word and educate our business leaders.

Maybe we should all take a trip down to Charleston?? What do you think? Is Indy a leader in social media? Way behind? Right on par? Share your thoughts. Prove me wrong!

May Social Media Star: Shauna M. Heathman

As the owner of South Carolina’s only full-service image consulting firm, Shauna Heathman understands the importance of a brand’s image. Shauna has brilliantly built up her own company’s image with the use of social media. She uses multiple tools to reach out to different demographics and distribute information appropriately.

The one take-away that Shauna really stresses is that social media relationships should be treated with the same respect given face-to-face relationships. If businesses start to view their followers and friends as real relationships, they’ll have much more success in the future.

Read more from Shauna to find out how she manages multiple social media accounts daily and still manages to have real relationships online.

What is your job/company/profession/title?

Owner of Mackenzie Image Consulting, South Carolina’s only full-service image consulting firm. I am a certified image & brand consultant.
What was the first social media technology you used?

I suppose AOL instant messaging & chat rooms back in the mid-90s were the first social media technology I ever used. Ah … the early days of the “buddy list” and “screen names” … so nostalgic.
What is your favorite social media tool?

It’s really a toss up between Facebook and Twitter because I use them in different ways. I love Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family and I love Twitter for the new friends and colleagues I’ve made and the way it’s complemented my business.
How have you used social media for your business/company and how has it benefited?

Social media has benefited my business in so many ways, each differently. LinkedIn has been great for referrals and making business connections. Building my Facebook fan page has helped me to grow my brand, capture new clients and share valuable information. Twitter has been most beneficial for building key relationships, attracting publicity and also gaining new clients.
How much time would you say you spend a day engaging social media?

Such a hard question to answer. If I really sat down to track the minutes I use sending tweets, posting on Facebook, etc., it’d probably average out to be an hour or two. With all the tools available, using social media can really be an efficient process.
How do you incorporate it into your day so it’s not a time waster?

I don’t view social media as something that I schedule into my workday; it’s integrated throughout everything else that I do. I think every industry has to find their own approach. Because my brand is tied to me personally, it does make it slightly more efficient to build relationships and have relevant content available to share.
Is there a social media tool/technique that you think is underutilized that you would like people to know about?

I think the biggest social media technique that is underutilized is simple relationship-building skills. Why treat a relationship online differently than a relationship that is face to face? If you can see both mediums of interaction as one, you’ll have more success in gaining a following. Take that down to the basics: Say thank-you if someone shares your content or RTs you on Twitter, respond to your fans on Facebook if they make a comment, be courteous and genuine. Being robotic or fake won’t take you very far in the social media world, just as it wouldn’t in a face-to-face interaction.

Where can people find you online and via social media?

Twitter: @MackenzieImage

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mackenzieimageconsulting

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/shaunaheathman

Continuous Learning

This week I filled out a member spotlight form for the Charleston chapter of the American Marketing Association. One of the questions was “What is the best advice you could give a younger marketer?” My response: Do your best to keep up with the constant changes in social media and how people consume information. Your clients depend on you to be the expert on these marketing topics.

Keeping up with the ever-changing world of social media and new methods of marketing and PR is practically a full-time job. I’m constantly bookmarking articles, websites and making notes of new tools I want to investigate.

It’s great to see colleges and universities helping students stay current with social media tools and how they work in the business world. A couple of months ago, I read an article in The Wall Street Journal about students at Emerson College in Boston who work with large companies like Sprint, Levi Strauss and Mattel to conduct research and assist with online marketing efforts. They gain experience with “clients” and exposure to products like analytics program Radian6, which they’ll most likely be using as professional marketers.

Over the summer, many firms – including ours – will have interns and this is a great chance to continue that “real world” exposure. Engage those interns in more than busy work and filing so they can see how your business operates day to day and how you interact with clients.

As we all know, that kind of learning is infinitely more valuable than anything you can read in a textbook.

Social Media News of the Week: May 15, 2011

If you’re like me at all and support a local non-profit, then you’ve probably been bombarded with requests to vote for that organization and tons others to win a Chase Community Giving grant. I attended a webinar several weeks ago about social media and non-profits and the partnership between Facebook and Chase is creating great strides in this area. Facebook took this one step further this week by setting up a non-profit resource center.

The site will educate non-profits how they can use social media to spread awareness and generate funds. I’m personally excited to check this page out and hopefully take away some useful information! Even with all the good that Facebook is doing they can’t seem to escape negativity all together. The Winklevoss twins are back and they’re taking their lawsuit to the Supreme Court.

Other big news came to LinkedIn this week when they announced that they are worth $8.9 billion! That makes them worth more than JC Pennys, Chipotle and Tiffany & Company. All this means is that LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman is a very rich man. LinkedIn going into public exchange means Hoffman will net around $855 million, not too shabby, eh? LinkedIn will be the first purely social media site to go public, but I’m guessing they will not be the last!

What are your thoughts?

Social Media News of the Week: May 9, 2011

Looking back on the week’s news, I was intrigued by how many Twitter stories really caught my eye. I usually tie in some sort of theme with my weekly news recap and this week it was just plain and simple: Twitter.

Mashable and CNN both released lists of Twitter influencers, events and celebrity tweeters. Mashable’s Top 10 Historic Tweets list consisted of newsworthy tweets, such as the discovery of ice on Mars to tweet mistakes like the Kenneth Cole Cairo tweet and even an engagement tweet! They also provided us with the top celebrities on Twitter with not many surprises. Ashton Kutcher, Lady GaGa, Oprah and Charlie Sheen were all included.

CNN finished out the lists this week with a list of general Top Tweeters with the ever obvious @google being on the top.

The best Twitter news came at the end of the week when they announced some upgrades to their app on Mac computers. It’s available in the Apple App Store and I really enjoy all the changes!

Step Ahead Steps Ahead … Next Door

Last year, the Charleston City Paper ran an article about how we were growing and busting out of our current space. We were on the lookout for a bigger office to accommodate our growth – and we found one! Right next door…

The fabulous Flagship project managed by the Charleston Digital Corridor was such a success that they decided to add another incubator office space for those companies who had outgrown or were too big for the original Flagship. Enter FS2 (or Flagship 2).

Right next door to our old space, FS2, located at 78 Alexander St., offers larger offices and more space for Charleston’s many growing technology businesses. We picked our space in FS2 and just moved in last week.

We’re so excited about our growth over the past three years, and a new office space is the perfect way to help us continue to grow and keep pace with our favorite social media tools.

Please come by to check it out! We’re happy to give you a tour anytime.

Happy Anniversary Step Ahead Inc.

Dear Step Ahead,

Today is our 1-year anniversary and I can’t even begin to explain how much fun I’ve had with you over the last 365 days. We’ve gone to fun events together that I’ll never forget like the Internet Summit in Raleigh, N.C. We’ve had early mornings, late nights and fun weekends together!

There are a few things that you’ve taught me that will stay with me forever:

1.) TweetDeck is a life saver

2.) Dropbox is amazing

3.) I might not be a writer but I am a blogger!

4.) Always back up your hard drive

5.) Follow up is key

6.) One day we will take over the social media world!

So, again happy anniversary, Step Ahead — you’ve been a great job this past year and I look forward to many more years with you!

Sincerely,

E. Bailey Surrett

Our Favorite Forty Under 40 Winner

Last night we had an absolute blast watching our Charleston executive director, Holly Fisher, receive her 2011 Forty Under 40 award from the Charleston Regional Business Journal. Forty deserving winners, all under the age of 40, were honored for their professional success while also making time for their community through service.

All of us here at Step Ahead know that Holly does an amazing job not only in pr and social media but also in her involvement with Metanoia, the Ruth Rhoden Craven Foundation, Charleston Young Professionals, Society of Professional Journalists and the list goes on. We are in awe .

And to make it even sweeter, one of our clients won as well, Tina Whetzel of CrossFit Mt. Pleasant!

Alhambra Hall in Mount Pleasant, S.C. was a gorgeous setting for this fun event and also the perfect place to also “party down” for Holly’s 35th birthday, which happened to be on the same day! We are so happy to have her on our team. Congrats Holly!

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