May 12, 2008
In prep for writing my Age of Conversation book II page, I reached out to
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, for his insights about social media. Not only does Tony blog but he actively tweets (on Twitter the 140 character micro blogging platform).
In fact, that's where I "met" Tony. I sent him a Twitter DM (direct message). With Tony following 4658 people I 
wondered if he would respond. He did indeed .. within minutes (!) providing me with his off Twitter email so we could continue the conversation without the 140 character limitation.
Sidebar: Not to digress but .. where else .. how else could a little ol' diva in Atlanta connect with the CEO of billion dollar corporation based in Las Vegas? I tell you girl friend, that alone boggles the mind. One more testimony to how social media and in this case, Twitter, can open the doors and windows a little wider to develop relationships.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What influence has social media had on how you conduct business? Does Zappos have a system or process in place to respond to the concerns/complements from consumer generated mentions about the company? And to respond back to the blogger, tweeter, etc?
Tony Hsieh: We haven't really changed any of our internal processes yet. Right now the stuff I am doing on Twitter is just me... if someone Twitters me then I personally respond.
We now have close to 300 employees on Twitter, but
our main motivation for getting our employees to join Twitter was to help improve our company culture.
Company culture is our #1 priority. We believe that if we get the company culture right, most of the other stuff (including great customer service) will happen on its own.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advice would you give to a CEO on how to incorporate social media and the feedback from social media into an organization?
Tony Hsieh:
I think if the CEO starts using Twitter on his/her own and is actually passionate about it, then that passion will eventually rub off on the rest of the organization.
You can't fake or mandate passion, you actually have to be passionate. On Twitter, people can tell whether you are actually passionate about connecting with other Twitterers, whether they are your customers or employees.
About Zappos - Founded in 1999, Zappos is an online commerce
company that got its start selling shoes. Since then their product line
has morphed to include: handbags, clothing, electronics and more.
According to Marketing Sherpa, Zappos anticipates to top $1 Billion in sales in 2008. With a focus on superior customer service Zappos is game to try innovative strategies that bring them closer to their customers. Zappos Blogs Zappo Tweets. Sounds like a match made in Social Media Heaven!
Apr 24, 2008
It's always a delight, and sometimes a surprise, where blogging can take you and who you might meet along the way.
This week's adventures in social media led me to interviewing (The Real Women of WowOWow Tell Their Stories) four amazing women - Mugsy Peabody, Iris Odonata, Suzanne de Cornelia and Suzanne Conti - who reached out to me about a post (Girlfriends Just Want To Have Fun .. Social Media Style!) I wrote about several new communities targeting women. By the way the comments are worth a click.
I felt the vintage vixens' feedback was valuable, in-depth, research for wowOwow and I wanted to help these women reach the founders. So .. I dropped an email, via the site's contact us form, with hope that it would make its way and wowOwow might benefit from their community members' insights. 
Joni Evans, CEO of wowOwow, responded to me. Athough she declined an interview for Diva Marketing she graciously agreed to let me post our email volley where she tells a bit about her vision of for wowOwow and how she is listening to the convo. Thanks Joni .. next step is to encourage your peeps to really engage with the wow women. Btw .. still don't get why they don't oh well ..
Sidebar: Click to expand the graphics
Read more in the NYT interview with Joni Evans, Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl and Whoopi Goldberg conducted by Joan Juliet Buck who is a contributor of wowOwow.
Apr 18, 2008
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
Today's Friday Fun is being turned over to Mugsy, Iris, Suzanne and Suzanne, a few of the women who are the heart of the the WowOWow - Women on the Web site. However, Girlfriend, they are not the founders (media celebrities: Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Mary Wells and Joni Evans). Nor are they are paid employees. Nor are they are formal volunteers. In fact, they have had little to no interaction with the women who launched WowOWow. And that was what mystified and intrigued me.
A little background .. early this week I wrote a post about three social networking communities, Dove, Shine by Yaoo! and WowOWow - Women on the Web, that are targeting women .. and not only "mommy bloggers." A couple of the WowOWow women reached out to me to tell me their reasons for being involved and committed to a community where the founders/contributors seldom engage with their peeps.
I had several reasons for this post. I wanted to share these four
amazing women with the Diva Marketing community; and in doing so, give
them a platform to tell their stories about their WowOWow experiences.
The learnings about how to build social networking community is
evolving and we continue to learn from each other.
At first I thought the post might find its way to the ladies who lunch, the founders, and perhaps help them understand/encourage them to be more "social"
within their own community. However, as the emails flew back and forth
among the vintage vixens (Iris' term .. love it!) and myself I began to understand these
smart, savvy women had created their own community. They didn't need,
nor were they really interested in, extensive interaction with the
founders (altho I'm sure it would be nice).
Organically they have assumed the role of
community managers. As anyone who has been involved in online community knows influence grows with interaction. The vintage vixens want to be
involved in the development of what they consider to be "their community." It would be wise of
WowOWow to listen and engage directly with these women.
It with pleasure that I turn Diva Marketing over to
Mugsy Peabody, Iris Odonata, Suzanne de Cornelia and Suzanne Conti
Mugsy Peabody
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis?
Mugsy Peabody:
When else in history have women over 40 been actively asked to express their opinions about anything in public?
I mean, since Seneca Falls, which was when? 1848? I have always been interested in what women say when they are in a space to speak safely and honestly about their lives. Reminds me of my grandmother's kitchen on the farm, when the men were off somewhere, and the women were cooking together, telling the truth about their lives because they knew they would be heard.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site?
Mugsy Peabody: What I found lots of women like me out there. It helps with the cosmic loneliness of having Mensa IQ without an interest in hanging out with a bunch of snobbish winos who smoke too much.
I really am amazed that the wowowow people didn't realize we'd want to get in touch with each other and build community.
But most of them don't just make friends with folks; they get handed "suitable" people by others to evaluate, so they probably wouldn't know what the rest of us do to hook up. Like George Sr. not knowing what a grocery scanner is.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why the active, very consistent participation in not only adding comments but engaging other women in conversation?
Mugsy Peabody: Good conversation is one of the great rewards for dressing up our eternal souls in this human suit and lugging this corporal body about the planet for whatever alloted years we have. It's a skill I learned early on, growing up in a family not unlike J.D. Salinger's Glass family. Three brothers (one actually a rocket scientist) and parents whose brains were incandescent, and an adopted sister who glowed with smart genes. My sister-in-law is a big shot techie at NASA, e.g. All sorts of people used to gather at our house just for such conversation.
So I get some of that juice from the wowowow site -- not necessarily from the contributors or the owners (two separate sets of people) but from the posts of these amazing women who are sharp enough to have found the wowowow site in its beta state.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question .. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the convos?
Mugsy Peabody: For starts, the authors aren't necessarily the most interesting women on www.wowowow.com. (And I think that really surprised them!) So we're not really talking with them alone. Certainly if they want to join in, fine. Second, I'm honing my "voice" for my own web efforts, retrieving my humor writing skills. I must say, I've been really touched and gratified by the reception I've received in this community. And, third, who knows? The WowOWow women might just learn something from the rest of us.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advice would you give people building communities who would die for peeps like you who organically take an active role in the conversation?
Mugsy Peabody: Make it really interesting for us. For example, we loved Joan Julia Buck's piece on Ms. Streep. And Jane Wagner's Care-Toons on the earth were so fabulous. Women over the age of 40 are some of the most experienced, inciteful, "smart" folks on the planet. Even though retired "soccer moms" are routinely ignored as being an interesting demographic, that is a serious error, a blind spot on the radar, because those women are the best organizers we have, and they determine where the household dollars get spent.
I know Ms. Tomlin can get down with "just folks," but I seriously wonder how many of these people are democrats with a small 'd'. And, P.S., for godzakes, don't try to BS us, because we have BS radar for days.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give to the founders?
Mugsy Peabody: Hire
me to help them get on track. Just one example: Whoopi Goldberg is the
only women of color on the masthead, and she hasn't bothered to fill in
her profile. Of course, that gets "read" as them saying, at the last minute, "Oh, we'd better get Whoopi, cause we'll drop a big piece of the audience if we're all white."
(Well, guess what, ladies? The whole dern rest of the country is
actually serious about pluralism! [Ms. Tomlin's support of Richard
Prior earns her a lifetime street cred on this issue.])
And of course, they've already dropped the Asian demo -- and trust
me, that's where their lack of inclusion will hurt them, cause my
Asian-American friends drop more cash at Tiffany's and on designer
bling bling than anyone else I know. As to today's blunder of talking
about how they "confuse" their "hired help" with "friends," oh, well, where do you even start with that? Hire me. I'm worth my weight in gold.
A little about Mugsy Peabody
I'm 61 years old, and live in Oakland, California. I've lived in the Bay Area since I came here with flowers in my hair, 38 years ago, and used to play pass tag on the Golden Gate Bridge with Janis Joplin. While I may walk a little slow, I still have god's own rock and roll in my soul. I don't disclose much personal information on the net, since what I have to offer here is my written stuff, and you've already got that. My beta blog site, Mugsy Peabody Online, first posting.
Sidebar: Mugsy's writing is absolutely as refreshing, funny and as smart as you would expect!
Iris Odonata
Greetings Miss Toby:
Where to start, where to start. Saw Mary, Leslie, Liz and Joni interviewed by Diane Sawyer on GMA at very beginning of site launch. Decided to visit and see what was up. Had only posted infrequently on a couple of other sites. Got drawn in by the idea of us vintage vixens having a forum for our voices. I have been awaiting this source of energy finally finding it's spark ...
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis?
Iris Odonata: You have and you must admit there are some of the most erudite contributors. Smart, funny, irreverent, brilliant, giving, educational and generous. Paying it forward and helping each other evolve. I am not speaking just of the Masthead Mavens. I am speaking of us just regular folks. This is Upstairs/Downstairs, Gosford Park stuff.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site?
Iris Odonata: Same reason I read on continuous basis. Plus, if I can get to half of Suzanne de or Mugsy or The Old Crone's brain power. These women are mentors in a way I could never have dreamed possible. I always knew I would be late bloomer. These AMAZING! woman are a gift.
This is accelerated, cut-the-crap, no nonsense practical and pragmatic information on just about any subject you could possibly want. Suzanne de may just single-handedly jump start activism again. That woman is one force to be reckoned with. Plus, there is "culture" being discussed. Gaudi/Gehry. Feadships? Learned something new on that one.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why the active, very consistent participation in not only adding comments but engaging other women in conversation?
Iris Odonata: Learning, teaching, being. Nice to be asked to the table. We've discussed the disappearing bees. Me thinks they are in our bonnets. This site is thought provoking and endearing, humbling and hubris busting. X marks the spot. X chromosome that is and this site will not only earn gadzillions, it'll let the boys in power know (who might be trying to learn their opponents weaknesses) swarm behavior is unpredictable. Swarm goes where the queen goes and each of us is a queen.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question .. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the convos?
Iris Odonata: Yes that is a big question. Do they care? Don't they? Set the cat among the pigeons, eh? I think they'll end up with the precise focus group they want as us "first posters" start make off-line contact. We may become more watchdoggish ourselves.
The Ladies who started this aren't really in control of it. They just own it and it's going to go where it goes.
I e-mailed Mugsy this a.m. and said this site is deliciously layered, just like Baklava. There are many many threads in this web. The convo twixt the foursome yesterday, will be read much differently "those" of their "echelon." Made me think of the famous Cavafy poem, "Barbarians At The Gate."
I don't want anyone dying to get a peep like me active in convo. This site has taught me that 54 years on the planet now comes with a users fee. So yeah, make it worth my while. Either compensate me financially or engage me emotionally. If it ain't got heart, I ain't interested.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give to the founders?
Iris Odonata: Get this thing more organized ASAP. We need a
venue just for continual/ongoing conversation, seperate from the
content exploration of daily question or brand promo. I think they get
that they are not dealing with dummies, irregardless of our
educational/geographical backgrounds. They also need to be upfront as
to why they want our input. You yourself are probably receiving scads
of useful information here so you can advise your clients as how to
best capture their market share.
A little about Iris Odonata's
Iris Odonata's bio....I am writing her memoirs now. I let you know when they are ready for publication. Sidebar: Yes, Iris please let me know when your memoirs are ready for blogging! Love your phrase vintage vixens also!
Suzanne de Cornelia:
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis?
Suzanne de Cornelia: I
admire the founders' highly successful media careers, and that now in their
50s-80s they are undertaking an entrepreneurial venture. I wanted to be at
the party.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site?
Suzanne de Cornelia: As a former
designer I find the clean architectural look and white/black/red scheme appealing and snazzy. The content is well organized and runs the gamut
of glitzy fun to topical and serious. It forces you to reexamine your
beliefs.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why the active, very consistent participation in not only
adding comments but engaging other women in conversation?
Suzanne de Cornelia: Three reasons
really. 1) I'm very sporty and techy and just shattered my foot and am confined to bed-rest. So the chatty site is a godsend. 2) I've been an
activist and involved in major projects my
entire life, and like to help grow
things and to support and also challenge other women. 3) Because my novel
"French Heart" will be out the end of the year and I'm also relocating to
France I want to develop an online network. The women who've thus far emailed
me from the site are Francophiles like me, including a writer who lives in
Provence where I'm headed.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question
.. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the
convos.
Suzanne de Cornelia: Theoretically, I'm partly using the site as a focus group for my
book, and building word-of-mouth. In practice I wind up shooting myself in
the foot by feeling obligated to respond to factually false responses on
things like unregulated derivatives trading and how it propelled the
foreclosure crisis,
then wind up pulling freight for free. The
founders need to either become more involved in the conversations, or hire
a moderator. When Mary Wells said on Charlie Rose that they are spending all
their time on this, I thought, "Hello?!" I know nothing compels me to do
it besides some feeling of responsibility in me when I see something posted
that demands an affirmation, acknowledgement,
or correction.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advice would you give people
building communities who would die for peeps like you who organically take
an active role in the conversation?
Suzanne de Cornelia: Match the site to a passionate market.
The political, celebrity, society gossip, wine blogs, and other specialty
sites from cats to Joan of Arc garner that kind of readership. Look at the
Top 100 Blogs on Technorati and the Yahoo Groups for clues. Mainly I think
it is something that you need a real passion for yourself otherwise you'll
burn out.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give
to the founders?
Suzanne de Cornelia: The most popular class at Harvard today states the
recipe for happiness is finding activity that is pleasurable and purposeful.
From what I gather, WoW will be making some technical adjustment
to make
maneuvering through the site more pleasurable, and will be developing the
Change the World section in a manner that will make visitors feel more
purposeful. Those two things will really add to the site. However, there's
a certain dissonance the founders need to clarify: They write about their
lives tooling around glitzy locales, attending First Nights with
celebs, sponsors are high-end, and the weekly financial column is a summation of trends that would benefit those with hefty well-portfolios. But
when hundreds of readers responded to an economy-related question they
clearly wanted pragmatic advice.
There's a dichotomy between the
demographic they want to attract, and the one that is showing up and
demanding they be more diverse and inclusive.
Sidebar: The Change the World section launched on Thursday. It's my understanding this was one of the first times when the vintage vixens were
asked their opinions about how a feature should be developed. The energy
and excitement of helping to create the site comes through loud and
clear in comments.
A little about Suzanne de Cornelia: I managed $1 billion
in major design and construction for Fortune 100 firms and top
universities. Then an accident cost me $700K and my 20-year career. I
retrained in the UCLA writing
program, wrote my novel, and live in San
Francisco where I belong to two Web 2.0 groups.
Sidebar: Suzanne authors a delightful site My French Heart.
Suzanne Conti
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis?
Suzanne Conti: The caliber of the women contributing their comments - they were well informed, witty and I felt similar enough in views and characteristics to mine that we could have a real discussion of kindred souls. I enjoyed the amount of differences and new aspects in thoughts presented that stimulated serious consideration on my part on the issues. There was enough common ground to relate to each other, but not so much as to be clones.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site?
Suzanne Conti: That this site brought me together and allowed me to meet and have dialog with these fascinating accomplished blogging women who have and continue to make an impact on the world. I am not a “lunch” lady - I have been too busy working at a demanding career. But I do want to join with other women to make a difference.
The whole sexism issue coming back to light with Hillary’s campaign has raised my hopes that the activism of my generation of women would be reignited. Since I started my lawsuit against my employer in 2004 for glass ceiling, unequal pay I have been deeply disappointed (not surprised though) in women’s lack of willingness to do anything about their oppression – other than whine. I have also witnessed women’s unwillingness to support other women, to unite for progress. I was hoping this Wow site would be a mechanism to unite women willing to finish the women’s liberation we started decades ago.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question
.. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the
convos.
Suzanne Conti:
I am not a celebrity chaser and really could care less if they join in the conversations. I am there to talk with other women of substance who log on. These women have renewed my faith in humanity. I had no idea such thinking witty women were out there since I have spent most of my life in a male world of work as well as at home – brothers, husbands, sons.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advice would you give people
building communities who would die for peeps like you who organically take
an active role in the conversation?
Suzanne Conti: It is all about the quality of the conversation, I am too busy to invest time reading and blogging back to small minded people and have no interest in just chatting – I am a doer- that is how I have achieved all that I have in my life I am not an idle chatter.
My husband is highly accomplished and my sons – one got a full ride scholarship to University of Michigan’s medical school and the other got a major scholarship to an art college on the east coast and was honored at Carnegie Hall for winning art awards, he also won an award that sent him to France for 3 weeks to study art there. I do not want to discuss what I sleep in and how many people I have slept with - Career women concerned about their professional reputation do not discuss such crap.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give
to the founders?
Suzanne Conti: Reduce to a minimum - the gossip Cosmo type
trivial articles or come out and tell the bloggers what your vision and
mission statement is so we know if we are in line with your goals. Recently, I am beginning to feel WowOWow is an oxymoron – wanting
intelligent, accomplished, women of substance to log in and then they
present such trivial, gossip, superficial topics. In all honesty I had
my concerns when I saw Liz Smith was one of the founders, but had no
idea she was going to be the dominant celebrity contributor – and
apparently nobody crosses Liz Smith!
A little about Suzanne Conti: At a time when women were traditionally in administrative positions Suzanne spent the majority of her career in a management positions in the male dominated auto industry. True to her husband's assessment of her as triple A type personality Suzanne was even the youngest buyer at a major Big 3 company .
In this world of social media we continue to learn together. Toss of a
pink boa to Mugsy, Iris, Suzanne and Suzanne!
Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Mary Wells and Joni Evans .. here's the secret .. you may have jump started
the convos but you are not the heart of your own
community.
My advise .. hire these amazing women to continue doing what they have been doing .. building community. Let the vintage vixens know that you are listening and involve the community in the creation process. It might be nice if you reached out in the digital world and in the offline world. However, a bit sadly, that's not really necessary.
Apr 8, 2008
Last week I had the honor of participating in BlogHer Biz '08. Part of my gig was to lead a round table discussion. Our talk turned to etiquette in social media. What is proper and polite in the digital world of social networking?
The Divas round the table kindly agreed to share their thoughts .. What does social media etiquette mean to you?
- Lori Magno, Digital Hive Modadi Magno: Be Nice. Is it really that hard? disagree with me, tell me why - I'll respond. Can you phrase it in the form of a question? Are you "you" or are you hiding behind "anonymous?" Be. real. You will be rewarded.
- Yvonne DiVita, Lip-Sticking: Be open & honest. Respect the fact that its not all about 'you.' It's about the whole community - that's a group of people, not just one person. By the way be sure to check out the stylish new header on Lip-sticking.
- Sarah Levy, Mini-et-Moi : Respect and responsibility. Be respectful of the writer and the community and behave as though you are part of a long-term relationship. (If you're angry or want to rant and rave, wait a bit before you hit "send.") Take responsibility for what you say - even if you want to do so anonymously.
- Kristin Livermore: Respect the relationship you're developing and respect the community. Understand and learn about who you're talking to so you can have a real conversation.
- Amy Pagiutte Cisco: Be open to sharing and responding to information and contacts in a way that is always respectful, honest, transparent. Understand who you are communication with so that your commentary can be absorbed appropriately. Don't rant -> always be respectful.
- Jenna Woodul, Live World: Social media implies and requires civility.
- Jeanette Gibson Cisco: If you wouldn't say it to someone in person, don't say it online. Be respectful and transparent.
- CB Whittemore, Flooring The Consumer: Rules For Behavior Extended Into Social Media. Courtesy matters. More specifically:
- Being polite and relevant
- Apologize for interruptions
- Adding value throughout interaction
- Active listening
- Not bullying
Not too different from how you would expect your children to behave. So with technology that would mean silencing cell phones during meetings, and not distracting side conversations (or tweets).
- Toby, Diva Marketing: Remember what your mama taught you: Don't lie. Don't cheat. Don't bully. Play nicely together.
Girlfriend, not only did I also have the pleasure of interviewing the lovely Goodwill of Greater Washington
Fashionista Diva blogger, but I played Runway moderator describing the Fashionista's vintage Goodwill outfit. Check out the Goodwill eBay store for the 
jazzy shoes she wore. Nice recap of the session on what's your story.
Mar 13, 2008
Diva Marketing Talks is a live, internet radio show. 30-minutes. 2-guests. 1-topic about social media marketing. Why? To help you understand how to participate in the "new" conversation without getting blown-up. Miss today's show? You can pick it up as a podcast.
Today's Diva Marketing Talks with Yvonne DiVita, President and Founder of WME Books and author of the popular blog Lip-sticking and Deanna "Dede" Sutton, Editorial/Creative Director of Clutchmagazine.com. Clutch Magazine is the new face of the urban “it” girl appealing to every side of today’s multicultural woman. Join us to find out why when it comes to marketing to women, as Yvonne say, "Social Media: A Match Made in Heaven."
Topic for March 13, 2008: Social Media Opens The Purse Strings .. Marketing To Women
Time: 6:30p - 7p Eastern/ 5:30p - 6p Central/ 4:30p -5p Mountain/ 3:30p - 4p Pacific
Call-in Guest Number: 718.508.9924
Guests
Yvonne DiVita
Yvonne DiVita is the author of Dick*less Marketing: Smart Marketing to Women Online, a book about getting those baby boomer icons Dick and Jane to buy at your website.
She is also the president and founder of WME Books.com, a division of Windsor Media Enterprises, LLC. WME is an Author Services Company specializing in Print-on-Demand technology, blogs, and community building events. Yvonne’s background stretches to those bygone days of the early Internet, where she was a web content writer and worked in several technology start-ups. After publishing her book, she decided to become a publisher. Today her focus is on helping aspiring authors, especially those writing business books, make wise publishing choices, and works to help her authors market their books once they are released.
Yvonne maintains a blog at Lip-Sticking with a focus on the women’s market. Her other blogs include the publishing blog: AHa Blog, a blog about blogging: WME Blog, a blog about her author’s book: Windsor Media Blog, and Beneath The Cover, about the POD (print on demand) process. She also writes and manages a petblog for Purina.
Yvonne is the President of the Rochester Chapter of Women in Communications; she is a past-president of the Rochester Professional Consultants Network, and is the VP of Web Communications at the Rochester Chapter of the American Marketing Association.
Deanna "Dede" Sutton
Deanna Sutton is the founder and creative/editorial director of Sutton Media. Sutton Media is the publisher of Clutch Magazine and Brown Fashionista (scheduled to launch May 2008). Since its relaunch last April, Clutch Magazine has become one of the leading online magazines for multicultural women ages 18-34. With a passion for all things social media, Deanna recognizes the power and opportunity that the new media platform presents. At Sutton Media, Deanna is responsible for business development, marketing initiatives, and editorial and creative direction.
Prior to launching Sutton Media, Deanna worked as an integrated marketing professional where she assisted in media relations, account management and other client activities. Some of her accounts included Sara Lee, Kroger, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and Philips Consumer Electronics. Deanna graduated from Saginaw Valley State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing.
Tips From The Diva Bag
Complements of Yvonne DiVita
Marketing to Women using Social Media: A Match Made in Heaven
- Women are talkers - that's been proven scientifically with differences in brain chemistry (women's brains connect left to right more effectively making them better at communicating and remembering), which makes using social media a natural marketing tool for those in the know.
- Women are the social creatures. They like being in the presence of other women - to learn about life, and family, and even finances. Social media is a natural fit for connecting. It drives word of mouth and it creates avenues of exploration not previously available to women. (more sharing, more comparing, and more questionning)
- Marketing to women is very much different than marketing to men - NOT because we have different body parts, as so many assume. It's because we THINK differently. Once you get your mind around how we think, you begin to understand why we love using the net - it really lets us be us.
Complements of Deanna "Dede" Sutton
- Use niche bookmarking sites such as Sk-rt in addition to Digg, Delicious and Furl to help connect with potential readers.
- Partner with like sites/or brands to help spread the word about your product/service. It is a very beneficial tactic for both participants.
- Don't under estimate the power of link building or adding. This will help raise your rank and exposure.
- Social Media provides a very powerful and fresh platform for all, especially women make sure to take the time and research in order to position your self and your brand.
Can't call in but have a question? Drop a comment and I'll ask it for you. Let me know what you'd like Diva Talks to chat about. Don't forget Diva Marketing Talks morphs into a podcast.
Update: Don't miss the After Show when Yvonne and Dede talk about the difference in how Boomer and Millennium women connect online.
Links mentioned on the show WOWOWOW Soccer Mom Myth By Michele Miller and Holly Buchanan Dick*less Marketing:Smart Marketing To Women Online
Mar 6, 2008
Diva Marketing Talks
is a live, internet radio show. 30-minutes. 2-guests. 1-topic about
social media marketing. Why? To help you understand how to participate
in the "new" conversation without getting blown-up. Miss today's show?
You can pick it up as a podcast.
Today's Diva Marketing Talks takes the wraps off of Real Simple Syndication - better known as RSS. Our rock star guests Bill Flitter and Lee Feinberg will make RSS simple. They'll share how they used RSS to encourage viral marketing campaigns, talk about ads on RSS feeds, discuss if RSS complements or replaces eMail marketing and lots more. If we're very lucky Bill will tell us what Santa Clause, the postman and the TV clicker have to do with RSS.
Topic for March 6, 2008: RSS: Alphabet Soup or The Power Behind Social Media
Time: 6:30p - 7p Eastern/ 5:30p - 6p Central/ 4:30p -5p Mountain/ 3:30p - 4p Pacific
Call-in Guest Number: 718.508.9924
Guests:
Bill Flitter
Bill Flitter is CEO of Pheedo. Bill is considered an industry expert on syndicated content advertising and speaks regularly on this topic at industry events. Prior to Pheedo, Bill founded Email Shopping Network and directed its sales and marketing activities until its acquisition by eUniverse in 2002.
In addition to Pheedo and Email Shopping Network, Bill has started and helped build numerous early stage companies, developing hundreds of innovative products and services. Bill is also co-founder of Fastlane Ventures, a boutique management consulting firm focused on early-stage investments. Bill is a founding member of the Internet Content Syndication Council and chairs their advertising committee
Raised in Wisconsin, Bill graduated with a degree in Advertising from the University of Wisconsin. He founded the University of Wisconsin Interactive Advertising scholarship to reward outstanding excellence in this innovative field. Bill’s ruminations on a number of topics can be found on the Pheedo Blog.
Lee Feinberg
Lee Feinberg is a business development leader and has devoted his entire career to create and launch interactive products and services. For 20 years, he has guided innovation at Fortune 500 companies in financial services, automotive, consumer hardware, and healthcare. His experience includes Internet marketing and eCommerce, high-volume transaction systems, mobile communications, and interactive TV.
Lee is currently Strategy Director, Avenue A | Razorfish and previously held the position of Vice President/ Associate Director, Digitas. He was the President and Founder of e-thusiasm, inc. an independent interactive strategy consultancy whose clients included Johnson & Johnson, CheckFree, and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ. Lee has also held positions with Chase Manhattan Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and AT&T Bell Labs.
He received a B.S. and M.S. from Cornell University. Lee serves on the advisory board of Pheedo, holds a U.S. patent for a PC-telephone interface, is a member of the Marketing Executives Networking Group, the Cornell Entrepreneur Network, and the Sandler Sales Institute Presidents Club.
Can't call in but have a question? Drop a
comment and I'll ask it for you. Let me know what you'd like Diva Talks
to chat about. Don't forget Diva Marketing Talks morphs into a podcast.
Feb 28, 2008
The lines of MSM (main stream media) and social media continue to blur. Last week I received a press release pitch that said, "As a member of the Atlanta media ..." Now, Girlfriend I readily admit that I've always coveted a backstage press pass and I love those cute foreign correspondent jackets with zillions of pockets, but I've never considered Diva Marketing to be media.
Sidebar: In an up-coming interview with RichardAtDell, that will post on Monday 3-3, RichardAtDell told me that unlike some companies e.g., Target, Dell doesn't distinguish anymore between a blogger and mainstream media.
Interesting. 
Diva a la Murphy Brown .. wonder how those jackets would look with a pink boa ;-) Photo of me - in a pink boa, with RichardAtDell and Brendan Hurley Goodwill of Greater Washington at the AiMA cocktail party, complements of Geoff Livingston
As with many other bloggers those pitches continue to arrive. Last week I also received a personalized email from Anand Chopra-McGowan, who with a few friends, recently launched a new community. Oh no! Toby you're thinking spare us one more social networking community! This one is a little different. YouIntern.com targets college students who are looking for internships and the organizations that provide those internships. Wonderful idea!
In the true sense of social media networking, not only does the site provide links to opportunities but candid reviews of the companies. Wonderful idea! Just for fun here's 
Atlanta based Turner Broadcasting System. Please click to enlarge the image.
I asked Anand Chopra-McGowan to tell us the the who-how-and-why. Remember as YouIntern.com becomes a social media rock star .. you heard it on Diva!
Toby/Diva Marketing: About YouIntern.com: What's it all about Anand?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: It's simple: we encourage advertising students to review their
internship experience on YouIntern.com. We then link these students
with employers, who post their open internships so students can apply
after reading reviews. We also solicit expert advice from advertising
industry professionals and write some sharp blogs so as to provide as
much information as possible to students, and to keep them coming back. Our goal is to build a community that allows students to find
worthwhile internships, and employers to recruit more qualified,
energetic, motivated interns.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Back Story: Are you and Dan the 2 adv execs noted in your release? Who are the students mentioned in the release? Do you come from the same school? Is this a class project?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: Yes, Dan and I work in advertising. I was recently at Arnold in Boston,
now Director of Development at The Ad Club of Boston (so that
connection's covered! Haha), and Dan is in account management at BBH in
NYC. Dan Chaparian, Anand Chopra-McGowan Jason Kahn, Jeff Li - Dan and I graduated from BU in May ;07, Jason and Jeff are current juniors there. After having some frustrating and some very rewarding internship experiences, Dan and I came up with the idea for an internship rating/review site. No, it isn't a class project.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Agency Involvment: How active a role are the agencies taking?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: We realized that in order to truly have an impact on the way internships work, we had to bring the agencies into the equation. Students could then apply for open internships, and employers interacting with the site could see what students were saying about their experience. The ideal situation (and we've reached this already in the case of a few agencies) is to have an open
internship posting from a company, and compare it to a review right there, from a student.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Response from Agencies: What do the agencies think of the concept, especially when they might get a "bad review?"
Anand Chopra-McGowan: Agencies
have been incredibly positive to the idea, with HR managers eager to
hear what students say about their internships. We've found that
YouIntern.com is able to provide a forum for feedback, without the
awkward, often scary, prospect of telling your internship manager
exactly how you feel, directly to him or her.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Promotion: How are you getting the word out?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: Since we're currently focused on advertising/marketing/pr only, we're getting the word out in a number of targeted ways: For students, letters/emails/calls to Professors at universities across the country, career services offices, posters on campus, Facebook social ads and groups, and we're testing with some Google AdWords.
For agencies, various forums across the internet, painstakingly compiled email lists for agency executives across the country, letters and "intern trading cards" mailed to them, follow-up phone calls, bloggers like you!! We plan to develop working relationships with Ad Clubs, AAAA, AAF, and
such.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Monetization: How do you plan to monetize .. what is your revenue model?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: At this point, our only monetization is a few Google ads on the site. Once we reach certain bencmarks, however, we'll be charging for premium postings, more prominent listings, the ability to upload photographs, direct applications from the site. We also are working to develop partnerships with various players, where premium members receive certain discounts, like magazine subscriptions and such.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Sustainability: How will the site be sustained over time?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: This is the wonderful thing about YouIntern.com. Every year we will have a certain percentage of users graduate, and that exact same percentage come in as freshmen. Internships are now an immediate concern for most college students, and these freshmen will have access to our incredible database of content and opinion as soon as they start school. As they experience various internships, this database will grow. Further, most internship reviews, barring any huge changes at the agency, will stay valid for at least 4 or 5 semesters. And finally, we plan on introducing a number of forum and interaction features that will allow users to ask each other questions, update reviews, and help keep content current.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The Future: Full-time gig?
Anand Chopra-McGowan: Yes, if all goes as planned, this could definitely be a full time venture. Jason and Jeff developed the platform using a programming language called Drupal.
Sidebar: Interesting resource for job hunters to use to understand a company's corporate culture.
Feb 26, 2008
Diva Marketing Talks
is a live, internet radio show. 30-minutes. 2-guests. 1-topic about
social media marketing. Why? To help you understand how to participate
in the "new" conversation without getting blown-up. Miss today's show?
You can pick it up as a podcast.
Today's Diva Marketing Talks explores an innovative, new model for a social media community. Dr. Daniel Palestrant, Founder CEO of Sermo, and Dr. Richard Thrasher, community member, join me to talk about Sermo, an online community open only to doctors (a niche) where for a fee sponsors can listen in, ask questions but not fully participate.
Big question: Would this model work for other verticals/market segments like moms or golfers or accountants or patients?
Topic for February 26, 2008: Where the Docs Are .. Someone Waits For Them. Paid Sponsors in a Social Networking Community.
Time: 6:30p - 7p Eastern/ 5:30p - 6p Central/ 4:30p -5p Mountain/ 3:30p - 4p Pacific
Call-in Guest Number: 718.508.9924
Guests:
Daniel Palestrant
Daniel Palestrant is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge-based Sermo, Inc. As CEO, Daniel is responsible for the overall vision of the Sermo community and business. His main tasks focus on ensuring that Sermo is a valuable resource to physicians while building a profitable and socially responsible enterprise.
Daniel's first experiences with Healthcare Informatics came when he conceived, designed, proposed and managed deployment of CIBUR (CIGNA Internet Based Universal Resource), one of the first commercial Web-based healthcare resources for physicians and allied health professionals. No stranger to the entrepreneurial side of medicine, Daniel founded his first company, Azygos, Inc., in 1998. During that time, he successfully raised $2.2MM in funding and deployed the company's first clinical application on schedule and on budget, before selling the company to BioNetrix in May of 2001.
After selling Azygos, Daniel joined BioNetrix (Now BNX Systems) as Director of Health Care. During his time at BNX Systems, Daniel helped numerous healthcare-focused businesses increase network security, improve patient privacy safeguards and comply with HIPAA. Daniel has done clinical and laboratory research in transplant immunology. He has a B.S. in biology from Johns Hopkins University, completed medical school at Duke University, and trained in General Surgery at Beth Israel-Deaconess Hospital, in Boston before leaving to launch Sermo.
Dr. Richard Thrasher
Dr. Richard Thrasher is board certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology. He established ENT practice - The Ear, Nose, & Throat Center at McKinney. He is also an active member of the Sermo community.
Dr. Thrasher received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and his medical degree from the University of Connecticut. He completed a general surgery internship in Denver before going on to an Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery residency at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. While in residency, Dr. Thrasher spent significant time at Denver Children’s hospital (routinely rated in the top 10 children’s hospitals in the country) and has a particular interest in pediatric ENT.
Upon completing residency, Dr. Thrasher served on clinical faculty with the University of Nebraska Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery while he served as a Major in the USAF for 3 years at Offutt AFB in Nebraska. During this time he won three awards for best instructor as a clinical preceptor for family medicine residents and physician assistant students. He also served as medical director of the surgical service and chief of otolaryngology at his base hospital.
Dr. Thrasher was the first otolaryngologist in Nebraska, and first in the Air Force, to perform the new Balloon Sinuplasty® surgery. He was also the first otolaryngologist in Nebraska to perform an innovative base of tongue procedure for sleep apnea and is one of only 6-7 surgeons in the country currently doing this procedure. He has extensive experience performing the Pillar Palatal Implant® procedure for snoring. He has authored several publications and remains active in pursuing clinical research in sinusitis and sleep apnea.
Dr. Thrasher’s special interests include pediatric ENT, snoring/ obstructive sleep apnea, thyroid surgery, and sinus surgery. He is an active golfer and self-proclaimed technology geek. He lives in Plano with his wife and 2 children but hopes to move to McKinney in the next several months.
Tips From The Diva Bag
Complements of Dr. Richard Thrasher
- Log on frequently and just observe how things work for a little while. Some may feel comfortable seeing the personality of the site within a couple of days, some may need some more time. But I would observe how the interaction works first before just jumping in with a post. There is an etiquette on-line that is not always readily apparent to novices.
- When you do begin to interact, do so frequently. If you make a comment or post a topic, follow up on it frequently to see if there is any feedback regarding your input. This will definitely bring you into the community. Those who post and run will not feel like they develop a relationship with other users as well.
- Avoid trying to make overt discriminatory comments—this is the surest way to be ostracized. Whether you have a bias toward something whether it’s race, gender, educational background, etc, if you make those types of comments known, you will be quickly attacked. I have seen this on many on-line communities. Most importantly be open-minded of the opinions of others and at least respectful even if they’re factually wrong. There are definitely better ways to handle differences of opinion than through attacks.
- Disclose, disclose, disclose. If you market yourself or a product on Sermo and do not disclose a financial interest, but one is discovered, you will immediately be ostracized by the community at large. If you fully disclose your interest in the marketing, you stand a fighting chance of having a constructive discussion of your particular topic.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions about patients who have a diagnosis that you can’t figure out or who has an adverse event that you want to discuss. Often these are the best discussions on Sermo.
Can't call in but have a question? Drop a
comment and I'll ask it for you. Let me know what you'd like Diva Talks
to chat about. Don't forget Diva Marketing Talks morphs into a podcast.
Update: Enoch Choi, MedHelp of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation joined the conversation. If you have any interest in healthcare in the U.S. or where physicians' interest are in changing the healthcare system do not miss the After Show. In Ophra style, the After Show continues on a free for all flow for as long as the conversation goes on.
Feb 21, 2008
When Diva Marketing launched in the spring of 2004 business blogs were barely a blip on most people's radar. To help marketers understand why organizations were beginning to view blogs as a business tool, how to sell-in to management and most importantly to pass along critical lessons learned, in 2005 I launched the Biz Blog Profile Series where people who were doing "it" shared their experiences.
Fast forward to 2008 and blogs are just one tactic in an over-flowing social media tool box that are now used by Fortune 100 companies, small business and not for profits.
Recently Alex Brown and I had an interesting email volley. Alex was one of the first people I interviewed for the Biz Blog Series. He had the innovative idea of turning the Wharton Admissions blog in a portal which has since become the go-to place for how to get into B School. Inspired by Alex, I thought wouldn't it be fun to take a look at "Where Are The Early Business Bloggers Now?"
Seemed appropriate to start with Alex. I think it's fair to stay that social media has not only changed Alex's life but impacted thousands of people and horses too!
Background: I now manage alexbrownracing.com which is a horse racing web-site that focuses on horse welfare. Our mission statement (something we needed to create once we became a large community) focuses on ending horse slaughter, and rescuing horses that are in the slaughter pipeline. To date we have rescued more than 2,000 horses headed for slaughter raising close to $850,000 in doing so (not bad for an organization that does not exist ?) alexbrownracing.com used to be timwoolleyracing.com and gained traction on the internet as we followed Barbaro's fight for life after his accident in the Preakness Stakes.
Basically I was in the right place at the right time and chose to blog about Barbaro with all the access anyone would need. We gained a large community quickly. Along the way I had to add a discussion board as the community grew too large to be managed simply by a blog. Subsequently I also created a wiki to manage additional content: alexbrownracing.com/wiki
We are now working with others in the anti-slaughter community to put together Americans Against Horse Slaughter, two days of lobbying in DC, March 4 and 5. We are gaining momentum and hoping to end horse slaughter once and for all. I have committed to this project to the extent I no longer teach at the University of Delaware (Internet Marketing) nor work at the Wharton School (MBA Admissions). My business card now reads: Horses.
What were your success?
I think as a community we can be proud of what we have accomplished. 2,000 horses have been saved to date, we have helped gain some ground on horse slaughter legislation. It is wonderful to be doing something you can be truly passionate about an
wondered if he would respond. He did indeed .. within minutes (!) providing me with his off Twitter email so we could continue the conversation without the 140 character limitation.
