Rachel Friedmann

I am constantly learning about the latest marketing techniques and what’s going on in the world online. I recently attended Association Bisnow’s Digital Strategies breakfast, where half the attendees were busy tweeting on their smartphones! One of the recommendations from the breakfast was that a White Paper could be turned into 3-months of tweets. My eyes began rolling.

Twitter has become one of the fastest ways to receive up-to-date information and one of the biggest regurgitaters of information. Many “Tweeters” link to interesting articles, retweet others thoughts, or are blogging/tweeting so fast that the focus becomes quantity instead of quality. In essence, they do not have a strategy behind what they are doing; they are just reacting. As in any type of marketing or PR campaign, traditional or new, strategy is vital and should not be ignored.

I constantly advise clients that all social media tools are not right for everyone. Not everyone needs a facebook, twitter, blog, linkedin, youtube, etc they should think about what the purpose is first, where their audience is looking online, and of course create a strategy. This great article sums up my sentiments http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2010/09/top_10_reasons_your_company_shouldnt_blog_redux.asp

Strategy. Strategy. Strategy. It is the biggest thing missing in online marketing today. Before you start tweeting 20 tweets a day, decide what your purpose is and go from there! Remember this social media is one more way to communicate with your audience.

I know that I can’t be the only one who checks an RSVP list on Evite or Facebook before determining whether or not to attend a party or event. We all do it once in a while and we can blame biology a little bit because of social proof. Social proof is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior; making the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about a situation and therefore deem the behavior of others as appropriate or better informed (according to Wikipedia). This is deeply ingrained in us biologically, for survival purposes. For instance, if one deer sees other deer running without much thought they will start running too. The reason is that they assume that the larger majority knows something and are better informed than they are, in this case that danger is present.

I wonder, if in instances such as a social event RSVP list, biology might still be at play. Although, not for for survival, but to help us determine from a biological standpoint the likelihood that, for example, a more desired “mate” could be present at a particular function. I’m sure others would say, to save resources or not social suicide. This may certainly be the case in the professional world. For professional events, I have seen increasingly the use of RSVP lists to promote events. For example, Bisnow, when selling certain events will publish in their e-mails, as a form of promotion,  the names and companies of those who’ve already RSVP and plan to attend.

I am curious to hear other’s point of view on how RSVP lists, in general, and how this affects social behavior.

Today is graduation day, but I am not going. I made the difficult decision to forgo going to my second masters graduation (up in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins) to go to an event I have been working on for months and that will continue to propell me forward professionally. As a friend recently put it, isn’t that the point of my getting the marketing masters in the first place?

Tonight the American Marketing Association presents Chuck Porter of Crispin Porter + Bogusky who will be talking about effective marketing. I could go on about how his agency has been named the agency of the decade, won numerous awards, and are behind campaigns we are all familiar with – Gap, Best Buy, American Express, Windows 7, Burger King…Instead, I am going to discuss what his presence means in DC. When I moved up to DC almost 6 years ago, I had no idea that there was a marketing and advertising community flourishing here, I don’t think most people do today. That is changing. Having Chuck Porter and Mark Bisnow (the AMA Hall of Fame recipient this year) share a stage shows that DC is changing.

People are starting to take note of DC in a different light. More reality shows are coming here – Top Chef, Real Housewives, Real World…DC is becoming its own scene, no longer “New York lite.” I am excited to watch the continuing transformation and hope to be a part of it in some way.

On Friday morning, I went to a Bisnow event discussing “Where Do Women Stand?” The food was lacking, but the panel was amazing. The panel included anchorwoman Barbara Harrison, Kiva.org & ProFounder.com co-founder Jessica Jackley, UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin, and FEED Projects Lauren Bush. I could write a few blog entries about this evnet and may end up doing so.

One of the many comments that stuck in mind was a question asking if women tend to stand in other women’s way. Unfortunately, I thought of a couple instances in my life where this has happened to me. Women have come so far in the work place arena that we should be pushing each other forward, not holding each other back.

In one of my experiences, a supervisor of mine did not allow me to excel. A few told me she was threatened, but I don’t think that was the case. As women we have the tendency to control things in our lives. As the one who runs the household, we manage and control what our families activities are, what they eat, do chores, manage finances, and the list goes on. I think that for some this tendancey moves over to their work lives as well. I know women managers who tend to be micro managing and controlling of their subordinates.  I have had female friends, who have had similar experiences as well. I sit here hoping for an epihany to help those with these types of managers in their lives and can not think of a good solution.

For women managers out there, remember your employees are not your children, your partner, or your pets. As I recently read on my favorite blog – ZenHabits.net :

“Treat others as you’d want to be treated (in their place)”, but in another conception, how you treat others is how your treat yourself.

Consider: when you react to others with anger or meanness, you are putting yourself in an angry mindset, a bad mood. You’ll likely feel pretty crappy for at least an hour, if not all day.