Some of you may know that I am the PR/Social Media Director for the Oklahoma State HR Council also known as OKHR.  I’m also HR blogger here at Blogging4Jobs.  My role at OKHR is to drive awareness about the professional association with the added hope of increasing membership.  I’ve pitched to the press here in Oklahoma with some success.  I’m happy to report our releases are getting several thousand views.

Sadly, some of the larger newspapers and publications in Oklahoma have not been as receptive as I would have liked when it comes specifically to social media.  And earlier today, I learned why.

A reporter from The Daily Oklahoman, a daily newspaper in Oklahoma City,  the city where I call home replied with the following after I sent an email to discuss their interest in covering our HR state conference:

My editor wants me to stay awy from SM stories. We just ran one April 27 for Crowe hc conf. … and when it comes to tweeting/fb’ing etc. it gets a little ticklish since The Oklahoman is now in the game as an online source and also provides contract SM services.

From this message the city’s largest newspaper and publication is avoiding stories that involve social media because they provide social media services and are a source of publication.  It’s sad because a partnership could be created, a relationship among the bloggers in Oklahoma City and The Daily Oklahoman where we build each other up instead of tearing each other down.

Let me just say that I wasn’t pitching publications and media to write strictly about social media.  Human Resources involves things that are mostly outside of social media and that was what this conference was all about.  It just happened to be the topic of conversation when I was referred to the writer at the Oklahoma.

The blogsphere and social media space in Oklahoma is very active.  It’s a great source of news and yesterday’s announcement of the death of Osama bin laden is a fine example.  In doing a quick Google search on the keywords Osama bin laden, you can see that there are over 1900 real time messages of his death from social media.  And this is nearly 24 hours after the story was broke to the press.

More importantly, is where I learned about bin laden’s death.  Just before shutting down for the night, I saw a tweet saying the following, “Ding dong the wicked witch is dead.”  Slightly intrigued I further investigated my Twitter stream to see an announcement from both TMZ and CNN.  I quickly retweeted the message to my own 24,000 plus followers and several responded quite surprised.

I see the world of blogging and social media as a tool to work together with more traditional publications instead of against them.  With more than 500 active bloggers in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa Metro areas, I believe that by all working together we can help one another instead of singling out community members who serve content generators and community influencers.  Because content generators and influencers ingest content at a greater rate than their counter parts.

Am I wrong or am I right?  Should traditional media engage or ignore bloggers?

Photo Credit Leadership Freak.

I do my fair share of talking about the importance and effective uses of blogging as a form of external promotion and what analytics giant, Hubspot calls “inbound marketing.”  Companies, individuals, and agencies can benefit from positioning themselves as an expert in their niche or industry field.  This form of inbound marketing is certainly less expensive than it’s more traditional counter part.  It also often times take time to to develop a following or readership of your blog, but it only takes one person to read your article or blog post to lead to a sale.

Effective inbound marketing is not just limited to large corporations.  In fact, I believe that small boutique firms and individuals often have the more competitive advantage in this arena.  This is because of the personal touch that small firms can provide to their readers.  While large firms sit in committee and navigate the red tape faster contact and follow up can be made by smaller firms when someone leave a blog comment.

Blogs are a great way to provide your client or prospective client more information about you, your values, and insight into your work as an individual, agency, or corporation.  Blogs provide a more personal opportunity to develop a relationship encouraging your readers to comment, pick up the phone, or read more.  Blogs and articles on websites are in many ways more effective and more engaging than those traditional types of promotion and marketing of which I refer to as Spray and Pray.

The Spray and Pray terminology is something that is very popular in the Multi-Level Marketing industry.  You spray your message through posting and distributing fliers, calling your contacts, reading your paper advertisements, and pray that they will call you back.  In theory, the Spray and Pray method is not a lot of ways very different from a blog except for two things– 1.) The impact on your business checking account and 2. ) Capturing passive clients.

The act of a phone call or email from someone who reads your billboard is an extremely active action.  They must pick up the phone, desire to speak with you, and make a concerted effort to learn more.  This is an awful lot to ask when most newspaper ads and billboards are written with less then 140 characters.  Most consumers are looking for information, engagement, and a conversation vs. a sales pitch.  Blogs provide you (the service provide) that opportunity.

After hearing Hubspot’s Rick Burnes speak two weeks ago at Oklahoma City’s American Marketing Association meeting, I was inspired to drive more traffic to my blog, develop relationships, and capture potential lead information more than ever.  I’ll be playing with new tools and articles that drive readers to a call to action.  Because having a good blog is good but having a good blog that drives amazing business to you is even better.

You might be interested in some more tools regarding blogging:

• 5 P’s of Blogging
• Blogging It’s More Than a Brand
• When Your Blog is My Content
• Bloggers We’re Media but Better
• Bloggers Beware–Liabilities, Licensing, & Legalese

Photo Credit A Photo Editor.

It takes guts to be a leader.  You have a crazy idea and you begin dancing, singing, shouting, or tweeting your revelation.  It’s hard work being an innovator and a leader, but the first follower is really the key to an idea, program, or new product’s success. The first follower is the guy that takes the risk and is the first to follow the leader’s lead.  The role of first follower in many ways is most important than the leader.

Those first followers aren’t always co-workers or traditional business partners like you might expect.  I like to think of my husband, Greg (@xceptional_it) as the constant balance check in my life.  He is the first follower who grounds me as I dance along from one idea to the next.  Take for example, my book.  Without Greg and his support Tweet This! would have never been published.

This video (shown below) is one of my favorite videos from the TEDx talks.  If you are not familiar with Tedx, I suggest that you check them out, and if you’re in the Oklahoma City area, be sure to check out one or all of the Tedx OKC events.  The first Tedx Tuesday is Tuesday, October 19th in Oklahoma City at the Deep Fork Grill.

Photo Credit Jilata Eliass.

You may remember that I had the opportunity to test drive a Chevy Malibu for 4 weeks as part of the Gotta Love Chevy OK Program.  It’s been an amazing experience and sadly late last week I had to say goodbye to the Chevy Malibu.

I enjoyed the experience and was more than satisfied with the Malibu and the way it drove.  It felt comfortable and worked well especially since I am always on the go as a mother and entrepreneur.  And last Wednesday I returned the car I was not able to record a video because of a nasty allergy attack that resulted in me loosing my voice.  While I’m happy to say I am fully functional and able to actually have real live conversation, I did decide to share with you my iTunes playlist, Life with Malibu.

One of the great features about the Malibu was the USB port built into the stereo.  I could easily charge of iPhone as well as play songs and playlists directly from my music listing.  In fact, Greg and I were able to charge both our iPhones at the same time–one with the USB outlet and the other with the cigarette outlet which worked great for us.

Goodbye Malibu. . . It’s been real.

Photo Credit Flickr.

Four and a half years ago, I was new in town looking for a job and opportunities to network and build experience.  A phone call inquiring about volunteer opportunities led me to HeartLine.  HeartLine is an non-profit that services the entire state of Oklahoma doing a lot of different and valuable services including suicide prevention and awareness training, 211, and their 1-800 CareLine.

• HeartLine€™s 2-1-1 service provides Central Oklahomans 24/7 access to information on any type of health or human service, and this easy-to-remember telephone number is the best first place to call to get help, or give help.

• HeartLine€™s CareLine Call Specialists are available 24-hours a day, every day of the year, offering compassionate listening, crisis intervention and suicide prevention. 848-2273 (CARE)serves Central Oklahoma.

• HeartLine€™s Suicide Awareness and Prevention Programs target two separate populations – one that serves youth and one that helps the elderly:

• HeartLine’s Problem Gambling Helpline is the result of a partnership with the Oklahoma Association for Problem & Compulsive Gambling.  The 1-800-522-4700 Problem Gambling Helpline provides problem gamblers and family of problem gamblers throughout the state of Oklahoma information about treatment and hope for overcoming their addiction.

Every year HeartLine’s fundraising event is the Festival of Hope Gala, and this year’s event is Friday, August 13, 2010, at the Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum in Oklahoma City, OK.  In addition to recognizing some amazing folks including Tom & Lisa Price, Santa’s Cause, and Larry Hawkins, they host an annual silent and live auction to benefit their organization.  This year is special for me because I am the Auction Chair.  We have a number of amazing trips, weekend get-a-ways, and auction items that will appeal to each and every attendee.  One in particular that I am very excited about is a Hermes Birkin Bag and Wallet combination valued at more than $10,000.  It is the single largest auction donation item in the history of HeartLine and was donated by a very special friend of mine, Ties to Tattoos„¢ author, Sherri Elliott-Yeary.  (Thanks, Sherri!)

The Birkin will be part of the live auction and you are certainly invited to get in on the Birkin bidding auction.  Tickets to the Festival of Hope are still available on HeartLine’s website for $125 a person or $1,000 a table.  Feel free to give me a call (405.912.4885) directly or email (blogging4jobs@gmail.com) if you have any questions about the event.  Xceptional HR is sponsoring our own table as well as live tweeting and streaming the event.  Be sure to follow the Twitter hash tag, #hope as well as @HeartLine for real time insights and information into the Festival of Hope.

Hope to see you there.

Whether you are an Human Resource professional or business person, the game of life and business is ongoing.  Environments change, rules evolve, and business expands and progresses.  To stay on top of your game as a professional and leader in your industry and organization, you must always be pushing yourself to do and be better.

Being successful in business is more than business tools like income statements, P&L’s, and the process of SWOT analysis.  Even more importantly, providing value and continued benefit to your employees, team members, and yourself through professional development can be an effective tool in retaining top talent in tough economic times through training, education, and information.  Project Management is one of those essential business tools that all professionals can use every day.  PM is very rewarding and useful tool that can be leveraged in a variety of business as well as human resource situations.

Earlier this year, you might remember I wrote about the Cat Herding/HR Connection.  I snagged some awesome “I Herd Cat Pins” for me and some of my HR Evolution (un)conference friends.  The Persimmon Group, the creative geniuses behind the Cat Herding Pins offer a fantastic Project Management Training Class in addition to their consulting services.

The Persimmon Group and I have teamed up to offer some Project Management classes in the Oklahoma City Metro Area.  While I will not be teaching the classes (I am sadly not qualified), I am more than willing to write and talk about their upcoming training class called, “Surviving Project Management.”  It is a three day intensive and hands on class that provide participants with the foundations of project management.

Details. . . .

• August 22-25 in Oklahoma City, OK from 8:30-4:30 daily

• Meals and snacks included

• Course Materials, CD-ROM, and handouts provided

• Class is approved for 21 PDU Certification Credits

• Limited to 20 just participants

Registration for this three day intensive Project Management training is $995.  You can download information either HERE or below to learn more or contact 918.592.4121 to register or for more questions.   This class is available and open to all Blogging4Jobs readers.  Developing and improving your skills set is important to stay competitive and at the top of your professional game.  The Persimmon Group’s Surviving Project Management class can help.

Surviving Project Management

FTC Disclosure: I received compensation for mentioning the product listed above as part of one of the services I offer my clients. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.