Sparkatopia

I was asked to be a guest today on Buzz Live, the Appleton Post Crescents weekly retail business program.  Such a treat!!!

I was joined by host Maureen Wallenfang as we talk about how businesses can profit from social media, and answer your questions.

Greg and Tommytrc highball around Appleton in a new 2011 Ford Explorer lent to use by Kayser Automotive Group Stoughton. Win a chance to drive the baby for a week to see your own slice of Wisconsin. Check out the facebook page and twitter for more info. Follow-us at @KayserStoughton on twitter and Kayser Automotive Group Stoughton on facebook.

Today I had an amazing speaking engagement at Kimberly High School, Kimberly, WI.  I spoke in front of 5-6 marketing classes on social media and the power of social media and it was just over-the-top awesome!!!

Great Kids!

Great Questions!

I got these 2 awesome tweets from @HiSchoolLife

Does it get any better then that? I love speaking!!!

Here is a copy of my presentation…for those who care…

What a great day!

Once you get over the growth of Lisa’s pregnant belly, take a listen of what Tommy and Lisa have to say about the crush of negative political ads that ran during midterm elections. Did you have your fill? Do you think negative ads help or hurt the candidates? What would you think about a candidate who chose not to use negative ads?

Red Shoes Speaks No. 50 Negative Ads in Politics from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

As Manager of Digital Development Tom want to share his point of view on various subjects. Today’s Point of View topic is on customer service. Tom has spent over 25 years in various customer service rolls from his days as a paperboy to working with customers in his current role. What and some good customer service traits and what are bad ones. HC Miller has some great examples of super account managers and Tom wants to share with you one outstanding one.

@Zappos rocks Lisa’s world with an amazing social media response and experience. Is your company set up to do the same?

Red Shoes Speaks No. 30 @Zappos Awesome Customer Service from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

No phone zone? Lisa and Tommy discuss driving and distractions such as cell phone calls, texting and social media. Red Shoes PR is currently adding a section to their HR policy manual that prohibits the use of cell phones while driving during the workday. What do you think?

Red Shoes Speaks No. 24 Driving & Social Media Distractions from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Here are Tommy and Lisa’s thoughts about how social media could play an important role in letting loved ones know if you and your family are OK when disaster strikes.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 22 Social Media Role in Disaster Communications from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

This post is in response to a fellow N.E. Wisconsin, Kate Unger , who was looking for feedback on her recent blog post titled: Twilebrities, Comets and Tweets.

It’s just funny how good things happen. Everything seems to happen for a purpose and  the old adage that my father used to say, “Good things happen to great people” fits here- I’m not sure exactly how, but it does. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to take a look, a good look, inside myself to see why I do the things I do and where I find the time to do them.  Before I can help you understand why I handle myself the way I do in social media, I think it’s important to have some background information.

I’m the oldest of 7 kids. To this day I have the best parents anyone could ask for. My mom and dad spent so much time showing me how to love, teaching respect for others and to appreciate the things around me. Sometimes it was hard to do those things due to the fact I got picked on so much in school. There were days it was so hard to go at all. But I rarely, if ever, showed that negative side of life. I never wanted to be the one to make a wave or cause issues. I didn’t try to hide it; I just kind of became oblivious to it. Kids at the elementary age can be so cruel. I too had a hand in that. It seemed that every jab that came my way; I sent two or three more out back at others.

This was not how I wanted to live my life. There had to be a better way to deal with my frustrations. Slowly over time I became to see the error in my ways. I’m not sure whether it was, 7^th or 8^th grade, but my outlook started to change. I started to see that comic relief was one way of coping. I have always laughed since I was young, but in high school things started to evolve and in college I took my love of laughter to a different level.  From that point, making people happy has been an end goal of mine. I look at it as one key for my “meaning of life.”

How do you make people happy? Well, what do people desire and crave? We all want attention, to be listened to, and for someone to find interest in us, even if only for a moment. Whether it’s a technology problem someone is having or simply wanting to celebrate success- everyone wants to be acknowledged and heard.

Fast forward to our social media discussion… Social media is the perfect place to be heard and recognized.  It is an ideal way to be “part of the conversation”.    I want to be part of the conversation, but how do I do it? I have made social media part of my daily tasks. With tools like tweetdeck, pluggio, foursquare,  hootsuite on my iphone, and a simple Kodak Zi8 video camera, I can create videos and keep others informed on where I am,  what I’m doing, and to chat with others. I have made social media an integral part of my daily routine. I imagine social media is just like a huge party. You can’t chat with everyone all at the same time, but you can jump in here and there and add to the conversion at a moments notice. Twitter fits that bill perfectly. I have over 28,000 followers and very few are online at any given time, but I can jump into any conversation, add my 2 cents and then just keep on going. I make sure to reply to comments of tidbits that hit my timeline and DM’s. I keep my tech following up to speed on the latest happenings along the way and it just works for me.

Like Lisa Cruz said, there isn’t moderation in all things… but I need mrstommytrc to know she’s #1. I try to work my social media efforts around her and the family. It is important to be considerate of sacred dinner times and weekly date night. I know this may not always happen as planned.  I know that every so often I need a reality check, but I try. I try hard to keep things in check. My family is very tolerant of me and my social media habits… it’s a balancing act I’ll always be working on to be better- for my followers and for my family.

Today I had one of those experiences that you always dream about but rarely get to be a part of. I met the most amazing twitter gal. Rewind a few months ago. @lisaredshoespr and @jessdennis were at SXSW and tweeted about meeting @cathybrowne. The talked about what a doll she was… When I tweeted that I would be coming to Vancouver for business, she immediately tweeted back that she wanted to meet me. Of course Lisa & Jess said that I MUST meet her, so the bar was set high.

Cathy traveled half hour to my hotel to meet me, what a sacrifice. Its hard to put into the words how great the 60 minutes I spent with her. I’m really not sure what it is or why I feel this way, but I’m so humbled being able to meet her. What an inspiration to have chatted and traded social media war stories. This is exactly what social media is all about and taking engagement to the highest level. THANK YOU @cathybrowne for leaving a mark on my Vancouver trip and a mark on my life. You Rock!