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Aaron Strout

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Experts in the Industry: Jim Storer (29 of 45)

February 24, 2009 By Aaron Strout 12 Comments

Ahhhh, Jim Storer. So many things I could say — all are good but some are not fit for print. The reason I know this is that Jim — someone I worked with for three years at Shared Insights/Mzinga — is one of my closest friends in the socialsphere, and in life in general. While at Mzinga, Jim (Twitter handle) was the sr. director of social media. He is now one of the most valuable free agents on the street (think Manny Ramirez but without the attitude or the $25 million/year salary). Did you hear that potential employers?

There are three things I will tell you about Jim (he’ll appreciate the irony of my making it “three”):
  • He is one of the most savvy community people out there having spent several years managing numerous communities both big and small.
  • Jim is every bit the sports nut that I am — and in fact is one of the most regular commenters and contributors on our group sports blog, Big Papelbon.
  • Up until four months ago, Jim was the guy that I turned to to vett most of my big ideas. Oh yeah, he also was a GREAT partner in our podcasting efforts. Two particular instances stand out — one at SXSW last year where we did 15 or 16 podcasts in one night (part 1, part 2, part 3) AND a tour de force at last years Community 2.0 event where we interviewed the likes of Charlene Li (in a limo), Tony Hsieh of Zappos and David Weinberger, co-author of Clue Train Manifesto.
I could go on forever but I won’t. Here’s how Jim answered the five questions from the Experts in the Industry series:
In one sentence, please describe what you do and why you’re good at it.
I help companies build better relationships with their customer and employees, often through the use of social technologies. I’ve been at it for a while (see below), have tried almost everything and have a pretty good sense of what does and doesn’t work. 
 
How did you get into the world of online community, social media or social marketing?
In the 1990’s I worked for a trade show company and we found some of best customer relationships were started/developed by participating in newsgroups. Around the turn of the century (I just love saying that), we decided to launch a series of communities to support the technology topics we covered with our events. We didn’t always know what we were doing, but we learned a lot and developed some very strong 
customer relationships that helped the company weather the tough times in the early 2000’s. 
 

If you had $10 million to invest in one company and one company only based on their use of “social,” which company would it be and why?
I thought about this for a while and really can’t justify giving it to anyone but Zappos. There are a lot of companies that talk social media and some walk social media in certain segments of their business, but very few companies live it to the core. Zappos is one of them. Tony Hsieh is both a 
very smart businessman and social leader rolled into one. He and the Zappos team are building something special and I’d love to support their vision. 
 
Which business leader, politician or public figure do you most respect?
Ok, I’ll spread the wealth and won’t pick Tony again. I’ll go with Jack Welch. He may be seen as an old school businessman, but he always been pushing the envelope of business practices. Just the other night I caught a video of him discussing how businesses need re-invent how they think about human resources. He’s simply an amazing man… and it doesn’t hurt that he’s a UMass/Amherst alum. 😉
Would you join a toothpaste community? Why?
Community? Probably not, but it really depends on what the sponsoring company decides to do with it. I’m not sure there’s enough in it for me to join a toothpaste community. If they wrote a blog with tips on getting kids to brush and floss every night and gave me coupons to save money on brushes and toothpaste I *might* subscribe. If they started following me on Twitter, I *might* follow them back. I’d love to see them humanize the company, but I probably won’t engage around a product. Check out Rachel Happe’s excellent post on the difference between community and social media for more on this topic. 
 
Freeform – here’s where you can riff on anyone or anything – good or bad. Or just share a pearl of wisdom.
I get the sense that companies spend a lot of time thinking about getting into social media, often over-evaluate the options (and there are a LOT of them). It’s not expensive (often free) to dip your toe in the water and start listening to what’s being said about you and your brands. Most social media “gurus” would advocate this approach. My advice? Just get started.

Experts in the Industry: Warren Sukernek (24 of 45)

February 19, 2009 By Aaron Strout Leave a Comment

In the world of social media, I have friends and then I have “Friends.” Warren Sukernek – Director of Content Marketing, Radian6, falls into that second camp in a big way. I can’t remember how we first connected but it was on Twitter early last spring. Since then, we’ve chatted regularly via e-mail, direct message, phone and in person at one of Mzinga’s semi-famous BBQs last summer (picture below). Oh yeah, he’s also a contributor to our group Red Sox blog which makes for a good time during the season.
But enough about us… let’s get onto the questions:
In one sentence, please describe what you do and why you’re good at it.
I’m an online marketer, focused on establishing relationships with customers that are measurable and achieve results. Because the response is measureable, the results tell me when I’m good or sometimes, not. Hopefully, more often, they are good.
How did you get into the world of online community, social media or social marketing?
 I got into social media because I found it a very effective way to meet, network and learn from  business leaders, authors, and people with common interests beyond borders.
If you had $10 million to invest in one company and one company only based on their use of “social,” which company would it be and why?
It would have to be Twitter.  The growth has been phenomenal, even without a public business plan.  There is still a lot of upside as few companies have yet to capitalize on its ability to listen to customers, engage, and meet their needs.  Probably no surprise since no only am I a big user and fan, but I also write the Twittermaven blog. 
Which business leader, politician or public figure do you most respect?
 Obviously, the popular choice is President Obama.  But Warren Buffett is a business leader that is pretty inspiring. Sustainable longterm success and always having the conviction to do the right thing, even if it is against conventional wisdom.
Would you join a toothpaste community? Why?
As we discussed on that excellent blog post you wrote a few months ago, we don’t have passion for many commodities like toothpaste, ball bearings, or drain cleaner.  However, there is a lot of passion for how the products make us feel or what they do for us. So for a community focused on laughter and smiles sponsored by a toothpaste company, I’m in.
Freeform – here’s where you can riff on anyone or anything – good or bad. Or just share a pearl of wisdom.
I get to write on Aaron Strout’s blog on any topic I want? Then you know it’s got to be about sports and the Red Sox.  I can’t believe that pitchers and catchers are reporting in just a few weeks! That makes up for another dismal year from the same old Jets.  Anyway, the Sox seem to be well-constructed this year. Even with weak catching, I am convinced that we will beat the Yankees and Rays to win the World Series in 2009.  And in social media fantasy baseball, I am going to avenge my loss to Jaffe last year and crush him.

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