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Backstory–

Sure you can vet me at LinkedIn.  But I’m betting your here because you want to know what I bring to the table in ideas, know-how and savvy.  If you have a minute, pull up a chair, relax and let me tell you a little about myself.

Recognize these oldies?  Digg, StumbleUpon, Plurk, Jaiku, MySpace, FriendFeed, Delicious, RSS.

I know about and have tried all of these platforms because I live, breath and, yes, obsess about social media.  It might be exhausting at times to stay on the bleeding edge of the information explosion, but I love it. I love bringing creative ideas to my client. I love learning new technology. (Yes, I’m even teaching myself html.)  I love discovering the next thing. I love meeting new people in the social media space.

Why this is good for your organization?  I’ve been doing this day and night, seven days a week for more than 4 years now.   (Twitter’s only been around for 5).  And before that I served in the trenches in a large corporate marketing department and in nonprofit public relations.

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell proposed the 10,000 Hour Rule — competency and success are honed in 10,000 hours of practice.  If that’s the case I’ve surely surpassed that hourly goal.  What have 14,000+ Tweets, 3 years of consecutive weekly blog posts, countless blog comments and facebook likes, 15 years of marketing experience and hours of surfing (er, exploring) and experimenting taught me?

  • Failure is part of social media success.
  • The next “big” thing may not be your thing.
  • What was an effective campaign last quarter, may not work in the next.
  • Start small and build relationships instead of followers.
  • Figure out who and where audience is before you start talking to them.
  • Maximize the exposure and value you get for the content with strategic repackaging.
  • Content may be king, but ideas are what get you noticed.
  • Sure 20 somethings grew up with computers, but 80 year olds write blogs and are on Facebook too. Age does not make an expert.  Experience does.
  • Social media isn’t a one-person job; it’s a group effort.
  • And yes, Peter Shankman, social media is just another facet of your marketing and customer service functions.

Other notable facts:

  • I have maintain Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) since 1991.  APR is as awarded by the Public Relations Society of America to professionals who have demonstrated competency in the knowledge, skills and abilities required to practice public relations in today’s business arena.
  • I received a Masters in Social Work from University of Washington with a focus towards management and organization.
  • Leadership Tomorrow, Class of 1993.

Directory–

Hope I left you wanting to know more.  Here are a few other places to connect with me on-line. I hope you’ll quickly see why I am a cut above the average social media marketer.

Unexpected–Point of view

Twitter –In 2007 few had heard of Twitter, but I was already on it.  In the beginning I used it to practice crafting attention-grabbing headlines for my ADHD blog.  I now find it an invaluable tool — a source of bleeding edge information, a place to meet people and build real-world relationships and a community-building tool for my clients.

Connected–Avid social media user for business and fun

LinkedIn –If you’d like to know more about how to market your business through LinkedIn, just ask, and I’ll send you a free checklist to get you started.

About.me — A site where creative people post their vanity profiles.

BizNik — A small business and professional networking site. I am open to all invites.

Facebook – Do you have a custom facebook landing page?  Should you use a Facebook badge?  Do you need a “like” button on your webpage?  I can show you best practices of Facebook marketing.  And which gizmos to not waste your time on.  Please “like Provient Marketing” on Facebook and I’ll share with you the best marketing ideas, tools and innovations I come across.

EmpireAvenue — where Farmville meets Wall Street and real world business relationships are forming. e(FREERANGEMOM)

Contributing–Giving back on causes that matter

http://www.developmentalweb.com — My labor-of-love Web site where I’ve compiled over 140 special education resources for Seattle area children with learning disabilities and delays in development.

FreeRangeMom–Trusted social media presence

Everybody should have an alter-ego!  FreeRangeMom is a personal brand I created back in the days I was knee-deep in diapers and formula and the only way I got out of the house was through the Internet!  Search FreeRangeMom and you’ll find me exploring sites and marketing tools all over the web.

Creative–

I’m an avid photographer, quilter and creative writer.  If you like the photos of mine on this site, you can see more in my Flickr Photostream. My Tumblr blog is a collection of visual imagry that inspires my art.