Sleepless in Seattle- Literally.

Normally, I like to talk about things in chronological order. I keep a list of everything I've done, and then blog about it, in chunks of weeks at a time. Tonight, that is not an option. All my notes are on some plane right now, heading toward Chicago. I'm not going there. I'm going to Denver. My bags will make it to Pittsburgh eventually I guess. They better. My brand new Magic Bullet is in there. So is all the rest of my personal belongings.

I have had the worst experience with United Airlines. Three weeks ago, I changed my flight from Tuesday the 27th to Friday the 23rd. It took a long time and $150, but I did it.

Then today, I went to do my e-check in, only to find that there was no sort of confirmation on my ticket. So I had another phone call, this one 40 minutes long, to solve the problem. Apparently the gentleman from 3 weeks ago never processed my credit card transaction, or updated the online itinerary.

So I got my two bags checked and my boarding pass printed. The plan is to go from Seattle to Chicago to Pittsburgh.

Then I get to SeaTac, and my flight is delayed an hour and a half. Just enough to miss my connecting flight to Pittsburgh by 15 minutes.

The first guy I talk to, he is really unhelpful. I almost feel like he's laughing at my misfortune. He informs me that I will have a confirmed seat on a flight leaving Chicago at 5 pm tomorrow. This means no getting to Pittsburgh until about 9 pm tomorrow night. This means a 7 hour trip is turning into a 24 hour affair.

I accepted this sad fate and sat down. I talked to a lady with an adorable Yorkie for about two hours. She is a retired school teacher, and specializes in kids with autism. I believe I was supposed to meet her tonight. I also have a passion for dogs and autism awareness. She has a house on the Oregon coast, and she is headed to St. Louis to visit her mother. She lives in Ohio these days. She was nice as could be. So talkative and positive. Glad to have met her.

I decided to give another, nicer seeming man a try. This guy was able to get me to Pittsburgh by 3 pm tomorrow. The only downside is I'm stuck at SeaTac until 530 AM. Then I will head to Denver, and on to Pittsburgh from there.

The second man was very helpful. He even gave me $150 to use toward a future United flight. I am very unsure of whether I will ever fly with them again. I probably won't TRY to, but if it happens to be convenient, I suppose it will come in handy.

I wish this could have gone more smoothly. All I have wanted for weeks and weeks is to be with my family, friends, and my man! I was looking forward to a fun Saturday with a big lunch with my family at my grandma's or something. But I guess we'll have to move it to dinner.

Three Awesome Days.

The week of June 21st was a fun and busy week for me! Monday, the 21st started out as a long day, jam-packed with activity.

I began the day with training on a new social marketing platform. The conference was a memorable experience- four of us, our four Macs, crammed into one office, using one desk, with an iPhone on speaker as the means of communication between us and the representative. Very cozy. During the training, we noticed a few things that the platform would NOT help us do. The cool thing is, though, that the developers of the program are so willing to please their customers, that they actually asked what we wanted their program to be able to do.... and told the programmers to work on it! Now THAT'S customer service. I wish I could just call up the companies I like and directly influence their product. Social Media is making it easier to do that kind of thing, but this was a really spectacular example.

After the meeting, my boss met with me briefly. He asked what my thoughts were on "continuing the internship after" I "leave Seattle." I felt my eyes open widely and my jaw drop a bit, and accepted that offer promptly. Of course, I am VERY interested in any way I can continue work related to my field. The time I've spent at Nology has made me a better writer- (Check out a writing sample here)- more concise and a bit more professional sounding. I certainly don't sound professional here- this is my personal blog, and I am a very down-to-earth, easy going gal. But I am excited to continue the internship even after I leave, as it will improve my writing skills- skills that can NEVER be perfected.

The rest of my day included Twitter engagement for an account I mainly manage, compiling a list of contacts using software that provides a database of journalists in uncountable publication, and started forming Twitter lists for a new client/project.

My day didn't quit being educational after work... No. I hopped in a car with two girls from work and headed to Issaquah to hear Chris Pirillo give a presentation on social media use for small businesses. Even though it was an introductory course and I already understood social media's value, it was wonderful to hear someone as knowledgeable as him talk about it! The event was hosted by SMC Seattle. Chris' main highlights included the fact that social media is used to grow and learn communities, and is a fantastic way to connect with potential customers.

Quotes I liked:

"The worst question is a question unasked."

"You WANT people to steal your stuff." (as in, your stuff is so good, it's going to go viral.)

-Chris Pirillo.

After this informational seminar, Cindy and the girls picked me up and we went to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate the twins' 17th birthdays! I know its gluttonous... but I LOVE the Cheesecake Factory. Mmm.

Tuesday of this week (June 22nd) was one of the best days I've had out here, hands down.

We started the day off with our weekly staff meeting, which I always enjoy. It's nice to have everyone in the same room and get on the same page. On this day, one thing that was discussed that really interested me was the need to show our clients how "we pay for ourselves". The need to prove your worth in numbers, and therefore in dollars and cents, is extremely important, and Nology has risen to that challenge. Overall, I would say our clients seem extremely impressed and pleased with our reporting, and things are going well. But listening to everyone talk about how we could make ourselves stronger & even more credible was enlightening.

Later that day, I met with my boss, Leigh, to discuss my progress as an intern. I hadn't felt I was getting much feedback. I am treated more like an employee than an intern (which I like very much, but) sometimes I'm not sure if I'm on the right track and I need guidance. I was a bit nervous before my meeting, as I was not sure what to expect.

The meeting couldn't have gone better! Leigh's feedback was very positive, and we again discussed continued employment for when I return home. I was so flattered and felt relieved to know that the crew at Nology felt like I was a contributing member. When I asked Leigh how I could improve, he gave me two bits of advice that I would like to pass on to everybody, especially those wishing to get an internship or are just embarking on their first job:

1. NEVER stop learning. BE CURIOUS! Read as much as you can. Even silly stuff. You never know when it will be useful in some way.

2. Focus is everything.

I have little trouble with advice #1... I'm a nosy, inquisitive, curious kid. I'm never satisfied. I always have to know more. #2.... I need to work on still. But I'm not doing too poorly.

The next day was an exciting day, but the excitement came AFTER interning. I met with Rod at the Purple Cafe and we met Jen Gehrt & Colleen Moffitt, co-founders of Communique PR, the other company I interviewed with for a summer internship. I was so thankful to meet them. They are two of the sharpest women I've ever met and I really look up to them and what they've done. It was nice to introduce myself in person, and awesome to get to know them better.

After snacking at Purple, Rod took me to a place called Consumer Opinion Services. AKA, a focus group for his company, PEMCO Insurance. I sat on the hidden side of a 2 way mirror and watched a group of 25-30 people answer questions about insurance policies- they were polled on whether or not they liked the idea of the various policies. PEMCO currently offers NONE of the policies, and the focus group was to obtain sentiment on the various services PEMCO may want to offer. None of the participants had PEMCO as their provider. 10 of them were asked to stay after the questionnaire and participate in a roundtable discussion. THIS was what was really neat to watch. I love watching people discuss and argue and come to a conclusion. And it's neat to know that a company is going to alter their policies a little bit all because of 30 people who took some time out of their day to participate in a discussion.

Between listening to Chris Pirillo, getting excellent feedback from my boss, meeting some people I really look up to, and listening in on marketing research, I'd have to say it was a pretty awesome three days. And educational, too. I LOVE when awesome and educational coincide. It needs to happen more often.

What Doesn't Kill You Definitely Makes You Stronger!

Yesterday, my boss encouraged me to keep writing in my blog. I knew I should have been doing this, but hearing somebody else suggest it was the extra push I needed transfer my writing to my blog. But because of some stuff I published, things turned a bit sour for me today.

I guess I got in trouble today. That's weird for me to say, because I rarely get in trouble. I'm boring. The only time I really remember getting in trouble at school was in the 1st grade when I got caught walking out of the boys bathroom. (My friend Michael was about to flush a styrofoam cup down one of the toilets, and as a seven year old I just HAD to see that!)

Anyway, of course I apologized and fixed the content immediately.

There were two problems that were brought to my attention.

1.) The main problem was that I overstepped some lines of confidentiality in a blog post. This is of course inappropriate and I changed the content of my post immediately to better respect client confidentiality. Upon accepting the internship, I signed a document staying I would honor client confidentiality. Of course. This is nothing but reasonable.

In our weekly staff meetings, we first discuss our list of current clients. Some of these clients have an (NDA) at the end of their name, meaning that we have a Non-Disclosure Agreement with them-- aka, we can't tell anyone they're our clients. The rest, we are allowed to discuss.

Today I learned there is a difference between saying "Client X is our client" to a curious passer-by and saying "Client X is our client" on a blog. I go to great lengths to follow instructions, so now that I am aware it was inappropriate, it won't happen again. Fortunately, it was quite simple to go through my post and edit the writing to address this issue.

But then there's number 2, which is longer and gets me into a tangent about something else!

2. I was asked to not blog about the tools I use in my job. I can see some reasoning to this… if my company pays good money to use an amazing program to aid in their work, that should probably be kept confidential so competitors don't buy the same product and get on our playing field.

However, I was asked not to blog about even the free tools that are helpful in my job. This, I have a huge problem with. I love social media, because it's just that- it's social. It's to be shared. I think everyone should be aware of what they have access to at their very fingertips. I think being secretive about a free, easy to use tool is dishonest and goes against the strong commitment to sharing that social media has created for many people.

These free tools shouldn't be seen as competitive advantages- they should just be seen as tools. First of all, if your competition is really any kind of competition at all, they will already know about the freebies. Secondly, AGAIN, these tools are free and available to the public, and I think that trying to profit from the fact that you can make use of them is akin to trying to profit from the fact that you are really exceptionally good at breathing in air.

However, I consented to this request as well and edited the tool names out of the post.

Next up is my tangent. I've been thinking about this in one way or another for a few weeks now, and I'm just beginning to piece the words together in a way that makes a bit of sense. This is just a simple prediction. I'm not placing any bets, I'm not trying to convince you that THIS IS HOW IT WILL BE!, and I'm not trying to get you to think the same way I think. This is just a little prediction of mine, and I will enjoy measuring it up with what happens as the industry changes.

Social Media Marketing. Right now it's hot. It's up and coming. I think a lot of the things it has to offer are here to stay for a good while in one way or another. But overall, I think the industry may be a short-lived one. (Maybe another 10-15 years.)

Right now, companies that have existed for 5, 10, 20, 50, or even 100+ years have had to ADD social media into their pre-existing marketing, PR, and communications strategies. In other words, they didn't begin their marketing strategies with the concept of social media in mind. It was a change, a shift.

In the future, the people that start businesses are going to come with some of the core values of social media planted in their heads. In other words, social media will be an element of their overall marketing plan from the get go. Also, as time goes on, more and more people will understand social media better. As more people become familiar with social media platforms and the fun (and often free) tools that compliment them, the need to hire an outside agency to do some of the simpler tasks will diminish.

Anybody can use Twitter. While I may not have thought to use Twitter as I have in my internship in my personal life, the way I have approached people and talked to them has been primarily my own. I already had experience building a brand- Me. Doing it for clients is different only in the fact that the audiences are different. And in my PR courses, I have learned to think strategically about what an audience would want or expect.

Where value will remain for Social Media Marketing will be in the listening and outreach platforms. These super deep searching databases are just far too costly for the average company to afford on their own for their in-house marketing department. But if an agency can purchase the platforms and then support 20 clients through them, the agency-client relationship will be a beneficial one.

What I hope to see pop up in the next few years are communications courses that train people in social media. (I wonder if WVU's COMM program offers anything like this!)

Not classes that explain how to use the computer programs that are beneficial in the marketing side of social media, but rather, classes that just explain how effectively communicate with people on various social media sites. I could probably teach such a class, and feel that I DO teach such a class when I'm explaining the use of Twitter to a new user. I want to explain to people:

"THIS is what you're looking for.

THIS is how you approach people.

THIS is how you get them to talk back.

THIS is how you get them to like your brand (you).

THIS is how you get them to have a full blown conversation.

THIS is how you foster a meaningful relationship.

THESE are realistic results you can expect."

You know, really general guidelines. Because none of that is very hard or complicated. Just not a lot of people care enough about it yet to play with it as much as I have.

Lessons Learned Today:

*ALWAYS double check to make sure you are not breaking any rules.

*Do the Rachel thing and ASK ASK ASK questions! I'd rather have someone be annoyed with my many questions than be annoyed that I did something incorrectly.

*An internship is equally about figuring out things you like AND things you don't like.

Today was probably one of the most important days of my internship so far. This was a great experience to have at an internship, and not a "real" job one day.

PS- I don't like the term "real job". Life is everybody's REAL JOB and everything you do matters.