Category Archives: Social Media

Stand Up Paddle Lessons for Social Media Marketers

Stand Up Paddle Social Media

Stand Up Paddle Surfing or SUP is a water-sport where a person stands on an oversized surfboard and while balancing on it, uses one paddle to propel themselves forward. The more you paddle the more you can control the board and the steadier you will become. Stand Up Paddle originated in Hawaii as a way for surfers to paddle long distances but more recently surfing legend, Laird Hamilton reintroduced it as a sport. SUP has grown in popularity because it’s emerged as a gentle yet physical form of exercise for all skills levels and has expanded from coastal areas to inland rivers and lakes.  But how does this relate to social media?

After a recent trip to Hawaii, I have found several correlations between SUP and social media. Here are three social media lessons that can be learned from Stand Up Paddle:

  • Engage with your audience – Stand Up Paddling is a social sport. Many paddlers go with others when spending time on the open water. I’ve had many “board meeting” discussions while paddling along a river or shoreline. In social media, make connections by asking your audience questions, providing status updates and engage others by being interesting, insightful and personable.
  • Hang out with your customers – Many SUP events have sprung up more than ever. There are full moon paddle events where a group of paddlers travel along a bay or river and spend time experiencing a fun event during the evening hours while meeting others who also enjoy the sport. In social media, start a community on Facebook, hangout on Google+, group on LinkedIn or develop a specific hashtag feed on Twitter for your business. By having a dedicated place for your customers to hang out with you and others with a shared interest then the conversations you have with them will become more meaningful.
  • Build your audience – The SUP community enjoys sharing information about the sport by encouraging others to try SUP which in turn grows the number of people who love to Stand Up Paddle. In social media, you need to constantly add new connections. Share and write interesting content to give others a purpose to connect with you. Follow others that are similar to you on Twitter and circle them on Google+. Replicate your offline network by adding your colleagues to your social networks as well.

If you’re planning to visit Hawaii and would like to try Stand Up Paddling, there are two locations in Oahu that I recommend for SUP lessons. In the North Shore area visit Surf N Sea in Haleiwa and in the Honolulu area visit Hawaiian Surf Adventures at Maunalua Bay.

What other ways can you apply these SUP lessons in your social media marketing?

Image source (lower part of image): catchsomeair.us

Cynthia Gedemer is a Digital Marketing Strategist and Business Coach with over 15 years of experience in growing revenue with innovative marketing programs for Financial Services, Insurance, Retail, Telecommunications, and Healthcare industries. Cynthia is also a contemporary artist and enjoys hiking and of course Stand Up Paddle Surfing. Connect with Cynthia on Google+, Facebook and Twitter

Social Media and Mobile Marketing Lessons from the Olympics

Olympics social media mobile marketing

What your business can leverage from the Olympics?

It’s been a few days since the 30th Olympiad had a fantastic closing ceremony in London. It was exciting to see the Fierce Five, Gabby Douglas, Michael Phelps, Misty May Treanor, Kerri Lee Walsh and many others win gold medals and accomplish new records. While many of the athletes are starting new chapters, there are many lessons and takeaways that made these Olympics games different from any other. One of the biggest differences at these games was the engagement of fans using social media. When the last Olympics were held, Facebook and Twitter were fairly new. Today there are over 900 million Facebook and 500 million Twitter active users. Over fifty percent of those on Facebook are global users.

Social Media and Mobile Marketing gets a Gold Medal for Engagement

There were many social media and mobile marketing lessons that I’ve seen during the Olympics, here are a few standouts:

  • Leverage Hashtags– I sent several tweets during the games to congratulate the winners using the hashtag #olympics. Twitter had more than 150 million tweets sent during the 2 weeks of the games. They featured several commercials highlighting key events that were very effective to drive engagement online. Businesses can use hashtags during conferences, webinars and other events to bring more awareness and encourage engagement among attendees and their followers.
  • Status Updates – If you were sharing updates on Twitter and Facebook, consider integrating both applications. Since posting manually on Facebook and including a photo gives you more credibility in the rankings on your fans news feed this can save you time by posting on Facebook and the status will also appear in Twitter. To integrate, go to your Facebook page and click the Edit Page button. Then select the Resources options from the left hand menu and choose Link your Page to Twitter. Follow the rest of the prompts and you’ll be all set.
  • Mobile Apps and Usage –The BBC had reported 12 million viewers watched the Olympics via mobile phones and tablets. Also the Gartner Group predicts that in 2013 the number one way people will access the Internet is through a mobile device. With the large audience activity, it’s no surprise that companies were utilizing mobile marketing, including Coca-Cola which introduced the Move to the Beat app that let users remix the Olympics song ‘Anywhere in the World’ and used rhythms from athletes. If you’re looking to create an app for your business two plug and play options include Mobile Roadie which you can create apps for smartphones and tablets or for no coding required and to build your app for free AppMakr is another good choice.

While we have to wait until 2014 for the next Olympics, many of the social media and mobile marketing lessons from the London Olympics can be leveraged today. What other social media and mobile marketing lessons have you’ve seen from the Olympics?

Cynthia Gedemer is a Digital Marketing Strategist and Business Coach with over 15 years of experience in growing revenue with innovative marketing programs for Financial Services, Insurance, Retail, Telecommunications, and Healthcare industries.