It is probably a phrase that you have heard dozens if not hundreds of times over the course of the past few months. Hell you have probably uttered it to people you’ve met as well.

Question is, do you really think about what your story is?

You don’t have to answer that now.

But knowing your story and why others should care is something that everyone participating in social media, blogging or managing a brand’s social presence or community should do.

The social media space continues to fill with more and more clutter each day. You don’t have to be a scientist to know that standing out and gaining valuable mind or eyeball share becomes more difficult each day.

So instead of relying on gimmicks and industry statistics, take a step back, and look at what you are doing.

Individually

• What makes you stand out?
• What perspective are you bringing to the table?
• What value does your story have to the audience?
• Why should they come back?

For a company

• What do your customers or stakeholders care about?
• What content do you offer them?
• Why should they come back to your website or community?
• Why should the relationship continue after the purchase?

While I could go on with things to think about I won’t. There is no need to get preachy because this is something we all know deep down.

In the past 240 words I have talked about stories and why people should care more but have yet to tell you my story and why you should give two craps about what I have to say, so here goes.

I’m a thirty-something husband father, who worked in sports PR before moving over to do the same thing for Vistaprint, a company that provides marketing materials and solutions to small businesses. I moved over to social media at Vistaprint after getting Stephen Baker’s Beyond Blogs BusinessWeek thrown at me in a team meeting. I started this blog to talk the things I geek out about and draw from life experiences.

So if you’ve read this far; thanks, I appreciate you for checking out this site.

Now to the real question: What is YOUR story?

Image - prettybooks

This is an old video, but Jimmy Kimmel did a great bit for Twitter’s birthday showcasing celebrities reading some of the awful Tweets that they received from their fans… interesting and a good smile generator.

Over the past year or so, I have done a lot of planning that has involved organizing ideas from my head to a more permanent place. In the digital age that we live in, one would probably think that this place was on a computer, tablet or platform like Evernote. While all of those tools have their merits, they just aren’t for me.

I prefer the trusty staple of pen and paper.

While it may seem antiquated, paper allows me to dump ideas from my brain and into some sort of flow. It also allows me to be messy when linking ideas together. Sure it may seem archaic, but for me it just works. For planning, it just can’t be beat and lets me transition to a digital format in a more efficient manner.

The same holds true for my “to do” lists and daily tasks. A list that needs to be scratched off just seems more daunting and requires action or TLC than say an Outlook reminder that I can easily hit snooze on.

Call me nostalgic, fool-headed, out-dated or stupid but hey paper just works for me. How do you stay organized?

In a little over a week thousands of techies, hipsters and marketing folks will arrive in Austin, Texas for the interactive marketing portion of the 26th Annual South by Southwest Conference for five days of sessions, keynotes, events, networking opportunities and parties. Over those five days there will be a plethora of trends, Tweets and predictions of the next “it” thing in the digital marketing space. The event is something that I am looking forward to and hope to meet some of you at in my second trip to the conference.

Instead of saying what sessions to attend or parties to hit up, I wanted to offer five tips that I picked up while having my Austin cherry popped (as this badge from foursquare points out ) a year ago.

Have a schedule…but prepare for it to change – If you’ve logged onto the SXSW homepage and looked at the schedule you’ll see that there is a lot going on. Take an hour or so to look through the list of panels and decide what ones you would like to attend. Then do the same things with the parties that you have already signed up for.  Repeat for any vendors that you plan to meet. Once that’s done put it into a sheet that you can work off of. All of these activities will happen in different areas in the city so each day select something from your schedule as must do and work around that. Also be ready for the unexpected to happen like a lunch meeting or unconference that pops up that will throw off your routine.

Pack comfy shoes – A pair of shoes that are comfortable and made for walking are the most important thing that you can pack for SXSW. You’ll be doing a shit-ton of walking and the last thing you want is aching feet.

A-B-C… always be charging – As you probably know smartphone batteries like to die quickly. Chances are you’ll be using services like foursquare, Twitter, Facebook or Path to be keeping in touch with folks and share some of your knowledge. To make sure that your phone is ready to use when you want it, be sure to keep an eye on the battery meter and an eye out for open outlets wherever you are. Since there will be a ton of folks looking for the same thing you might want to consider packing a small multi-outlet strip (Amazon Affiliate link). My friend Doug Haslam likes to call them instant friend makers and you can see why.

Remember why you are there – if you are attending the conference, there is a really good chance that you were sent by your company. So you probably have goals that your boss has in mind. Since you are there for business in some way shape or form, be sure to keep your goals top of mind. Also remember who you’re representing when chatting with folks at the parties.

Connections are more important than being seen – A lot is made at SXSW about the parties and who is where at what time. Now I love parties as much as the next guy but found more value in having more intimate conversations and get togethers. Not only was it easier on my vocal chords (no yelling needed), but it also helped spark better conversation and led to longer-lasting relationships. Now don’t get me wrong, the parties are worth going to, but take them in moderation.

Explore – the city of Austin is beautiful and has a lot of hidden gems. Many of the hotspots will have long lines to get in or are over-crowded. Take a step off the beaten path and you’re sure to find a place that you’ll fall in love with that wouldn’t have experienced staying on the set map of SXSW approved map.

Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.

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Perception is reality no matter how odd it may be. Thanks to Daniel Agee for sharing this video with me a whiles back.

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Thank you to everyone who contributed to my 2011 Movember campaign. I cannot thank you enough, neither can my ‘Stache.

It is that time of year again, you know, the one where grown men grow the elusive mustachio in an effort to raise awareness and fight mens’ cancers. What is this awesomeness you ask? One word, Movember.

For the second year in a row, I will be donating my follicaly challenged upper lip to help fight testicular and prostate cancer along with my MoBros on Team Boston, I am also being joined by the Mustache Kid (AKA Baby Espo). Each day, I’ll take a picture on my MoPage where you can track my progress or mock my foolishness.

To help make the event more fun in my fundraising I am selling the following items for the charity:

• $50 naming rights to the mustache
• $75 naming rights for the Mustache Kid’s pacifier (thanks Rebecca Denison for sending it to me)
• $100 pick the mustache style I grow for the month

Now each week I will be making an update video and the names will be referenced. Just think of t as a running gag joke that pops up each week. In all honesty I understand that times are tough and would truly appreciate any donation that you can afford from $0.25 to $100, as all the money goes to a great cause (did I also mention that I will be making an ass of myself?).

So I know you are asking youself how you can get involved, well for that, please click the giant CLICK ME link below or the Movember icon to the left.

CLICK ME TO DONATE!

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

The Grass will always be greener.

So why fight it?

Why not take a minute soak it all in and appreciate what you have?

Chances are it will be more fulfilling than spending your time pining over what MAY be out there.

Within a two week span this summer, Boston was honored by GQ Magazine as being first in “The 40 Worst-Dressed Cities in America” and by two Michigan psychiatrists as “The Least Friendly City” in the country. So, what’s up Boston? And, is it causal?

Let me start by saying that having excellent sports teams is one of the greatest things about Boston. The downside is that a large swath of the male population does not seem to comprehend that what one wears to see the Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots (hats, tee-shirts with stains, shorts, and sneakers with white socks) is not acceptable couture for other occasions. As GQ humorously summarized, Boston is a “Jurassic Park for fashion troglodytes.”

But what about the “least friendly” designation? Mayor Menino, for one, disagrees: “I go to all the events in the city of Boston. People say, ‘gee what a friendly city.’ Ask the cab drivers. They think we have a friendly city also. I don’t know who did this poll. I never heard of it. It’s one of those polls that some people I don’t think there’s
any credibility in it at all.”

Others agreed with the mayor, including Ayla Rosen, a Merchandising Major at Marist College and summer intern at Bostinnovation. In her blog post
Last Week it was Worst Dressed, Now Boston Ranked the Least Friendly City in America, she notes: “Just like the lovely people at GQ, the people filling out the survey might just be jealous that they do not live in Boston. If they think people from Boston they should think about getting out more and perhaps paying a visit to GQ in New York to learn about what it means to be unfriendly.”

Still others mentioned the history of discrimination in Boston as a cause for the “Least Friendly” accommodation.

Having grown up in Westchester NY, and having lived here for more than 30 years, I understand the perception that Boston is unfriendly. The truth is that Boston is both tribal (I think this sums it up much more accurately then ‘discriminatory’ does) and much more conservative and cautious then NYC. It can take years to meet your neighbors, but, once you do – they’ve got your back. And, if you’ve ever driven in Boston, you’ll know that Boston drivers don’t give you the warm and fuzzies.

So – can being the ‘worst dressed’ city actually result in Boston being the ‘least friendly’ too? Perhaps. As I identified in my 5th grade paper on what kind of mother I wanted to be “Looking nice helps because people are more likely to be attracted to nice, neat looking people. Then if you have a nice personality, they will like you. They probably wouldn’t have found out if you didn’t look nice.”

There you go Boston, words of wisdom from an 11 year old New Yorker. And Boston, as badly dressed and unfriendly as you may be, you’re still my home, and the rest of you are just plain jealous!

Anne Weiskopf lives in the Boston area, and has spent many years in the tech media and B2B market. She provides sales and business development services to agencies and companies who are utilizing social media strategies and tools, and will be launching a blog called “Rip Off The Roof” in the near future.
You can find her on Twitter @AnneWeiskopf 

Image - freefotouk

What do you think?

Sesame Street breaks it down from Wonderful Creative on Vimeo.

Thank you to the awesome Bob LeDrew for passing this along,

If you can’t view the video, please click here.

Be safe and have a great day.

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This video takes a look at what the Exodus would have looked like in a Web 2.0 world.

Before you roll your eyes and say sheesh another list post or grumble at adding more real estate and clutter to your RSS reader, take a step back and answer these questions.

1. How many blogs are in your reader?
2. How many of them make you think daily? Note I am not talking the thinking involved with reading.

I am going to guess that the answer to question one is a lot and number two is not too many. This is mainly because a lot of ideas get rehashed and let’s face it with the information overload with number one, you just miss things.

So with that said, take a look at the five blogs below (in no particular order), subscribe to them via email (so they don’t get lost in the shuffle) and see if you find something that stimulates your medulla oblongata.

Personal Cartography - For some reason, I just stumbled on Tamsen McMahon‘s blog after chatting with her for years on Twitter and reading her on Brass Tack Thinking. Her posts are unrelated to most things I read daily, but they are a good swift kick in the pants to get me going.

In Over your Head – You may know Julien Smith as the co-author of Trust Agents, but what you might not know is that he is the author of a kick ass blog. I don’t think I’ve read a post where I can either say that he mailed it in or that I was left without an opinion. The Canadian blogger comes out with piece after piece of mind crack that have you coming back for more.

Geoff Livingston’s Personal Blog – Did you ever have that friend who was never afraid to speak his mind? Well in my online circle, Geoff Livingston is that guy. Now there is a different in speaking opinions and being rude, so I would also suggest checking out how Geoff handles himself with both his opinions, disagreeing commenters and pundits.

{GROW} Blog – This blog from Mark Schaefer is a perfect mix of general social media chatter, business development and personal insight. He is also one of the genuinely nice and helpful folks that I have had the pleasure of meeting on the interwebs.

Danny Brown - Danny Brown is the second Canadian on the list. He blogs on things that touch him on an emotional level and also things that touch on the social industry at large. Danny is also a great conversationalist that extends the shelf life of every post within the comments.

Bonus Blog – Digital Dads – I started checking out this blog/online show when Mrs. Espo found out that we were going to have a baby. I was instantly hooked, but after superstitions, shied away until the baby was born. Well I am happy to say that I am back on the horse and strongly recommend it to any dad or dad in training.

Are you a subscriber to any of these blogs?

Also what are your top blogs that I should be checking out? Please leave them in the comments below.

I also implore you to check out these blogs and let me know what you think at the end of a week.

Image – Student Branding