When I think about relationships with people that have been in my life for many years, I can clearly remember how or where we met and the values that brought us together to form our friendship. It wasn’t up until a few years ago with the uprising of Social Media that those relationships and what they were based on changed significantly.
In 2010, I attended my first Social Media conference in order to enhance my own education on how to better market myself and my business. I quickly launched myself into the social world with confidence and began tweeting up a storm. Following the conference, l also made a list of some big names in the social media world that I wanted to start following on Twitter. One person in particular was a gentleman by the name of Ted Rubin - coined as The Most Followed CMO on Twitter. With my newfound social confidence, I connected with Ted on Twitter. When he wrote me back immediately, I almost fell off my chair. Not only did he write me back, but it was a personal message directly to me. (#wth) And to top it off, Ted followed me back. Not just me, but also my business. Ted began commenting on my tweets, my Facebook posts and liking things as well. People that followed Ted, started to follow me and I started to follow them. I was quickly getting the hang of my new ‘social’ life.
I then ventured into the world of tweeting about my favorite brands. I tweeted to JetBlue one day while onboard one of their flights with a picture of the tail of my plane and the sun coming up behind it - 'Gorgeous day for flying @Jetblue'. JetBlue wrote me back on twitter… "Beautiful, Safe trip Hayley'. I was shocked. A few weeks later, I tweeted to @Target about how excited i was to go and see a collaboration they were doing with @NeimanMarcus. Not only did Target write me back, they sent me a $25 gift card to spend on my day of shopping. Beyond Cool!!! I loved that my favorite brands were all of a sudden talking to me directly as opposed to indirectly. Being social had always come naturally to me and being social online, was my new favorite thing.
Social media has changed the way we live and the world we now live in. It’s changed our relationships and the way we relate. When we speak to people, we no longer need to look them in the eye because social media has given us a confidence we may not normally have had. Social media gives us CHUTZPAH, me especially.
I took a chance a few days ago while brainstorming a topic of my next event. I reached out to my social friend Ted Rubin and asked him if he would come and speak at my next event. With some negotiation and a little charm, I persuaded Ted to come to Port Washington on July 22nd and meet my amazing group of women.
With his second book now in stores, ‘How to Look People in the Eye Digitally’, Ted will be speaking about the communication skills we all have but may have forgotten in our new digital world. He will talk about new ways to stay connected in an authentic and human way. As a busy, socially connected executive and single dad, Ted has some great anecdotes to share when it comes to building relationships online and how to nurture them to grow and prosper both online and off.
For tickets to the July event, please click here.
About Ted Rubin:
Ted Rubin is a leading Social Marketing Strategist, Keynote Speaker, Brand Evangelist, and Acting CMO of Brand Innovators. He is the most followed CMO on Twitter according to SocialMedia Marketing Magazine; one of the most interesting CMOs on Twitter according to SayMedia, #13 on Forbes Top 50 SocialMedia Power Influencers, and number #2 on Leadtail's Top 25 People Most Mentioned by digital marketers.
In the words of CollectiveBias Founder John Andrews... "Ted, you were the vision, heartbeat and soul of Collective Bias, thank you for building a great company. From innovations like cb.Socially to the amazing relationships you built with the blogger community, clients and employees, you drove the epic growth.
ROR, #RonR, is the basis of his philosophy… It’s All About Relationships! His book, Return on Relationship was released January 29, 2013. His new book, How To Look People in the Eye Digitally, was just released. Connect with Ted..http://TedRubin.com or @TedRubin.