Today’s Business First cover story about social media was, without a doubt, more than we could have ever imagined. Terry Boyd couldn’t make our first meeting last month. He called me the following Friday to follow up and see if anyone showed. Obviously, he was impressed with the turnout and fascinated with the subject matter that unites us all: social media.
Having worked in public relations and journalism for over 15 years now, I’ve learned that your first reaction to stories is always on the negative side, even if it shouldn’t be. You wish they had interviewed more of the people involved, that they’d offered more links to many of our companies’ websites or blogs, or that they gave WebProNews the appropriate credit for that goofy picture of me. But after your initial reaction settles a bit you realize what it means: This was a fantastic door-opener for the conversation about social media in Louisville and the region.
Talking to Todd Earwood tonight, he said it best:
“This is the perfect publication and the perfect audience to read this. The people who read Business First are the people we want interested in social media. Granted, they’ve got a long way to go before the ‘get it,’ but this puts it in front of them.”
I would add that it probably puts social media in front of many of them for the first time.
Terry Boyd is a friend in the media for us. If you get a chance to meet him at some point, or you know him, be sure to thank him for turning the legacy media eye on us new media folk for a little bit. He truly is fascinated by the world we’re playing in and may even wind up coming to many of our meetings.
Congratulations are in order for Todd and Joe Fowler for representing us well. Anyone who read the article knows now that Joe is skeptical and leery of folks like me (who work at advertising agencies) but having that counterpoint is what captivated Terry so much and led to a larger piece than we expected. I’m always for balance in the discussion and even agree with Joe that marketers must learn to play by the rules in social media or they won’t be welcome.
While I’m excited to hear what our three February discussion leaders have to say about selling social media in a couple weeks, I think we’ve gone a long way to the possibility of doing so in this market with this article.
[tags]smclouisville, social media club louisville, social media, Business First, Terry Boyd[/tags]
i just wanted to proffer the first ‘w00t’
great job, guys. i look forward to continued success!