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I came into Austin without appointments and booked sessions. Back in October, I had this strong notion that I had to go. 14 years ago, I lived in Abilene a few hours north of Austin so revisiting would mean many meetings with people I love and places I knew from my youth.

Still, when walking into the Austin Convention Center to pick up  my badge for the (South by Southwest) SXSW Interactive late Thursday evening, my legs shook and at the same time I wanted to scream of joy. I challenged myself to get here. I wanted to face the knowledge in my industry and by the unknown. I desperately needed to recharge batteries. I came because the time had come to chase new dreams and to find new horizons.

A week since SXSW Interactive conference ended and I am still digesting.

What a wonderful beautiful world of possibilities I took part in.
What a creative melting pot of creativity and welcoming spirits.
What a mix of great people off all ages, nations, gender and backgrounds getting together to share ideas for social change, for new horizons in business and simply connecting with each other in easy conversations.

You can join the SXSW spirit. Together we can make this world a better place. Tell and communicate your stories offline and in social media. Dream the dream. Be proud of who you are. Go get it. You just connected with the future.

Be inspired as I was by this Keynote by Baratunde Thurston – How to read the word

Åland’s Social Media Guru Mats Adamczak writes about SXSW here (in Swedish)

A blog post in Moosylvania.com -What Austin Taught Us: Key Takeaways from SXSW

The Chamber of Commerce in Göteborg writes on their blog (in Swedish)

Baratunde Thurston SXSW 2012

Downtown Austin by Mats Adamczak

Yesterday, I shared a great conversation on employer branding with people in charge of various organisations. Yet again, I see the ripple effects and how social media connects or splits people. As always, I would like to start by focusing on the positive possibilities for a brand to grow, to become more social.

- Internal tools such as Yammer and Jive get the conversations going, utilize the energy and knowledge within a group, connects people to a brand / employer.

- Writing a blog as a CEO instead of a formated weekly newsletter might increase the comments and interaction with co-workers. And the same blog could also be used to share the personalized corporate daily story to both customers and future employees.

- The things we say and claim we will do must be true. They should of course be tied to the company core values. It is easily checked if a line is said for the sole purpose of marketing. The more personality we mix in the message the better.

- Taking the time to really listen, asking questions and sharing information builds trust.

I will share two videos for inspiration.

1) To get your thoughts going on how you communicate and relate from Kate Hartman:

2) My all time favorite Simon Sinek on “How great leaders aim to inspire”

Proliv exists to support men and their families who have received the diagnosis prostate cancer. As may organizations, they struggle to communicate with their members, to increase general awareness and to keep a positive outlook on the volunteer-based work load. Utilizing social media can be a way to increase positive attitudes and using each volunteer hour more effectively, if the necessary time is spent on setting a social strategy.

I firmly believe that it is the “media” within social media that stops many to explore the possibilities with online tools and channels. I always start my inspirational workshops by moving the “media” out of focus and concentrating on the “Why”, the basics of a great dialogue and sales strategy. My three basic tips:

1. Stay true to you passion for the cause
2. Tell stories to strengthen to show good examples
3. Focus on the dialogue and asking questions

If you would like to know more. Get in touch getsocial@awoque.com!

We had a really good time awoqueing FashionDAYS at the Auto7H arena in Borås this week.

Fashion shows, the release of the new BMW 1-series, mingling, champagne, lots of work and High 5′s.

It really is a blessing to be able to combine my interest in fashion and design with my social media work at Awoque. Apart from our task to capture the spirit of the event and socialize it for our client. It was interesting to work with a multi-oriented audience that enjoyed the fact that FashionDAYS mixed fashion with cars, as well as other designs. FashionDays is much more than a garment event, it was a creative experience.

So who are you according to class of 2011 the band geek, the Jock or perhaps the paper bag lunch kid?

Personally I’m a combination of the English geek, the Prep, the Gossipgirl, the Artkid and the Jock. Flowtown have created a great and funny infographic about the social media landscape in 2011.

If you want to better understand your companies personality traits and how to make them work through social media, give us a call.

We have all seen and been appalled by the recent events in the UK, specifically the mindless looting, vandalism and destruction of private property and businesses that have affected thousands.

In an attempt to bring those people involved in criminal activity to justice the metropolitan police are using social media to help in their investigations. London Disorder – Operation Withern, is a subset of the UK’s Metropolitan Police Flickr page.

The police are posting up photographs of suspects, such as those of alleged looters, etc. in the “Operation Withern” gallery.

London Riots Looting

The images in the UK Metropolitan Police Flickr Set, come from the extensive CCTV system in and around city centers.

During the fall Awoque will post more articles on ways communities, businesses and organizations are using Social Media. If you have any good examples you would like to share, we would love to hear from you.

The sun glasses are still on. We had a great summer’s break but we are all excited and ready to get back into helping organizations to audit, understand and develop their specific “Why” of social media.

Awoque looks to continue socializing, inspiring, encouraging and assisting your company to tap into your passion to engage with your fans’ through the right social media channels.

Do not hesitate to give us a tweet at @awoque or comment here on the blog.

We look forward to hearing from you!

From the numerous seminars, presentations and lectures we have given on and around social media; we find that a lot of organisations are seeking the holy grail of social media – the fast track”Silver Bullet” to success.

The secret to successful social media is not difficult, but the work required to get there can be. This is an area that most companies have difficulties getting to grips with. This and the fact that social media costs.

Today, social media is inherently seen as the big four: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube, which take approximately 5 minutes to set-up and are free. If you were working with new media/website development at the beginning of web 1.0 in the mid 90′s this will sound familiar, “Websites are free and my cousin can design one – job done!

The “Silver Bullet”:
To get the most out of online, Web 2.0, activities, you must invest time and resources into understanding your organisation’s “why” to be able to develop a smart social strategy, to achieve set goals such as: engaging and listening to your fans, R&D, project collaboration, recruiting quality people, building your brand, driving sales, and serving your clients (through customer support).

Awoqued Social Organisations

Stop looking for the “Silver Bullet and let Awoque fast track your social media initiatives.

It is our pleasure to welcome Thina Grotmark to the team, she joins us as a creative project manager at Awoque.

Thina has a bachelor degree in media and communication and another in behavioral science, from Gothenburg University. She interned at Cordovan Communication AB working with clients Falbygdens Ost , Kvillebäcken and Ridderheims. Recently Thina was responsible for PR and marketing for WebCoast.

Thina, is also well know for her blog – Beyond Sizes, about fashion and being confident in your own skin, whatever size you are. Her blog achieves over a 1000 unique readers a day

Paul Williams, Dir. Business Development says “Thina’s skill set and knowledge, coupled with her passion for social media will make her valuable asset to both our clients and the Awoque team.”

Hi all TGIF

Today, we thought we would share this cartoon, which depicts the importance of customer service or more importantly, how you will be treated in the future?

Many companies are looking at ways to use social media effectively with a justifiable ROI. Customer support is arguably one of the best ways for companies to achieve this. Spotting a customer issue, responding to it and resolving the issue quickly through social media provides exceptional customer experience.

Companies can no longer say they are customer focused; they must back it up. Organizations that fail to do so may find themselves being bad mouthed by the public and not just in obscure areas but on high-profile social sites and online communities that have a significant influence on consumer perception, opinion and behavior. An example that comes to mind is the “United Breaks Guitar”. A video about the mistreatment of a bands instruments by United Airline baggage handlers. These disgruntled band members have had some 10 million plus views of their video.

If you are interested in “Why” your organisation should use social customer support, gives us a call.