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I had the privilege to inspire on the topic “Finding business online” in Dalsland at the Event arranged by Innovatum. Erik Nissen Johansen from Stylt Trampoli also gave a lecture on Storytelling. The two subjects connect because it is all about your “WHY”. When telling the story of your brand, your product, yourself, your staff etc, tell it straight. Be personal, stay honest and give the reader a good story.

Most of the people I meet think social media is a trick or really hard to learn. My usual answer is – you all ready know how to do it successfully. If you act online as you would with your best friends and as you would in your greatest client relationships you are on your way. The technique – to post, show photos, upload videos, create buzz etc- you might need help with. Ask your fans, followers and in forums and you will get feedback. Do not hesitate to ask professionals for help as well. Social Media is the best honest marketing, PR tool out there.

Read Innovatums own blog post from The Event in Swedish here>>

Here are a few of the videos I mentioned in my talk:

Simon Sinek – Why

Charity Water – on how to tell the story passionately:

The Marmite Social Media Case

Creating a positive, social atmosphere at salon Klippa is one of the missions I am involved with at the moment. Today, 11 creative, talented hair stylists came together to form a clear WHY, set goals and laugh. Take a glance on what route we have taken:

NOVEMBER: I gave a morning pep-talk, inspiring the staff, getting their minds spinning about social media. I showed some videos and asked questions. We start an internal Facebook group to tie the two salons closer together.

DECEMBER: Klippa painted two magnetic High5 walls in each salon where staff could post great articles, write notes and share ideas.

FEBRUARY: I interviewed most of the staff members to get their views on what inspires them, why they do what they do, what their dreams are, suggestions for the future and ongoing events in their lives.

APRIL: Workshop time. We created two mood boards. They will lay the foundation for a strategy for the coming years in social media connecting with in store activities and of course in the daily motivation of the staff.

A High5 day indeed.

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!

About every two weeks, I have Skype meetings with the social media team of CISV International. It is usually during the afternoon for me, so that Jerry from Guatemala does not have to get up too early, and Angela from the Philippines does not fall asleep on the keyboard. We are of different age, different chapters in life, and we live in three completely different parts of the world.

I have been a member of CISV Sweden since 2005, when I went to Lyon, France through a program called Interchange. It was the first time I ever traveled without my parents. Instead I traveled with six friends my age, a “junior counselor” and an adult leader. I lived in a French boy’s house with his mother and sister, whom I had never met before. Four weeks (two in France and two in Sweden) later, I had grown from an insecure, shy boy who never talked to girls, into being able to actually have a conversation with girls my age. And I could do it in English as well! Pretty cool, huh?

In 2010, I was elected National Junior Representative (NJR for short) for CISV Sweden. With our several hundred “juniors” (members aged 14-27), it is a huge responsibility, and of course one of the most awesome experiences I have had. As an NJR, I’m constantly keeping track of all levels of the organization, and it’s giving me insight into how an international organization with nearly 60,000 members works.

So what is CISV? To put it into the Golden Circle à la Simon Sinek, starting with why:

• The organization strives to create peace through friendship.
• We try to educate and inspire our members (and others) to take action on any level, local through global, for a more just and peaceful world.
• This is mainly carried out through projects and camps all over the world, aimed at people ages 11 and up.

CISV is one of the most important parts of me, and the energy and passion I feel while working with all my volunteer colleagues all over the world is something I rarely get anywhere else!

Typical image from a Media Team meeting

Fun fact: While the average Facebook user has 130 friends, the average CISV member on Facebook has 390 friends. That’s the power of international friendship and social media!

We have a had a lot of questions from clients, partners and prospective colleagues with regards to who we are and what we stand for. So we thought we would provide you with a snap-shot of Awoque.

How did these guys come up with the company name Awoque?

What’s in a name?

• Ahlén + Williams* recognize that social media begins with “Why”
• Evoke you
• QUE = we know “who” you should engage with online to create your ripple in the water effect

Why do we do what we do?

Because:

1. We believe in developing your organisation’s “Why”
2. We understand that fans are a brand’s best asset (pull not push)
3. It is about continual and sustainable community building

Our values

We work with great companies, in fun projects with inspirational people. Oh and we enjoy High 5 moments with our clients and fans.

So from all the team at Awoque, we trust this answered some of your key questions. If you have any more questions, by all means give us a call, we would be more than happy to hear from you.

PS Read this post from Social Factory as well on Social Media Experts (in Swedish)

*) Paul Williams founded the company with Victoria in August 2010 and was a part of its success until October 2011.

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.

Let us stay focused on twitter this week. If you want an effective online tool to both boost an event before, during and after, this is the tool for you. If you choose to combine it with Facebook, Bambuser/YouTube and Instagram/Flickr you can add more color to your tweets.

This past Saturday, we used Twitter as a tool to document, broadcast live and to boost the event Centimetermaran in Kungsbacka Innerstad with social media. Centimetermaran is a social good project raising funds for the charity Majblomman.

A few quick guidelines to get going:

• Decide your Why
• Choose channels and decide how/if you want to connect them together
• Find fans to follow/, people interested in the same things you are become your followers
• Share your chosen # with your fans/audience early. More on hashtags, #>>
• Listen, ask questions, as well as broadcast your messages.
• Always use proper language.
• Be honest and have fun

If you want to know more about event reporting, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

The ongoing struggle
Many companies have an ongoing struggle with communication. In larger companies, the gap between the CEO and the subordinated employees might be so big that it creates second-, third-, fourth- and fifthhand information. Which in turn can result in the company miscommunicating and not achieving set goals. In smaller companies, the problem might lie in too little dialogue between the employees, due to the closeness of the company and focused roles.

Get social
Much of what companies do today involve some kind of information technology. More and more of today’s technologies provide secure social media platforms that allow you and your company to create a better way of communicating and opening up new dialogues. For smaller companies this could mean, bringing in aspects from other companies using the same social platforms. For larger companies, social media can be a new platform to increase more direct communication within your company, allowing the most subordinated employee to communicate directly with the CEO, increasing the understanding and decreasing the hierarchical gap within the company.

If you want to know more about why you should and how you can effect the communication within your company to make it more effective and productive?
Contact us at Awoque!

Finally Friday!

In this week’s Friday Fun we want to share an old IBM advert for social networking. The advert shows the importance of finding what you want, when you want it.

A big issue amongst many companies today is spending large amounts of time connecting with everyone and everything. Filtering and selection tools for social media and social networking have therefore become immensely important. These tools enable companies to be much more effective at locating valuable resources that fit their specific requirements, whilst providing a return on investment. Instead of wasting time finding irrelevant information.

We would like to send a high five to IBM who where amongst the first companies to realize the potential in using social networking from the get go.

If you are interested in “Why” your organisation should use social networking adjustable to your needs, gives us a call.

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.”