My little sister was so joyous that James Blunt was coming to Lebanon, to be fair she’s happy when any artists comes to Lebanon even when she does not get to go to the concert. She went to her first ever live performance last month when Shakira was here. I asked her if she saw her from the place they were at , she said when she zoomed in with her camera into the stage she was able to catch a glimpse. Then I asked her if she knew that would happen and that she needed to stand in a crowd of screaming people for hours would she still have went, she said DEFINITELY.

So now, as you may have guessed she’s going to the James Blunt Concert on Monday and she’s really excited! She’s counting down the days and today she drew the artwork above to show her excitement and support Tamanna (I think the guy with the glasses is supposed to be James Blunt) .

As you may know, what is amazing about this concert is that it is organized to fulfill a child’s wish, and all the proceeds from the international signer’s concert are also going in support of many other wishes for children with terminal illnesses and improving their quality of life. So all of this is a fantastic international collaboration between Tamanna and James Blunt that enables everyone to help and support either through ticket sales, awareness raising, or simply wearing a white T-shirt.

You can also help by:

-Donating on the Tamanna website.

- Like and share Tamanna’s facebook page
- Follow & RT @TamannaLeb

- Raise Awareness about the NGO within your social network.

Also Check out Mohammad Hijazi’s and Marie Nakhleh’s posts about Tamanna.

Bras for A Cause – Funstany.com

While companies are trying to trick the social media users to talk about them , Fustany.com* is really trying  to do some social good, partnering with the wonderful Loryne Atwi from One Wig Stand for a project aiming to provide cancer survivors with sexy and accessible lingerie, whilst doing breast cancer awareness and fund-raising.  Watch the video above to find out how the idea was born and who the judges are.

And the guys are pretty well organized, they recruited a team of ambassadors, they are churning out fresh shareable content within a set calendar,  they are passionate about their cause and most importantly they are active online and very quick to respond. So companies out there trying to figure out how to operate social media stay tuned to the guys begins Bras for a Cause.

And if you are a designer, Bras for a cause competitions not for fame and fortune, but because THIS is what will really empower women with breast cancer and make their life much easier.

Don’t forget to check the Bras for A Cause website, twitter and facebook page .

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*its not the first time fustany.com are doing something to help with breast cancer awareness either

You all remember Samer Karam’s brainchild @cooki3man, which was the first twitter based business model. Through @cookieman you could order cookies baked according to Samer’s secret recipe via DM ( and later on via email). And whilst the business was quite successful and many were jumping to place orders and batches were running out fast, legend has it Samer’s oven broke down and he moved back to more serious and less sugar rush inducing endeavors.

But it seems there is another business that is willing to explore the power of twitter’s word of mouth business growth.

Having been punked by the Brand Protection Group Campaign recently, having @taxilb adding near April 1st, did not speak in their favor, as I am as cautious as ever.  But indeed I am curious and have been watching them interact online stirring quite a commotion amongst the twittershphere with their value proposition.

And some of their posts are plain hilarious:

It does not seem that any one has tried them out yet, but their rates sound very reasonable and their online persona is very bubbly.

Quite interestingly, the business started with an twitter account before even launching the website.

Well that is all I know for now, but of course  I am full of questions wanting to know who is behind this service and how the business is going so far and if anybody has used it.

Lets keep looking, maybe next time I have to take my car for maintenance I will try them out!

There is nothing out of the usual in this campaign and yet This campaign provides a good quality step up from the regular wishy-washy stale sweepstakes.

What is good about this campaign:

- It puts Rak Bank’s new product at the center of the promotion, by giving people a packaged message  to tweet. The message is short and concise.

- Does not force you to follow or like anyone.

- Message provided is impartial and hence does not in any way affect credibility of the tweeter.

- It is extremely simple for users to execute and only involves one step.

- It provides transparency by showing all the rules, number of prizes, campaign duration, method of selecting winners…

- It costs Rak Bank close to nothing and would be extremely easy to monitor.

- It is less of a bribery model (cheap sweepstakes) and more of a reward for promotion model.

Keep following @rakbanklive  on twitter to see their other ways of interacting with the audience.

P.S. I am lately resorting to short posts, as opposed to not writing at all.

It seems awfully odd that every year I win those two tickets Beirut Restaurants giveaway via twitter to the Lebanese Food & Wine Festival , and well I am not much of a wine person, so once again one lucky reader will get those two tickets since the lovely guys at Beirut Restaurants agreed to let me pass them on.

The event is taking place between 9-12 December and fully comprises of eating and wine degustations.

So , all you need to do is, check if you like the program of the event and your calendar is free and then comment on the post below and one lucky winner will be announced on Friday Morning.

And do not forget to follow Beirut Restaurants on twitter and facebook, to check their restaurant reviews and keep participating in tehir giveaways.

UPDATE: The Winner is Ghassan , Thank you all for participating & better luck next time.

Lately I am going to so many events , most are tech or social media related, but … well… a lot of the time… the digital me feels at unease and disappointed, unable to share the event with the world or growing a grudge against the organizers, so I decided to write this simple guide declaring openly to all event organizers that anything less would be a disappointment, and ,well if they do the things I mentioned, they will make the online community more involved in their events and expand their reach and visibility. Don’t they all want that?

Ah well, as my main objective is self centered I mainly focused in things that need to be going during and after the event. (Plus most of them score well on before event stuff after I corner them with my questions in emails) .

1. # – Have a HASHTAG!

This is an out most basic, but then again most event organizers forget to make it short enough, announce it publicly more than once and most importantly forget to register it at a hashtag repository like twubs or  wthashtag,  so most of the time I am livetweeting from an event my followers start asking me “what is this and that #xyz … any links…  ?”

2. Official LiveTweeting

That brings us naturally to livetweeting. I have already talked about the importance of livetweeting here but i just wanted to emphasize that event organizers need to keep on livetweeting from the official event account to update people at the event on what is happening, remind who the speakers are and what their handles are, tell them where the live feeds are (doesn’t hurt to do all that in parallel on linked in and facebook as well) … AND if you are an event sponsor, especially at an event centered around social media, especially if your produce is focused around social media, big thumbs down to you if you are not tweeting about the event and not quoting your guest speaker. Yes @zawya I am talking about you and your zero tweets at MediaMeForum and your replying only two days later to my tweets. Which brings me to my next point.

3. Answer & Engage Tweets

For starters, there is no fun for a hashtag without a livescreen. At MediaMEForm the guys did a great job of livetweeting what was happening, BUT [yes it is a big but] they completely dismissed the twitter community. The twitter Screen was live only during the panels and it was put in a place where no speaker can see what we were talking about, and even the moderator did not address any questions from the tweets, nor did their official twitter channel. Unlike ArabNET, where there were ginormous screens dedicated to tweets and speakers paying full attention to what was happening with one speaker undressing to get a wave of tweets. Still , I think the impact will be even more augmented if you have a dedicated moderator to pick at least two questions from the twittersphere for each panel/speaker and ask them at the event. Honestly speaking, the questions are more pungent, very well formulated and more daring and provoking more mindful discussions, isn’t that what you want? Aren’t your events targeted at identifying the trends of the future?

4. Live Ustream

I was on the peak of bliss drinking my Pepsi, eating popcorn in my PJs watching the pitches at Yallastartup weekend day 1 and working on the other laptop in parallel… but then, lo and behold once the pitches ended and we started getting some cool behind the curtains views of the audience, their feedback and interactions, seeing familiar faces….. THEN the stream turned off and a vigilant message told me that the stream will only resume after one day to show the final pitches and that all in between will not be documented… I felt that that was plain mean… YallaStartup weekend is a sort of non-commercial example.

So all of you event organizers will be saying :”why should we put the stuff live for free, when people pay to attend?”

And I’ll tell you. one has nothing to do with the other.

Most of us attend the events for the networking and has nothing to do with the panels and the speakers, who by the way we realize travel from one event to the other with similar presentations, who most of the time blog a lot and more in depth about the subject, or write whole books on the matter… So you putting up a live stream doesn not diminish your financial gain, which BTW you have reaped in full from teh event sponsors and paying attendees. So you may as well give the sponsor’s their money’s worth and help promote their brands and spread their messages and you event’s messages (while your at it) to even more people. People, who by the way are highly targeted individuals, who simply could not catch a flight, or whose bosses came to the event but left them at the office, or teh bosses who sent employees there and want to make sure that they sent them to an interesting event… People who would love to come to the event next year. People who would tweet about the event and talk and talk about it…

It was so amazing to watch the few panels I have missed (due to my weird trip schedule) at Media ME Forum on their UStream account and the quality of the videos/voice/ the nice music they put when nothing was happening – really professional! And ArabNet, they really understood that if they just empower the social media addicts, their event will be promoted across the roof and that’s what happened.

4.PHOTOS

We live in the now and like to see photos now, and share them and comment on them – ALL NOW! So do not make us wait two days for your flickr or facebook gallery upload. You can set up something extremely simple on site, like that photo booth Arabnet had (could not find link), that immediately sent all photos to their flickr account. Also make sure if you have something like that up & running, promote it well before and during the event.

You have a lot of room to be creative here and there are more wonderful ideas out there to engage people in crowdsourced photography at your event.

5. Icing on the Cake – Netvibes

So you do all of the stuff I mentioned above and integrate all of them into one awesome netvibes page that people courting your event could easily follow.  This is one of the more magical tools out there and one I really, really adore to look at when it comes to events I am not at and ones I am at (if they have one that is). For instance check the cool netvibes page SpotOnPR does annually for Gitex and while you are at it, check Spot On PR’s Netvibe’s page. Don’t you see how that will help your event to become more sharable and viral?

6. Social booklets

You lovely event organizers always give us those nice and creative booklets with all the info about the speakers, but why oh why don’t you mention the speakers’/moderators’ twitter handles, websites, blogs next to their names, so we can connect to them, address our questions to them, or just plain stalk them? and while you’re at it, dedicate a page at the beginning providing us with the event hashtag, livestream, netvibes page… et all

7. PLUGSSSSS

I always email event organizers about plugs, they always feel so happy when i tell them i am planning to bring my laptop to livetweet and welcome the thought and assure me WIFI and electricity plugs are available, but up till now, none of them have delivered on that. Do you expect our battery lives to be infinite? Do you expect us to have spare batteries for our iPhones? We want to enjoy the event all of its durations while checking on work email and tweeting or life-blogging YOUR event. Plain and simple, there should be a dedicated plug at least for every four attendees… Not that I mind making eyes to the camera guy to co-share his plug and carrying around at all times a multi-plug adapter, or stealing power for my mobile from a fellow attendees dying laptop…

8. GOOD WIFI

This probably should’ve been at the top of the list, but I consider it a basic and only as I reread the whole thing I decided to highlight it, just in case….

9.Screen & Screen Brightness

Also a little after thought: try to have several screens at the event and make sure that their brightness is optimal, so we are able to take good cellphone pics no matter how far from the stage we are without stealing your speaker’s valuable “top secrets”.

After Event Tips

• Encourage us to send feedback
• Send us all the lovely links for the photos, social pages, videos, slides … post event stats, news clippings about the event
• It is also lovely to receive some post event answers to questions that were asked during teh forum but did not have enough time to be answered properly or the material/numbers was not at hand.
• Send us an industry newsletter (yeah i do not mind up being automatically signed up for that)
• Ask us what do we want to see at your next event
• Continue Tweeting, Updating the Facebook/linked in page of the event and engaging all who were at the event

Next month, I am planning on attending the 1st Arab Social Media Forum, which the organizers are promising to be a wholesomely dedicated event to all social media aspects… so…. Guys, I am really hoping on seeing all that stuff there [wink, wink]!

Have I left anything out? What is it that you found missing at the last event you have attended?

*Update 1: Forgot to tell you how at Microsoft Open Door Event this year there were special giveaways prepared for tweeters. Small giveaway, but nonetheless, it was pretty sweet.

About WIT Lebanon Networking and Sustainability Conference (NSC).

The NSC in Lebanon brought together over 130 people including representatives from WIT sponsors MEPI and Microsoft, WIT staff, local dignitaries, in-country stakeholders, WIT participants, Professional Development Leaders, and representatives from WIT Partner Organizations. The event was hosted under the patronage of Minister of the Interior Ziad Baroud.
The primary objectives of the Networking and Sustainability Conferences were to create a more cohesive network of local Partners Organizations and in-country teams and strengthen WIT’s Professional Development Networks.

I wrote it last week, just as I came back from a special press screening of The Social Network Movie, which will be released on October 28^th, courteously provided by the lovely and amazing guys at Cineklik (with no strings attached as usual).

Let me just start by saying that everyone who is into Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Entrepreneurship, creativity and how new ideas are born, or just plain corporate ball games needs to watch this movie.

The plot amazingly intertwines the evolution of human relations and synergies with how ideas grow, expand and catch on. It also asks the eternal questions of: What gets people creative? Why do we do the things we do? What is right and what is wrong? What is the worth of an idea? What is the best business model for a DOT – COM? In short it is about how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook and the players who pitched in, in all the different ways. And how they all search for the absolute truth.

It is the first movie in a very long while that makes me want to talk about it for hours and hours non-stop – This is the genius of the script, the brilliance of the actors and how it all well resonates with our fast paced realities and the “Youth” being the movers and shakers in this Business Era, while lawyers and far more experienced people try to grasp the ideas.

I loved how it explores what made Facebook different from the Hi5, Myspace and Friendsters of the time, and zooms into how each element of the facebook profiles evolved.  It is true magic how every player in a company plays a certain role to peg it forward, but then again not all of them are recognized…. Well I will not say more, you have to watch the movie to get the train of philosophical analysis rolling.

The final thing I want to add is that it will turn into a cult movie that will elevate the pedestal Facebook as brand is on both among Technocrats, Entrepreneurs, SM Freaks and wannabees. In my opinion it is the best product placement feat since “Career Opportunities” and it came spot in the next wave of the 2^nd Dot-Com boom. Using Facebook, after watching the movie, simply becomes a religious experience. Try it!

Disclaimer: This is NOT a solicited review, the movie simply rocks.

Thanks to Joesbox I found out that my blog was once again featured in Communicate Magazine. The blogpost featured is Gabriel Ghali’s Guest Post about the  Islamic Brand.

Thank you communicate for praising my dear friend.

Just to tell you that The Identity Chef is now on Beirut.com

The day started with great frustration as I read Liliane’s blog post regarding the turnaround of events at CNN.

I’m not going to get into the details of how a 140 character tweet spiraled madness and let the network to believe that Octavia’s Position was compromised…

The first thing we learn about corporate social media practices, is that the benefits of it far outweigh the risks. We are also taught that successful brand social media strategies must reflect a personal approach and sincerity in communicating to your audience and reflecting your true persona.

Big companies such as CNN have been happily leveraging Social Media through their wide network of brand champions, like Octavia, who have been dedicatedly tweeting their personal & professional experiences from tehir twitter accounts, as well as sharing on various social networks, reaching out people, interacting with them and building relationships feeding the ultimate brand persona.

It is that sincerity and openness that helped Octavia build relationships and trust with the digital natives in the Middle East, relationships with which she enriched her employer and the quality of work she has provided.

And in the digital world, we naturally understand, without disclaimers, that whatever is tweeted by Octavia, though under the CNN handle reflects by and large her personal opinions which may not match that of her employer.

So doesn’t CNN allow its employees to have personal opinions (whatever they may be)? Are CNN employees only allowed to express their opinions when it benefits CNN and is not controversial? ( I would really like to take a look at CNN’s social media guidelines)

I find it very disappointing that at the sight if a small back lash CNN was so reluctant to overlook all that Octavia has contributed to CNN, instead of standing up for her. It is not the right way to treat a brand champion will definitely reflect negatively and strain o other CNN staff in their social media presence.

CNN how do you expect your brand champions to stand by you, if you do not cover their backs and put full trust in them.

I would appreciate if you can leave your honest comment on Octavia’s Post here.

Other Lebanese Bloggers who have covered this issue:

- Independence 05

- Abzzyy

- Bahaafe

- Beirut Spring and his interview with BBC

-Plus 961

- Tarek Chemali

- Arabianism

- Beirut Beauty

- Pascal Assaf ( Arabic)

- Joeyy Hat

- Mind Soup and here

- Facebook page created by @youmny

- Brit In Beirut

- Eliane Badr ( Arabic)

( if you are a Lebanese blogger who has blogged on the subject, kindly let me know to link back to your post)

I also particularly loved Jillian C York’s post – Shame on American Media – stating even more examples of media double standards.

Today I got a very pleasant surprise in my inbox, which I wanted to share with all of you out there looking for a job in Social Media Marketing & Online Community Building in Lebanon. It’s Time to celebrate!

Anyway below the job description for this job, and follow the link to apply:

+ Social Media Marketing Director

DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Manage the corporate division social media strategy and execution.
• Coordinate with internal team, to execute the strategy.
• Create, facilitate, and participate effectively and authentically in key conversations about the company on blogs and other online social media channels.
• Develop and execute a blogging communication strategy, including:
  • Become accessible to the blogging community
  • Manage responses to negative and positive feedback
  • Generate buzz and interest in various forms of digital media such as online videos, blog posts, news articles, images, and more
  • Monitor and analyze social media trends for company brand
  • Develop, execute and manage the online content to drive organic search engine ranking
  • Create and maintain visible Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg accounts and other social media profiles.
  • Report on the effectiveness of social site placement and conversations on the web.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Marketing experience in a direct-to-consumer organization
• Social media experience Deep familiarity with social media, viral and word of mouth online marketing practices.
• Excellent consulting, writing, editing, and communication skills, including an engaging written voice.
• Experienced builder and executer of online social media strategies.
• Experience moderating group discussions and managing community leaders.
• Bachelors degree in Communications, PR, English, Marketing or other related field.
• Excellent consulting, writing, editing, and communication skills, including an engaging written voice.

Hasn’t taken them that long, has it?

Link to me on Linked In

Even if youy are not in search of a job vacancy, make sure you attend this workshop to learn how to harness this powerful networking tool. See you there: )

Got a mentioned by the lovely @laradunston in her article about twitter in the middle east, here it goes:

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What’s happening?

Suddenly everyone’s using Twitter. Lara Dunston (@laradunston) went to tweet-ups in Dubai and Beirut to find out why

update

At a tweet-up in Dubai, a woman whose Twitter handle is @Kangayayaroo glances around the table. “This is an atypical expat experience,” she confides. “Because of Twitter we’re friends with people we wouldn’t normally meet socially.” Joining us are “tweeps”, as Twitter users call themselves, from all over the region and beyond.

The Middle East is racking up Twitter users at a rapid pace. A survey by Spot On PR found that users in the MENA region quadrupled in the second quarter of 2009, with 14,000 accounts by September. Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) and Jordan’s Queen Rania (@QueenRania) are among them.

Continue Reading HERE

This week Smex Beirut was kind enough to invite all of us to their new offices to announce their plans for 2010 and socialize. I know the guys have cut out for them because:

Prince Charming: ” So what do these guys do?”
Me: ” Basically they teach NGO’s how to use social media for change and to reahc their target audience”
PC: ” Did not know you need to have training for that, isn’t it natural?”
Me: “well yeah , but most NGO’s don’t even know why they should have a website, leave alone, what they should post on it…and think of all the help and exposure they could get if they work on it using Funraising’s model…”

So below is their monthly newsletter, with their plans for the months to come. Obviously, SMEX is branching otu to reach greater audience and enable all citizens, which is even better. Social Media novices, get involved with SMEX

February 4, 2010 • Volume 1 •?Issue 3
SMEX Re-Launches with a New Website and Open Office Party

SMEX Re-Launches with a New Website and Open Office Party

On February 2, SMEX opened its offices to Lebanon’s growing social media for social change community to celebrate its relaunch as a full-time organization. Visitors were treated to a tour of the colorful offices, which include a social space for intimate events and screenings and a training room.

The open office coincided with a launch of SMEX’s new website and official registration of Social Media Exchange as a Lebanese NGO. We also took advantage of the opportunity to ask visitors what they want from SMEX in 2010. One suggestion: A workshop for parents and children on the responsible use of the Internet. What would you like to see? Let us know at ideas@smex.org or by calling 01-380-553.

Thanks to all those who made it, and for those who couldn’t, we invite you to pass by anytime.

Workshop: Social Media for Jobseekers

In February, Social Media Exchange, in collaboration with recruitment specialist Mary Roepke, will host Career Development with Social Media. Delivered in two half-day workshops, this training will introduce you to the world of social media for networked professionals and show you how the Web and social networking can help you reach your goals.

The workshops will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 11, and Thursday, Feb. 25. The cost for each half-day course is 60,000LL per participant, or both courses for 100,000LL. The course will be given in English.

For more information, visit our website or you can RSVP now.

NOTE: We will also be hosting two half-day workshops for human resources professionals on how to use social media to recruit better candidates and diversify their talent pools. Please get in touch at training@smex.org or 01-380-553 for more information.
Workshop: Basic Internet Privacy and Security

Have you had enough of computer viruses and malware? Are you worried about identity theft or what might happen if your Facebook details get into the wrong hands? Well, If you aren’t, you should be. SMEX is launching a pilot internet privacy and security workshop for select participants on February 15, 16, and 22.

The first two sessions will cover the basics you need to know to keep yourself and your data secure. The third session will take place a few days later and focus on troubleshooting and answering specific questions. All sessions will be given in Arabic. For more information about how to sign up for this free training, please email training@smex.org or call 01-380-553.

Screening: 10 Tactics for Turning Information into Action

English with Arabic subtitles.
On Sunday, Feb. 14, at 5 p.m., SMEX will screen a 55-minute video on how to turn information into activism. Case studies from Lebanon and around the world are presented by activists working on a wide range of issues. The documentary, which was shot during the InfoActivism Camp, India 2009, is brought to you by the Tactical Technology Collective and was translated into Arabic by Rebecca Saab Saade at SMEX. Watch a preview. Activists and NGO representatives who attend the screening can purchase the DVD and companion toolkit for 15,000LL. Proceeds will go toward shipping taxes and refreshments. Please RSVP to let us know you’re coming.
***

That’s all for this edition of the SMEX newsletter. You can also keep up with our upcoming workshops and events on our calendar. We hope to see you soon!

Photo by the fantastic Naeema Zareef (twitter.com/naeema)

Two events have been the highlight of the last week of 2009 for me. One of them was my darling’s stiff resistance of the flu and the other was a live encounter with a typical Marketing Manager 1.0. And , eventually, yours truly got to celebrate the assent of the new year in bed with fever as well… making the lessons learned from these two encounters all the more vivid.

1)Ignore it, Maybe it’ll go away

Years of evolution have not killed the breadwinner’s instinct in men, which even stands above the instinct of self preservation. When your man falls sick, he would always keep on going to work, as usual, doing all his house chores in an exemplary manner, without admitting that something is wrong. I suppose in ancient tribes, the sick were isolated or cast out of the villages & left to die alone. So God forbid for your man to admit that something is wrong. But what goes in the manager’s 1.0′s head is beyond my understanding. M1.0 says that the marketing has not changed and that the foundations and underlying rules still remain valid, he has a moment of truth when he condescends to admit that advertising has changed, and then he switches back to denial by saying that advertising is only a part of marketing, he goes back to touching on changing customer needs, but breaks off at specifics… And, of course, in the same manner that prince charming audaciously refuses to take a sick day and stay in bed, M1.0 would say, – “We do not need a website now, we’ll start working on it in a couple of months, we’re studying our competition for now.” But by the time they are weakened and overpowered by their disease, the first would’ve plowed through a week of 20% productivity at work and then lying in bed for 2 days to recuperate and another week and a half of insane coughing, which is a significant trade off for staying at home for two days, as I did, and then going back to work a 100% recharged.  And our M1.0 Would greatly benefit said competitors by not having a significant online presence by as much as he will frustrate his prospects, who would be unable to find a way to contact them and find out more about their products. And no, a Facebook page is not as good as Corporate website (if you disagree with that, let me know, I’d be more than happy to share my views!).

2) Time Heals everything

Mon Beau will tell you that it takes seven days to cure a flu anyhow, so why bother and put your life on hold? M1.0 says that brand awareness will come with time, after my comment about missing opportunities 5 months after market entry. Well, in my dictionary, one week equals, on average, 70 tweets, 3 blogposts, and a possible email marketing or other online campaign. Multiply that by 5 and you will have thousands of touchpoints with your clients that come at a fraction of a cost of traditional media. Maybe our generation is too aggressive, but less than a month in my new job, I am already feeling unproductive for not bringing in more value and having to cram up on literature/research 50% of my time and that is precisely why, I use the remaining 50% to make actionable change NOW. In my eye, less is more in the long run, and little things done now, be it a greeting card, sms, news release… may not just prevent you from LOSING an existing client, but also get you a new client TODAY!

3) Expenditure = ROI

When hubby does reach a pharmacy, after 5 days, he’ll sweep off the shelves everything  that can remotely help him, or at least that is what he thinks. But by that time, the poles have shifted and all he needs to do is really wait, sip orange juice and rest to recover, instead of ingesting antibiotics which will further drain his life -resources. M1.o will also go to extremes, after 5 months, hiring top models, pampering them and doing runway shows, publishing ads in glitzy magazines… in two words maniacally spending!  But same-same, time would’ve done its thing, and that extra investment would’ve been too little too late! But that does not mean that you shouldn’t still take in your vitamins regularly. Don’t wait until you get a soar throat to take action. Act now, act always! Because,

4) Nobody Cares about YOU, as much as You!

Your boss is not going to give you a day off when you are saying you are a little sick but already came to work, and your clients are not going to run 20 google searches, searching for your coordinates if you landing page, facebook page, twitter handle or corporate website have not been SEO and keyword optimized. And if your marketing campaign does not relate to me, your target client, and if I do not find what I want about you, no money in the world would buy you my consumer’s sentiment and loyalty. And beware, I am too studying your competitors, and so far , they are ahead of you.

5) Birds do it, bees do it…

Men have this secret solidarity pact about enduring illness at the office, when I used to take a sick day at my previous job, I sometimes felt my boss took it as a personal offense. On the other hand, my spouse’s boss can call him while he’s sick saying, – “Aren’t you man enough, chuck on some pills and get on going!”. Bizarre and unacceptable, but, nonetheless true! But, even if denial is the trend, you should take advantage of it. While everyone is “hachooing” at the office, retreat and come back rosy cheeked and productive. And while your competitors are stuck in their old ways, you have the time to experiment, innovate and advance! Your mindset is your only handicap!

Post Approved for publishing by Prince Charming, M1.0 feedback pending. What about you?

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Disclaimer: I am aware that most of my dear readers are nothing like the Lebanese Laila I speak of. In fact, my readers are amazing bright Lebanese women who reject being branded with media stereotypes and have worked hard to become well established respected  professionals .  Male readers, especially those from outside of Lebanon, may not believe that such a species of women actually exists here, but it DOES… And unfortunately,  it co-exists with the cliched “Haifa like” “Lebanese Laila”. Images and personifications of which are all too painful for true Lebanese women to see. So I am really sorry my dear readers for delving to explore this cliche, I do not abet Laila or aspire to be like her, but I  I believe that the Lebanese Laila is a brand. A brand which in spite of all of the harm caused, can teach us a lot!

This post is part of the Kolena Laila Campaign.

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Yes the “Lebanese Leila” gets a lot of laughs and criticism from us women for being silly, superficial, unambitious, short-sighted… But then again, doesn’t Laila always get what she wants effortlessly? And isn’t that what everyone, not just a marketer, wants? … Now you’re listening? Well, take notes:

1) Be where you community is.

No my dears, Laila does not Blog! Laila does not even Twitter! Some of you may say it is because she does not have much to say… But no, it is because she knows all too well her target audience. And she knows that her target audience of Don-Juans and starlets does not read, does not spend time in soul digging and does not have an artistic streak. She knows that her audience is on Facebook, and she makes sure to have a very attractive profile there. Which brings us to point two.

2) Always give your audience what they want.

They don’t read, but they have eye-balls and curiosity. And Laila always makes sure to have a great set of profile pics of her at “such and such party” or “such and such wedding” make-uped and air-brushed to perfection.  Her fans, her target audience, her prospective husband to be, will devour these photos  and comment on them (audience engagement). Moreover, these photos together with the comments will enlarge her footprint on the web and spread her content through her audience. And that is what every brand wants!

3) Be active in connecting to your audience.

Laila is always the first one to wish you a Happy Birthday, give you a nudge / missed call if you have not connected in a while and adding you on facebook after meeting you after a random gig in Gemmayze. And that is how she retains a “loyal” network of connections. [Chuckles of Disbelief in background] Well these strategies are exactly what allow Laila to get extra $$$ on her mobile phone credit whenever her heart desires, get a free invite to a party, or even get that necklace that she put as her display photo for a week on facebook with a tag ” I WANT THIS” instead of slaving for months to buy it…Sad, But True.

4) If you can’t create  – imitate.

To us mere mortals, Laila seems like a fashion victim, with her Haifa lips, tatooed eyebrows, Shakira Curls, Rihanna Shorts… Then again, doesn’t Laila make heads turn in the mall (product placement)? Doesn’t she have her photos all over Layalina and Mondalite (free PR)? Doesn’t she have more friends on facebook as a result (brand equity)? And eventually more choice of rich cavaliers for her to choose to be-wed (product demand) ? And keep in mind this is what she wants!(achieving marketing objectives)

5) Know your competition.

Even Layla knows, that in today’s open age it is a loss not to keep track of what your competitors are doing and using it to your advantage. She will always text you when Celine’s dress is too short, Jana’s husband is cheating on you, or email you and another 100 of close friends a video of Dana wasted at a party. She would always go shopping with her drop dead gorgeous cousin, whom her fiance adores, just to advise her to buy the ugly top and last season boots. And yes , when she was 16, she would spend hours browsing through her “frenemies’” new photos, because if just one of them got their nose done this year, she also had to do it.

So you see, if Laila can do it and achieve her marketing objectives, you with YOUR BRAIN can as well, just play by the rules of the New Media Age.

So tell me, have I missed anything?

P.S. I Found this FANTASTIC lebanese blog all dedicated to Lebanese Illustrators, check it out: http://kootoob.blogspot.com

Images via: Maya Zankoul, http://kootoob.blogspot.com and  Stavro .

-What is Live Tweeting?

- It is a lot like Live TV transmissions or Live Radioshows, only on Twitter.

But , you’ll say that everyone is Live Tweeting, and you are right because Twitter is all about the NOW. But you need to think of Live Tweeting as a live transmission of some football championship or a Miss World pageant, per se. It has to do with live coverage of a certain event by tweeps through tweets.

So why would you* Live Tweet ?

1- For Advanced and Compact Note-taking

Live tweeting seemed very natural to me, being a multi-tasker by nature, it is very hard for me to concentrate on one thing. So concentrating on a talk, while tweeting, helps me concentrate better on both.  But not everyone is as screwed as me, I know. So think about it this way. If you watch Oprah, you’ll notice Oprah sometimes repeats several times tips, ‘aha moments’, conclusions, main idea during the talk show to direct the conversation and concentrate the viewer’s attention. In that context, livetweeting is the equivalent of bullet-point summarizing an event. But instead of using pen and paper, you now have the ability to do that online, while sharing it with everyone who is interested in ”what are you doing right now” – your twitter followers. Which brings us to the next reason to live tweet.

2- For Personal Branding

When you are at an event, especially a conference, you hold access to privileged information. Afterall, there are a maximum of 2,000 people at this event, sharing the same experiences with you at that moment. As we are in the ME, a maximum of a 100 (very optimistically) of these might be tweeting about it. How many people are out there who want to know what is happening at this event? How many are tracking the event’s hashtag? How many searching this event on Google? How many people will RT a clever idea, a quote or a remark you beam from the trenches? By providing quality ( content is king at all times) exclusive information, you are not only tweeting to your followers, you are tweeting to everyone interested in the event/subject. Are you seeing the implications of this: the greater number of followers/blog readers you will get, the people at the event who will want to meet you, the grateful organizers who you can now ask for a favor….

And after a series of live tweets of various events, you will have complete authority in the community on the subject matter(s) you’ve covered, but not only that, they will be grateful to you for sharing your experience and dedicating your time to making them a part of it , their own Prometheus. In short, “Sharing is caring!” and caring in the Social Media world is always recompensed in tenfold.

{Not to mention that some events now provide free entrance to live bloggers and live tweeters}

3- To Promote Your Event (During the Event)

Here’s something I learned from the queen of  twitter:  Even if you do not have one follower on twitter, even if no one in your niche knows what twitter is, you can still harness its power. You can summarize the key points of your event as it happens, you can post photos of your event live and display your whole twitter stream on YOUR event’s website.

Did I hear someone say: “What if my customer / target group does not visit the website, is not computer literate?”

Well if worst, comes to worst, besides advising you to find a job in a web 2.0 savvy industry, I am going to tell you two things. One, it is always hard to be the pioneer, but you will leverage the greatest benefits. Sooner or later everyone will be online, be it on twitter or any other en-mode platform. But now you have the advantage of learning the rules of engagement, and experimenting with social media limitlessly, something you will not be able to do in the future. ans second, if for nothing else, once your event is over, you will need to have a good old press release or or your newsletter (printed or online). And the summary of all the tweets about your event ( be it yours, or your community’s)is not only a good place to start gathering your thoughts, but also a good appendix to your press kit (all of which is a part of traditional media) . And third… well I was going to talk about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) again, but then I remebered you are still in Web -1 so ask me about it when you catch up!

There is not one resource, more powerful than twitter for spreading word of mouth, and that is what marketers dream day and night about, isn’t it? So Why not use it and leverage it, after all, it is also FREE!

4- To measure an event’s success

As I said, everyone needs to be concerned about word of mouth, and your real estate space on the web. By announcing an event hashtag prior the event, provide a live-tweets stream on your site displaying all tweets with your hash tag, reply to all questions and comments, learn from positive and negative feedback… then you are on the right track. It has become customary to evaluate and event’s reach, success through evaluating the volume, quality of tweets during and after it.

Simply: Tweets = Publicity = Brand Equity

5-To promote your business in the context of the event

If you are just attending/visiting an industry related event or venue, on behalf of your business / personal brand, you can tweet about things that are in context of what your company does around the subject of the event. Let us say your company sells Ceramic tiles. “Twitter and Ceramic Tiles?! !” – say you? Well you go to Italian Exhibitions about Ceramic Tiles, don’t you? Do your customers know that? Wouldn’t they want to know what kind of tiles you are going to buy for your new collection, what are the tile trends this season, what colors/materials are in? Wouldn’t they want to see some photos? Wouldn’t they want to share this with others who want to buy tiles, change their home decor, interested in interior design?

And now tell me, wouldn’t that enhance YOUR company’s image as a point of reference and an expert in YOUR  field?

As I mentioned, Live Tweeting has always felt very natural to me, but what has inspired me to write this post  was the launch of livetweeting.com today for the live broadcasting of LeWeb to the Arab world. Livetweeting is the 1st Arab Live Tweeting Platform with Crowd-sourced Translation to and from Arabic.

” A group of live tweeters will be covering the event in its Native Language, for example English, and at the same time multi-lingual tweeters will crowdsource translation of the coverage to a second language, for example Arabic. All that will be presented in real-time on LiveTweeting.com.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzn6l7zq_LQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

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* as a marketer , someone who is online for networking or building their personal brand

* you may also want to check some tips for livetweeting

My friends Social Media Marketing may still be fresh in the Middle East, but Social Media Activism is ON!

This Wednesday you have a chance to attend the first Fun(d)raising event that aims to raise money for buying toys for underprivileged children!

All you have to to is come to Link Antellias (starting 6:30 pm and seeping through) and indulge in bowling, darts, air hockey, arcades…. and much more. But , of course, you can go an extra mile and bring your own toys, which you are willing to part with, as well as craft materials and drawing supplies.

And all the procedes will go to funding Christmas gifts for needy kids. You can RSVP through the Funraising Facebook or Twitter events pages. If you can’t make it, you can still support the cause by Sporting a funraising banner on your site or blog, or donating some new or used toys to the little ones (pick up of the toys will be arranged .

But what is really remarkable about Fun(d)raising is the way this initiative has started and grown in literally three weeks, proving that online social activism and collaboration are a reality! Fun(d)raisers are a group of bloggers and other social media natives that came together through social media channels and a very enthusiastic call from Mireille to make it a reality. And anyone can join in and contribute with whatever he does best!

So come and bring your friends with you! If you can’t live without your internet connection, don’t worry, same will be made available on the spot, and you can provide full media coverage! Plus Funraising will be providing complete transparency, through blogging about all the contributions and documenting the donations.

I have been practicing, our swings this weekend, so come and face your fiercest bowling adversary! Would be great to meet all of you guys there!

P.S. I apologize for my online absence, though I am still active on twitter, anything needing creative exertions and work, is proving to be impossible. New developments in my life are emotionally draining, though all well worth it!

I want to say a big thank you to Patrick for being so excited about this guest post and sharing his expertise, tips and tricks related to advertising on blogs. But there is much more ground to cover, and Patrick has generously answer all questions we may have in second Q&A post. I will leave you with the post for now, but do not forget to check out Patrick’s blog – Projekt Cyan, his Portfolio as well as his many amazing projects. You can also check out Patrick’s amazing work space over at the #MYDESK post and do not forget to follow him on Twitter.

Advertising on your blog. A sin or a win?

Ethical? Un-ethical?

Advertising on blogs has been increasing dramatically over the past two years.  Individual entrepreneurs and companies are encouraged more and more to advertise their products and services on blogs and social networking sites that are currently flooding the internet.

There have been many “to advertise or not to advertise” arguments emerging within the blog world recently.  Some who are against the trend believe that advertising spots on your personal blog somehow force your loyal readers to be distracted or redirected by views or products that are not always useful or ethical.  Others think advertising is fine because it brings in revenue and puts your blog high up on the “super blog” ladder.

It works for me

I am a blogger who rents advertising spots on my design blog.  When I first started blogging three years ago the idea of advertising on my blog was out of question.  In addition to the reasons against blog ads I mentioned above, I also thought it would be unfair to my readers that I would be making money off their loyalty.

But eventually I began to look at it from a different perspective.  Some people read my blog on occasion, others visit it everyday, while some actually view it multiple times during the day; all of these visitors use the flow of information posted on it for various purposes.  Some read my posts to keep abreast of what’s going on in the design world, others are looking for a particular piece of information that I have posted about, and still others simply visit my blog for entertainment purposes.  In other words, my blog is essentially a medium that is constantly streaming a range of information that is being shared, commented on, and used by readers for both knowledge and entertainment.

So I concluded that if my readers are actually somehow benefiting from my blog, they probably would not mind if I benefited from it as well.

How does the money help?

Revenue from advertising can help pay the web hosting fees and can be used to buy resources to maintain and develop the blog, both of which help keep my blog running and active at all times for my readers to enjoy.  So in the end, it’s a win-win situation for both your readers and yourself.

Which way to go to sell advertising space?

There are multiple ways to advertise on your blog.  Three of these are most popular, and based on my own experience I will share with you what I think are the good and the bad about each:

1-Google AdSense – The famous Google tool for advertising on the internet.

You start by opening an account with AdSense (you can access it using your existing Gmail account).  You can then add and configure your blog or website in your dashboard, select various shapes and sizes of advertising banners, and then get the codes to paste on your blog.  AdSense will then monitor and scan your blog contents to publish related ads in the areas you have specified for       advertising and depending on the “impressions” on your blog.  AdSense will publish static text ads or actual pre-designed adverts from various parties, and you get paid for the amount of clicks generated from these ads.

The good:

• It’s easy to maintain and run.  All you have to do is paste the generated codes on your blog and it does all the work for you by posting ads and redirecting your readers accordingly.
• Money collecting is hassle free: you get your money every month or however often you choose in your settings.

The bad:

• Too many people are using it, meaning that the ads are spread out over a wider audience, which in the long run means that you won’t get paid that much.  Your website would have to have a really big “impression” number to start seeing enough money to make it worth it.
• Text ads do not really look good and are nowadays ignored by internet users/surfers.

2-Third Party Market Place (I call them third party engines hereafter).

They are several market place websites or bulk-advertising buyers who can offer you similar advertising schemes for your blog.  They work very similarly to Google in the sense that they gives you the codes to generate ads on your blog, and based on the criteria you fill in your settings it will start feeding ads to your blog.  They also pay you money depending on how much impressions/clicks each of your ads generates. These third party engines work for both publishers and advertisers.  The third party market place websites I sometimes use are: BuySellAds.com and AdBrite.com

The good:

• It’s easy to maintain and run.  All you have to do is paste the generated codes on your blog and it does all the work for you by posting ads and redirecting your readers accordingly.
• Money collecting is hassle free: you get your money every month or however often you choose in your settings.
• A little easier to use and less complicated than Google Adsense.

The bad:

• Too many people are using it, meaning that the ads are spread out over a wider audience, which in the long run means that you won’t get paid that much.  Your website would have to have a really big “impression” number to start seeing enough money to make it worth it.
• Text ads do not really look good and are nowadays ignored by internet users/surfers.

3-Do it yourself

If you can manage to do it all yourself, this is the best method of all and is what I personally prefer to do.  You get to decide where the advertising spots are on your blog layout, rate these different spots and catch potential advertisers yourself, and provide your clients with your specific blog statistics.  Sometimes if your blog is very popular you won’t need to publicize it: companies will actually come to you asking to advertise on your blog.

The good:

• Gives you better control over what is being advertised and by whom.
• You set your own fair rates based on your blog statistics.
• You get paid a fixed rate based on your blog stats rather than on the number of clicks on the ad.
• You can create your own advertising period schemes (so, per month, per quarter, annual, or seasonal).
• Based on all of these advantages, you end up making more revenue than with the previous two options listed above.

The bad:

• You have to manage the advertising slots and schedules yourself, which can be a bit tedious.
• You have to manage payment collections yourself.
• You won’t have any guarantees that clients will pay you on time unless you bind your clients with a contract.

Oh and by the way, you can also place advertising slots in your feeds!  This is very useful since a lot of people nowadays read blogs through their feeds.

Some tips for doing it yourself:

At the beginning you might need to give out some slots for free.  Identify potential advertisers who you think might be interested in advertising on your blog and approach them.  For example, if your blog is about food you should pitch to restaurants, fast-food chains, or even household electronic showrooms that sell kitchen gadgets.  Present your blog to them, tell them what it’s all about, show them your stats, and then offer them a free trial package such as a full month of free advertising for one of their products or a new menu item.  After a month or so, if your blog is getting the right audience they will recognize that this advertisement they placed on your blog helped increase their sales and they will want to continue advertising with you.

Interact with your client regularly; suggest some advertising ideas or campaigns from time to time (particularly at the start of certain holidays or seasons like Ramdan, Eid, or Christmas).

Remember that you are doing it all yourself, which means you have to know how much each available slot is being rented for, and for how long.  You also have to remind your client in advance that their advertising period will be ending soon and suggest renewing their contract.

Once you start advertising on your blog you have to keep your blog active with fresh contents all the time, as you need to keep those readership stats high.  The higher the stats, the more you can sell, and for higher prices.

Is it all worth it?

If it works out well then it is absolutely worth it.  You can make good money out of advertising – not only enough to pay your hosting, maintenance, and resources fees, but also to buy those geeky gadgets you always wanted!

Once again big THANKS to Patrick! And readers bring on the question while you have the chance !

As much as I wanted to go to the first Beirut Twestival, I wasn’t able to make it.  Seems like I am missing out on a lot lately. But , as I always say,  everything has its time! So let’s see what I’ve missed.

Sunset as seen through the eyesTwestival Beirut

As Twestivals worldwide have been raging around the Tweet. Meet. Give moto contributing to local charities, Beirut was on the closing wave ‘Twestivaling’ on  the lucky  13th of September. As Sana Tawileh*, one of the main players in making Twestival Beirut a reality, put it, right after the event in a state of disbeleif and euphoria ( my own sermise) – it went much better than expected (and my liberal quote).

The thing that pleases me most is that , from what I’ve been able to see, throughout the organization & the event, this Twestival had a typically Lebanese flavor: the short time given for set-up, finding ‘the volunteers’, an environmental cause,  a beautiful seaview from Cafe Rawda in Manara, an international movie crew who sponsored media coverage, and tweeps who just showed up last minute… to me this is uniquely Lebanese.

The Oragnizers: @lucyhanna @onoffbeirut @sanatawileh

While mystery shrouds the actual activities that took place at the Twestival and the number of tweeps who attended(the group photo has over 30) this is known:

- All preparantion were made under a VERY short time-period

- Avatars matched up to real people (this is the most magical part for me)

- A giant screen with a twitter stream was projected and plugins for real time updates were available

- Competitions over sponsor prizes were underway

- All proceeds went to a great cause, one that is being gaudingly overlooked in this country

-And finally Twestival is here to stay!

Interested in seeing more of Twestival Beirut?

Anyway, if anyone who was actually there stumbles upon it, I would really like to hear your recollection of the event, so please comment or DM me:) and see you there next year!

[Photos via: Twestival Beirut]

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Please pause for a huge round of applause for this amazingly professional and sweet lady ! I really can’t wait to meet her in real life!