Designing Your Reinvention

August 30, 2009

Written by Karen D. Swim

I am not sure if pigs are flying but I almost feel like they should be. Below is a 3 minute video of me (yes me!) in which I discuss reinvention. In many ways, this represents a new chapter for me too. I so believe in the power of change that I braved my video fears to share with you three quick tips on reinventing your life.

I have  had more than a few new chapters, and each time I think I’m all out of gas, I learn that we all have hundreds of “new starts” if we’re willing to face them.

Have you ever had to reinvent yourself? What lessons did you learn from the process?

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55,000 Web sites hacked to serve up malware cocktail | Zero Day | ZDNet.com

August 26, 2009

Posted via web from Marketing, Musings and More from Karen Swim

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How Bulletproof is Your Reputation?

August 25, 2009

Written by Karen D. Swim

This morning my friend, Dwann Holmes Olsen had her Facebook page hacked. The hacker posted vile and ugly rantings on her wall alarming many of her followers.  The hacking was disturbing, but even more disturbing were those that believed that Dwann had written the uncharacteristic words.

Misrepresentation and slander are nothing new. Corporations and high profile figures have long dealt with these issues. However in this new era of user generated content, where anyone can have a platform, the dark side has gone mainstream.

“A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” –Wayne Gretzky

Gretzky’s quote paints the need to have both a good offense and defense.  When it comes to your reputation you should fiercely guard it against attack but also be prepared to respond against negative attacks.

Whether you are a solo professional or a large corporation, there are steps that you can take to protect your good name.

Monitor your name/brand. In addition to Google Alerts there are a number of monitoring tools that will help you track how your name and/or company name is being used.  The following tools will help you track name/brand mentions, comments, even social chatter.

• Tweetlater – Set up keyword alerts for your name, @name, company name and receive an email digest whenever your alert terms are tweeted. There is also a paid option offering additional features.  Similar to tweetlater, is Tweetbeep (free and premium options).
• Backtype – track blog comments. You can track comments with your name and keep track of your own comments.
• Yacktrack – allows you to track social comments. You can serach for URL or use the chatter tab to search by term.
• Boardtracker – monitor forum threads with your name/company name.
• Addictomatic – monitor mentions on user generated content sites such as Digg, Flickr, Blogs. I always find mentions not delivered by Google alerts.
• Filtrbox – real time social media monitoring. Filtrbox offers the basic product and Twitter Influence for free. There is also a paid product. Fairly robust monitoring service with lots of intelligent features.

If you have a higher visibility or want to take your brand monitoring to the next level, consider using paid tools.

• Radian6 – offers near real time metrics, in depth analysis and reporting and a customizable dashboard.
• Trackur – online reputation and social media monitoring tools. Plans start at $18 per month.
• ReputationDefender – Four monitoring tools, MyChild (safety tool for parents), MyPrivacy (remove your personal information from the web), MyReputation (monitor and manage your online reputation), MyEdge (control how you look in search engines).
• Cision – Social media monitoring tools
• BrandsEye – monitor your online reputation, quantify brand perception. Blooger rates are $1 per month for 5 phrases.

These are only a few of the tools available to help you build a good offense. The next step is to ensure that you are prepared with a good defense.

Prepare a crisis communication plan. Are you ready with an answer when negative press hits the digital airwaves? Do you have a documented plan accessible to your staff? This is where working with PR professionals can really be beneficial. Professionals are not only masterful at obtaining you good press but defending against negative attacks.

Do you have a master non-digital list of profiles, sites and passwords? If you are hacked, it is essential to be able to change your passwords and access.  Do you have employees or volunteers with access? Do you know who has access to what sites?

Protect your digital footprint. Use Virus protection software to alert you to potentially harmful sites. If you are a solo professional or small company without an in house IT department, contract with a company to protect your system. For small companies, local computer companies are a great, affordable option for quarterly check-up and cleaning. Be cautious about allowing applications access to your profile. Do not trust every application just because someone in your network tweets about it.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Please feel free to add tools and tips to in the comments. Have you ever had your reputation hijacked? How did you respond?

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Stretching my Boundaries

August 18, 2009

Posted via web from Marketing, Musings and More from Karen Swim

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BatchBook: Blue Paper: Social Media for Small Business

August 16, 2009

via batchblue.com

Found this link via Rosa Say of Talking Story and it is a very nice primer on Social Media for small business. If you’re already an expert, great resource to share with new clients or colleagues who are not as savvy.

Posted via web from Marketing, Musings and More from Karen Swim

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Painting by Numbers

August 10, 2009

Written by Karen D. Swim

When I was 10 my mother took me to the art store. I was not exactly artsy; I could not even draw a straight line. Therefore, it never occurred to me that this trip was anything more than another outing with my mom.

We traveled through the aisles and my eyes could not drink in the array of artistic tools fast enough. Paper, easels, brushes and paints seemed to dance and dazzle before my eyes. The blood rushed to my head as I excitedly took in the adventure. We finished shopping and I stood at the checkout counter as the kaleidoscope of images flashed through my mind. When I finally came down from my art candy rush, we were home and I was the proud owner of a paint-by-numbers set.

I stared at the box and read the description. I put it on my desk and stared at the picture of what my final masterpiece would resemble. For several weeks, the box sat unopened, ripe with possibilities. I peered at it sometimes with a mixture of anger as it taunted me to go ahead and mess it up. Some days, I even wore my beret and spoke in French around it to capture the mood of true artiste. Mom patiently encouraged me in her sweet way until I finally mustered the courage to open the box.

I laid out my materials and imagined that I was in a French countryside. I began to follow the numbering system to bring my sailboats alive on the canvass. I dipped my brush in the watercolors, tongue firmly planted to one side of my mouth to steady my hand. I checked my progress against the picture on the box unconvinced that I could pull it off but refusing to give up. After a day of blue paint here, grey paint there I began to drift from the “rules.” The waves had so many colors and I tired of the tedious and constricting process so I painted on my own, swirling paints in my best Monet impression. I went back and forth between the rules and my own way until the painting was completed.

I signed it at the bottom carefully making cursive letters with and showed my mom. There were spots where bits of paint had gathered in a little clump creating bumpy places on the smooth canvas. Mom seemed not to notice and beamed as if I had painted the Sistine Chapel. She framed it and proudly hung it on the wall. Every visitor to our home was taken to my “wall” where mother would proudly point and exclaim, “K painted that.” Each would dutifully smile and mutter an appropriate platitude as I hid from view completely mortified.

I should have known then that I would somehow always have a love-hate relationship with structure. I felt guilty for abandoning the numbering system and cheating the rules. Would the paint-by-numbers people come after me and label me a fraud? Was it really a painting if I didn’t do it their way?

Yet, I also felt constricted by boundaries that seemed only to fit for a little while. I liked order but found myself equally drawn to disorder. Perhaps it was a mirror of my own doubt about my capabilities. Could a girl who could not draw a straight line and frequently bumped into things really possess talent?

I continued to bounce in and out of the lines somehow finding my way. I never broke real rules but frequently used guidelines as a base from which I created my own course. As an adult, I have come to realize that those boundaries may have been like the training wheels on my big girls bike. I only needed them until I did not.

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Be The Hero

August 7, 2009

Written by Karen D. Swim

Be the Hero: Three Powerful Ways to Overcome Challenges in Work and Life is a new book by Noah Blumenthal. The book is essentially about overcoming self-inflicted victimization.  It inspires us to change the stories we tell ourselves, rise above and be the hero.

The book made the Top 20 in all books this week and it’s close to making the New York Times bestseller list for the week. Here’s the really cool part, all sales through Saturday, August 8th will count toward New York Times bestseller status. If When the book makes it Noah will donate  100% of his royalties from this bestselling week to the Miami Children’s Hospital.

Not a bad deal, you get a life changing book, and the chance to change the life of a child.

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Easing into August

August 3, 2009

Written by Karen D. Swim

I am sitting in my office on what could be described as a perfect summer evening. August has arrived and with it the heat that has eluded us all year. The sky is clear and there is a peaceful stillness. Even the bugs seem to be moving at a slower pace in an attempt to conserve their energy.

It is the kind of night that makes you want to just sit back and enjoy friends and family, take a dip in a pool, lake or creek (or “crick” as I heard someone say recently) and laugh until it’s so dark you can’t see your finger in front of your face.

I found myself singing an old Gershwin tune and I wanted to share it with you all.  This is the beginning of the end of the summer here, and I hope you take some time to just savor and enjoy.

Summertime,

And the livin’ is easy

Fish are jumpin’

And the cotton is high

Your daddy’s rich

And your ma is good lookin’

So hush little baby

Don’t you cry

One of these mornings

You’re going to rise up singing

Then you’ll spread your wings

And you’ll take to the sky

But till that morning

There ain’t nothing can harm you

With daddy and mamma standing by

Summertime,

And the livin’ is easy

Fish are jumpin’

And the cotton is high

Your daddy’s rich

And your mamma’s good lookin’

So hush little baby

Don’t you cry

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