Influencers Who Inspire Series – Dan Schawbel

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Susan Sweenie
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We continue talking with some of the greatest influencers in the industry with this week’s interview with Dan Schawbel. Dan Schawbel is the founder of Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and management consulting firm. He is the author of the #1 international best-selling book, Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future, now in 11 languages and he has been interviewed in top publications around the world such as Inc., Fortune and TIME, among others.

How do you define personal branding?

Personal branding is the process by which you unearth what makes you special and then communicate it to the right people who would benefit from your abilities. It’s about being authentic, having a specific audience in mind, and having flexible goals. It’s about believing in yourself, marketing yourself and making a commitment to success. Remember that the product (you) comes before the marketing (selling yourself). If you aren’t extremely good at a skill or knowledgeable on a topic, all the marketing and social media tools in the world won’t save you, they will just bring you down faster.

You have interviewed so many interesting people. Who has been the most surprising?

Out of about 650 total interviews since 2007, I would say that Hulk Hogan was the biggest surprise. He was very laid back, generous, honest and respectful. He opened up about his family, was excited that I grew up as a fan and had a lot of good career advice. He was by his pool in Florida during the interview, so that could have been part of it.

What do you love about living in Boston? What do you dislike about living in Boston?

I actually just moved to Boston last year. I grew up in Newton, moved to Waltham to attend Bentley University and I now live in Seaport. I like living in the innovation area because there are a lot of young entrepreneurs (people like me) and it’s an up-and-coming scene. I dislike how there’s no parking in Boston and it can be hard to get around.

What inspired you to write your book, “Me 2.0” and what can someone expect to gain from buying/reading it?

I had eight internships, seven leadership positions in student-run organizations and had my own small business in college. It still took me about eight months to land a job at EMC after going on several interviews. After a few months at EMC, I started a blog, which eventually turned into PersonalBrandingBlog.com after I read the Tom Peters’ “Brand Called You” article in early 2007. Within six months, I launched my own magazine, online video show, and wrote articles on personal branding for online sources. Fast Company profiled me for everything I had done in six months. EMC had no idea what I was doing outside of work but saw my social media abilities and recruited me internally to be the first social media specialist. This inspired me to write Me 2.0 because I was recruited based on the personal brand I had established online, instead of applying for jobs. It was a life changing experience and I captured it in my first book.

What are your hobbies or passions outside of work?

Work is obviously a passion of mine but I like to run, travel and meet new people as much as possible.

What is your favorite travel destination and why?

I really don’t have a favorite travel destination. I like Chicago, LA, NYC and the Bahamas. I always enjoy coming back to Boston though because I’m a big fan of the Seaport and the community here.

You are certainly a young entrepreneur and have done so much so early in your career. What are you most proud of? What else do you have planned for 2012 and beyond?

I would say that I’m most proud of turning Me 2.0 into the #1 book in Japan, despite not knowing the language.

I started a company called Millennial Branding back in early 2010, which started off as a full-service personal branding agency and is now a Gen-Y marketing research and consulting firm. I also signed my second book deal with St. Martins Press after over three years of rejection. The book is going to come out in the Fall of 2013 and it’s focused on how to get ahead in your career when you already have a job.

Tags: Dan Schwabel, entrepreneur, Gen Y, Me 2.0, Millenial branding, Millenials, Personal Branding, Social Media & Marketing

Persuasive Picks for week of 4/2/12

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Vic Miller
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Bored with your boards? Jennifer Van Grove of VentureBeat reviews one of the most requested features as Pinterest introduces customizable board covers – offering “pinners” the ability to choose a pin to be the cover for each board.

Tara Meehan writes that properly regulating social media shouldn’t be viewed as a negative. In fact, a compliant social media strategy can strengthen your messaging, build better relationships with existing clients and make you more attractive to potential clients. Here’s 4 Reasons Why All Companies Should Be Social Media Compliant via iMediaConnection.

Want Real Business Results From Facebook? Run a Social Campaign writes Mark Schmulen in this MarketingProfs post that provides examples of effective social media marketing via Facebook; as well as, explains how Facebook social campaigns can drive business results.

Businesses are getting more sophisticated in their use of social networking, so too are the metrics by which they measure social business ROI. As your business gets more social-savvy, Debra Donston-Miller of InformationWeek provides 5 Social Media Metrics That Matter Now that will help strengthen your metrics strategy.

Tags: Debra Donston-Miller, Facebook, iMediaConnection, InformationWeek, Jennifer Van Grove, Mark Schmulen, MarketingProfs, pinterest, ROI, social campaigns, social media metrics, Social Media Strategy, Tara Meehan, VentureBeat

Persuasive Picks for week of 3/26/12

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Vic Miller
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Tony Obregon explains in his SocialMediaToday post that while it seems like everyone is jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon, it’s creating a new paradigm of online sharers that are connecting with images to self-identify with their needs, wants and desires – The Art of Social Image Curation and Visual Linking.

The Future of Social Media is Holistic Engagement writes Paloma Vazquez in her recent post that outlines some key points indicating the “next big thing” appears to be for brands to use ‘social’ more strategically, connecting with and engaging their customers more holistically to drive business growth. – via PSFK.

Mashable‘s Joe Chenov writes that largely due to Facebook Timline for brand pages, the new marketing slogan has quickly become “humanize the brand” – simply meaning trying to interact with each customer on a personal level – and offers 10 Ways to Humanize Your Brand On Social Media.

Facebook Timeline launches on every page today and thanks to this update, every business now has the opportunity to display a large photo or image above its profile picture – The Facebook Cover. Paul Prisco gives some helpful Tips for Rocking Your Facebook Cover in his guest post at MarketingProfs.

Tags: Curators, Facebook Cover, Facebook Timeline, Holistic Engagement, humanize, Joe Chenov, MarketingProfs, Mashable, Paloma Vazquez, pin, pinners, pinterest, PSFK, Social Image Curation, Social Media, SocialMediaToday, Tony Obregon, Visual Linking

Persuasive Picks for week of 3/19/12

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Vic Miller
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Pinterest released a new page design for profile pages this week – Danielle Leitch of SocialMediaToday discusses the improved functionality and advantages the new design will provide for both “pinners” and businesses alike in her post Pinterest has a New Design.

This week also brought the announcement of the integration of social media into Google Analytics, bridging the gap between social media and the metrics businesses care about. Frank Reed, Managing Editor at Marketing Pilgrim, asks Was Analytics Google’s REAL Social Media Missing Link? in his latest post that predicts marketers will be looking more closely at more social media channels and see the value of being in even more places.

As Twitter celebrated it’s sixth birthday this week, Nancy Scola set out on a quest for the origins of a hashtag and came up empty handed. In her latest post Our social-media amnesia, she discusses the access and value of archival tweets – via Reuters.

Speaking of hashtags, Todd Wasserman of Mashable focuses on 6 Successful Twitter Hashtag Campaigns that effectively harnessed Twitter in a way that provoked positive discussion and action.

Tags: Analytics, Danielle Leitch, Frank Reed, Google Analytics, hashtag, hashtag campaign, Marketing Pilgrim, Mashable, Nancy Scola, pin, pinners, pinterest, Social Media, social media metrics, SocialMediaToday, Todd Wasserman, Twitter

Influencers Who Inspire: Hubspot’s Mike Volpe

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Susan Sweenie
Filed Under Interviews, Marketing, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Just a little over a year ago, Christine Perkett won a guest spot on Hubspot TV with Mike Volpe. Christine received 40% of the vote and had the privilege of guest hosting with Mike live from their Cambridge, MA offices. We’ve always had a huge appreciation for Mike here at PerkettPR, and appreciated him welcoming Christine so warmly and making her guest spot a really fun and rewarding experience. We were psyched he agreed to do an interview for our blog and to be a part of our Influencers who Inspire series.

Mike is the Chief Marketing Officer of HubSpot. He joined in early 2007 as the company’s fifth employee and currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer. He heads HubSpot’s lead generation and branding strategy through inbound marketing, including blogging, search engine optimization, video marketing, and social media. Since Mike joined HubSpot, the company has grown from 10 to 5,000 customers, expanded from five to 300 employees, and raised $65 million in venture capital. Under Mike’s leadership, HubSpot’s marketing has won more than 30 marketing awards and has been featured in over 20 marketing and business books. Mike is a cutting-edge B2B inbound marketer who speaks at numerous conferences, hosts a weekly live marketing video podcast on HubSpot TV, is one of the 100 most popular marketers on Twitter, consistently posts on blog.hubspot.com, and appears as a marketing speaker at industry conferences. He has also guest lectured at Harvard Business School, Babson University, Carnegie Mellon, TCU, Boston University, and MIT Sloan School of Management.

You wear many hats at HubSpot. How do you manage it all?

The truth is that I don’t manage it at all. I have a great team. At this point in our growth, there is little I can do as one person directly that has a huge impact. The impact I can have is by setting the right strategy and playbook, making sure we have the right people on the team, and mentoring the team members to help them grow.

What do you love about your role at Hubspot? Anything you dislike about your role or would like to change?

I love marketing. Call me a marketing geek, but I love thinking about marketing problems and talking about marketing. Doing marketing at HubSpot is like a triple dose of marketing because we’re marketing our marketing software to marketers. There isn’t much I would change – I’d love it if we had a gym in the office or had a chef cater our meals, both of which we are considering for our next space.

If you could golf with anyone in particular (celebrity or athlete), who would it be and who would win?

I love to golf, and Tiger Woods is the natural choice because his raw talent is a level above everyone else. But I don’t think it would be much fun to play a round with him, it would be too intense and he’d probably get really frustrated with me really fast, and it just would not be fun. So I’ll go with Bill Murray. He is a good golfer and hilarious - nothing could be more fun than to play 18 with him.

What topics do you enjoy speaking about the most?

Is there something to speak about besides marketing? I actually don’t speak a lot anymore, but when I do, I prefer to speak about my own experiences in marketing. That is what I know best and I usually hate it when some “guru” is up on stage talking about marketing, yet they have not worked in marketing at a real company in years.

What is next for you in 2012? And, for HubSpot?

In 2011 my wife and I had our first child, sold our condo in the city, moved to the suburbs after we renovated a house, hired a nanny and my wife went back to work. So we’re looking to have a less hectic year in 2012.

For HubSpot though, I think 2012 will be a huge year where a lot of the groundwork we have done over the past couple of years starts to pay off in a big way. I am more positive about the next 12 months than I have ever been in the history of the company. There are so many things to be excited about, most of which are not ready for prime time yet. All I will say is make sure to join us at Inbound 2012 for an amazing event and some big announcements.