Friends, Humans, Social Media Folks Lend Me Your Ears: The Payoff

Friends, Humans, Social Media folks…Lend me your ears…For let me tell thee about the true payoff of this thing we call Social Media!

Last week myself and others started a ball rolling on Twitter to aid a small but powerful radio station in Campbell River Canada where 99.7 FM The River’s morning DJ, Dave Reynolds spearheaded a food drive for their local food bank. A great local cause right? Everyone gets together to drop of food in a truck he’s residing in until all the food donated forces him out. Fun neighborly idea, right? He also wanted to get 700 turkeys donated to give to families that need a Christmas dinner. Wonderful thing for a small community, yes?

Now, take the word community, drop the word “local” and just run with “community”. You see, Dave had a bunch of friends on Twitter that believed in his cause. We asked, “What do we do for Dave and his radio station’s noble cause?” So we started Tweeting about it. We attached phone numbers to it. We added names of people to speak to at the local supermarket that had discounted turkeys for this event. The Save On Food store added people to the phone to keep up with calls coming in from across the globe. Next thing you know the truck overflows, the turkeys are accumulating and they need another truck…then another…And then the food bank donation start rolling in…

One Million Dollars later.
One thousand turkeys later.
One million eyes on Twitter later.
One idea, one dream later and 11 days later enough food was gathered to provide and feed 9,000 families!

The meaning of giving, the meaning of the holidays and the meaning of what it IS to be human came through that thing we call social media. The “social” in that definition earned its meaning.

One more note on the power of the medium. I was sitting at my desk just now and a card is dropped of from the mail person. Excited to see who would have thought to send me a REAL Christmas card rather than an email blasted to everyone in their mailbox thrilled me. So, thank you Steve Curtin!

When I opened it my pulse increased. It was unexpected and real and authentic! It was from a friend I made on Twitter and had the pleasure of sharing conversation with and he was nice enough to send me a card. Not a Tweet. Not a Facebook “poke”. A card in his own handwriting.

Sometimes something we look at as a generally cold and really impersonal way of communicating can surprise you. But it’s what we make of it. It’s how we use it. It’s sometimes how we can stay human.

Be real.
Be authentic.
Create and redefine the world around you and the human race will make it safely over the finish line with a little help from each other.

And So It Goes and Happy Holidays!

                            

Don't Be a Turkey, Give a Turkey This Holiday!

 A few months back I had the privilege of becoming online friends with Dave Reynolds and RickieTyler, two of the radio DJ’s at 997 FM in Campbell River, British Columbia. We are all part of the #usguys Twitter chat gang and nearly every morning Dave is kind enough to play me a request for some abstract song I torture his music library with or give me a kind shout out. I always say to him, Thanks Dave I owe ya”. Well in my eyes it’s payback time.

For three years, 99.7 The River has hosted the River Relief Truck in support of the Campbell River Food Bank and other local agencies. And like past years Dave has dedicated himself to live in a 53 foot transport trailer until it is full of non perishable items. The show will be broadcasting live from the trailer and the goal is to fill the semi-trailer from front to back. Last year The River Relief Truck raised $250,000 in food which supplied the Food Bank until July of this year. This December 1st will be no different.

But here’s the added beauty of the vision of Dave and his team. This year, on December 6th they are holding a fund-raiser called Turkey Tuesday in which they will hold a Turkeython (I guess is the safe way to put it?) to get 700 turkeys donated to feed the homeless this Christmas.

But I need the help of my restaurant friends and people that want to be the change.

For those who know me, you know I LOVE a good cause (right Amanda Hite?) I believe in this cause but more importantly? I believe in Dave Reynolds and his team.

This isn’t a call to action. It’s a call to arms. To reach out your arms to those that don’t have food this season. To help those trying though their minds and arms are too weary.

I’m asking you to make a difference and do what you can for Dave and his Relief Truck. The goal is to make sure every family that uses the food bank this year, get a Turkey. That's 600 families then 100 birds to the Salvation Army for hot meals.That’s 700 total. Dave and the 997 Radio team has worked out an incredible deal with a food sponsor for turkeys at .95 a lb for that day!

Some of you may be saying, but what about the homeless in my backyard? Friends, this entire planet IS our backyard!

A simple $10 donation buys a Turkey on Dec 6 for an entire family. That’s one less fancy drink after a holiday party or 3-4 cups of Starbucks that week. Please go to the link below and make a difference.
                                     The Campbell River Food Bank http://t.co/osZJELC
Plus follow Turkey Tuesday on Twitter at #TurkeyTuesday and make sure you are re-tweeting it to help spread the word! And please use this link to make a donation! Just $10 can feed a whole family with a Turkey! Click Here>> http://goo.gl/yKZbo

Dave…I’ll be sending Hello Kitty earmuffs and a light saber so you can split your Taun Taun open and keep warm inside until you hit your goal. And YOU WILL hit your goal!

Listen to the Dave Reynolds and Rickie Tyler shows live online at 997 The River and check out the video from last year’s campaign! Also read his blog post on a moving experience with last years campaign. "The Power to gather Roses in the Winter: http://bit.ly/ryX7K8


                                                                    And So it Goes...

                                          Thanks Dave but you can rest when we hit the goal!

Family Feud: Your Professional Facebook Page & Family

"Seriously?”

As soon as I read this first word of the text from my sister I knew I had to raise my shields.

“Your own Facebook page with 260 friends? With mutual friends? And not ONE of your family? That is really f*#@ed up!”

OK, let’s have one of those back in time moments like on TV when the screen starts to get wavy and the narrating character’s voice starts to get that echo effect and I’ll drop a little history on you viewers at home.


There is a Sullivan Family Facebook page where all our family and friends can read the latest adventures of our daughters ongoing potty training and people can look at pictures of things we may never even look at again ourselves and leave comments such as “I love this” and my favorite, the simple “Awe, CUTE!”.

Then there is the Ty Sullivan Facebook page where I gather all my social media and business friends to share in like ideas and subscribe to my groups and items of interest that would otherwise have my Sullivan Family followers racing for the exits like the audience at an Adam Sandler film.

So, the question came to mind, is it me? Have I committed a heinous social/social media faux pas?  Is it alright to not invite family and friends to a Facebook page you created for “another purpose” sans the evil intent of a Senator having somewhere to post “hottie shots’ of himself?

I opened the question up to the #UsGuys Twitter morning coffee gang and got answers ranging from the hilarious, “Separation of Church and State” (thanks Barry Peters) to the “Oh Hell to the NO” response like “I don’t even friend my family on my regular page!” (You tell them Brandie McCallum). But in the end it was a clean draw on the responses. Half said it was OK, half said heck no.  There was only one way to solve this.
It was time to turn to the Jedi of Social Media manners to restore order to the galaxy.
To call upon the Emily Post of new media.
It was time to summon the Divine Diva of etiquette, Dabney Porte who runs Twitters #SMMANNERS chat.

Dabney stated that there was no harm in mixing the two worlds for are we not the same people on both Facebook pages? She made a good point of saying its OK to let those that know you in the social media realm see you in your day to day life. It enhances the human factor that sometimes is hard to get a handle on in a medium where there are some that are not who they claim to be. It adds leverage to your authenticity factor. People like to see the other side of the person who may just post “statistical articles” or “just the facts” blogs.


Dabney does a heroic job merging all her chats, Facebook pages and her website SocialMediaGirlFriends.com and she does this freely because she wants everybody to share in what she is doing. She wears it all on her sleeve as do I.  I am open, authentic, and have nothing to hide. You want to know me? Look on my blogs, Facebook and Tweets, and there I am. If you don’t see what you want to know? Ask me.

But as for merging the Facebook pages? I guess it all comes down to a personal choice. But what say you fair reader? What do you think?

Inquiring minds want to know!
And Dabney….And me….and the guy reading your iPad over your shoulder…And so on and so on…And So it Goes....

You can follow Dabney Porte on Twitter @DabneyPorte and on SocialMediaGirlfriends.com
Barry Peters on Twitter @barrypeters
Brandie McCallum on Twitter @lttlewys and @SenseiMarketing

HELP! Leadership, Mentoring & The Beatles

 

What is “HELP”? Well, besides it being the blood curdling yell to summon someone who just happens to have a great big “S” under their dress shirt, it’s one of the words all leaders should have in their top 10 terminology list.

 In this case it has two meanings: the classic definition of aiding someone who requires assistance but it also serves as an acronym inspired by one of the greatest Beatles tunes of all times, “Help!”

Help
Elevate
Leadership
Potential

We can all agree that a great leader knows how to take their troops from point A to point B to help them achieve both the leader and the troop’s goal in succeeding. But an even greater leader knows how to see something in that person that they may not even see in themselves, and mentor them to the level that they didn’t even know they were capable of.

“Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help!  You know I need someone, HELP!”
A good leader can see when someone has the right stuff. A better leader knows how to answer the call for HELP in a manner that encourages and supports the individual rather than coming to their rescue. Instilling a sense of independence and confidence become the building blocks for their personality. Anyone can give instructions, but, to truly teach is to be a true driving force.

“Help me if you can I’m feeling down, and I do appreciate you being around”
A good leader’s job is to keep spirits and morale up with words and actions of encouragement. But a great leader gives them the crutches they need to lift themselves up when they fall.  Leadership is about getting others to wake up, make their dreams come true and realize their true potential.

“Now my life has changed in oh so many ways …”
John Lennon, used to light a fire under the lads when the vision of success was dimming. He would ask them “Where are we going, fellas?” And they would shout, “To the top, Johnny!” “Where’s that, fellas?” “To the toppermost of the poppermost!” . They knew where they were headed. There was a target.  A goal, and John, as their “leader” had a destination. A vision with a definitive desired result.  A leader leads the team or individual to a destination, otherwise that person is just in front of an assembly of people as the Nowhere Man.

Why not find that person or person in your company and take them from Yesterday into today escalating them into tomorrow with your mentoring. They will become great leaders themselves due to a little help from their friendly leader!

“Our care and dedication to our children will be reflected in the generations to come.”

- Chantal Wiebe

You can follow Chantal on Twitter @chantal_wiebe