• Many are still afraid to dabble in the most basic format of social media as it could be viewed as a waste of time and a shameless channel for self-promotion.
• Many do not have a clue on the creative uses and applications of these channels to build their personal brand or their organizational brand. Creating a Facebook or Twitter account is not enough.
• Many simply do not care to understand and prefer to hide under a rock while “attacking” those who are “socially enlightened”.
• Many see social media as white noise instead of an opportunity to learn and engage.
• Many are afraid of going public. Transparency is not an easy pill to swallow.
• Many make privacy an excuse.

For the first time in my years of learning and sharing about the digital space professionally and as an digital media entrepreneur, I received “hate mail.”

As humans we respond to confrontation or negative information in varied behavioral patterns.  I chose to reflect rather than react. Why? There was no point in glorifying my “attacker’s” limited perspective and understanding on the powers of engagement. Unfortunately to many, engagement is equivalent to conversation. This is an incorrect notion.

Barriers To Entry

What challenges are brands facing in today’s social web?

• Fear. Many brands continue to fear true engagement as it leaves zero barriers for criticism and attacks. Setting up a Facebook or Twitter account and displaying this information in your store-front is not equivalent to true engagement.

• Champion. True engagement within an organizational brand thrives when there is someone leading the project idea and program.

• Proof of Burden. Lack of internal data and specific market data showcasing that true engagement works and directly translates to revenue.

I could list more, in my opinion these are the top of mind barriers and reasons why brands are hesitant to embrace true engagement.

Characteristics of True Engagement

• Ecosystem. From the moment a user steps into your web destination a connection is sparked up to the point he or she checks out of your site and returns. A great example of an engaged ecosystem is Toms.
• Market Appeal. Your audience flocks around your brand like a moth to a flame for a variety of reasons and influences. Market appeal can be created by attaching your brand to a cause. A great example is One Day Without Shoes.
• Transparency. Be open and honest about what your brand can do and cannot do at the moment.The more fluff in your message, the more traction you’ll lose in convincing your audience to engage with your brand.

Lastly, here’s a book from Brian Solis that could help lead your brand to the next level of  Engagement.

Article first published as Understanding True Engagement on Technorati.

Sir Richard Branson one of the international recognizable personalities of kiteboarding announced the partnership of Billabong and the BVI Kite Jam in 2011.

Kiteboarding as a recognized adventure sport has been around for a little over a decade. Once considered the most dangerous sport on the planet during its early years, today it is getting a second look from water, wind and outdoor sports enthusiasts. Why?

• The equipment and gear has improved through the years.
• Instruction for the sport is mushrooming in beach resorts from the coastlines of Brazil, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Australia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, Maui, Florida, Oregon, North Carolina and practically any place you can find water and consistent wind. Definitely a revenue source for the local beach economy.
• A sport dominated by men with noticeable growth in interest from women and teens.
• Kiteboarding is an all year-round sport and has grown into multi-categories including kiteboarding/kitesurfing, snowkiting and landboarding.
• After the investment in lessons and quiver (collective term for kite equipment) all you need is wind, water, snow or sand to enjoy the thrill of the sport.
• Travel is a huge component. Kiters are known to visit exotic places to kite and plan all their vacation around their sport.
• Once a kiter there is no turning back. It is a lifestyle sport.

The kiteboarding lifestyle attracts a certain personality type. It is not for the mass market since it requires time and dedication to get the basics. A single brand new quiver starts at $1,000 and up. While lessons can cost from $450 to another $1,000 and more depending on your learning ability. So who are the crazies getting into the sport?

Professionals who have an average income of $75K and up and high net worth individuals. The sport attracts people from industries that are usually high-stress, high-risk and high-reward including venture capital, finance, medicine, technology and entrepreneurs.

Technology and social media is a big component of a kiter’s lifestyle. Kiters with jobs that allow them to remotely stay connected with their professional organizations live a mobile kite life. Bringing their source of income wherever they go. Still considered a niche community of over 200,000 worldwide in 2006 and expected to grow 20% each year, the kiteboarding community is definitely a movement to watch.

Learn more about the new geek hobos lifestyle on Just Kite It.

Just Kite It dot com, a community for kiteboarding enthusiasts

After speaking with a friend kiter, she joined a few kiting message board forums, which seemed so outdated in comparison to the social media technology of web 2.0 standards. Armed with not much information about kiteboarding she took her chances and called a school in the Great South Bay, New York in July. Good idea? Bad idea. Summer is the worst time to learn the sport in New York and the nasty green flies leave you with painful bites. Not only is the Great South Bay a two-three hour train ride on the LIRR from Brooklyn and Manhattan, learning to kite is not inexpensive. A lesson can cost anywhere from $150-$200 per hour depending on the level of instructor. At times the school will share your lesson with another student and not inform you of this. In some cases, you could get five-hour lessons for $500. Granted the sport is difficult, you will need more than three hours of water instruction. Kiters who have sailed, windsurfed, surfed and wakeboarded could pick up the sport quicker and faster. It is 90% about the kite and 10% about the board. Meaning, understanding the nuances of the wind and controlling the kite within its power, your kite flying skills and knowledge about your environment is key to enjoying the sport, your safety and the safety of others in the water and on the beach.

In August 2009, after a number of frustrating attempts at lessons in New York and Cape Hatteras, NC due to lack of wind in the months of July – August, Jessica then ventured to the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. The wind capital of the Pacific North West. “I first discovered the River Gorge through a kiter friend on Facebook.” Jessica a natural traveler has not ventured beyond California for travels to the West Coast. “It looks like a little piece of heaven, why has not anyone mentioned this place to me before?” Another loop hole in the kiting world is the discovery and the level of detail that existing kiting web properties can provide. “Information sharing about kite education, kite spots and the consistent engagement of kiters worldwide is what we hope to solve for the progression of the sport.” Kiteboarding is breaking down geographic and gender barriers for over a decade now. So many untold stories are raring to be shared that will inspire connoisseurs of the sport, viewers and those curious about it. The global and local community’s affinity for wind, water and kite is a natural glue. Every kiter is in love with a fellow kiter’s skills and his or her experiences.

For version 1 of Just Kite It dot com our goal is to provide kiters worldwide and those interested in the sport with as much information about kite education, kite spots around the world through editorially curated from user-generated stories. Version 1.5 will be wrapped around extreme entrepreneurship and technology events for the startup community. It is a known fact, there is a growing number of technologists and startup founders who kite. This could be attributed to the leadership of the Silicon Valley VC, Bill Tai who has been featured on Forbes.com. Version 2.0 of Just Kite It dot com will showcase a fully social web property with mobile applications for engagement in a global scale.

The average age of kiters range from 30-35 professionals with a slow, yet noticeable adaptation of the twenty-something and baby boomer demographics. There is also a growing number of women who are kiting, up 30% from 2008. Kiteboarding is a lifestyle sport and it is growing at a steady rate of 20% annually.

Jessica Valenzuela is also the Founder and Chief Principal of a New York based boutique digital branding agency, Mavin Digital, Inc. the creators of Just Kite It. Her co-founder Marek L. Biestek is the General and Managing Partner of a New York based hedge fund, MSMB Capital, LLC. Jessica and Marek are kiteboarders who met at a parking lot on Tobay Bay, New York after a kiting session.

About Just Kite It dot com (http://justkiteit.com)
Welcome to Just Kite It dot com, a content publisher and social community focused on kite education, sports tourism and connecting likeminded professionals of the sport.

Founded by two kiteboarding addikts, with backgrounds in media, digital branding, social media, finance management and startups, Just Kite It aims to provide a place for sharing information and knowledge kite education, kite spots around the world and connecting likeminded professionals of the sport.

You can find us on Twitter @jkiteit and on our Facebook Fan page.

Mission:
Just Kite It is your source for kite education, kite spot locations around the world, inspiring stories from pro-athletes and enthusiasts,  networking events and off-topic features that will offer insight and make you laugh at the same time.

a community Lovingly created for kiters, by Kiters.

by Jessica Valenzuela @mavindigital

Recently, I’ve had to face some tough decisions as a Founder for a new company that I am nurturning, Just Kite It. Beyond the day-to-day hustle of ensuring that action items are followed-through and executed on efficiently, networking and making connections that will help grow the company, keeping your team motivated and focused, there are those days when tough decisions need to be made in order to keep the upward momentum of the startup. Decisions that at times may result in hurting a friendship that you truly value.

I could have chosen to start Just Kite It on my own. After much consideration and thought, I decided to bring in a co-Founder. Back in August, my requirements were simple and generic: equally passionate about kiting. Someone who can strongly complement my skill sets and talent. After all I started a service business, Mavin Digital, Inc. So this new startup should be a piece of cake. I discovered that there is more to learn.

Lesson #1: I was naive to think that friendship and common passion for a sport and a lifestyle is enough to warrant a strong working relationship.

When the wheels start to turn is when you realize that common passion and friendship is not enough to get you through the potholes of starting  a company. You can only prepare so much and risk manage as much. Have 101 conversations on the possible challenges that could occur to keep the fluidity of the creation process. At the end of the day a Founder’s duty is to have clarity and focus on the tasks. Can friendships make it through tough business decisions? It depends. There is no right or wrong answer here. In my opinion, keeping a general open mind and conversation always bears better fruit, yet the Founder’s Duty is keeping the vision in which the company was founded. Keep that flame burning bright up to the finish line.

“Trust is a Founder’s biggest challenge. Not capital,” Divya Gugnani, Founder Behind the Burner.

Lesson #2: Is capital enough to earn co-Foundership status? The clear answer is no.

Obviously, investor equity at the seed round is available to those who invests in the startup. Yet it is a Founder’s duty to pick a founding team he/she can trust to have infinite desire to help execute on your idea, transform it into a great product and understands the business you are building. Equity motivated by capital alone could dilute the vision of the startup. Distractions over revenue decisions versus focusing on what is strategically sound for the company could hurt the growth of the organization and performance of the brand.

“Create and deliver a good product first, then business will come,” The Apple story.

Lesson #3: KISS and focus on doing one thing well.

Identifying a problem and crafting a solution that a community would find valuable is not a one shot process. Nurturing an idea and transforming it into a product requires evolution. Sometimes the idea becomes diluted and the problem in which it is intended to solve is lost. We were close to heading down that path for Just Kite It. I was reminded by a fellow Founder and friend, KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) and focus on doing one thing well. So back to the drawing board I went.Today, as we draw closer to our alpha release date for phase 1…I’m excited! It won’t be perfect, yet that is the beauty of the startup creation process there will always be room for improvement.

Lesson #4: Don’t build to sell. Build to create a great company.

So far the most invaluable lesson I’ve learned since my journey into creating Just Kite it. I was at a coffee shop yesterday meeting someone who I have a high regard for and is one of my Advisory Board members for Mavin Digital, Inc. He stopped me in my tracks when I said, “well in two years I’ll probably sell.” I was greeted with “Don’t think like that. You don’t build a company to flip it. You build a company to create great companies.”

Indeed, why would you want to sell something you love? “Do what you love and never give up,” Bill Tai.

The advent of social media as a way to deliver and consume information has lifted personal and professional barriers. We’re more social as a species. Technology has disarmed our inhibitions or given us the space to be less inhibited. Like anything new we experiment and test. Run a variety of use case scenarios to discover if this is something you’ll want to have as part of your life rituals and for how long?

Does it diminish the depth of our social connection simply because we know we can FB or Twitter people anytime, any day? Does it bring me closer to the world at large and say…oh wow I didn’t know thinkers like that exist.

I really don’t have all the profound answers. As much as I am a big consumer both on a personal and a professional level, I wonder about the real connection it creates. I wonder if we are on a feeding frenzy?  Feeding on each others’ ideas, maligning them secretly or are we truly helping and inspiring each other?

I am in places like Foursquare, Gowalla, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and now Tumblr. Some of my close circle of friends asks why do you care or they’ll laugh at me having posted photos from the previous night’s event. I guess my simple answer is I just do.

Secretly I hope that those who are in these social networks do care enough to be there and contribute. How about a cup of coffee with that?

@mavindigital

In the last couple months the buzz about social media has been getting so loud I got rid of my cable. Ok that’s not really the reason I got rid of my cable but it might as well have been. Almost every story was either about Facebook or Twitter.

Ok so we all should know by now that social media is hot. No, I take that back…it’s smoking hot.

Almost everywhere I go there is someone calling themselves a social media expert. What makes them an expert? I read a great post recently over on the MarketingProf Daily Fix blog about social media that I think is the problem with companies and individuals implementing social media.

They can teach you the platform but they can’t teach you to be social

And without those skills any social media strategy is going to fail. People like to do business with people they like. Not with people they find obnoxious.

Becoming a “social business” (meaning true participation as opposed to leveraging social media as a new form of marketing) can impact nearly every function of a business -
Five Challenges Social Media Will Bring to Business by David Armano

My advice to anyone new to social media.

• Decide why you are doing it in the first place. Just because it hot…does not mean it’s right for your business. Just look at all the abandoned blogs out there.
• Be yourself.
• Don’t say anything online you wouldn’t in person.
• Stop reading all blog posts about how to tweet. If someone unfollows you. Who cares.

The application also includes an impressive feature called Nearby™, which enables fans to watch and exchange messages, photos and video with other NIN fans real-time from all over the world, powered by Google Earth.  By zooming in to a concert location, you can follow the localized discussion during the show while viewing pictures posted live from the venue.  Consider it a one-stop shop for community and content powered by the fans themselves and to extend the concert experience beyond the people actually attending the show.

So why should you care?  Well, for starters, NIN Access looks like everything that Web 2.0 promised to be for musicians, fans and frankly, anyone who embraces progressive technology — all wrapped up in an incredibly slick package.  It is, in a sense, the “ultimate resource” for the NIN community online: one that integrates seamlessly with services and technologies their fans are already using — Blogger, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, RSS, bittorrent, and dynamic playlists, with the next release of the app promising to incorporate Vimeo, Photobucket, MediaWiki, openID and Facebook Connect.  By doing this, Reznor has effectively brought together community and content, powered by fans themselves, while extending the concert experience beyond those actually attending the show.  Further, he’s deepened the interaction between artist and fan, and between the fans themselves.  And this, if done correctly, could prove to be a mighty powerful thing for musicians and marketers alike.

Eric Pilkington, Guest Blogger

While in San Francisco for the recently concluded Web 2.0 Expo I had a moment to catch up with Suzane Xie (@suzannez) CEO and co-Founder at Weardrobe. The seedlings of our friendship began in the summer of 2008 in New York City. Connected by Women 2.0, our pursuit and passion for community building and our startups. It was truly extraordinary to see her and listen to the evolution of Weardrobe and its continued success. Here’s an excerpt of our conversation. I hope it will inspire you as it has moved me.

@mavindigital: Girlfriend am so proud of you! Tell me about your experience in the accelerator program at SXSW. How did you get in?

@suzannez: Truly an unplanned moment. I was not planning on being at SXSW until I saw an email message from @tikkers asking for startups to submit to the SXSW program. The short of it, we submitted Weardrobe for the social networking catetory and was selected as one of the 25 finalists to present. Then everything evolved from that moment. @guykawasaki is now one of our fans, and has been helpful in making introductions. Listen in on what people think about Weardrobe on Twitter.

@suzannez: Haha, hardly the case. I’d like to be the next @garyvee first before I ever get to be the next Oprah.

Note: Suzanne and I were laughing hysterically at that moment over something really geeky.

@suzannez: We (@richtong, my co-Founder of Weardrobe) made the decision to relocate to Palo Alto for many reasons. One being closer to Stanford University opened doors to a pool of really great intern talent. Second, I wanted to establish Weardrobe as an integral part of the Valley startup and investor community for future growth. The Valley investor community sees more dealflows and are open to new ideas versus microscoping the bottomline, hence by the time we are ready for sizeable funding, the hope is to tap into those relationships. Today, we have a converted home office in Palo Alto which is extremely accessible for our interns at Stanford. In the last six months, we re-launched Weardrobe with new site design and a clearer vision for our business model.

@suzannez: Our focus for the past six months is to improve the quality of our content. The hard-work and focus has paid off as we’ve seen traffic growth from 35K to 125K with over half a million page views and it increases daily. Weardrobe has made clothing more discoverable and searcheable for the average fashion fiend or wanna be fashion fiend. Any woman with a closet has a story to share about their personal style. What best place to start sharing that story is from your own closet. Fashion retailers like American Apparel and other fashion retailers of which I am unable to share at the moment since we are in the dealmaking process are beginning to see the value we add in the fashion ecosystem. Google as a search engine is a gateway to the entire internet, but they can’t cover every niche vertical. Weardrobe is your gateway to discovering wearable fashion.

@suzannez: Weardrobe’s audience has an age median of female and 19 years old. College to late twenties, who we refer to as the fashion influencers. 95% of our users are female, who also holds the majority of the purchasing power.  We have over 5,000 registered users and very close relationships with our top users who we are in contact with on a weekly basis. We are also launching “The Weardrobe Closet” -  where our most trusted members get to borrow and style items from our retail partners so they can share their personal style and inspire other girls on Weardrobe. I’m very excited about this!

@suzannez: No! Of course you’re not too old for Weardrobe! The idea is that hopefully our early adopters will convert the main stream in using Weardrobe as a style discovery tool versus depending on runway fashion for inspiration. Plus, who doesn’t like the idea of borrowing clothing from an endless closet?

@suzannez: I believe the current economic climate is the best time for entrepreneurs to start their business. When the market improves your business will grow with the market. The plus side of a slow economy is that startups like ours have access to a wealth of brilliant talent who can help make the difference in the growth of your business.

@suzannez: @richtong and I started with our own savings at first. Then when we saw that this novel idea started to truly blossom and evolve we sought for convertible notes in order to relocate to Palo Alto. Convertible notes allows a lender to loan money without your company being valued too early on. We are just starting to talk to Angel investors and VCs now for a valued round.

@suzannez: Personally, I wouldn’t include a VC firm in my funding equation until I am ready for that kind of expansion and scale. We have tried to grow Weardrobe for as long as possible before seeking a valued round of funding. Before institutional funding, you have more freedom to experiment and make mistakes. Regarding what happens to the founders post-funding, it would be ideal to stay on and help the company scale. However, that’s not always the best option for the business – my thinking would be “if someone is better positioned to oversee the growth of my baby” then it would be wise for me to give up the CEO post provided that my shares as Founder are in place.

@suzannez: Ha! Rich and I go way back.  We met during summercamp at Cornell during high school and have been friends ever since. When I was studying at the University of Chicago and he at Cornell Architecture, we started a high-end stationary business coast to coast. Our clients included the Palms Hotel and we even made a stationary for one of Donald Trump’s events. Rich and I have always worked well together – though we have had our fair share of arguments. All of our countless fights have proven that our partnership and friendship will endure any challenge. At the end of the day, his talent and skills are complementary to mine. Finding the right partner in your business is very key to your success.

@suzannez: (She has this big smile and her eyes just lights as shares this vignette) Well, I have this really geeky and superbly organized side of me. I like spreadsheets, which is probably why I decided to study econ and do investment banking before Weardrobe. I used to organize my closet by entering all the pieces of clothing I own into an excel spreadsheet. After completing this task and realizing how lame I was — I figured I better make someting cool out of it. And we did, Weardrobe!

I had such a fun time in San Francisco! Catching up with Suzanne has definitely convinced me that starting a startup was the best decisions I’ve made in my life. She’s pursuing her dreams and doing it well. I hope her story will inspire you to do the same.

About Weardrobe

Weardrobe is a fashion community focused not just on what you wear, but how you wear it. It was inspired by the unique and inspirational styles of “What I Wore” fashion bloggers and groups like wardrobe remix. You can start by searching for inspiration or by posting your own photo.

Meet the Founders:

Suzanne Xie (@suzannez)                                                     Rich Tong (@richtong)

As information sharing becomes more conversational, marketers are seeking ways to define the metric around the “noise” as it influences a call to action. Katie and Marc introduced the idea of conversation measurement based on the principles of social science and social psychology. The duo pointed out that the practice are not one and the same, yet in this instance are complementary metrics agents.

According to Katie, linguistic style offers rich insight and color into the multifaceted dimension of an individual. A conversation can be divided into four stratas: relevance, mindset, role and ecosystem. Traditional metrics measurement approach practices the black boxing of conversations therefore rich content and information is lost. She further elaborates that listening to micro conversations offers a layer of rich detail about your brand you may not have known before. What buzzwords do people associate with your brand? Marc chimes in that further metric detail can be viewed by looking at the network pattern of an individual. Individuals have roles to play in a network which Marc identified as follows:

1. spammers (often times not real people)
2. flame warriors
3. answer people
4. discussion people

For social media to work, a balance in the conversation spectrum must be achieved. He calls it “a collective spectrum that requires a balance of roles.” Marc demonstrated that by using NodeXL a tool that can analyze an individual’s social behaviour across multiple networks and weave the information into one digestible graph which helps determine their role pattern.

Why is this information valuable to marketers? Here are my thoughts:

1. Allows a marketer to test multiple messages across individual roles and networks
2. Specifically design based on a user profile’s degree of engagement
3. Measure the influence of an individual role across multiple networks
4. Determine the probable response of an individual type within a network to the brand. IF I do X, individual role X will respond negatively to this message
5. It offers the opportunity to access predictive data versus reactionary data
6. Identify probable brand ambassadors
7. Associates the impact of the message based on the buzz created and response to call to action
8. Metrics around conversations and number crunching of quantifiable data are useful ammunition to help support and/or correct engagement programs

Overall, I believe this type of data and insight is invaluable to marketers who are advocates for social media yet are finding it a challenge to implement within their organization. It also helps validate the impact of marketing and social media to the bottomline.

I’m pretty sure I missed a few points during the session, so please help add to this. Thank you!

How can I make my campaigns work? Don’t campaign. When your audience is engaged “campaigns” become irrelevant. A consistent flow of information exchange with your audience will provide the insight that you need to connect and create deep and long term relationships. They’ll see you as a credible and trustworthy source of information.

How am I suppose to measure? As an entrepreneur I measure the success of my personal message by the number of conversions from conversation into a project without ever hard selling. By being active in the community of startups and entrepreneurs I am surrounded by people with ideas yet have challenges with execution and creation, an area which comes natural for me. The ability to think at the macro level while being able to execute on the micro level and the creation of tactical steps offers me the unique opportunity to help entrepreneurs visualize the various possibilities for their idea. In doing so, I am able to establish credibility and earn their trust. I am a listener first before a consultant. I am a consultant first before a marketer.

Does social media matter? It is the latest and the greatest tool for a brand (personal/consumer/corporate) to establish a connection and have an open engagement with one another. In that regard, it matters. Does it mean we disregard marketing as a practice? I think social media is the evolution of marketing not a replacement.

In addition, consistency in your message, relevance and timing are key elements to establishing and building an audience around your personal brand. For more insight, read Chris Brogan’s post on the same topic.

What is the value of your personal brand equity?