The cat’s out of the bag — I’ve got a new gig.

If you’ve noticed I haven’t been quite as prolific here, on Twitter, or elsewhere recently, it’s with good reason. In the beginning of this month, I started a new position as Interactive Marketing Coordinator with the Detroit Regional Chamber, and I’ve been commuting 60+ miles (an hour or more, depending on traffic) every morning and evening, running myself (and my car) ragged.

I’ve explicitly tried to keep the news offline until I got a little more settled into the job and until I told a few certain folks about it in person, but I guess it’s safe to “come out” and break the news to the web as a whole.

In July I mentioned in the post about graduating the FastTrac entrepreneurship program that I realized I’d rather not work for myself, and well — I still am, but now have a “big girl job” too. I’ve had to whittle down my clients and give referrals on projects I otherwise would have loved to tackle, but I need to sleep, too, ya know.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, to say the least, and I’m still getting acclimated — I grew up being involved in chambers of commerce but have been catapulted from my small, hometown chamber to the biggest one in the country in the blink of an eye. Needless to say, I’m a little overwhelmed, but I like it.

If you’re wondering how I found the gig, it shouldn’t surprise you that I found it via social media, specifically Twitter. A long time ago, I was followed by (and followed back) a certain Sarah Hubbard, who happens to be the Vice President of Government Relations for the Detroit Chamber. She and I had exchanged tweets periodically; in fact I think my first direct message to her was after she started following me and I said something like, “Hey, cool! I grew up in chambers!”

Fast forward to whenever it was (I don’t remember when, exactly, everything’s a blur) I almost signed off for the night but I saw her tweet that the chamber had a position open, so I followed the link, read the description, and thought, “Wow, I fit that description pretty well!” So I DM’d her and told her I was interested and to tell her people I was going to try to send them my résumé and stuff by the following Monday.

Well, things got in the way and they didn’t get my stuff until the following Thursday, and I thought I was too late. But Sarah told them she already gave them a head’s up and pointed them towards here and my other stuff online. Yada yada yada, long story short, I’m now four weeks into the job and I’m still going through orientation stuff, and I still have a lot to learn about the whole place before I get in turbo-mode, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Of course, this is the impetus for me moving back to Metro Detroit (where I belong), but it’s probably going to be a couple months before I make the move. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now with this, plus my own clients, plus things I’m keeping offline, but somehow I’ll find a way to balance it all. I’ve already gotten by with a little help from my friends, and for that I am grateful.

So there ya go. That’s why I’ve been tweeting at insane hours of the morning, about traffic jams and getting gas in the ghetto and sending pictures of Detroit landmarks from my phone, in case you hadn’t figured it out. I’m back in the Motor City, for the most part, and I couldn’t be happier. (Well, I could be happier, and I will be, once I’m officially relocated.)

The internet is one big expo — what’s your booth like?

This past weekend I helped out at the annual Fenton Community Expo, which is a pretty big deal around here. It’s organized by the Fenton Regional Chamber, and gets bigger and bigger every year. Last year we had over 5,000 attendees, and though official numbers have yet to be released, I’m sure we got a heck of a lot more, thanks in part to free admission (courtesy of The State Bank) and free cake (courtesy of VG’s) to commemorate the Expo’s 25th anniversary.

If you’ve never been to a community expo, it’s a lot like a trade show, in that different businesses set up booths in a big area (in this case, the Fenton High School gym and halls) and showcase their products and services to attendees. Except in a community expo there really isn’t an underlying theme (electronics, for example) — it’s a pot pourri of local businesses in the community. Everything from banks to optometrists to makeup people to funeral homes to people selling astroturf. There are drawings, a petting zoo, derby races, entertainment I never pay attention to, and lots of free promotional swag. Most people in the community go to enter the various drawings held and get the free stuff. Oh yeah, and to check out the local businesses and organizations there.

As I wandered around the expo after my half-day shift of selling 50/50 raffle tickets, I couldn’t help but notice that a business expo was a lot like the internet. (Hear me out on this one, k?)

Attendees of the expo were walking around, browsing the different businesses who had set up booths. Think of the attendees as internet users, and the businesses’ booths as their websites and/or social media presences.

I noticed that there were three different kinds of booth:

1. Booths that had great displays but barely any people at them.
2. Booths that had OK displays that had some people at them.
3. Booths that had so many people at them that you couldn’t even see their displays.

Booths in Category #1 had one or two people at them just standing there, or perhaps sitting, watching people walk by. Some people maybe took a brochure or a pen that was sitting on a table, but there was very little, if any, engagement between the business and the passers-by. These booths reminded me of those businesses with the “build it and they will come” mentality, those who think that if they have a great looking website, that’s all they need and business should flock to them.  Only, it doesn’t. Why? Because they’re doing nothing to engage with their visitors. Having a pretty site and a contact form that says “start a conversation” on your website is the equivalent of having a pretty display booth but just sitting there passively, expecting people to come talk to you. Guess what? Prospective customers aren’t likely to talk to you if you don’t talk to them first. (Believe it or not, the local funeral home’s booth was more lively than these ones.)

Booths in Category #2 were the most common. Their displays weren’t stellar but that didn’t matter — they were at least talking to people who walked by, handed them some information about their company, and in addition to a raffle, they usually had some kind of promotional item a little less common than a pen — maybe a chip clip, maybe a koozie, a coffee cup, a pad of sticky notes — something a little more memorable and useful. These are the businesses who might get some new customers after the expo, but no guarantees and really, they’re just happy to be there and happy to get whatever exposure they can.  Paralleling this to the web, these would be the businesses who not only had a website but were minimally active in social media, perhaps they had a Facebook page and/or a blog and/or a Twitter account, but they’re not as active as they probably could be.

Then there were a few booths in Category #3 who are the rock stars of the expo.  They’re the ones that have all the other exhibitors jealous and wishing all those people were at their booth. My buddy Raul is one of those exhibitors — you literally have to stand on your tippy-toes to see what all the fuss is about at his booth. Raul is the marketing manager for Financial Plus Credit Union, and every year hoards of kids and adults gather ’round the FPCU booth and play games for some pretty cool prizes. Everybody working at the booth is talking to everybody that walks by and nobody is bypassed. This year, he brought a Wii and kids were waiting in line to play. What does playing Wii have to do with a credit union? Nothing, really, but when it comes time for local kids to get their first checking account, which of the 20+ banks and credit unions in the area do you think the kids are going to remember? That’s right — Financial Plus. I’m not much for video games but I played a trivia game and won a pen like no other — it’s some kind of hybrid ergonomic pen/hi-lighter/laser-shooter deal that’s unlike any writing utensil I’ve ever seen. (OK, so it doesn’t shoot lasers, but it might as well.)

My favorite dentist, Dr. Patty, is another of the expo rock stars every year. Though she usually doesn’t have quite the crowd that Raul has, every year she and her hygienists are there making balloon animals, talking to people, and educating them about good dental hygeine at the same time.  This year she was giving away entire dental hygiene kits for kids that included a toothbrush, floss, stickers, mouthwash, the whole nine yards. Dr. Patty is a dentist and kids and parents alike flock to her booth. Kids are generally afraid of dentists, but Dr. Patty breaks the mold and appeals to them.

Expo rock stars like Raul and Dr. Patty know that the secrets to having a popular booth, thus a popular business, are content and engagement. And this is no different from the web. If you have great content and engage with your audience online, you are bound to have a stronger presence and thus more business. Think HubSpot. Think Cision.  Think David Meerman Scott. Heck, think Urbane Apartments. Chock-full of content and engagement. It’s no wonder they’re regarded as top dogs in their respective fields.

If your web presence were comparative to an expo or trade show, which category do you think it would fall into? Would you be an expo rock star like Raul or Dr. Patty, or would you be the business with a great display and a booth that everybody walked by? If you’ve ever participated in a similar event, which of the three categories of booths did you belong to?

Photo 1 courtesy of mknowles, photo 2 courtesy of Sergey Galyonkin.

It’s worth bragging about.

I am very involved with my local chamber of commerce as an Ambassador and intertwined with it through Fenton Area Toastmasters, which is spearheaded by the Chamber. I’ve also been involved on a smaller scale with the Grand Blanc Chamber and the Genesee Regional Chamber. (As my father’s daughter, I would have to be.)

I cannot stress the importance of chambers of commerce not just to small businesses, but to the vitality of communities as a whole. The Fenton Chamber is a tight-knit community and many of the members are like family to me. I always knew we were awesome, but this just seals the deal. I’m so proud of us. I love my town.

RECOGNIZED AS OUTSTANDING CHAMBER IN MICHIGAN

LANSING, MI– The Michigan Chamber of Commerce Executives (MCCE) association recognized the Fenton Regional Chamber of Commerce with the 2008 MCCE Outstanding Chamber of Commerce Award—Small Chamber Category at the MCCE Leadership Conference & Annual Meeting held at Crystal Mountain Resort on October 23, 2008.

The Outstanding Chamber of Commerce award is given to one chamber of commerce in each of three membership categories (small, mid-size and large chambers of commerce) and based on a comprehensive application judged by chamber of commerce professionals from six Midwest states including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Applicants must demonstrate quality, innovation, and effectiveness of programming in the areas of leadership and governance, finance, business advocacy and programming/membership development. The highest scoring applications receive the annual award.

The Fenton Regional Chamber of Commerce was recognized for its achievements including its work in meeting the needs of underserved business communities, its success in merging with the Linden-Argentine Chamber of Commerce, a successful membership development strategy that resulted in 23% growth, and its expansion of membership benefits and services to keep business members informed and active in the chamber.

MCCE also presented 2008 Outstanding Chamber of Commerce awards to the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce in the Mid-Size Chamber category and the Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce in the Large Category.

The Michigan Chamber of Commerce Executives is a statewide organization of executives involved in the management of chambers of commerce. Its mission is to promote excellence among chambers of commerce through innovative and industry best practices programming. It represents more than 100 local chambers of commerce in Michigan.

It just so happens that we will be hosting next year’s Michigan Chamber Ambassadors Conference. We were required to make a preview presentation of some sort at this year’s conference, held this past September, and I was elected to be the one to do it. Whereas other chambers did a boring PowerPoint, I decided to go a step beyond that. The video is in the extended entry. My boyfriend, a radio DJ, did the voiceover.

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