About four months ago, I was invited to poke my head in a meeting which would ultimately change the way that our Division conducts its business outreach.
At the meeting, I was introduced to Allen and Lani Voivod, a young couple with a Lakes Region-based social marketing firm called Epiphanies, Inc. (www.epiphaniesinc.com) I was intrigued by their thought process and their passion for the power of social media in bringing people together. They seemed to be the type of entrepreneurial, forwarding thinking people who could infuse some new energy into our marketing efforts.
In a lot of ways, the first couple of meetings with Allen and Lani reminded me of the X-Men movie where the mutant students are gathered at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. They were superheroes of the highest power, with the ability to throw out creative thoughts and not to dismiss any concept, no matter how impossible it sounded. They would not be constrained by red tape or logistical hardships, nor would they accept the premise that positive action couldn’t be achieved. They wouldn’t let “the man” get them down. Clearly, I had found a pair of kindred spirits.
Fast forward to the present – we now have a fully operational blog, a Twitter account and a presence on Facebook. We also celebrated the success of the First Annual Social Media Business Summit, a standing room only event that took place at Public Service of New Hampshire (www.psnh.com) yesterday.
It was entirely fitting that the first summit was held at a facility called “Energy Park” because the atmosphere in the room was nothing short of electric. Ideas were generated, information was shared and all attendees left the event ready to incorporate social media into their companies’ communications strategies.
I’d like to thank Allen and Lani for their hard work as well as moderator Mo Bresee (www.mobresee.com) and logistical expert Leslie Sturgeon (www.wiwnh.com) for crafting a fabulous day. Thanks also to Public Service of New Hampshire (especially Pat McDermott and Nancy Rheinhardt) for their generous sponsorship and to the “Stay, Work and Play” initiative (especially Matt Cookson from the University System of NH -(http://www.usnh.edu/initiatives/55_swpincentive.shtml) for their partnership.
If you haven’t do so already, please further our social media efforts by signing up for our blog as well as our Twitter and Facebook accounts. Information is POWER.
– Steve Boucher, Communications & Legislative Director