Experts in the Industry: Blaise Heltai (9 of 45)

Blaise Heltai, General Partner at NewVantage Partners has an impressive background having worked as the director of marketing and strategy at AT&T and most recently as the head of eCommerce at a small little bank headquartered down in North Carolina called Bank of America. I had the pleasure of meeting Blaise through an industry organization called the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, a group that Blaise led up until recently.

Blaise is a busy guy so I was tickled to death when he sent back his responses to my Experts in the Industry: 45 Interviews in 45 Days series within 24 hours. Let's see how he answered the questions:

In one sentence, please describe what you do and why you’re good at it.

I help large enterprises get out of their bubble and see themselves as their customers see them. One part of that is for them to see that they are less and less in control of their message, and social media have a critcal role there. 

How did you get into the world of online community, social media or social marketing?

I’ve been in online services since the ‘80s and in the collaboration space for almost as long. Social media is the principal offspring of the marriage of the two.

If you had $10 million to invest in one company and one company only based on their use of “social,” which company would it be and why?

I don’t know how to invest in usaid.gov but I think that the potential for online community in international development is enormous.

Would you join a toothpaste community? Why?

No. I have no commitment to toothpaste. Community follows from and can amplify commitment, but it doesn’t create it..

Can Social Marketing Save the Auto Industry?

These are tumultuous times for the auto industry - dealers and suppliers are closing up shop, vehicle production is being cut, entire product lines are being eliminated and public scrutiny is at an all time high. With consumer demand rapidly falling, automakers are facing their worst sales figures in decades and rather than throw up their hands in hopelessness,

innovators like Ford and GM are tapping into the power of “social” to deepend conversations with their customers, increase loyalty and improve overall customer retention.

So come join experts Scott Monty of Ford, Sylvia Marino of Edmunds.com and Christopher Barger of GM on Monday, February 9th, as they discuss the impact social marketing has had on their respective companies and share lessons learned that you can apply to your business.

Here’s the bonus. Leave your questions in the comments below. I promise to ask the first five (granted they aren’t obscene) with attribution to you and your organization.

Listen to the webinar here (registration required).

Cross-posted from The Engaged Consumer
Photo courtesy ultimatecarblogs.blogs.com

Experts in the Industry: Lisa Dilg (8 of 45)

I first met Lisa Dilg two summers ago when the company I used to work for, Mzinga, hired Perkett PR as their agency of record. While Lisa didn't immediately join us on our account, I immediately knew that I liked her style by following her updates on Twitter. What I found out about Lisa as we worked together over the next several months was that she is as smart and hard working as she is funny.

Here's how she answered my five questions from the Experts in the Industry: 45 Interviews in 45 Days series:

In one sentence, please describe what you do and why you’re good at it.

I am an account director at PerkettPR – I lead account teams that help my clients get publicity. Why am I good at it?   I suppose I’m good at it because I do not like NOT being good at things.

How did you get into the world of online community, social media or social marketing?

In PR, you have to adapt to how the preferences of the media change. PerkettPR is a smart company and our CEO was adamant about making sure we were changing with the times and not holding onto “the way we’ve always done things.”  This allowed us to get into blogging, video casting, online communities, and more as individuals and as a company early on – we waded in first so that we could figure out how to help our clients use these tools effectively.  We took to heart something that Jeremiah Owyang said: “The agency of the future is a ‘connected’ one I can’t imagine ever advising a client to deal with an advertising, PR, or interactive team that doesn’t get social media. But with the power shifting to the participants, agencies must demonstrate they can participate before they can ever help clients with it” – being open to this has been fruitful for our company, our clients and to me personally.

If you had $10 million to invest in one company and one company only based on their use of “social,” which company would it be and why?

I decline to answer on the grounds that I might incriminate myself. Well, that’s a little dramatic, but I can’t answer this question - we have too many clients who have boilerplates with the word “social” in them – I cannot choose between them or pick someone else because ALL of our clients are worth investing in.  I will say this – I would invest in a company that has a business model from the beginning, not just a pipe dream – I’m not the biggest risk taker and the current state of my 401K has me being even more conservative with investments.

Which business leader, politician or public figure do you most respect?

I have amazing respect and admiration for Colin Powell.  He is a courageous, strong, honest leader. I would campaign for him if he were to run for President and I was disappointed that he said he never would. His cross-party endorsement of Barack Obama and the interview he gave stating his reasoning for doing so made me respect him even more.  If all of our leaders could strive to conduct themselves like Colin Powell, I think we’d all be better off.

Would you join a toothpaste community? Why?

I would not join a toothpaste community. This is where “community” gets tough – if there are communities for every product you use, you’d never get anything done. Some are important and necessary, but I don’t need to get involved in a discussion forum about my use of Crest.  That’s why I support companies joining general communities like Twitter. Join in where we already are – if we are talking about you or to you, listen, respond, and help.  If were not, just get involved and talk, and we’ll like that you’re there if we need you.  I follow Popeye’s Chicken and ComcastCares and I don’t use either – but I like how they are engaging people.  Its great brand recognition for them, and if I do decide to change my internet provider, I know where I’m going to go and why. 

Freeform – here’s where you can riff on anyone or anything – good or bad. Or just share a pearl of wisdom.

I will use this space to give you my social media annoyances:

1. We need to stop using social media to talk about social media.  For example, stop blogging about blogging and stop talking about using Twitter when you are on Twitter – it’s like talking about a date while you’re on the date – kind of ruins the genuine experience and makes you feel like you are being constantly analyzed to see if you are doing it right. I have a better analogy than that, but its not appropriate, but I am sure you get where I am going with this ;)
2. Also, enough with the SM “guru”, “expert”, “maven”- ing….if you ARE that, you don’t have to say it, and it’s off putting to “regular folk.”  Too many people in social media are so busy patting themselves and the other “experts” on the back for their work in social media, that they don’t realize how alienating, arrogant and annoying this is.  I think this has the potential to backfire and ruin the whole experience because people are either too intimidated or turned off to join in.
3. Words we could stand to see a lot less of: Monetize, transparency, rockstar (or any form of rock, rawk, etc…), dialogue, “the conversation”, etc…

Experts in the Industry: Peter Kim (7 of 45)

Peter Kim, Sr. Partner at the Dachis Group, is one of my favorite people in the "social" space right now. Partly because he spends a good chunk of his time in Austin so I'm able to grab him for the occasional coffee or dinner, but mainly because of his no nonsense approach to blogging and business. Interestingly enough, Peter and I actually worked together briefly at Fidelity Investments but really got to know each other over the last year and a half.

Onto the questions from the Experts in the Industry: 45 Interviews in 45 Days series:

In one sentence, please describe what you do and why you’re good at it.

I think about disparate, ambiguous information and analyze to create opportunity - currently in support of building a new software + services company.

How did you get into the world of online community, social media or social marketing?

After working in strategy consulting and digital marketing, I merged my personal inclinations with my professional investigations - first as an industry analyst and now as a business builder.

 

If you had $10 million to invest in one company and one company only based on their use of “social,” which company would it be and why?

My own, of course.  We operate by the principles and structure we advise companies to adopt.  Other than mine?  Cisco.  They're not using social technologies just for point solutions like marketing campaigns.  Social is in their culture and approach to business.

 

Which business leader, politician or public figure do you most respect?

Tough question.  I don't idolize anyone and skipped this question on all of my college application essays.  All of us are human with strengths and weaknesses, capable of influencing one another equally.

Would you join a toothpaste community? Why?

Maybe.  But I've never been invited to join one! [NOTE FROM AARON HERE - MY FRIEND SARA DORNSIFE JUST ALERTED ME TO THE PRESENCE OF SOMEONE THAT ACTUALLY PLAYS IN THIS SPACE - http://toothhugger.com]

 

Freeform – here’s where you can riff on anyone or anything – good or bad. Or just share a pearl of wisdom.

I believe that we haven't yet seen the potential of what social technologies can do for the enterprise.  I'm building a company to address this opportunity that happens to be in Austin, so I look forward to connecting with anyone heading down for SXSW who wants to discuss further.

Experts in the Industry: Sam Decker (6 of 45)

Sam Decker, CMO of fellow Austin Venture backed company, Bazaar Voice, is one of the few poeple on my list of "influencers" that I don't actually don't know that well which is amusing to me given our similarities (job title, physical location, social-focused company and venture backer). However, my admiration from a far and my gut intituition that tells me I will get to know Sam better over time prompted me to include him in the collection of, Experts in the Industry: 45 Interviews in 45 Days.

Here's what Sam had to say about the five questions I asked him:

In one sentence, please describe what you do and why you’re good at it.

We turn customer created content into measaurable business results for Global 2000, which we’re great at because we hire great people!

How did you get into the world of online community, social media or social marketing?

First company I worked for in early ‘90s, we helped companies drive word of mouth through computer user groups, from which I wrote a book on User Group (WOM) marketing. Because User Group members were bleeding edge, I got into online chat, web sites, discussion boards, and chats very early. Ran community at ThirdAge.com in ’97, started blogging in 2003, etc.

If you had $10 million to invest in one company and one company only based on their use of “social,” which company would it be and why?

Facebook. Simply because they’ve crossed the chasm…more than half of all internet users have a Facebook account. But I wouldn’t invest until they figured out how to make more revenue like Google.

Which business leader, politician or public figure do you most respect?

Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Hamilton (for his accomplishment, not his ego or morals). You didn’t say they had to be alive. 

Would you join a toothpaste community? Why?

No. Not enough passion or utility. I need one or the other to join a community.

Freeform – here’s where you can riff on anyone or anything – good or bad. Or just share a pearl of wisdom.

All my pearls are at www.deckermarketing.com, www.bazaarblog.com, or I’ll retweet yours on Twitter (@samdecker)!