“Diving head first”

Thelma Bowlen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:45:32 +0000

I felt like such a grown up yesterday morning last week. I went to a Chamber of Commerce breakfast to catch Southwest Airlines’ Manager of Emerging Media, Paula Berg, talk about. . . emerging media, and how Southwest has successfully been flying through cyberspace.

At the Hilton Garden Inn Vanderbilt

I didn’t know anyone there. I actually found out about the event through Twitter friend, @lnobles, who I met through @MichaelHyatt’s Twitter page. (He’s the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers.) Lindsey Nobles is the Communications Director of Thomas Nelson. She tweet the other day last week about Southwest getting the spotlight at the Informed & Inspired Speaker Series so I checked to see if it was free — it was — and signed up.

I’m not a frequent flier and I’ve only ridden Southwest once — when my daughter and I were flown up from Orlando to be interviewed for my current job — but this talk made me a fan.

Their “diving into the blogosphere head first” in 2006 is the perfect example of riding the bronco that is social media the right way — fast and furious — and it’s earned them Best Blog from PR News’ Platinum PR Awards three years in a row, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Their wide open door for customer-driven interaction is admirable.

My takeaways:

Southwest has “channel owners” for each tool–twitter, flickr, youtube, linkedin. #nashchamber

“Educate your employees and leaders”, “Act fast”, “Live and breathe social media”, ” Don’t be afraid to join the conversation”. #nashchamber

When I grow up, I hope to be like Paula Berg, boldly charting a course in cyberspace for an organization that’s ready to ride the bronco.

Posted in nashville, social media Tagged: nashville chamber of commerce, paula berg, southwest

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“Diving head first”