Inspiration for Sunday’s SF Half-Marathon

This Sunday my wife and I are running the San Francisco Half-marathon in honor of a friend’s son, Matt Mingus. My friend Kat wrote this message to our Team In Training participants that I wanted to share with you since it is what the true meaning of why we keep running and fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Here is the letter:

Hey Team!

All of you have really stepped up to the plate and outside of your comfort zones in one way or another.  You have asked anyone and everyone for money (and I hear you have raised A LOT – right on!). You have run at the crack of dawn, cold winter nights, and even in the rain. And, some of you even ventured into the dreaded ice baths after already freezing your @^%$& off.  And I know from experience (as a former team member) you have always ended your workouts and runs with a smile and a very self deserving pat on the back no matter how much it hurts!

Like you, Matthew is in the home stretch, he recently finish phase 4 of 6 of his treatments, and is officially in school as a kindergartner.  He will begin his second to last treatment phase  this Tuesday, which will last for 67 days,  it will include 8 different chemo agents, some in pill form, some directly into his spine, some IV push and some I have to inject in his arm at home (which has to be the most traumatic experience for all of Team Ming.) Somewhere in April, Matthew will begin his last phase of treatment – the Maintenance phase which will last just shy of 3 years but will (with great hope) enable him to return to his regularly scheduled, fun filled, sometimes trouble making life of a 5 year old, that we are all looking forward to.

Through our journey, we have met other incredibly strong families who have endured stem cell transplants, relapses, and a myriad of medical and psychological difficulties as a result of blood diseases, which serves as a constant (sometimes frightful) reality check for us.

For these reasons, we as a team walk, we run, we hike, we bike, we tri. As a team we endure, we raise money and awareness and we don’t ever EVER quit! (There’s no crying in baseball and there’s no quitters on Team Ming!)
So when you hit that wall; remember Matthew, Doug, your personal connections to LLS and all those you run to honor. That energy and a little relentless forward motion (….and for some of you bacon, beer, wine or spirits) will get you to that finish line.

And, a few words from Matthew…

“I would like them to know that I love the team and thank you for running. And, I like the guy Randy.”

With great respect and appreciation, the Mingus Family.

Most Used Android Apps in January 2010

Here is a list of my most used Android apps in January 2010:

• Seesmic for updating @teamksar and my fundraising campaign for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Great search functionality and UI is very clean and consise.
• TV.com for watching the latest NCIS show. Works primarily on WiFi connection so I use it at home while I’m doing the dishes or relaxing outside.
• Droidlight – created by Motorola and I use it to navigate in my room in the dark especially when I don’t want to wake up my wife if I need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night or I’m working late
• Foursquare – ok, I’m an addict and every place I go I login. Plus, it is interesting to see where my contacts are going to. I warn you if you download it you’ll get addicted. Your wife will be asking  you, “are you playing foursquare again?”
• and finally Google Listen to catch-up on all the CES-related and NPR podcasts.

That’s the top used apps for January 2010. I wonder what February will be.  What Android apps did you use most frequently in January?

-Randy

Bloggers: Help leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma patients

This holiday season and until January 9, 2010, I’m raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with @scoutlabs, the social media monitoring company. Our goal is to raise $10,000 and we need your help in not only donating but spreading the word. Use the following donation link, sample copy and images on your blog. If you have a personal connection to the story let me and your blog audience know.

Donation link:
http://bit.ly/leukemialymphoma

Sample copy:

• Save a life and donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at http://bit.ly/leukemialymphoma
• Make a 100% tax-deductible donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at http://bit.ly/leukemialymphoma
• Help @scoutlabs and @llsusa out by donating to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at http://bit.ly/leukemialymphoma
• Help @scoutlabs reach their fundraising goal of $10K for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at http://bit.ly/leukemialymphoma

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Logo:

Will Pepsi Increase Sales via Social Media?

spreading the word is a hard thing. How do you start the groundswell that people really believe in your cause and share the message with their contacts? Does it require money and a big advertising campaign and production fee?  It sure does in my experience from working in numerous marketing groups in the valley.  Questions for you reading this blog:

• How much do you think Pepsi will spend on this year’s social media marketing campaign in comparison to their usual Superbowl campaign?
• Do think consumer products like Pepsi can actually sell more via social media?
• How can you measure that more people buy your product if it is an offline sale?
• Can you name any other brands/products that have had a similar success or failure in a social media marketing campaign?

-Randy

P.S. After commenting on the above, help out the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by donating before December 31, 2009. I’m running the SF Half-Marathon in honor of my friends Doug, Matt, and Marcella that have cancer. Go to http://tinyurl.com/teamksar and make a donation today!

Creating Social Engagement on Facebook

With the inherent culture of Facebook and social networks these days news streams are the norm where you comment/like/watch/smile/cry/etc.  The most successful content is the one where you create an emotional connection.  With news streams video content appears inline which prompts for a great engagement since they play button is right there. Ask yourself, do you comment/like more content on your social network whether the update from your contact is in text, photo, or video format?   I’d rather watch a video then read – but that’s just me. Of course for the producer of the content it definitely takes more time and an editorial calendar of sorts is necessary. Here is a great presentation from an agency who talks about creating engagement on Facebook. Let me know if you have any questions or comments on creating engagement and/or engaging content.

Live event blogging with G-SNAP!

My brother, Ramsey Ksar, talked with blogger/technology expert Robert Scoble about G-SNAP! and live event blogging. Creating community around an event is a necessity these days where users want to talk with other like minded-people and want to interact with the actual brand that is  producing the event. What’s great about G-SNAP! (again I’m Ramsey’s brother so I’m a little biased but I’ve been living and breathing social media and blogging for a long time) is the ability to create status updates with photos, videos, and even tweets from Twitter. The aggregation of content is key in an event cause people are creating content on numerous social networks. Watch the video and if you want to live blog your next keynote presentation, football game, or community event ping my bro @ramseyk on Twitter or @gsnap. And of course to test out G-SNAP! and embed their service in your web site go to http://www.gsnap.com

Speaking at Web 2.0 NYC

Hey everyone! Join me at Web 2.0 conference in New York City talking about community and social media at the below session.  Remember, to use webny09fos to receive a $100 discount or a FREE Expo Pass.

Real-Time Marketing: Operationalizing The Use of Social Media

Social media isn’t just for community managers anymore. The rise of Web 2.0 content and community is changing marketing operations – making marketers more efficient, customer-centric and prepared to make strategic decisions like product and service enhancements, feature prioritization, pricing and customer segmentation. And, the best part? It’s free and available in real-time so any size company with any size budget can leverage it.

Real-time marketing means understanding and responding to the movements of the market on both individual and strategic levels. This session will show you how to apply the instant, unprompted customer feedback from Web 2.0 to media buying, campaign optimization, creative development, customer community management, CRM, PR and promotions.

Hear from companies that are operationalizing their use of social media feedback as a source of strategic advantage, and walk away with 6 new ways to integrate real-time marketing practices into your organization.

Speakers:

Disney Online, James M Smith, Vice President, Advertising

Advertising effectiveness: Learn how Disney Online is quantifying ROI and effectiveness for its advertisers. James Smith is a pioneer in the fields of online and integrated media. Having launched media properties in the past decade in the US, Europe and Japan, James plays an instrumental role in the development of the Disney.com online strategy. Focusing on all aspects of Disney online, James creates revenue streams outside of standard media through cutting edge branded entertainment products, large scale cross media programs & the development of a newly created ad network at Disney.com. Prior to joining Disney Online, James held executive roles at Nielsen & United Business Media and also spent time driving strategy in the social networking space as an executive at Leverage Software.

Motorola, Randy Ksar, Program Manager

Community management: Randy manages the social media strategy for MOTODEV which is Motorola’s developer program primarily focused on mobile devices and Motorola’s latest Android handsets. He is constantly listening and engaging with the MOTODEV community via blogs, discussion boards, and numerous social networks like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Previous to Motorola, Randy worked on viral marketing programs for Yahoo! and online marketing roles at Roxio, Handspring, and Sony Electronics. In his spare time, he volunteers for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society running marathons, cycling century rides and raising funds to find a cure for blood-related cancers. Tweet @djksar to contact Randy.

Nike, Ricky Engelberg, Director of Digital Marketing

Influencer marketing: Nike has always practiced influencer marketing- the art of finding and cultivating tastemakers (online and offline) that are influential within a community. Web 2.0 technologies and social networks have created new avenues for influence to move along. Hear how Nike is incorporating these phenomena into the design and execution of key marketing campaigns and programs, in the US and beyond.

Undercurrent, Aaron Dignan, Founding Partner

Integrated social media campaign management and measurement: Hear from Aaron how he and the Undercurrent team craft effective social media campaigns for the the world’s best brands and comprehensively measure their success. Aaaron Dignan joined the founding team of Undercurrent from a background in brand strategy and brand experience at Brandplay, a boutique agency he co-founded, and whose clients included Coors and Pepsi. Aaron manages Undercurrent’s New York office, where the team explores the future frontier of social interactive – where consumers rule, and brands aspire to contribute and enable the most connected generation in history. His blog (Surveyvivalist) uses targeted research to explore these same topics and issues. A charismatic speaker (alongside Undercurrent’s Josh Spear) for brands like McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Virgin, Leo Burnett, Columbia College, and the University of Colorado, Aaron’s thinking on the “born digital” consumer is highly sought after.

Moderating: Scout Labs, Jennifer Zeszut, Founder and CEO

San Jose Rock-n-Roll Half-Marathon

I ran the San Jose Rock-n-Roll Half-Marathon this past Sunday and my brother-in-law, Justin Adkinson, filmed some clips of the race with his new tripod that he made. Pretty cool setup with a sliding bar to get a smooth side to side view. Check out the video below on his Vimeo account (one of the most creative talented videographers host their video on Vimeo!).

-Randy

Embed Your Social Feeds with Tinker.com

Interesting new social media widget from a new web site called tinker.com, parent company is Glam Media.  Saw it first from a tweet sent to @motodev where the user created an event on the site that aggregated all the #mds09 tweets. What’s great in the product is that there is moderation available so when you post the twitter widget on your site you can feel safe in preventing certain users, bad words, and overall comfortable with posting a live public chat feed. Also, not only is the twitter feed included in the widget but your Facebook streams too (although not fan pages).  Anyways, check it out at tinker.com, I think you will like it.

Here is a snapshot of their widget options:

Note: Currently as of 9/30/2009 the above were the only customization options. Especially annoying is the sizing options only allow for something more vertical than horizontal design. I tried changing the javascript code but got a File Not Found error when it was embedded in my page. Luckily, the company is open to feedback via their getsatisfaction board and a previous response mentioned they were working on providing more customizable options (message posted 4 months ago so not sure where that is within their product priorities).

Have you used this product? Would you find it useful for aggregating feeds on your web site? Any other solutions you know of?  Comment on the blog post below.

-Randy
@djksar on Twitter

Social Media Seminar with Dell

I highly encourage you to attend this seminar to learn more about social media from Dell.

-Randy

What: Brands Council Webinar
When: Thursday, August 27
Time: 12pm Pacific | 2pm Central | 3 pm Eastern
Register Now! https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/582343299
For brands & nonprofits only.

Featured Speaker:
Liana Frey, Director of Communities & Conversation, Dell
Dell has over two billion customer interactions each year. Liana Frey, Director of Communities and Conversations, will share Dell’s learnings over the past two years as the company has embraced social media. She will provide examples of how Dell is empowering its customers to share their stories and ideas. You’ll hear how social media is organized, measured and, most importantly, what could be of interest to your company in the journey to enable customers to walk the hallways of your company.