Emerge Inc. Blog

JDRF is holding their 11th Annual Promise Ball event on May 9, 2009 in Columbus, Ohio.  The silent, super silent, and live auction fundraiser benefits the research of type 1 diabetes.  For the third straight year, Emerge has worked with the Mid-Ohio JDRF to develop the website to promote their event.  In the fall of each year, Emerge also helps JDRF promote their annual Walk to Cure Diabetes event.

On Tuesday (2/24/09), I surpassed 15,000 followers on twitter and thought it was an appropriate time to take a minute and reflect. A large body of work already exists on the advantages and value of twitter, so I’ll focus on my personal motivations and lessons learned.

Personal Motivation

I first heard of twitter March 2007, when it won the South by Southwest Web Award. It wasn’t until July 2008 that I jumped in. For the first few months I visited often, but only posted sporadically.

In November, while watching a Cleveland Browns game with some friends, we started talking about the potential benefits of twitter. The next day, I outlined my goals for twitter:

• Try to understand it, especially from the point of view of how it would benefit clients of Emerge.
• Connect with specialists who could be partners on Emerge’s larger projects.
• Build my professional connections, especially in Columbus, Ohio where Emerge has a branch office and we see potential for growth due to their thriving tech community.

As I documented earlier, my motivations became very personal with the attacks in Mumbai, India, where my brother lives.

Lessons Learned

Some other random lessons learned:

• A lot of people are very interesting
• It can be addictive and therefore I must stay disciplined
• I don’t like Direct Messages that are simply, “Thanks for following, visit my website”
• Authenticity is critical
• You can say a lot in 140 characters
• I sometimes start my searches at twitter instead of google
• I used twitter instead of emailing certain colleagues
• If I post a (quality) web link it will receive at least 30 clicks immediately and over 150 in a week
• There are a lot of ‘coaches’ on twitter
• There are a lot of words that can be rewritten with ‘tw’ at the beginning

In just a few of months, I have accomplished all of my original goals, although I will continue to learn more, search for specialists and build my professional connections. It is probably time to set out some new goals, but I’ll save that for a future post.

Emerge worked with the Friends of Metro Parks in Columbus to create a website for their upcoming levy campaign.

The website features general levy information, ways to get involved, video and contact information.

To view the website, visit vote4metroparks.com.

Emerge is happy to announce the launch of a new website for Avon Lake City Schools.

The new site enables internal staff to update and maintain the entire website through a content management system. Teachers also have the ability to build class websites.

Visit www.AvonLakeCitySchools.org.

Emerge worked with Invizions Inc. to develop a website for their new division, Energy 1. Energy 1 and Invizions Inc. are taking an aggressive approach towards saving money through energy conversation. Visit the new Energy 1 website at www.ERS1.net.

Emerge is in need of a great copywriter to craft two professional 30-second radio commercials. We have an initial draft that needs the finishing touches of a radio script writing expert.

The commercials will be on local radio and used to promote a new service we have for developing marketing websites for businesses that don’t want to do all the work themselves and don’t require a full service design firm.

Deliverables:

1) Write an update of the initial draft (a 2-person dialog between business owners) as a well a crafted professional advertisement
2) Write a second commercial that is a single person straight read

As an option, but not necessary, if you have connections to voice talent to produce the advertisement, I would be interested in quotes/options. Otherwise, the local radio station is happy to record the spots.

If you are a great copywriter and interested, please email a quote and your background to Ed@EmergeInc.com.