Last week I wrote about the Elevator Pitch, Reloaded. Today at the Expo, I got a hallway elevator pitch that hit many of the important points in that article. The person didn’t know I was a blogger for Inc., or that I wrote the article. She just gave a passionate pitch that really hit all the points for me, so I thought it’d be worthwhile to show you an example of someone doing it right.

pitching, elevator pitch, inc.com, howard greenstein, howardgr

Course Details | New York University – SCPS

Using Social Networks and New Media Technologies in Your Nonprofit
X39.9211 / Continuing Education / $400
FALL 2008

Donors, volunteers and staff are using technologies, from Facebook to Weblogs, to connect, communicate, learn and inform. What are these new social media tools, and how can your organization use them most effectively? How can you leverage social networks to build community, photo and video sharing to promote your cause, or blogging to keep your constituents informed? The course gives practical examples, and features guests including Tom Watson, author of the forthcoming Causewired and co-founder of Changing Our World.

Fred, Brad, call me. Let’s do lunch. Who knows how big this can get…

(**Of course I knew this could happen when I became a “fan.” That’s why I’m only fans of products I can endorse. And, I’d endorse Union Square.)

Why a newsletter? I have many friends who are all over Twitter, Facebook, and other social tools like Utterz and Seesmic, but for many of my contacts, email is still a primary communications tool. Not everyone of you regularly reads blogs, and for those who do, not everyone can keep track of all the blogs they want to. So, the newsletter is a way for me  point you to articles I’ve written that may have value in your business, but you may have missed. I also point to other smart thinkers whose work I enjoy.

The newsletter is also the answer to the question “what have you been up to?” I have been reaching out to a lot of people for everthing from my upcoming college reunion to going through my address book looking for people I haven’t talked to in a while, and this is the inevitable question. So, the newsletter is a way to keep a monthly presence in the lives of people who I care about as business connections or friends.

Finally, I’ve suggested that clients associate a newsletter with their blogs, and it is time I stepped up to do so too.

So far, just the feedback from the opt-in email has been fantastic, with connection notes from about 10 people I haven’t heard from in a while. That alone would be a great value for this effort. But, the ultimate goal is having you read what I’ve written and learn something. And if you like that, to have you pass me on to someone else who might do the same. If there’s work that I can do for you, or for that person, all the better.

Please let me know what you think of the newsletter, and share it with a friend if you have a moment. Thanks.

This video clip courtesy of Michael Pinto of Very Memorable who has kindly showed me that I say “um” a bit too much. Something to, um, work on.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=07dV9w7vXRY[/youtube]

More coverage and video via Center Networks
NYSIA February Meeting Recap – Discussion With Howard Greenstein and Henry Blodget
and thanks to Allen Stern for posting it so quickly.

Pictures and video on Facebook:  NYSIA State of the Industry.

Keeping Loose Ties Active
At a recent holiday party thrown by Larry Aronson, I ran into a person I’ve always liked but never spent much time with. We serve together on the board of NYSIA and he’s a VC (I guess this narrows it down). He came up to me and my wife, and, after the usual greetings, said “I haven’t seen you in a while but I feel I know what you’re up to because I follow you on Facebook. I see your twitters, your blog posts, and pictures, and I feel like we’re in touch.”
Well, my wife’s jaw dropped. Here’s someone who has lots of money to invest, works with companies I admire, and just by participating in Facebook I’m keeping him interested. This hasn’t lead to a direct lead, but it validates my strategy.

Shared Interest Leads to A Pitch
Recently I stated I ‘might attend’ the “Graphing Social Patterns” event put on by Dave McClure and O’Reilly. It’s certainly something I’d like to do, but I’m not sure I will be able to swing it due to scheduling. However, it showed in the Facebook news feed of a college friend who I had connected to, but haven’t spoken with in about seven years. He messaged me on Facebook and asked if I was interested in Social Media, as he had been tasked with looking into it for his company. Through a series of messaging exchanges, it has led from a phone call to an opportunity to pitch his company on Social Media Consulting services from my company, the Harbrooke Group. While the contract is still not signed, I never would have had the opportunity to pitch without updating my social status.

LinkedIn Links a client with a Fortune 500 in 4 hours
Recently I was able to do small bit of consulting with the excellent Truman Company from the Boston area. They are working on behalf of a Fortune 500 client who wanted a connection with, of all companies, LinkedIn. After leaving the call, I used my own LinkedIn network to find Mario Sundar, LinkedIn’s excellent community evangelist. Via Mario we got to the correct person at LinkedIn, and had a conference call scheduled in about half a day. It seems obvious, but the networks we build by connecting to people can and should be used to create connections that create value for our clients, our friends, and ourselves.

How have Social Media networks and connections improved your business? Comment or send me a note.

Technorati Tags: marketing, business development, social networks, facebook, howardgr, twitter, blogging

Facebook has done three things that are at once extremely innovative, extremely rude, extremely helpful, and extremely disconcerting:

1. They are collecting and republishing user data on a level not before seen by users.

2. They are allowing advertisers to use this data to reach these users.

3. They are not giving this information–information that has put their value at $15 billion–back to their users.

Doc Searls summarizes one possible set of responses in these two articles.

Time To Write Our Own Rules And Making Rules, II where he notes:
What we need instead is to make tools that work for us, and not just for them. We need to invent tools that give each of us independence from vendor control, and better ways of telling vendors what we want, when we want it, and how we want to relate — on our terms and not just on theirs.

For my clients and friends trying to understand the current bru-ha-ha going on, the above articles are must-reads.

Direct Link to Media File

Or, Check it out at AChatAndASong.com.

In this episode a chat from me, and 3 count ‘em 3 songs, to keep you in the Halloween “spirit”

Episode Notes: