A few weeks ago, Lisa Barone wrote a piece on the importance of being memorable. It really stuck in my head for a couple of reasons, but as is usually the case, the main reason was that it was immediately reinforced by real life events.
Let me back up a little. At the end of July, I lead a discussion at the monthly SEO meetup in Raleigh on Social Media. It brought in new bunch of people since social media is the hotness. One of those was a young woman, who had just graduated from UNC and who was working as an unpaid intern for Raleigh Metro Magazine.
She came to the meetup, eager, excited to learn and wanting to contribute. After the official part ended, she stayed and chatted with everyone and generally made you feel like you wanted her as a friend. Another memorable thing was her elevator pitch. When you hit her with the deadly “what do you do?” question, she answered it directly and confidently in about 30 seconds.
Over the next few days she reached out to many of us using LinkedIn and Twitter. Her profile picture was (and still is) her smiling face that makes you want to smile. Her genuine “likeability” is just off the charts.
About a week later, she sends me a tweet saying that she just accepted a job at MediaTwo as a Social Media Strategist! Wait a second… MediaTwo Interactive was where we had the Meetup. Apparently I wasn’t the only person who thought she was memorable. I sent off a quick email to the owner of MediaTwo, and he confirmed that he also saw what I did. He went on to say how happy he was to have her on board.
Since then, I’ve gotten to know Morgan better, and consider her a friend. I thought about all this on my way back from a lunch hour presentation where I saw her today. She told me she was excited to go chat up Wayne Sutton at the end of the event. I’ll be seeing Wayne tomorrow night at the Triangle Social Media Club Meetup, so I’ll ask him about it. She was talking to him as I headed back to my office.
If you’re in Raleigh, and you have an interest in social media, you should go out of your way to introduce yourself. I have no doubt that she’ll be the next rock star to rise from the Raleigh area.
Thanks for letting me part of your “Internet family” Morgan Siem.
Who was the last person you ran across who was truly memorable?
Phil, you’ve done it again! You make yourself the best person to know and be around. If I ever reach “likeability” levels like you’ve done, I’ll be a very happy person. The same goes for social media – I strive to catch up with you. EVERYONE, get to know Phil Buckley – you’ll smile more once you do 🙂
Phil – this is a great article – and I think the reality is, you and I could probably spend 20 more pages ranting and raving about how Morgan’s positive attitude and general happy outlook on life is infectious. We generally have a great office environment here, but the addition of Morgan I think has elevated every account and every person here whether she has direct contact with them or not. Thanks for sharing!
For the 2+ years I’ve known Morgan, she’s always been Miss Everything, so I’m excited to see her carrying that charisma, drive and intellect into the working world (especially since it’s the world of social media… my own realm of “expertise”). Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that she’s a Tar Heel, too. Congrats on getting a blog post dedicated to you 😉
anneonymity – My only correction is “… on getting” your first “blog post dedicated to you”. This may be the first, but certainly not the last.
Great article Phil. You addressed a few points that most don’t realize in the social media space:
1. Offline networking really matters
2. Always be yourself
3. Be rememberable, try to stand out from the crowd.
4. After a networking event, try to re-estashblish the connection via online through various social networks
5. Smile 🙂
Phil, yes Morgan left a positive impression on me as well. We had exchanged a few tweets in the past and I admire here participation in real-time via twitter when I asked her if we could meet after the panel during the TIMA luncheon.
Wayne
Wow, I can’t believe I just read this article now. I am behind the times. Phil and Morgan both have infectious personalities and are always a pleasure to be around. Thanks for a great write up and for all the fun times we have shared.
Me either Jeremy 🙂
Thanks for the kind words.
Wow where was I that I missed this post back in September? Good writeup and comments. Personality matters and Morgan has a ton of it! I also am very impressed by how mature and confident she is for someone that is recent college grad!
Everyone- thank you! Really. I’m so glad I know all of you!
SO. TRUE. I only met Morgan last week, and it was for maybe 5 minutes, and it was like being hit with a bolt of lightning. We’ve already got plans to hang out again, and I’m widdling my thumbs with nothing better to do until then. Morgan is a rockstar.