Social Media Club Knoxville gathered about 60 people for their club launch 7/21/2009. The club is young, energetic, and fired up about making the world a better place through intense engagement using social media. I not only had the pleasure of being their keynote speaker, I also enjoyed meeting, and talking with, nearly everyone there. One person I met, Gavin Baker, Social Media Manager for the 901 location Ruby Tuesday brand, reminded me of others I've met. Whether in Greenville, South Carolina, or Mobile, Alabama, or Exeter, England, or Knoxville, Tennessee, whenever I'm speaking about marketing and social media, there's someone like Gavin Baker there—someone who's a fan of Olivier Blanchard, known on Twitter as @thebrandbuilder.

You can follow Gavin Baker on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gavinbaker.>

We can connect on Twitter at http://twitter.com/treypennington

Click on the iTunes button to be taken to the iTunes Music store where you'll find a video of Michael Jackson performing Billie Jean.

 

Here's a link to a video clip the Inglis folks made after the
roundtable. You may find it intriguing to subscribe to Congressman
Inglis' YouTube Channel and get up-to-the-minute updates every he
speaks on the House floor. (That is, if you're in the 4th
Congressional District; if not, you'd probably be intrigued by
whatever your congressman is doing in Washington and shown on
YouTube.)

 

Some friends of mine where conversing in a Facebook thread about
social media. Seems, they said, that people writing about social media
are like someone with a new CB Radio who keeps using the CB only to
tell people how wonderful the CB is.
 
Here's why I do social media (I realize my view is only that, my view;
still, it is my view):
 
What drives me is a philosophical worldview:
1) Everyone wants to be heard
2) Everyone wants to be understood
3) Everyone wants his or her life to count
 
Companies, organizations, institutions and individuals who demonstrate
a desire to listen, to understand, and to contribute to their
neighbors' pursuit of significance will be the true winners.
 
My passion is that we all take opportunities to really, truly connect
with our fellow man, that we would not use new technologies to take
more and more from those around us.
 
Politicians (particularly of one party) seem to have institutionalized
the "taking" from constituents and are, I believe, doing great harm to
our society. Because I have been aggressive in using social media and
pursuing the offending political leaders, they are just now beginning
to pay attention, albeit with only one ear slightly cocked in my
direction.
 
My end game is full engagement across all strata of society (very
concerned that technology opportunities seem to be the domain of some
demographic segments more than others). I was very serious when I
invoked Dr. King's speech during the roundtable with Congressman
Inglis. (Congressman Bob Inglis held a social media roundtable
Februrary, 2009 and asked me to speak.)
 
While I know some snickered, I believe that we have right now an
chance to fulfill his dream—a new opportunity to reconnect with who we
say we are as a people. We have a new opportunity to uncover once
again what it means to truly be a member of a community and in the
process discover once again what true freedom is.
 
Social media gives us an opportunity to connect with each other, share
the best of what we have with others, who can add their best, and
create the solutions to our own problems together.
 
Just my two cents.
Trey Pennington
http://www.twitter.com/treypennington

(for Del Williams @delwilliams on Twitter)

Tiggers by Joseph Sugarman

The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joseph Sugarman

Advertising Secrets of the Written Word, by Joseph Sugarman

My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins

How to Make Your Advertising Make Money by John Caples

Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples

Persuading on Paper by Marcia Yudkin

The Copywriter's Handbook by Bob Bly

The Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting by American Writers & Artists, Inc.

On the Art of Writing Copy by Herschell Gordon Lewis

Direct Mail Copy that Sells by Herschell Gordon Lewis

Hypnotic Writing by Joe Vitale

On Writing by Stephen King (yep, THAT Stephen King; though I'm not at all into horror, I am impressed with King's book on writing)

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

and anything you can get by Dan Kennedy of Phoenix, Arizona

 

This is just a sample post.