Simon Mainwaring. The We First Blog.

Tweet Memories: Top Ten Posts of 2011

As we wave good-bye to 2011 it’s always fun to look back at some of the ground we covered in the news, our thinking and our lives. Here’s the ten most popular posts for 2011 from my blog and thanks for sharing your time and attention with me.

1. How non-profits use Facebook to build awareness, community and fundraising

2. 2011: Facebook puts all brands on notice

3. Sherry Turkle of MIT: The human cost of social technology

4. Zynga: How the virtual world can save the real world

5. Exactly what role did social media play in the Egyptian revolution?

6. Review: Brian Solis, ‘The End of Business as Usual’

7. Why storytelling and social media need each other to survive

8. How brands rediscover the lost art of conversation

9. Egypt: Social media as a life or death proposition

10. Apple: How brands, customers & society benefit when a company shows what it stands for

Thanks to everyone for sharing your comments and these posts in 2011. We all now 2012 is going to be very interesting with the explosion of social business, mobile, gaming, citizen activism, the U.S. Presidential election and so many other issues that will shape our lives. I’m looking forward to exploring them with you.

And don’t forget. If you’re interested in attending the We First Social Branding Seminar to ensure your brand success in 2012, this is the last day of the New Year’s Special that gives you 50% off. Just click here to register and enter the special code NEWYEAR. You leave the event with a Social Branding Blueprint specific to your business that you can act on plus invite a non-profit for free. So click here now as the offer ends this week!

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Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions for brands

A lot is going to be demanded of business leaders in 2012 due to fast-changing social technology that is remaking the business landscape in the midst of a tough economy. To ensure that you’re one of the success stories of 2012, you need to start with the right mindset, focus and goals. To that end, here are ten resolutions to get you off to the right start.

1. Recognize and respond to the reality that Facebook, Google and Twitter are the NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox of the future.

2. Inspire and demonstrate rigor in the articulation of your brand purpose to create the emotional connection with your customers that will drive their social media engagement.

3. Explore and integrate how to offer your customers greater authenticity, transparency and accountability to increase their loyalty and your profitability.

4. Interrogate and embrace how your brand can become more human interacting with customers in a way that captures their attention, commands their interest and inspires their loyalty.

5. Monitor and maintain the wide breadth of networks, platforms, and channels through which to bring your brand to life using a variety of media including text, video, photos and podcasts.

6. Deeply accept and respond the fact that your customers are increasingly driving your content distribution through their personal social media channels.

7. Identify and respond to the power of F-commerce (Facebook commerce) by expanding your e-commerce presence on the network.

8. Explore and act on what your brand and business will look like if it only lives in a smart phone in your customer’s hand.

9. Play with and apply the gamification of your product and service offerings including rewards and incentives for customer engagement, loyalty and sharing.

10. Internalize the fact that control of your brand must now be shared with your customers and offer them the personal attention, professional respect and authentic interest appropriate to business partners.

These ten resolutions are critical to the mind shift that must occur about how your brand, community and profits are built, maintained and expanded. They need to be adopted company-wide and will necessitate changes in company structure and roles. The upside is that such efforts will pay enormous dividends when the power of storytelling and the scalability of social media combine to generate brand awareness, customer loyalty and offline, online, social and mobile commerce.

For a concrete, actionable Social Branding Blueprint for how to do this for your business, join us at the We First Social Branding Seminar in Los Angeles on February 1-2. You’ll get an extra ticket to invite your favorite non-profit for free and world-class expertise focused on building your success blueprint for 2012. Places are limited and time is running out, so register now to put today’s market forces and social technology to work for you.

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Happy New Year from We First

What a year 2011 was! It was mad, fun, nerve-wracking, infuriating, surprising, depressing, stressful, joyous, exhausting, and more.

So much sobering news around the world, so much painful, heartfelt transformation, so much optimism in the face of challenges by millions of people around the world.

The year also saw the successful launch of the book, We First, for which I’m enormously grateful. The aim of the book was to share ideas that would have a tangible, positive impact on other’s lives. That would not be possible without a successful send off through your support. Here’s a few highlights of the response to the ideas about a re-purposed capitalism:

- New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon bestseller
- Amazon Top Ten Business Books of 2011
- strategy+business Best Marketing Book of 2011
- Nominated for 800 CEO READ Best Book Awards 2011

This truly was a team effort. Here’s are a few important thank you’s.

WE FIRST FAMILY: First off, thank you to my team at We First: Morgan, Ryan, Rick, Devin, Cameron, Natalie, Cole, Sid, Bill, Catherine, Bryan, Laura, and Sarah. Thank you for putting up with the emotional roller-coaster ride and for boot-stapping our way through the year together. I’m so glad you were my fellow passengers!

WE FIRST BOOK TEAM: We couldn’t have made any impact with We First without the incredible support of my agent, William Morris Endeavor, publisher, Palgrave Macmillan, and publicist, Fortier PR.

SPEAKERS: Thanks to the speakers who are going to make the start of 2012 so exciting. Our We First Social Branding Seminar is on February 1st and 2nd, 2012, in Los Angels and is going to be amazing. Carol Cone, Global Vice-Chair of Business + Social Purpose, and Robert Tercek, former President of Digital Meida at OWN, will be joining me in creating your own personal Social Branding Blueprint for 2012. If you can make it, don’t miss out as the work we are putting together for you is fantastic. Just click here to join us as there’s only a limited number of places.

SPONSORS: Thanks to our great sponsors for the Seminar that include Causecast, SocialVibe, HP. Your support is invaluable in making the event special.

UN FOUNDATION: Plus we are super excited to announce that the UN Foundation will also be a Platinum sponsor. As an organization we deeply respect, we are so proud to be working with you.

YOU: When I think of the amazing number of people I have met and chatted with through social media over the last year, I really start to appreciate how it enriches my life and purpose. Thank you so much for all your time, interest, feedback and encouragement. Yes, there’s a lot in our world that needs to change in our world, but things are trending in the right direction and together we can make significant shifts happen.

FAMILY: No one has ridden the 2011 roller-coaster ride with me more closely than my family. To my two kids, thanks for putting up with Daddy’s travel and for filling my life with joy. To my wife, you are a rock for all of us, an incredible mum, and a constant source of love.

As we’re handed the reins of 2012 its up to us to make it meaningful and memorable. This is my prediction of what to expect.

Here’s to bringing our best selves to the personal, professional and social challenges we face and, by seeing ourselves in each other, working together to build a world we can be proud of.

Happy New Year to all from everyone at We First!

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