Simon Mainwaring

We First provides consulting and training to help companies tell the story of their good work in ways that build their business

Community

by

As social media seemingly becomes the norm and communities become more sophisticated, it’s easy to think that users are just as excited about the future as brands. Yet human nature still requires a period of integration to accept and adopt new social tools. Ignore this fact and a brand’s best ideas and well-intended efforts can fall […]

As social media seemingly becomes the norm and communities become more sophisticated, it’s easy to think that users are just as excited about the future as brands. Yet human nature still requires a period of integration to accept and adopt new social tools. Ignore this fact and a brand’s best ideas and well-intended efforts can fall …

Read More

by

AdAge recently did a great article on micro-sponsorship highlighting leading brands like Quaker Oats and Pepsi that are reaching out to communities for their stories and ideas around positive social change. To me this begs the question, are these marketing or research campaigns? In my mind they’re a little of both and a smart thing …

Read More

by

Check out this virtual choir (virtually) conducted by Eric Whitacre. Without overstating things, it struck me as emblematic of the dynamic at work across social media and its transformative potential. Here we see people otherwise unknown to each other raising their voices in harmony directed towards a common goal. At the risk of sounding lofty, …

Read More

by

Last week the Brookings Institute kindly included me in the U.S./Islamic World Forum in Qatar. It was a fantastic collaborative and learning experience. The theme for our working group was ‘New Media in the Age of Globalization”. Our group was comprised of State Dept. officials, religious leaders, private sector business leaders, Middle Eastern philanthropists and …

Read More

by

Here’s the full video from the WireDrive-sponsored, Blog Out Loud, “Belong: Building a Blog Community” event. It features a series of industry panelists discussing the practice, merits and value of blogging and using social media. Here are some things we discussed: Why blogging and social media channels are essential for your business How to set …

Read More

by

This week something extraordinary happened. Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor, apologized. Actually, he did far more than that. Here’s what he did: 1. He came clean. Akio admitted Toyota was shamefully unprepared for the global economic crisis and is a step away from “capitulation to irrelevance or death.” 2. He confessed declaring that the …

Read More