That being said, I have never blogged about Nintendo or even my Wii before. Tweet about ‘em? Sure. But dedicate an entire blog post to the thing? Never thought it would happen. My second run-in with a real life Nintendo Enthusiast and the events that transpired last night proved me wrong.

Let me backtrack a little. I first heard the term “Nintendo Enthusiast ” from an Enthusiast herself, Gwen Bell. She kicked off her reign with a Nintendo DS party in Boulder that she invited HappyKatie and me to attend. Sadly, we did not get to go to Boulder, but we got a second chance at Nintendo-Party-Dom when Nintendo dubbed Katie herself an Enthusiast.

“Woo-Hoo!” I thought when I got the Wii Fit Party Evite from Katie. “This party is going to be a blast!”

And it was.

Five sweet Wii Fit girls took over Katie’s house and plied the guests with healthy fare from Whole Foods and white wine sangria, while they walked us through various activities using the Wii Fit Board. It was truly one of the most enjoyable evenings I had in a long time. I went home quite sated and VERY sore. The icing on the cake? I also went home with my very own Wii Fit Board, Wii Yoga Mat and Wii Yoga outfit compliments of Nintendo!!!! How sweet is that?

It is only today that I realize no matter how much I got out of last night’s party, Nintendo probably got more because they have truly tapped into the Social Media groundswell. Clearly they understand that the groundswell matters. You put ten chicks in a room that are addicted to Twitter, and you are going generate buzz and content online.

What I think the most important thing to note about the whole party was that we were tweeting about Nintendo before the party even started and long before we got our unexpected gifts. No one forced us to tweet. No one held us down and said, “You can’t have any more white wine sangria until you tweet!” We just did it out of our own volition. And I would venture to guess it was mostly because we were all just so darn happy!

I mean, how could I NOT be happy listening to Monica talk smack about her balancing abilities or while I’m laughing and poking Fayza while she’s attempting the tree pose.  I watched in awe as the Wii Gamer Chicks racked up 900 rotations in the Hula Hoop game and I talked David’s ear off about it all when the party was over. Nintendo racked up a lot of Karma Points with me last night. That is why I’m talking about them today.

Crazily enough, I think there are lots of ways for organizations to mirror what Nintendo is doing, even without spending the big bucks. Why? It is all about garnering good will!

How can your organization use Social Media to make your peeps happy? Here are a few ideas:

1. If you’re having an event for your organization and you’re charging for drinks, offer everyone in your Facebook group a free one. This means you’ve gotta start a Facebook group first!
2. Broadcast discount codes on Twitter.  Then your followers benefit and feel the love. This will also boost the number of people who follow you, because you will be posting content that people actually want!
3. Send out newsletters that include tips and tricks for whatever industry your subscribers are in. Don’t make your newsletter all about you! These helpful tips will make your subscribers more likely to forward your newsletter on (Jeffrey Gitomer’s is a great example of a helpful newsletter).

The thing to keep in mind with Social Media is this:  BE good people, and good people will talk about you!

* I gave the Wii to David as a gift so it is not technically “mine” but whatever.

** Now I know you were dying to ask about my Guitar Hero skillz, so I will just go ahead and tell you the answer: I totally kicked Satan’s ass playing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” on GH3…. I’m just not going to tell you how many tries it took

Let’s put the brakes on this post so I can quickly explain what personal branding is. Personal branding is a concept that says you YOURSELF are just as marketable and brand-able as say… Target. The example I like to use is George Foreman. Ever heard of the George Foreman Grill? I bet you have. The man slapped his name on a grill originally marketed using middle of the night infomercials and now he and his grills are this crazy international brand with like six different “lines” of grills. I didn’t even know you could have more than one line of grills… much less six! I digress…

I am really trying to understand every facet of this personal branding thing. Really, I am! But sometimes the whole thing gets extremely daunting; I get really unsure of what direction to take. I have found a perfect solution to this sensation though… When I start to get overwhelmed I put on my headphones, turn my music WAY up, and turn to the blogosphere. I always find I feel much much better after my trip.

Well the whole point of starting this blog was to help others learn through my stumblings. At work yesterday I was talking to our awesome new hire, Alexis, about some of the things I’ve learned and a few of the places I go on the interwebs for inspiration… and realized I’m past due on a post on this very topic. It defeats the purpose of this blog if I’m not sharing the things I find! And I don’t want to be one of those posters who just posts to have another post.

Below are some AWESOME blogs that have really helped me out in my search for answers; some of them are extremely Social Media related while others are a bit more personal. If you are a newbie like me, I hope they  save you some time in your search… but more importantly, I hope they inspire you as well.

Drumroll please

1. CosmoPolitician: Monica has somehow managed to become this crazy force in Houston and it seems that everything she blogs about turns to gold. A must read for info on Houston events, travel and random stories about ghastley surgeries appendicitis. (And come on. You knew she was going to be number one on my list.)
2. Gwen Bell dot Com: Gwen’s blog is an inspiration to anyone getting started in Social Media. She touts balance in every aspect of your life and warns against getting so caught up in the interwebs that you merely count the number of friends or followers you have instead of focusing on the gifts you have to share. Gwen was voted one of the 50 most powerful +influential Woman in Social Media but even so, she is lesson in humility.
3. GoingStagg: David writes fearlessly about whatever topic he happens to find interesting on a given day; be it design, sports or energy drinks. His blog has shown me that there is no such thing as being timid online. Why not say what you want and write what you know?
4. Oat.org: Matthew Inman is an awesome graphic designer who has built an amazing personal brand on the foundation of his pretty pictures and even prettier code. He has kicked off several successful projects, including the free dating site Mingle2… and let’s be honest; the boys blog looks GOOD!
5. crowdSPRING: The company was created to help creatives from around the world mash up with people seeking those creatives. Their blog houses tons of amazing Social Media posts but my favorite is a weekly post where Angeline does a recap of all the cool links she tweeted the prior week. This wrap up post is where I have found some of my other favorite blogs!
6. Chris Brogan: This guy posts A LOT. I don’t like all of his articles, but the majority of his posts contain nuggets of Social Media gold.
7. The Personal Branding Blog: Dan Schawbel has dubbed himself “the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y” and while I’m not sure if he is the “leading expert” I do really like his blog. He understands that jobs and job searches are changing and that a personal brand can be a a job applicant’s most important asset!
8. Web Strategy by Jeremiah: Jeremiah is a Senior Analyst for Forrestor research, a company devoted to providing their clients with insight into what THEIR clients want to know. Forrester research is also the company that my favorite Social Media books, Groundswell, sprang from.
9. Web Ink Now: This is one of my favs. Don’t really know why, maybe because it’s one of the first quote un-quote Social Media blogs to populate my Google reader? Anyway, David Meerman Scott is the author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR and his blog is a great resource for both personal branding AND Social Media ideas. He also provides great insight into what practices you should be avoiding.
10. and of course, Fayza. I’m not really going to go into a lot of description here. Fayza makes fun of Britney. People love her. People know her. And she’s not just sitting at home behind her computer plotting how she will take over the internet.

So those are my top 10 blogs! There are many other great GREAT blogs out there, but these are the ones I personally favor. I hope you find yourself inspired by at least one of them!

<whispering> I also love Perez but I already blogged about him once and you all know how I feel his Social Media/Personal Branding prowess. </whispering>

First of all… what is the groundswell?  Li and Bernoff define the groundswell as “a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.”  Social Media!!!!

Since two of my big questions about Social Media involve numbers and hang out spots on the web, I’m really excited to tell ya’ll about the Social Technographics Profile, a cool little gadget Forrester uses that can tell your company where your people are hanging out in the groundswell and what percentage of them hang out where.  You know what is coolest about it?  You can use it yourself for FREE at the Groundswell Site!

Basically Li and Bernoff admit it’s impossible for you to be everywhere on the internet at once; but besides being impossible, it’s also pointless.  Why expend all your efforts and hang out somewhere your people aren’t?

The Social Technographics Profile divides internet users into six groups (keep in mind you can be a member in multiple groups) and gives you a really indication of where your company should start making noise first:

1. Creators are those happykatie’s out there; the ones always posting something online, be it a blog, a video on youtube, or a podcast.
2. Critics react to things online.  They are the ones reviewing things on eBay and Amazon and commenting on site after site.
3. Collectors adore RSS Feeds.  They like to tag things online and organize their internet life just-so.
4. Joiners are those social network junkies.  If a social network relates to them in any way, they are bound to create a profile.
5. Spectators read blogs and watch videos but they don’t really say a whole lot.
6. Inactives are just that… inactive in the groundswell.

Here is a quick profile I just built for women, age 25-34 who live in United States, using the The Social Technographics Profile tool.

This is in no relation to my blog, but if you were trying to reach women in this demographic, you can see that of the women in this age group, 56 percent are spectators… a really active subset!  You won’t reach ALL women this way, but it’s a good tool to see where you should start.  These women will read you blog, so why don’t you have one yet??

The Social Technographics Profile is just the icing on the groundswell cake.  There is a wealth of other information, from strategies you can use in the groundswell to how you can use it to get your employees involved and motivated…. all really cool stuff!

If you are a social media baby like me, I definitely recomend this book. (Although I kind of feel like I’m staring in a episode of Reading Rainbow right now!)