this is the time of year when you are flooding companies with your resumes because you find yourself among the new crop of impending graduates. you also start sending panic-stricken emails because you are an MBA candidate who has yet to land a coveted summer internship. if you aren’t frustrated or discouraged by now, then I give you 3 months post graduation to start using your student loan statements to wipe away the tears. us too, not long ago, were in these shoes and have accumulated a few lessons along the way.

spend a few minutes glancing at linkedin profiles and you will notice that many of your fellow job seekers are also “very passionate about social media”. while I know that many of you are truly invested in the industry, it is also the biggest buzz word we have known since we coined the term “dot.com”. among the new breed of business students, working for a well-funded startup has as much cache as investment banking once did. and who can blame you? we have seen the largest financial powerhouses of our generation come tumbling down, all while social startups like facebook, zynga, twitter and foursquare race to unprecedented valuations. we are talking billions here.

so now many of you want to flex your business muscles in the startup world or become social media strategists and use all these hot emerging technologies. perhaps you are sitting there wondering why no one is giving you a chance. class of 2010, if you haven’t noticed yet, you have many challenges ahead. i won’t recite the ugly stats, but you know that being another jobless graduate in this rough financial landscape, is not what you bargained for. however, i want to give you some practical tips that may save your resume from being eliminated in the first cut.

1. please don’t refer to yourself as a social media guru, ninja or rockstar. even the most accomplished thought leaders are continuing to learn and consider themselves “students” of social media rather than masters. many of you have been in school longer than some of these platforms have even existed. this industry is young, ever changing and very experimental. remember, always “know what you don’t know”.
2. make sure your social media expertise is tied to measurable results. are you using the latest analytic tools to chart success and failures? many tools are free and easy to learn. knowing what didn’t work is often as important as knowing the home run strategies. feel free to email us for a list of our favorite metric and web analytics tools.
3. of course the age old question is relevant here. how can I gain experience if no one will hire me, not even as an intern? luckily, social media experience can be accumulated without any employment whatsoever. you just have to be willing to work and learn for free. help your favorite local band set up and syndicate their videos. build a facebook fan page for your uncle’s autobody shop. volunteer to run a twitter account for your favorite produce seller at the farmer’s market. the opportunities to understand social media from the deep trenches are all around you. i want to point out that you can strategize till the cows come home but illustrating that you can actually implement a campaign from start to finish is key. build out your tactical expertise as well as your consulting chops.
4. don’t be a marketer that needs help marketing themselves. that’s a red flag for any employer. if you haven’t built a brand for yourself then what are you waiting for? your digital footprint is in your hands and potential employers are googling you, facebooking you and reading your tweets. trust us. take a look at your search results in yahoo! and bing as well. what do these results say about you and your social media prowess? do you have an updated google.com/profile? is your twitter account private or public? what groups and forums are you a member of on linkedin and when was the last time someone wrote you an endorsement on it? how many blog posts have you managed in 2010? don’t tell me you have crossed off all of these checklist items. this work is ongoing and requires constant tweaking.
5. lastly, if no one will hire you then consider going into business for yourself. there is no better way to earn “startup cred” than to build one yourself. dust off last semester’s business plan and consider whether or not it has potential. talk to your fellow classmates about joining forces. owning your own business is incredibly rewarding, full of highs and lows, and course many will fail. however, it does illustrate that you are willing to take risks and that you can actualize business principles outside of the classroom. in the long run if it doesn’t work out, most employers will admire the ownership you took. also, I promise there is no easier way to go from the resume writing agonies to the resume screening role.

social media is an exciting and growing field, and still so new that it is a great time to immerse yourself and create opportunities. class of 2010, we are rooting for you and feel hopeful that you will see the beginning of financial recovery. we know that your investment in higher education will soon pay off. feel free to share your insight, tips and other war stories with us.

most of us hate commercials interrupting our shows, but every now and then there will be an ad that will make everyone stop in the room and stare at the screen. when all the elements come together, from the music to the imagery, humor or intrigue, millions of us will move from our tv sets to our youtube channel to see it and share it. more and more intelligent brand campaigns are geared towards our growing online watching and sharing compulsions. this intersection is key for advertisers since it can change the audience from passive watchers or avoiders of the spot altogether, to active promoters of your creative. bingo.

lately about one billion of us are watching Lady Gaga vids, but here is also a list of some of our favorite tv ads gone viral and why we think they strike a chord:

“Let Your Game Speak” Nike Commercial

even if you don’t watch a lot of basketball, you’re bound to recognize at least one well known michael jordan moment that is being portrayed by kids in this commercial (and if you don’t, you’ll be mesmerized anyway). humor is often considered an essential component in virality, but this commercial disproves that. if you don’t believe us, take a look at some of the comments below the video. what are the implications of this commercial for nike? first, it sends the message that anyone can be great. secondly, it brings a sense of nostalgia to sports fans who are fond of michael or respect michael jordan’s career.

“Push It” By Nextel

watch this commercial once and it’s stuck in your head for the rest of the day. plus, who doesn’t want to see a bunch of business guys getting down to salt n pepa. this video is all about juxtapositions.  groove with none.  work with play.  getting down and being uptight.  we can’t help but laugh at seeing three dorky guys with an 80s style boombox, but then we get the reality check of work.  but it’s the nextel brand that saves the day!  because it’s their quick and efficient technology that gets us back to our groove.

“The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” Old Spice Commercial

hey girls, old spice wants you to buy their products for your man. why? so he can be like this man on a horse on an exotic island with diamonds and two tickets to that thing you love. okay, so maybe that won’t happen…but at least he’ll smell like him. this is one of the best spoofs of “manly behavior” we have seen in years. watch out axe body spray.

“Parisian Love” Google Commercial

this commercial tugs at your heartstrings. what makes it so great? first off, its point of view since you feel like you’re the one living it out. secondly, it’s easy to relate to it since most of us have googled  similar everyday things.

clearly there is a formula to viral videos– elements such as humor, nostalgia and familiarity are common. what other key features are important? any other viral ads you love?

So many folks are excited to see how the iPad is going to change media. Publisher’s need a lifeline and in the last couple of week’s we have seen some demos that are scratching the surface of the potential to come. We may see big changes in reading behavior and dynamic ways to engage children in the classroom.  What do you guys think?

if you haven’t heard of chatroulette, then i give it mere days before it has giant buzz. although coverage in the new york times about its 17 year old creator from moscow (pictured on bike), has already spiked its traffic over the last week. as the name implies, you sit at your computer and press the play button, and the game of chance takes over as you are matched with a stranger from anywhere in the world for a real live video chat. you can keep shuffling through people or engage via IM and microphone. there is  no need to register, log in or be invited. one simple click and you are live, which makes it dangerous for kids, since it has no screening whatsoever, and i will say that it can be a creepy experience.

when the pints gave it a whirl, we were hard pressed to find many women on it and there seemed to be a lot of teens in sunglasses and anonymous garb on the service. however, i couldn’t help but be fascinated since it appealed to my short attention span and i could shuffle through people without feeling rude or guilty. i can’t seem to do that as well at a cocktail party. today, i met an engineer from zurich, switzerland, a fashionable sunglasses lover in paris and a “pirate” from budapest who was on it “to steal everyone’s loot”. reminiscent of the age of chatrooms, folks can create their own interesting personas, but now they have a video camera in their face. it also makes geography less and less of an obstacle in terms of connections, not one person i connected with on chatroulette was in the USA.

while there is some advertising potential for this service to exist as a viable commercial business the anonymity, randomness and stranger interaction, while giving chatroulette its excitement, can also mean inappropriate behavior and huge parental fears. its young entrepreneur will have to address these issues, as well as the investment in scale, as more and more people start joining the chat gambling game. i predict his bandwidth and server needs will quickly outweigh his adsense revenue. however, kudos to the youngster whose project at its core, illustrates that humans are motivated by social connections and such simple technologies make it possible.

in the last few months, we have seen a huge rise in popularity in crowdsourcing discount services such as groupon, livingsocial, townhog etc. through the power of mass group buying, customers can enjoy great discounts, while the businesses can pack the house. these platforms are doing a great job or maximizing their announcements through social media channels, (facebook connect, twitter) as well as their ever expanding email lists. groupon, being the largest of these has a national mailing list of $2m and just in SF, their daily promo updates reach 60k people. they started in chicago and grew to 30 more cities in 2009. they are predicting $100 million in gross merchandise sales in 2010 and became profitable 6 months after launch. businesses agree to list their products or services on these sites at huge discounts in exchange for a spike in sales. while this sounds line a no brainer for new and small businesses, there are some things that you need to consider before jumping on the bandwagon.

1. margin, margin, margin
these sites take a HUGE percentage of the sales price, groupon for instance, expects that 50% of each product sold goes to them. that means you have to consider discounting 50% to customers and giving up another 50% just to list it. so for example, a $60 meal can be discounted to $30 and then $15 will be paid to the discount service. in the end you are only taking home $15 minus the admin fees. yes don’t forget the 1.7% for credit card processing that will come out of your total. can all your costs be covered in the take home amount? that is a huge hit to your margin and in some cases, businesses are losing money on each groupon sold.

2. upsells and repeat business
why would anyone in their right mind sign up to lose money on each deal? well the hope is that each paying customer will buy above and beyond the product or service. in restaurants, it is customary to upsell cocktails, desserts and make a great impression for that repeat visit. of course, there are those folks that are just chasing the cheap deals and will not be interested in spending anymore cash or ever coming back. be honest with yourself, if you have products with limited upsell potential or offer the type of activity that people rarely repeat..say hot air ballooning, then be cautious about breaking even.

3. this is not real time baby, plan ahead
last time i spoke to the folks over at groupon, the average wait for a business to be featured on the homepage was about 60 days. this could be longer now, as their visibility continues to grow. don’t start planning your valentine’s promo on feb. 10th! the smaller places like livingsocial will likely have more flexibility, but less eyeballs, so do your research. think ahead and give yourself a lot of time to prepare and get in their calendar. start talking to them at least 3 months before you need the promo to be live.

4. capacity and opportunity costs
ask yourself, can you handle the volume that these services can deliver. many daily deals end up selling hundreds if not thousands or more of the product. are you already at 50% capacity, 75% capacity? do you have a shop where you take appointments or is it a walk in business you are at the mercy of? don’t get greedy and cap the amount you want to sell to a reasonable number you can service well. prepare to have the promo eat into your revenue for about 2 or 3 months after it launches. you don’t want to turn away your existing and loyal clients who pay in full and aren’t expecting a deal. please consider the opportunity costs of serving the new masses redeeming heavily discounted coupons.

5. expiration date
while you may sell a large number of deals, note that not everyone will redeem. the redemption rate will vary across industries, but most deals posted expire at 6 months. it would make sense that the shorter the expiration period, the lower the redemption rate. this can be great because it is money in your pocket, without any work, however you also lose that exposure to the customer you were hoping for. plan for a 3 month, 6 month or 1 year expiration according to your business objectives.

for any of you that have used these services for your business or for your personal consumption, please share your feedback with us!

today i ran across Inc Magazine’s slideshow, How To Run a Business from Home. it was fun and insightful from some of the peeps doing it right; and it made me think of another recent article i read, “The Way I Work”. both of these pieces talk about different habits and methods for entrepreneurs working at home, and how to do so successfully. well this got me started thinking about the blupint team and some of my own personal work at home habits… and of course, i then wanted to share.

ladies and gents, without further adieu, i present just a few of blupint’s work-at-home secrets to success for entrepreneurs…. (all rights reserved)…

(fyi, this is not our home office… wishful thinking)

1. it’s okay to be late. this might seem like an odd way to start a “secrets to success” article, but take a moment and stick with me. if you work from an office, when you arrive at 8:30, do you immediately snap into efficiency mode and start cranking through your to-do list? if you said yes, you are a liar. when you walk through the doors at the j-o-b you get some coffee, talk fantasy sports or what you did for dinner, post a tweet, read a funny forward, etc.. in fact, if you are reading this at work right now, then you know exactly what i’m talking about it doesn’t mean you are a bad employee, it means you are human and for whatever reasons we all have days where it just takes us an extra minute. well we’re the same way. working at home doesn’t mean you MUST be working bank hours, and it certainly doesn’t mean you should beat yourself up if you don’t. everyone’s got a life to balance, and everyone’s got a to-do list. our people know that if you sleep in an extra 20 minutes, or it takes a second cup of coffee to get going.. you don’t need to punish yourself with guilt. you just might be working a bit longer, or a bit harder in the near future. there’s nothing wrong with that.

2. eating lunch at home sucks. at least eating lunch at home every single day does. yes, it’s great to save money, you eat healthier blah blah blah. but eating a home made turkey sandwich and a banana, with a glass of ice water on the side every single day gets old… in fact, it gets old really really quick. go out to lunch at least once a week. meet a client, meet a friend, eat alone. regardless of who or where, just get out. it’s too easy to get started on your day, eat your sandwich at your computer, then look at the clock and realize its 7 at night and you completely missed the sun outside. it gets really bad, when you haven’t just missed one day of sun, you’ve missed five!

(if you make sandwiches that look like this, you actually should eat at home everyday.. then call me and invite me over)

3. set office habits… maybe even write them down as “rules” (i hate using that word bc everyone should strive to break rules, not set them). limit yourself to checking email a few times a day, try to limit your personal catch-up calls (“hhheeeeyyy, man! how are you, haven’t talked to you in months.. yea, i’ve got some time”.. prob not good on a tuesday afternoon), limit your itunes time… whatever it is, put a system in place so you don’t do it. i find it easier to avoid certain distractions if i’ve made it a “rule” or a habit of nature. if you ever think something might be a distraction, then i guarantee at some point it IS. so set habits, and stick to them.

4. know your available resources. quiet coffee shops ARE the new meeting rooms. and when the internet craps out at home, head to a local co-working space. we’re into sandbox suites, sf cube and numerous local cafe’s… but know what’s around you, what they can provide, and take advantage.

(we’d love to hear some of your personal habits or thoughts? what works, what doesn’t… )

i often forget that the teams i’m watching duke it out on the court, are actual brands, but a look around the stadium will reveal logo hats, jerseys, blankets, and even cell phone covers. i just read an article about the way teams are branding themselves, without selling merchandise and tickets, and still improving their loyal relationship with their fans — they’re going social. with news coming out every week about the power of social influence marketing and web 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 (insert number here) features that have allowed brands to turn potential customers into die hard fans, it’s been no surprise to see some of blupint’s favorite teams and athletes turning to social media channels to better connect with fans, engage communities, and increase brand interaction. our research has yielded some interesting insight as to who is leveraging their communities well, and what opportunities exist.

one of the most active teams in the digital sphere, are the boston celtics. using celtics.com as their main portal they have launched a GameTimeLive application that aggregates tweets, blogs, posts, and videos for their digital fan. their youtube channel has locker room videos uploaded minutes before they are taking to the hardwood. they tweet about sick players and at-practice antics and their facebook is full of things happening in and around boston that the team is involved in. however, while the celtics are far ahead of most NBA teams in social media engagement, they are still lagging behind the los angeles lakers who have over a million twitter followers. why are the lakers more successful in the social media sphere? after all, the lakers don’t have a facebook page directly dedicated to their dancers or a 3 point app like the celtics do. well, a quick scan of each team’s twitter accounts illustrate that the lakers connect with individuals through more direct conversations, another illustration that personal engagement is the key to social media success.

while we’re on the subject, we should mention that twitter’s top trending topics of 2009 sports list shows that the lakers were the 2nd top trending team while the cleveland cavaliers were the 4th top trending team, pointing to the NBA’s ability to create social dialogue. interestingly, only kobe bryant crossed over as one of the top ten most tweeted about people, clearly too many ashton kutchers, tila tequilas and kim kardashians to compete with.

college athletics are following in the footsteps of some major sports teams and going social. NotreDameFalcons.com, for example, has encouraged both coach, fan, and player participation on the web. the pints know this to a be a needed move because falcon fans are online already, checking up on stats, scores, and information. their website includes many of the coaches twitter feeds and also includes several student-athlete and coach blogs to keep the fans updated. calbears.com, the official athletics website for uc berkeley, has dedicated a whole section to cal on social media, which has helped boost twitter followers to over 1,500 and facebook followers to over 7,200. some universities and sports teams have more followers than others, but keep in mind that social media pages aren’t there to simply create more fans, they’re also there to foster already formed relationships — and the falcons and bears are taking a step in the right direction by connecting with current students, alums, and fans with a click of a button.

we see a great many number of opportunities to connect digitally with fans for other major league sports by replying to fans directly on twitter, having contests via facebook, posting fun content on youtube, and coming up with some great smartphone apps. the pints are eager to see major league baseball and soccer teams getting more digital and more social! 2010 is a great year to start, get to it.

perhaps we should try it?

universities are increasingly realizing that social media can do much more than create an online community for prospective, current, and alumni students…and they’re jumping at the opportunity. at first glance, it seems obvious that facebook and twitter are great platforms from which universities can market their schools and activities, but some schools have gotten much more creative than that. stanford has used facebook to showcase projects and some professors have implemented facebook office hours (that means not having to brave the cold to go ask your professor one or two questions anymore), stockholm university is streaming seminars, and both duke university and georgia tech are making it easier to check school e-mail and perform certain university related internet tasks via mobile phone.

social media networks give colleges the ability to broadcast news to and connect with millions of people in a matter of seconds (making it a great emergency contact tool), all while decreasing other media and marketing related costs. the pints know the future already: schools will transition from posters and brochures to flickr and youtube to inform and engage. newsletters and flyers are turning into #events on twitter, and networks like facebook will replace off-campus housing websites sponsored by universities. and why not? with the majority of students spending copious amounts of time on social networking sites anyway, it makes sense that universities are reaching out through these outlets.

universities have even gone as far as to integrate social media into their course offerings and staff meetings, simultaneously educating students and teachers about social media as a form of digital marketing and teaching aid, respectively. and while the pints aren’t surprised, these types of decisions are changing the way some view social media. no longer a hobby for procrastinating teens or a way to get ‘back in touch’, social media technologies are being studied as communication and marketing tools.

but beware, universities aren’t just using social media to reach out to students some admission officers have used social media networks to research potential scholarship candidates. social media has become a two-way research tool, with students getting to know universities on a more intimiate level using their websites and social media outlets, and admissions officers getting to know their students on a more personal level by researching their social media presence.

here are some cool examples that show how different universities have been using social media:

harvard on youtube

biola university bogs

stanford on itunes u

however, while some institutions are embracing social technologies as a crucial tool, there are still thousands of universities that have little to no presence on these networks. the blupint team shares some insight below on the relationship between universities and social networks including some findings and personal experience.

also, meet our great intern team if you haven’t already!