Affirmation

I say this from more of a development standpoint. From hearing numerous panels to having 1-on-1 sit-downs with industry leaders. I’ve seen the growth from both ends of the spectrum, as talks are far past the tools and the newness of social media and deeper into what we’re actually doing right now to help businesses achieve their goals with the help of the social web.

What has this affirmed for me exactly? That the work that I and the rest of the community have put in this past year, since my last smart-people meeting, is helping move needles and shift our thinking forward with ideas and case studies on what’s working for companies today.

Testing

This second takeaway directly relates to that next level of thinking and how organizations are approaching social media today. They’re continually testing & optimizing their strategies and aren’t afraid of failing during this process.

Jay Baer summed up this thought well with this quote:

Instead of swinging for the fences all the time in marketing, try to string together base hits and ultimately you’ll win

Better yet, watch our interview for yourself and hear what Jay thought about the event, it’s well worth the 2 and 1/2 minutes:

So, a big thank-you goes out to the MarketingProfs team for inviting me out to this great event. Thank you for giving me ideas to take back to the desk, for reconnecting me with good friends, and introducing me to some new faces that I once only knew online.

Were you at the event or watching the livestream? What were your biggest takeaways? And if we haven’t gotten the chance to connect face-to-face yet, let’s change that!

Because following guidelines doesn’t always get you noticed.

Because letting your passion and personality ride you through gets people talking.

Because change is a good thing and it challenges people and their thinking.

Because being yourself will always be far better than trying to be someone else.

And because not conforming gives you great memories like this:

I found this video yesterday (thanks to @KatiRyan) when it was only at a few thousand views and it’s now blown up past 1mm (update: a day later and it’s now close to 5mm – wow). I’ve admittedly added to a few dozen of those views, but there’s something to it (minus the overall awesomeness of what this couple orchestrated at their wedding) that gets me excited and pumped about what is possible.

How can you step outside of the box today and challenge the world of conformity?

Enjoy your Friday!

Aside from the video being completely hilarious, it depicts the story of his experience with United Airlines. Worse news for them, the video has already accumulated over 100k views and has only been live for 2 days.

Though it has been MONTHS since this happened, where Dave was denied a claim and was left with a $1,200 bill just to repair the broken guitar, United Airlines has taken note and responded through Twitter:

This has struck a chord w/ us and we’ve contacted him directly to make it right.

No pun intended =).

But to United Airlines’ side, there is specifically a 24-hour claim period and Dave passed that allotted time before he took action.

But are there exceptions?

Is United taking him seriously only because he has the power of music to have his voice heard (though it’s taken 9 months to do so)? Would all customers who went through a similar ordeal be treated the same, if they couldn’t sing? Or, is it OK to make exceptions for outstanding cases such as this one?

And lastly, is United Airlines wanting to right their wrong good on them, or is it too little too late to salvage the damage of this video? Sound off.

Check it out (only 4 1/2 minutes long so you can spare a short break):