My road to joining Comet can be summed up in one well-known saying, “It’s not what you know, but WHO you know that matters.”

Of course what you know–your professional experience, areas of expertise, etc.–is important, but in today’s economy and job market, having a great professional network is a must.

After deciding I was ready for my next professional challenge, my mentor, Laura Monagle, APR, Programming Chair and President-elect of PRSA Southeastern Wisconsin, recommended me to Al Krueger and Sara Meaney as an ideal candidate for their Social Media + PR Coordinator position.

I sent Comet my résumé a month after the job posting appeared on Big Shoes Network—which I assumed would be a waste of time as I knew hundreds of people had probably already applied. But given the strong recommendation from Laura on my behalf, I hoped luck was in my favor.

Sara Meaney called me that afternoon to set-up a phone interview for the following Monday. Just two weeks later I had an offer. Stoked doesn’t even begin to describe my reaction.

So although it’s my professional experience with public relations, social media strategy and implementation and academic accomplishments that got me the job, my professional network is what got me through the door.

The moral of my story: I cannot stress enough the importance of building your professional network through social media, by attending events, joining professional organizations and by having mentors whose career path you’d like to emulate.

Cheers to new connections!

Comet has grown quickly and as our latest press release discussed, we each offer our clients a unique blend of experiences and knowledge in the areas of social media, PR and marketing. Al Krueger and Sara Meaney have highly encouraged a team atmosphere at Comet to spark creativity and strategic thinking, so think of this week’s radio show as a bonding moment you can all be part of.

We invite you to take this opportunity to learn a bit more about what makes our social media and PR clocks tick. Got questions? Send them to our @CometBranding Twitter account by clicking here. We’ll answer as many as we can on air.

Please join us Wednesday, June 16 at 11 a.m. Central, for this week’s addition of Comet Radio. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

Looking forward to your questions!

The launch of “official bits” is a huge step for Stickybits. It allows brands to automatically own their barcodes, so that consumers are sent to branded information when they scan any partner barcode.

When Stickybits launched, anyone could take ownership of a brand’s barcode. This made it difficult for the brand to moderate the content to ensure the barcode was effective in showing individuals the company’s intended message.

Pepsi has stepped up for the chance to be Stickybits’ first large brand to broaden their digital campaigns with barcodes on their products. This will be just the beginning of larger brands stepping up and using their products as media channels.

Another updated feature on the Stickybits app allows users to vote for each individual piece of content. The content included on the barcode with the most votes is raised to the top of the page.

The voting feature encourages users to add interesting content to compete for the top voted media. For brands it opens up the possibility to run contests and receive voter feedback with the threading feature, which allows users to comment on each individual content piece added to the barcode.

Now let’s have some fun with the new voting feature – Let the voting begin! The Comet Branding team recently had some fun in Milwaukee’s Third Ward and attempted to sync together for a group photo. Well, even though it didn’t happen as initially planned, these pictures are pretty darn hilarious.

To view our new team photos, and to vote for your favorite, scan the attached barcode and click the thumbs up (because why would you ever hit the thumbs down for these photos?), on the photo that you feel portrays our team the best, or just makes you laugh the hardest at our awkwardness.

You can also cheat if you have a blackberry by clicking on the barcode image to vote for your favorite team picture. The Comet Branding team is anxious to see the voter’s choice!

What large brands or products that you use every day would you like to see take advantage of stickybits new “official bits” feature? Would you be more inclined to use Stickybits with the new voting and threading features to be able to interact with these brands?

The Cleveland Indians positioned themselves as leaders in the sports social media space early in the 2010 Major League Baseball season when they announced they would offer a Tribe Social Deck for a select group of social media users to use to cover the team at their home games. The Deck, situated atop the left field wall at Progressive Field, serves as a 10-seat exclusive section designed to engage fans and further establish the Indians brand in the social media space. The Tribe Social Deck offers the Indians organization a way to personally connect with those who significantly influence the team’s communications and reputation in the social media space.

In an effort to drive excitement in the social media space, the Indians also recently featured a head-to-head Mascot Twitter battle with the Chicago White Sox to see which team would receive the most hashtag mentions. The friendly competition encouraged fans to tweet out the hashtag #GoTribe or #GoWhiteSox, with the losing team’s mascot having to pay tribute to the winner prior to a series finale game between the two teams. The team donated $1 to Stand Up to Cancer (@SU2C) for every hashtag that was tweeted during the game.

The Indians have also successfully developed several different social media channels to connect and engage with their fan base:

Facebook

• Official Indians on Facebook Fan Page – 158,509 Fans

Twitter

• @Indians – The Official Twitter Feed of the Indians – 1,550 Followers
• @TribeTalk – The Indians PR Guy – 4,730 Followers
• @TribeInsider – The Official Behind-the-Scenes Voice of the Indians – 3,176 Followers
• @SlidertheMascot – The Official Mascot of the Indians – 600 Followers
• Several Indians Players – @Dhuff11 (David Huff) , @Gator4God (Matt LaPorta), @GrillCheese49 (Jason Grilli), @JLEWFifty (Jensen Lewis)

Blogs

• Indians Off the Field, CastroTurf, Wagner’s Compositions, The Scrappers Scoop, and View from the Booth

Curtis Danburg will be live on Comet Branding Radio this Wednesday to tell us more! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

Since 2006, Steven has been the Milwaukee city editor for The Onion A/V Club. One of Milwaukee’s most popular entertainment publications, the A/V Club generates hundreds of thousands of readers in print and online every week. In November of 2008, the online version was launched. Steven and his staff stay busy updating the site several times per day, 5 days a week, focusing on stories about local music, art, food and culture.

In addition to his duties with the Milwaukee branch, Steven is also a contributor to the National edition of the A/V Club, where he covers music, film, and TV. He also co-wrote the 2009 book Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists.

Steven will be live on Comet Radio to discuss his role in the world of The Onion. To listen to the show, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Have you dreamed of having a truck that had spoons as windshield wipers, red lips, and handed out Dairy Queen Blizzards to everyone it passed by? Your dream is now a reality! For 25 years, the Dairy Queen Blizzard treat has been a family favorite, visiting their local restaurant and enjoying each red-spoonful of yummy goodness.

To spread the yummy goodness with a huge impact, Dairy Queen has created a Blizzard®mobile that will travel the country handing out their new mini Blizzards (the Mini Blizzard Treat will be available in DQ locations this summer).

The tour kicked off right here in Milwaukee at Miller Park during the Brewers’ Exhibition game on Saturday, April 3rd and will be traveling to 25 different cities from April to August, with approximately three stops per city.

I visited the Blizzard®mobile at Miller Park, and let me tell you, this is one cool mobile! Dairy Queen has done an impeccable job with the design elements with the side-view mirrors being upside-down Blizzards, red spoon galore, the signage of the 25th Birthday Celebration logo branded throughout and, of course, bumper stickers with all Dairy Queen’s social media channels.

Keller and Guse will be Live on Comet Radio giving us the behind-the-scenes stories as to how the Blizzard®mobile concept was created, how Dairy Queen is utilizing social media to publicize each city’s visit, and how social media will have an impact on Dairy Queen moving forward beyond the Blizzard®mobile.

To get you pumped up for these Comet Radio guests, you can check out these Dairy Queen videos of the Blizzard®mobile being created (very cool!) and the mobile’s visit right here in Milwaukee!

You can follow the Blizzard®mobile tour on Dairy Queen’s Facebook Fan Page! Be sure to become a Facebook Fan and watch out for that large Blizzard traveling down the open road! This is one ice cream mobile you do not want to miss.

To listen to Wednesday’s show, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

A huge thank you to @Romke and @gforce414 for layin’ the beats, making the party go long into the night! We wish you were here every day inspiring our minds with your spinning.

We would love for everyone to come visit us in the Historic Third Ward. Stop by anytime! (Unless the door is locked.)

Cheers,

The Comet Team

@AlKrueger, @SaraMeaney, @MjWizzy, @LauraGainor, and @AndrewWiech

<– @Romke

Thanks for saving the day, Souperman. Saving the Third Ward from hunger, one day at a time.