Honor, ethics and understanding

At BMF, we have a high standard of ethics and truly operate with the mentality that “you are only as good as your word.”  We try to understand each of our clients view points and act on their best behalf.

Recently, I worked with a company who did not operate under our same standards. In dealing with them, I decided to take a moment and let them know how much I felt they were hurting our industry (Seriously, you would have laughed if you heard the conversation on the phone…I felt like my mother trying to teach someone a lesson).  I felt the need to reach out and tell them some positive changes they could make going forward.

We all need reminders (myself included) on how to make sure you are operating your business to the best of your ability. Here are some points we discussed:

• When you make a mistake ask for help.  We all make mistakes and rather than trying to back-pedal, make excuses or rationalize our error.–own the mistake and see how those around you can rally together to help solve your problem and resolve the situation.

• No one is going to make your job easier for you. At least, you shouldn’t assume they will. We all need to work and do our jobs the best we know how and we should NOT rely on others to double-check, follow-up or complete a task that we are supposed to be doing.

• Take a deep breath. When a problem arises, it is important to take a deep breath and try to figure out how those on the other end are feeling.  Take time to understand another point of view even if you have nothing to do with the problem. It never hurts to help.

I think it makes for good karma to work with other people and help them….you just never know when your next big mistake is around the corner and you will want to be treated in the same way!

Barb Burgie
Burgie MediaFusion
o: 800.713.0445
c: 614.560.6896
f: 888.390.0425

 

Google+ taking the old fashioned route

That is, sending snail mail to confirm your business! We just registered Burgie MediaFusion, LLC for a Google+ business account and here is what the confirmation looked like:

What do you think? Do you like this approach?

You’re never too old to say thanks

As a parent, I realize the importance of manners in every day life.

I really spend a lot of time each day pointing out when my daughter should say “thank you”, in hopes it becomes second nature. Say “thank you” when someone gives you a present. Say “thank you” when somebody holds the door. Say “thank you” when someone gives you a compliment.

As adults, we don’t need reminders for the typical thank you moments. But many of us may need reminders to do so beyond the typical door openings and gift receiving.

Once a week our team at BMF thinks of someone who had an effect on us or works with us – big or small – and we write that person a note of gratitude (not via e-mail either; handwritten to be more personal). We feel it is important to thank those you are thankful for!

Gratitude is one of the gifts you can give others and we at BMF are grateful to all of our clients, coworkers, partners, vendors and families for all they do for us, THANK YOU!

Natalie Monroe
Burgie MediaFusion
www.burgiemediafusion.com

Why do a competitive analysis?

A competitive analysis is an important factor in our marketing strategy. It is crucial to look at your competitors and examine how they are positioned in the marketplace. It enables you to uncover best practices within the industry and make recommendations for changes for your company based on those findings.

We like to include this as part of our comprehensive marketing plan. To really understand a company we need to examine it in its entirety. We need to know target audiences, current business goals, timeframes, revenue streams, and a budget.

Natalie Monroe
Burgie MediaFusion
800.713.0445

What a night! Miracles & Magic 2011 a great success…

Miracles & Magic benefits the A Kid Again program and Burgie MediaFusion has been involved for many years now. A Kid Again strives to enrich the lives of children with life threatening illnesses and their families by providing healing times of respite through our fun-filled group activities and destination events, which they call adventures.

This year BMF served as a corporate and in-kind partner and Barb Burgie sat on the advisory board as well. Miracles & Magic has raised over $1,000,000 and has allowed thousands of family members to share in this experience. Without the dedication of volunteers and sponsors this event would not be possible. It is a night filled with amazing performers, the premiers in their industry. It is an unbelievable grand-illusion and comedy magic variety show that will not disappoint.

Next year when you are looking for a great cause to contribute to, please remember Miracles & Magic, you will not only be entertained but you will know that your money is going to a great cause.  Mark your calendar for March 9 & 10, 2012, we will see you there!

Event host and co-producer of Miracles & Magic, Jon Petz with one of the miraculous kids from A Kid Again.

How Much Does a Polar Bear Weigh? Enough to Break the Ice; Hi, We are Burgie MediaFusion.

We should preface this by letting you know that no, we aren’t going to buy you a drink now, but we will tell you about a great tool to use at your next meeting. It was a couple weeks ago during a staff meeting that Natalie Monroe, our very own Marketing Mastermind, brought out some questions from www.icebreakersformeetings.com. You have 60 seconds to answer a long list of questions. The time is important because the answers become more entertaining when your co-workers have to say the first thing that comes to mind. Some of our favorites were:

Dinner and a movie or hot dog and a game? We all chose hot dog and a game- no wonder we work well together!

If you had to pick your final meal, what meal would you choose? “Bacon cheeseburger with french fries.” -Taylor Johnson

Best fast food french fries? “Steak and Shake.” – Barbara Burgie

I’m not proud that I watch this TV series… “Any of the Real Housewives and Teen Mom.” – Natalie Monroe     “I second that.” -Taylor Johnson

More important, knowledge or imagination? “Imagination.” -Barbara Burgie

The ice breakers will give you and your coworkers some great insights on one another and without a doubt, some great laughs!

–
Taylor Johnson
Burgie MediaFusion
o: 800.713.0445
c: 419.302.3786
f: 888.390.0425

‘Angry Birds’ game coming to Facebook

This could be one of the most addicting games out there! Have you played? Originally posted by Mashable.

By Charlie White, Mashable

March 7, 2011 9:43 a.m. EST | Filed under: Social Media

(Mashable) — Rovio CEO Mikael Hed says the immensely popular “Angry Birds” game is coming to Facebook next month with “completely new aspects to it that just haven’t been experienced in any other platform.”

According to “All Facebook,” Hed used the word “collaborative” to describe aspects of the game, adding that “the pigs will have a more prominent role.”

Take a look at the “Angry Birds” page on Facebook, and you’ll see that something is up. If you “like” the page, Rovio promises to keep you posted on all the latest news about the upcoming “Angry Birds” migration to Facebook.

Other game developers must be envious of the meteoric rise of “Angry Birds.” First it starts out as an iPhone game, then it’s ported to Android, Palm and Nokia, then suddenly there are multiple versions of the game, and it’s showing up on PCs, PSP/PS3, Windows 7 Phone, there’s a movie tie-in, an animated series, and there’s even a 3D version in the works. And next month we’ll be playing it on the largest social network in the world.

Please tell us in the comments how you think “Angry Birds” will do on Facebook, and what you think that collaborative aspect of the game might be.

This Is Your Brain on Facebook

Do you feel better after looking at your Facebook account? When we read this, we immediately thought about how Facebook has changed the way we view Birthdays. Your popularity is usually defined by how many people write those great “Happy Birthday” messages on your special day. Has our self-esteem really come down to the acknowledgement from our “friends” on a social networking site? Originally posted by Fast Company.

BY DAVID ZAX Wed Mar 2, 2011

A new study shows that checking out your profile on Zuck’s network improves self-esteem. Now, there’s something to “like”!

There has been a spate of books and columns recently about the ways the Internet makes us dumber, less happy, less fulfilled. Flying in the face of these theories is a new paper in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. The study, from two Cornell researchers, found that Facebook actually helps boost people’s self-esteem.

“I think that saying that Facebook/the Internet is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is naive and overly simplistic,” one of the researchers, Amy Gonzales, tells Fast Company. “Facebook/the Internet aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Given that, I want to know what that means for human behavior and what implications it may have for human psychology. This is just one small study trying to get at those effects.”

For the study, researchers Amy Gonzales and Jeffrey Hancock gathered 63 students in the university’s Social Media Lab. The students then sat in front of computers, some of which showed their Facebook profiles, some of which showed nothing (the computer was off), and some of which, eerily, had mirrors propped against the computer screen.

The students sat there for three minutes, with the Facebook group permitted to spend three minutes surfing only their page and its associated tabs. When the three minutes was up, everyone was given a questionnaire on self-esteem. The control and mirror groups saw no rise in self-esteem; the Facebook group, however, did.

The students who had edited their profiles during the three minutes felt the highest level of self-esteem. “Unlike a mirror, which reminds us of who we really are and may have a negative effect on self-esteem if that image does not match with our ideal, Facebook can show a positive version of ourselves,” Hancock told Cornell Chronicle. “We’re not saying that it’s a deceptive version of self, but it’s a positive one.”

While a case could be made that many sites might do the same thing, Hancock plans to study the matter further, examining just which aspect of Facebook leads to the boost–whether it’s the self-presentation of an edited album of photos, or whether it’s the encouraging comments on your wall. Gonzales, too, plans to follow up with a study on whether media use in general makes us more, or less, happy. In her new position at the University of Pennsylvania, she has devised a study that will track 150 Philadelphia residents, surveying them several times a day about their interactions with people–whether mediated through technology or in person–and how meaningful they find those relationships.

Follow Fast Company on Twitter.

[Image: Flickr user heungsub]

Charlie Sheen Sets New Guinness World Record for Twitter

Well since everyone else is talking about it…

Originally posted by Mashable.

by Todd Wasserman



Charlie Sheen may or may not be “winning,” in life, but he has won a rare honor: the “Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers” Guinness World Record.

Guinness community manager Dan Barrett says the agency “just researched and approved” the record this morning. According to Barrett, Sheen reached that milestone in 25 hours and 17 minutes. As of this writing, Sheen’s Twitter account, @CharlieSheen, has close to 1.2 million followers. Guinness did not have a previous record for that category, Barrett says. Sheen also set a Guinness record for “Highest Paid TV Actor Per Episode — Current” at $1.25 million.

Sheen joined Twitter March 1. In a matter of minutes, Sheen acquired more than 60,000 followers and a Klout score of 57 — without even tweeting. According to a report in Advertising Age, Sheen was able to get his account verified so quickly because Internet startup Ad.ly brokered his account with Twitter.

Sheen, of course, has been all over the news since he publicly disparaged Chuck Lorre, producer of Sheen’s successful sitcom Two and a Half Men in a bizarre interview with Alex Jones of InfoWars last month. Since then, Sheen has been interviewed by various other high-profile outlets making equally odd statements. The public meltdown has made Sheen a continual trending topic on Twitter and the subject of several YouTube parodies.

For Guinness, this is the second high-profile application of the brand’s records system to social media. Last month, the Nabisco cookie brand Oreo and rapper Lil Wayne squared off for the record for the most Facebook likes. Lil Wayne won that contest handily.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Ash90291.

Burgie MediaFusion puts the TEAM in TEAMwork

BMF thrives off of TEAMwork. Our team, though small, is mighty! We believe we have a very well rounded staff. We have social butterflies, we have more technical writers, we have analysts, we have social media mavens…we have it all. Our team is like a well oiled machine with many working parts.  We are all involved in each others’ projects so we can assist when needed. No one likes being out of the loop and the more we know as a unit the better we will serve our clients.

We are also not afraid to collaborate with other marketing firms to give a client the best product possible. Currently we have a client, (GreenScapes Landscape Company) and because of the scope of the job it was best to partner with another firm (The McClain Group) to achieve maximum results. We are able to work together and concentrate on each of our strengths, ultimately benefitting the client.

We do what it takes to make it work, working as a team is what makes us who we are!

Natalie Monroe
Burgie MediaFusion Account Executive
o: 800.713.0445
www.burgiemediafusion.com