In an article by the Orange & White, Clemson University’s President James Barker looks at Social Media from a different position. He is looking at the strong tie between academics and athletics by using the main university Facebook fan page growth during the football season.

Question from reporter: “Are athletics and academics at odds?

“We are not going to choose between one or the other. We are going to be strong in both, and, in fact, where one is strong, it helps make the other strong. The number of applications this year are up and hopefully attributed to our success academically, but I’m fairly sure some factor in that is a result of the football team. Applications are up five percent. They were up last year, too, but not that much … Our Facebook fans number at 84,000 and increased 1,000 per week during football season. That gives us some idea of the exposure football gives to us … I think success between the two is linked together.”

Interesting comparison especially when you are looking for ways to show success in numbers. Facebook here is the barometer of measurement for some indicator of success.

CLICK HERE to read  the complete article by the Orange & White.

CLICK HERE for Clemson University’s Main Facebook Page.

One of my favorite projects to work on over the years is the Legacy Day Project at Clemson University. Legacy Day is an event dedicated to sharing Thomas Green Clemson’s legacy. It started a few years ago when Clemson released the new book “Thomas Green Clemson” exploring many aspects of the life of Clemson University’s founder.

The book was released in 2009 and shared for the first time during the first Legacy Day in November that same year. Many special donors were invited to the lawn of Fort Hill Mansion to interact with students, faculty, staff, and general public as an opportunity to share the life long legacy of Mr. Clemson.

Clemson’s Marketing Department wanted to create a video campaign to attract students to the event in November 2009. So we tried to capture and share the spirit of Thomas Green Clemson in these short films, showing Mr. Clemson helping students around campus. The theme was to represent Mr. Clemson’s determined spirit, how it was and still is all around us. Each short film was produced with student… and delivered via Facebook by students across campus. Each week, a new film was released showcasing the many ways Mr. Clemson is all around us.

This year, Clemson Marketing Department wanted to produce another series of short films to continue this storyline. The first film released shows Mr. Clemson helping Tanner Smith, a Clemson Basketball player, struggling during a weight lifting exercise. At the end, you will see Tanner getting excited giving Mr. Clemson a hug after being spotted during his bench press routine. Mr. Clemson stepped in to help.

More short films will be released over the next two weeks leading up to Legacy Day on November 11, 2011. The best part of this project, students were involved in the creation and execution. They are also a major part of the distribution of these short films using Facebook and YouTube as a way to distribute these videos across their network of friends.

Here is a link to the Facebook Event: CLICK HERE

Here is a link to read more about the “Thomas Green Clemson” book: CLICK HERE

There is no better affirmation of success than seeing your “Students” succeeding and excited about life. Teaching at Clemson is the one thing that has changed my business approach and has helped me grow professionally everyday. As I sit here in Starbucks in downtown Clemson, I have already seen two students who have gone through my Business Writing and Entrepreneurship classes…each of them excited to say hi!

Their vibrant smiles remind me everyday why we as professionals should try to teach, give something of ourselves to those who will change the face of tomorrow. On this Clemson Homecoming weekend, it is so much fun to come home to Clemson weekly and see those students who have taught me something special about life.

I think many communication and social media practitioners are looking back over the last few years and making assessments. We are looking at success, failures, challenges, and where to continue on this path of social understanding. One of the things I have some to realize is that it takes time!

It does…it takes time. Working with major, large organizations…I have learned a lot. What have I learned, well…employing a social strategy takes time. One of the biggest selling points of using social strategies is the low cost for the technology and commitment to community building. Well…the investment is strategy and the human capital. Over the last two years, I have learned a lot. So here are a few lessons I have learned along the way, especially with large organizations.

Lesson #1 – It is more than Twitter and Facebook. It is more than just opening an account, seeking out followers, and trying to have a conversation. Opening an account is easy, but it begins with creating a plan. I look at this as writing a start-up business plan for an entrepreneurial company. It is creating a path that is a barometer, not a ruler. Especially in large organizations like hospitals & universities, there are so many silos. So they plan has to start small and build on successes. Test one area, find a good model and begin trying to execute in other areas of the organization.

Lesson #2 – It takes a commitment from leadership. It is more than getting the mid-level decision makers involved, you need top brass involved. They are the ones that not only support the message, but can also engage in the strategy. We found much success with building blogs for the C-Suite, allowing them to write passionately. When employees feel like they can access the top brass, they are willing to engage in social, online conversations.

Lesson #3 – It takes commitment to community. Reaching out to brand ambassadors has to happen beyond the marketing and pr departments. They are the ones who can guide the organization, but they must empower those inside the organization to use the technology as a way to connect with others. Go where the people are and allow the technology enable to connectivity. One the smartest things I heard was Clemson University started an advisory board for Social Media. This board met once a month and guided internal departments on best practices. Instead of micro-managing the community, they worked with them on graphical standards and allowed the community to naturally connect.

Lesson #4 – It requires a commitment from IT/IS/HR. Yes…many hospitals are struggling whether to allow employees inside the organization to be able to access social outlets. It is a productivity and bandwidth conversation, yet more and more employees can access social outlets using smart phones and tablets. Opening access empowers the community to connect within the walls of the organization. Working with IT/IS and HR is important to find ways to allow employees have access to social outlets and educate employes on best practices and social media guidelines for their jobs descriptions.

Lesson #5 – It takes commitment from Brand/Graphic Standards gatekeepers. Building graphics, avatars, and other elements for organizations social outlets takes a shift in thinking. It is more than protecting the brand, it is about how to take a brand and represent it in social outlets. When people see a company logo on a social outlet, what is the expectation of engagement? Also…thinking through how to take logos that do not resonate in 50×50 pixels takes lots of thought especially when considering traditional branding guidelines. Engaging these gatekeepers is key, bring their input to the table and educating all parties how to implement graphics across an organization. Take a look at large organizations with many departments. Maybe it makes sense for each to have multiple social accounts, how do you represent the brand yet differentiate between departments…it takes discussion, thought, and planning.

Lesson #6 – It requires engagement with your brand ambassadors including employees. This goes back to the IT/IS/HR discussion. Especially for large organizations, your employees can be your largest brand ambassador. If you restrict the technology that could connect these individuals, you may be restricting your greatest potential. Brains on Fire did something special with the Fiskateers, connecting them under a message and passion for scissors. They recognized an area with tremendous potential for community connection and engaged them using technology that made sense. Hats off to BOF!

Lesson #7 – It takes passion, passion for your mission and message. Social outlets are being used for “Push” marketing, pushing our messages on people. Well, is that an engaging conversation. It takes passion. The people that lead your social cause should be passionate about the cause, allowing the social technology to naturally connect them to others. Fan bases, followers want to connect with people they trust and who share a common passion. If those who are socially leading are not passionate, then it becomes noise in this big ole pond of digital discourse. Passionate writing, passionate tweeting, passionate video content, passionate message…passionate people connect with passionate people.

Lesson #8 – The message has to come from within…let the community empower the message. It does…outside advertising/pr/messaging firms should not tweet, update, blog, etc. for  the organization. The message has to come from the people that believe in the message, that live inside the organization/community everyday. It is about people, stupid…and people want to connect with real people.

Lesson #9 – Their are so many more social outlets than the mainstream outlets. There are so many other social outlets out there than your typical Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Quora, etc. My wife interacts on a social outlet called “The Bump.” A chat room for women who are expecting babies. She is connecting with tons of women all over, building relationships and sharing stories. How about Polyvore, my sister-in-law loves this social outlet for fashion trends. You have to go where the community is engaging, build relationships where the conversations are the best.

Lesson #10 – It does not happen overnight. It does not…it takes time, patience, a good plan, and commitment to building a strong, long-lasting community.

How do we measure success in the classroom? Well, here is a little moment for me that made it all worth it! Wednesday of last week, it all came together. I teach Hybrid Entrepreneurship at Clemson…I also teach a business writing class, both classes are wrapped around entrepreneurship. Wednesday was the day of success.

I teach both of these classes back to back. The Business Writing class at 2:30pm and the Hybrid Entrepreneurship class at 4pm.  When I walked into the Business Writing class, one of my students had a huge smile on her face. It was a smile of passion. This semester, they are writing about their passion, their business idea, and putting it in a business plan. Each class, a new piece of the puzzle is due then inserted into their business plan notebook. She had an idea.

As I made my way to the front of the class, she began pitching her idea. She explained the vision, the customers, the market, and how much it would cost. She had the entrepreneurial spirit and looked at me and asked, “Do you think I can do it?” I said…”What is stopping you?” She sat and thought…she said…”The money and the time.” The more we talked, the more I realized the idea was great and expensive. I told her to take what we learned in this class and write the plan. You could see she could not wait to get out the door and put her thoughts on paper. The spirit was alive.

As class ended, I made my way to Sirrine Hall for Hybrid Entrepreneurship. This class has to create a business idea that would solve a social problem yet generate profit. We are almost done with the project and I have been encouraging each group to not stop at the end of the semester. Each of the five groups have viable business ideas solving real social problems. Each could start a business immediately.

Two members of a group came to class early to find me. They had a question, “How do we actually make this a business?”  They wanted to know about creating a LLC and they also wanted to know about how to manage the finances. They wanted to know about partner agreements. They were serious. They have a great business idea and they were ready to make the leap of faith into the world of entrepreneurship.

My goal with these classes, to teach the culture of entrepreneurship. I wanted to find and unlock the hidden passion and potential. These bright students are the leaders and innovators of tomorrow, they are the creative class. This day was a day of success, they are beginning to think beyond the A’s and B’s…and how to convert ideas into viable business ideas. Regardless if they succeed, they wanted to get up to the plate and take a swing at that fast ball.

When I walked into class today…I could not have been so excited! SO PUMPED!

I sat and watched five different groups give five different presentations about the business models behind their Hybrid Entrepreneur project. But, this is not just a project…these were five legitimate business ideas. Each one, tremendous…innovative…socially driven…potential to generate a profit…created to make change.

But…here is the BUT. Are these students looking at these business ideas as a project for a grade or will they turn them into a viable business idea? What is the barrier that keeps students in the academy from taking a business idea generated in a class, translate into a passion, and produce a viable business?

This takes me back to my fundamental question: can you teach entrepreneurship in a traditional education model. What do I mean? Well, we teach students that we measure success in terms of A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s, and F’s within a timeframe of the semester. It is my humble opinion that entrepreneurs build businesses beyond the timeframe of a semester and do not measure success within a frame work of grades.

Think for a second, if a student generates a great idea inside a class…how can we change the culture so that they see the value of generating this big idea into a concrete business beyond the end of the semester. Each of these five groups have tremendous business ideas, but the common resistance to capitalize on this idea is the grade they are working to achieve. Also, when the semester ends…out of sight, out of mind.

I was riding around on Saturday with one of my mentors. We were chatting up ideas, business ideas….ideas that can scale into profitable businesses. As we were chatting, we were not focusing on just the future revenue streams but the creative outlet to translate a great business idea into a scalable success. If we had a white board in the SUV, we would have been writing all over the place, connecting the dots. There is a passion behind entrepreneurship that is not measured inside the constraints of semesters and  grades.

Now, back to the classroom.

At the end of the class…I challenged each student. I asked them, what would it take to take their business idea and bring it to fruition. They sat perplexed, thinking about all the other classwork they had to complete. They murmured about time and the lack of resources. So, how do we teach passion and how do we provide the access to resources to convert ideas into reality?

I say we have to take the education of entrepreneurship outside the walls of semesters and grades. We have to provide a shift in culture. Academic institutions have to invest not only in the instruction of entrepreneurship, but also the financial resources that takes good ideas and brings them to life. We see this in the business world. Look at SCLaunch investing dollars in high impact start-ups with the hope they will create jobs in South Carolina. We see new groups like the Upstate Carolina Angel Network connecting good ideas with capital to bring these ideas to life.

So here is my question, how about bring capital into the walls of the academy, investing dollars in students’ ideas for a stake in the business. Many times, I think the barrier here is the ownership of the idea. What do I mean, well institutions are interested in revenue and intellectual property. They might argue these ideas were created inside the walls of the classroom, giving them an immediate ownership of the intellectual property.

So here is my thought, my question: how can we create a culture of entrepreneurship inside the walls of academic institution to truly generate great ideas and bring them to life.  We must change the culture of the academy and create a culture of real entrepreneurship…bringing good ideas to life.

I will leave you with this story. A few months ago, I had the privilege of meeting Doris Buffett. She told her story about her eagerness to give away all her money. She created the Sunshine Lady Foundation to do just that…give it all away.  But, she does not invest in SOB’s (as she so eloquently stated). SOB stands for Symphonies, Orchestras, and Ballets. She invests in human capital. One of her initiatives is the Learning By Giving initiative.

“The goal of the Learning by Giving program is to support and promote the study of philanthropy at the undergraduate level nationwide in order to prepare, empower and inspire young adults to become effective, knowledgeable and skilled philanthropists and leaders in their communities.  The Learning by Giving Program achieves this goal by supporting undergraduate courses in philanthropy with grants of $10,000 for students to distribute  in local nonprofits as an investment in solutions to community problems. The Learning by Giving grants enable undergraduates to experience firsthand the art and science of philanthropy through courses offered in a variety of academic disciplines; and encourage the growth of undergraduates’ philanthropic values and leadership activities over their lifetime.”

WOW! Here is a lady teaching the idea of philanthropy by providing grants to support students in their desire to help local nonprofits as investments in solutions for community problems. She is providing the resources, teaching philanthropy with seed money. Imagine taking this idea and supporting entrepreneurship at the undergraduate level. Seed money supporting the ideas of tomorrow.

So I have been doing some research looking for companies and individuals engaging in this new trend of Hybrid Entrepreneurship. Yes…those who want to solve a social problem as major initiative, yet they do not want to be a non-profit. They want to generate profits and create a sustainable change, social progress. I found this student in New York City with similar thoughts.

Yes…we feel ya my friend. This is a conversational trend, Bloomberg Businessweek wrote about this trending topic in 2009…the idea of turning a profit solving a social problems. Here is a story about the Greystone Foundation…click here to read and watch. Are they Hybrid? It sure did lead to an interesting class discussion in my ELE 499 class at Clemson.

So what has brought about this trend…this need for sustainable change. With the trends of “going green” to “sustainability,” organizations are realizing that the world of running “not for profit” business models is not a one-size fits all. Back in 2004, some were still calling it Social Entrepreneurship. Click here to listen to Randy Komisar and his interview from Stanford’s Entrepreneur Corner. But there are those that do not feel like it fits into that model nicely.

This semester, I have been teaching a new class at Clemson in the Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurship. The whole point of the class is to explore, define, articulate, and showcase an emerging entrepreneurial area known as Hybrid Entrepreneurship. Late last year, I wrote about this new emerging area as I was preparing to teach this class…you can read about it by clicking here.

So…the class is compiling case studies and examples of what we define as Hybrid Entrepreneurship. But before we can do that…we have to define as a baseline. So below are four definitions from four groups of students in this class:

• Improving a social condition with the intent of making profit through traditional and untraditional business methods.
• An entrepreneurial endeavor with  goal to provide social change. The business has to generate profit but cant give all profits to charity. The product or profit can provide social change and must be disclosed and included in the business plan.
• One whose focal point is to bring about positive social change or create awareness of a social problem while making a profit.
• Organization or individual that is driven by a social need, but operation runs with a double bottom line of profit and social.

So I was sitting in the board meeting for the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce and the closing remarks from board chairman Bill Manson has me thinking. He told us that the average American home has five televisions. Think about that for a second, five televisions. He goes on to reflect that we Americans live in the richest nation in the world. We have so much to be thankful for this holiday season. Now I am not using the television as a barometer to measure wealth in totality here in America…I am looking at it as a small fact that makes you sit back and think.

One year ago this month, I decided to break away from another company and start my own business. For the past year, Sarah and I have been able to achieve more in one year than we have in the last four years of marriage. We have rid ourselves of all our medical debt, we have really started focusing on saving, we have spent more time thinking about giving not only money but time to causes we believe, we have helped our sister-in-law get through college, and we are closer than ever to starting a family. My little business is only a small part of this freedom of choice, but it has been more about empowering our future. Taking an active role in where we want to be tomorrow. So, I am thankful.

This past year, my mother has finally found her mate…one she can spend the rest of her life with; and I do not have to worry any longer. My sister has found someone who makes her day happy, and it is our hope that this relationship will flourish. Sarah has began to find the new her, after loosing her best friend…her mother to breast cancer three years ago and suffering three miscarriages over the last two years. Grief is a tough road.

I am not sure where business will take me next year? I have a good plan in place and focus on growth and continue to find the right people to work with…ones who want to do some fun stuff. I am looking forward to continuing teaching at Clemson…this is one area that I find the most joy. There is nothing better than walking in a room of tomorrow’s leaders and knowing that one day they will be taking care of me, in some capacity…why not help them along the way. For this I am thankful.

What do I want the most next year…not the gadgets that everyone knows I love, not the new car, not some crazy trip for vacation…I want to start a family. If it is our place to be able to have our own child this year…I think I will write about it every day on this blog. If it is our place to adopt, I will open my house with joy. I am 36 years old, turning 37 next March. If we have a child next year, I will be 57 when they turn 20 and in college. I will be 67 when they have kids…if they do so by 30. I want the opportunity to see my legacy. I want to see my tomorrow. I want to be able to support my family and do it with the passion I have for everything I put my heart into.  I want to be able to tell the story of my family just as much as telling stories for my clients. I want to start teaching my legacy just as much as I teach our legacy in Clemson’s classroom.

So I am humbled and thankful. This is not some cliche blog post where I am going to sell you a bunch of thankful stuff about turkey and world peace. I am thankful that I can get up in the morning, in the house I pay for everyday, working with the clients I love, next to the woman I adore, and share life with the family and friends that make breathing air so complete. We should be so thankful to be able to freely express our opinions, fight for our passion, share our values and ethics, and do it in a country…a place we can call home regardless how many televisions sit in our households. Thankfulness is contextual and this is my little thankful thought for the day.

Thanks Bill for helping me think and articulate why I am thankful this holiday season! We should be so thankful.

What is your story? What is your legacy? How are you sharing it with your tomorrow?

I am coming up on the one year anniversary of officially being out on my own. Yes…it is going to be a big day for me. Little context, in January 2007, I entered the world of start-ups joining a technology company. Great group of people, but it ended up being an evolution of previous technology companies rolling over debt from one to the next. They closed the doors the day after I closed on our house. Me and few of my co-workers decided to negotiate the purchase of that business (client list and assets), and off I was jumping into another start-up with new partners. What a learning experience.

What did I learn? Well, choose partners wisely and have a good agreement in-place. I also learned that I had the personality and the drive to venture out on my own…and do what I am passionate about, telling stories. My former partners are now running a successful business and pushing forward with their vision and I am excited for their success. So here I am, less than a month from starting Bobby Rettew, llc.

So now as I am in planning stages for year two…I am putting together my strategic plan for the next few years. I am excited about the opportunities, some cool projects on the horizon, and thinking through how I want to grow my business. This is the fun part…planning the dream and putting a plan in place to make it happen.

I am also excited about my teaching career and growing academically. It is my humble opinion that teaching at a major university has given me credibility and opened doors that normally would take years to open. I began teaching at Clemson University with the Advanced Writing Program, teaching Business Writing in the Department of English. I was able to leverage that opportunity to create a student led networking event called NetworkBash. These events have been great over the last two years. Now I am joining the Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurship to begin teaching Hybrid Entrepreneurship this coming spring. This growth academically has taught me how to manage my business, my clients, my classes, and serve my passion…to tell stories.

So how do we meet our goals, how do we push forward? How? Well, I am not perfect but this is what I am thinking.

1. Have a focus! Yes, know who you are and where you are going. What is the mission statement for your business? Seriously think about what problem(s) are you trying to solve and can you generate revenue by servicing this need? Balance your passion with how you can generate revenue. We are in business to make money…right?

2. Have a plan! Not only a simple business plan…but a short term and long term business plan that maps out goals; covers all aspects of your business. What happens if you hit a recession, what happens during a time of growth, where do you want to grow and how will you get there? This plan should be re-evaluated on a quarterly basis for goal setting, then yearly for revisions and re-focus.

3. Have a mentor! Find someone that you can talk to outside of your business. This person should be someone you can trust and provide perspective while building and growing your business.

4. Grow professionally! Have a place to step outside of the business, a place to stretch the brain and grow. This could be conferences, continuing education, workshops, etc. Plan to take time off for this growth, and plan financially for this expense. I just joined WOMMA and this is a huge investment for me and my business. Not only financially but also when it comes to time commitment. I want to leverage this knowledge for my business growth.

5. Grow your network! Continue to grow your sphere and be willing to remove people from your sphere if they are not helping you grow. Continually evaluate and re-evaluate where you spend your time networking and where you can find like-minded people.

6. Retain professional help! Have a good accountant and attorney. They will not only provide professional advice but will help you grow your business and protect your interests. I have both and THEY ROCK! TJ Way of Nason Way Accounting, LLC and Andy Arnold of W. Andrew Law Firm make my life easy!

7. Make time for family! Work hard and play hard. I take three vacations a year with a minimum of a week each. This lets me get away from business and re-energize. Also…know when to turn off business when you are home with the ones you love. I am always learning to make this distinction…it can be tough!

8. Have the desire to grow! Seek ways to become a better person and know that you have faults. Be willing to grow from each decision you make!

9. Treat your customers/clients like family! It is all about relationships. You want to be on the speed dial so that you can be their expert.

10. Love your business! Keep the passion alive so people can feel that passion when you walk in the door.

Where am I taking this business, well that is for me to know and you to find out. No big secrets…just working on my year two plan. But I do know this…my failures over the last 20 plus years have taught me so much. From starting as a broadcast journalist, through graduate school, multiple start-ups…and now my own deal. I am so fortunate to be where I am today. I just want to have some fun! Year two…here I come! Also…my CFO (my wife) has given the ultimate support needed to be successful, thanks beautiful!