Marketing Nirvana

I'm Mario Sundar, LinkedIn's Social Media Guy (since 2007). I blog about social media how to's for Marketing and PR teams. Note: These are my thoughts, and my thoughts only.

July 2, 2011 • 5:12 pm 1

What’s it like to work at LinkedIn?

I get that question some times and I felt Mashable recently did a great job summarizing what it is to work at LinkedIn. Check out similar posts they’ve done in the past for other companies. I was happy to share my thoughts on LinkedIn (where I’ve worked for ~4.5 years now) and glad that Erica Swallow chose to quote me in it. Thanks!

Good Times: That's me, Richard and Krista (Marketing / PR team) at LinkedIn's 5th bday party!

Back to the Mashable snippet:

Here’s what Mario Sundar, LinkedIn’s senior social media manager and chief blogger, told Mashable about the monthly shindig:

“One of the elemental pieces of our culture is the monthly inDay where folks from across the company are given a ‘No Meeting Day,’ to focus on projects they are most passionate about. This ranges from the very productive Hackday (started by Adam Nash) to the TED-like Speaker Series where we bring in transformative professionals ranging from MLK III to Suze Orman to speak. Education is an oft-repeated theme as we get to hear from the game changers in that space like Sal Khan (Khan Academy), Charles Best (DonorsChoose.org), etc. Many times these events lead to our colleagues contributing towards some of these worthy causes. For example, one of our engineers, Alejandro Crosa, built DonorsChoose.org’s first iPhone app after listening to Charles Best, the CEO, speak at an inDay where Charles announced their internal hackday contest.”

“Frankly, I think projects like inDay actually translate well across different cultures, languages, etc. and get teams working toward a common cause outside of the daily work environment. This lends to a more collaborative environment when it comes to work as well.”

While we’re on the topic of InDay and culture, I’d urge you to check out a video tour that Jeremiah filmed 4 years ago, at LinkedIn’s Lunch 2.0 — right after we moved from Palo Alto to our Mountain View offices.

Check out a 5 minute video tour of LinkedIn’s offices 4 years ago

If you’d like to work at LinkedIn, stumbled upon a role that you think you’d be great for, ping me and I’m happy to chat.

Drop me a note @mariosundar.

Filed under: About Mario Sundar, Latest at LinkedIn, LinkedIn Colleagues,

February 21, 2011 • 11:42 pm 2

My keynote chat at the Online Marketing Summit 2011

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke at the Online Marketing Summit where I had an opening day keynote chat with Aaron Kahlow on topics ranging from the future of the social media strategist role (something I discussed on Quora recently) to discussing smart ways for marketers and businesses to use LinkedIn.

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Aaron Kahlow and Mario Sundar (Scroll down for more pics)

Here’s a quick write-up from B2B Magazine on the opening session:

During a packed opening keynote session, Mario Sundar, senior social media manager at LinkedIn, discussed the changing role of the social media manager at companies.

“There are two trajectory roles that are occurring at large companies,” he said. “On one hand, social media will be seamlessly integrated into other functions such as marketing, PR or customer support. At other companies, such as Ford and Citi, an executive social media role is emerging.”

He also discussed how companies are using LinkedIn features like custom groups to reach customers and prospects.

It’s interesting how businesses are trying to get their arms around LinkedIn, and some of my efforts in the coming months will focus on educating them on ways to accomplish that. Stay tuned.

While at OMS, I also had a chance to catch up with good friends like Chris Brogan and run into social media folks like Charlotte Blank (GM) and John Lustyan (Disney) – individuals responsible for social media at their companies. As always, it’s interesting to learn how companies approach social media, which teams are taking the lead on social media and how those skills are transferred across the organization.

Below are some pictures from my keynote chat with Aaron Kahlow (Source: Online Marketing Summit) with my favorite being the second one. Kudos to Aaron and team for a kick-ass event and thanks for the opportunity to speak.

As promised, more pics…

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Filed under: Speaking Engagements

November 8, 2010 • 1:39 pm 20

Why I moved to Toronto

This is surreal.

Just last week, I was chilling on a sailboat with my friends in San Francisco. And, here I am writing this post from a hotel room in Toronto, the culmination of a week of hectic activities that’s been months in the making.

My LinkedIn story, continues…

I’m stoked at the continuation of a super-exciting journey I began at LinkedIn close to 4 years ago (here’s a video Jeremiah took when I just started out here), and boy, what an awesome roller coaster it’s been. The opportunity to work with some of my favorite social media peeps in the world, a mentor from whom I’ve learnt a ton, a CEO who truly gets social media, some really smart, funny, entertaining, colleagues, and a chance to change the way our users and companies perceive and use LinkedIn.

But, I digress… So, what am I doing in Toronto at LinkedIn’s Canada office? My role moving forward, will be to take LinkedIn’s social media marketing efforts global. Toronto, is the central hub from where I can work with our global teams at creating a new paradigm for our marketing and PR efforts across the globe.

Moving forward, my focus areas at LinkedIn:

1. Global blog editor of the LinkedIn blog

  • When we started the LinkedIn blog, our primary goal was to not just create the source of information around LinkedIn but more importantly to create a dialogue between the folks behind LinkedIn (product, engineering, design, developers, etc.) and our users. Since then we’ve had over 80 contributing bloggers from within the company and over 8000 conversations.
  • The goal now is to tailor this information to users in different parts of the world as well as craft content that’s more in tune with users in different countries. For starters, we’ve LinkedIn in 6 different languages, and half of our users are from outside of the US. So, that’s a starting point, right there.

2. Localization of social media strategy globally

  • As my good friends Lionel Menchaca and Jeremiah Owyang say repeatedly, you always find where your users are and engage with them on their platforms of choice. We’re currently engaging with our users on multiple channels including LinkedIn (of course), Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.
  • The next goal would be to create a comprehensive strategy around content and engagement on these different platforms, whether it be better integration of social with our blog or better routing of this feedback with customer service (for e.g.). Jeremiah just hinted at how 2011 is going to be the year of the social corporate website and I’m sure corporate blogs will be no exception to this development.

3. Working with companies on how-to do LinkedIn right

  • Increasingly, I’ve been having conversations with my social media peers at different companies – Tom Hoehn (Kodak), Esteban Contreras (Samsung), James Musick (Genentech) for e.g. – to share LinkedIn and social media best practices. Something I’ll continue to share these with you on this blog.

And, now with Shannon Stubo leading our PR team back in HQ, the ever dependable Krista Canfield – my colleague, friend and “shoe fanatic” (it’s true), and some new additions to our team, it’s the right time to take this program global and I’m excited that I get to do that from a city as vibrant as Toronto.

So, if you’re a professional in – Marketing, PR, HR or Customer Service – come back to the blog for more information on topics like: business blogging, ceo communication, employee engagement, linkedin tips and more.

And, if you or your team is responsible for social media in your small business or corporation, I’d love to hear from you. Leave me a comment or @mariosundar me.

Wanna follow my adventures in Toronto – find me on Twitter? Want to learn more about social media and corporations, subscribe to my blog.

Filed under: About Mario Sundar

September 26, 2008 • 8:51 am 5

Feedback on Blog World Expo panel – 7 Habits

I’ve blogged about the 2 panels I participated in at Blog World Expo 2008 (here’s the one I was a panelist in and here’s the one I moderated). Thought you’d be interested in checking out some of the twitter feedback that we received on the 7 Habits panel I moderated.

Thanks to Tom for both the pictures.

Tom, Lionel and Nicki at Blog World Expo 2008

Tom, Lionel and Nicki at Blog World Expo 2008

Carolyn and Nicki (Blog World Expo 2008)

Carolyn and Nicki at Blog World Expo 2008

Once again, kudos to Nicki, Lionel, Carolyn and Tom for being a great panel. I think the tweets are far more descriptive.

@marismith: Wow, just realized the corporate blogging panel room 227 is packed! Peeps sitting on the floor.

@trishussey: Retweet @gwenbell: Dell, Yahoo!, Facebook, Kodak and LinkedIn corporate bloggers. Powerhouse session.

@gwenbell: Dell, Yahoo!, Facebook, Kodak and LinkedIn corporate bloggers. Powerhouse session. #bwe08

@JayBerkowitz: BlogWorld Corp blog panel #bwe08 Thomas Hoehn from Kodak “A blog without comments is just a website”

@ccarfi: “the acceptance of negative comments FAR outweighs the comments themselves” – tom hoehn at kodak #bwe08

@alanunderkofler: “A blog without comments is a website” Thomas Hoehn Kodak #bwe08

@shaicoggins: is@ the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Business Blogs panel at #bwe08. Great insights in to corp communications fr Dell,Yahoo,Kodak& Facebook.

@alanunderkofler: At 7 habits of Highly Effective Business Blogs… Great panel, Dell, facebook, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, and Kodak, lots to learn! #bwe08

@marismith: I’m diggin’ the chick from Yahoo blog http://ycorpblog.com/ <http://ycorpblog.com/>  Nicki Dugan. Smart, confident, experienced, mature.

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I’ve been traveling ever since my last post. In New York the past couple of days at the World Business Forum after my Vegas trip (Blog World Expo). I’m also flying out to Portland tomorrow. So, expect reduced blogging over the weekend.

Filed under: Speaking Engagements

September 21, 2008 • 8:21 pm 2

Blog World Expo 2008: Wrap-up

At the Vegas airport after wrapping up the most instructive, anecdote filled corporate blogging panel I’ve been a part of. One that I moderated with my favorite corporate blogging peeps.

Lionel Menchaca, Dell
Nicki Dugan, Yahoo!
Carolyn Abram, Facebook
Thomas Hoehn, Kodak

First off, thanks to all four of them for being able to make it to Blog World. It’s definitely something I’d planned for a long time and the panel conversation was as educative to the audience as I’d envisioned it’d be. They shared with other corporate bloggers, best practices and anecdotes that I’ve heard during my conversations with them in the past. And, that is good for the industry in general. I’ll soon share the presentation on slideshare with my notes.

Presentation pet peeves: I craft my slides on Apple Keynote (and in this case “powerpoint on a mac”) but was bummed that the fonts were all messed up when I was forced to run it on a PC. And, I misspelled Tom’s name. Sorry, Tom! Keep these in mind when you dream up your next presentation as a moderator.

Content-wise, the panel was a gold-mine for any corporate blogger or company wanting to start a blog. More on this later. Stay tuned.

Now I’ve got a flight to catch!
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Blogged from my iPhone

Filed under: Business Blogging, Speaking Engagements

September 19, 2008 • 7:03 pm 5

Blog World Expo 2008: Corporate Blogging Myths and Reality

Just wrapped up my first panel discussion with Paula Berg, Southwest Airlines, moderated by Chris Baggot. What I loved about the panel was the level of Q&A interactivity that permeated the entire session – from start to finish.

Some of the key topics we touched upon were related to the motivation behind corporate blogs – goals, strategy, tactics, implementation and ROI.

Most of the questions we got asked are questions I get asked all the time when I speak at events and have addressed on this blog in the past:

For e.g.

1. Why should my company start a corporate blog?
2. Why should a CEO blog when he has more important things to do?
3. What about privacy laws?
4. What about the argument that corporate bloging is but a trend?

Etc…

Once I’ve access to a laptop and wireles connectivity (moving from the Marriot to Hilton later today since I currently don’t have Internet access there), I’ll probably link to posts from the past that address the above questions.

I’m currently heading to the luncheon keynote with Guy Kawasaki and Steve Rubel. Should be fun.

Feel free to throw in questions you may have on the above topics. I’m currently blogging this from an iPhone – on the WordPress app.

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Blogged from my iPhone

Filed under: Business Blogging, Speaking Engagements

August 15, 2007 • 6:23 am 8

Keynote: Impact of Social Media on Marketing (Online Marketing Summit)

Summary: Overview of recent keynote address at Online Marketing Summit both in the Bay Area and Los Angeles — Addressed the audiences on the impact of social media & social networking on marketing (Disclosure: I work at LinkedIn) — Outline of 5 social media topics I covered


Moi w/ the Online Marketing Summit team and Ray “Catfish” , a fellow speaker at the event (Los Angeles)

Having covered, Gnomedex, last week as an attendee I also had a chance to give the keynote during Online Marketing Summit‘s 10 city tour during it’s last two pit stops in the Bay Area and Long Beach. The event is organized by Aaron Kahlow (Conference chair and his team — see above pic). Here’s a short snapshot of OMS

WHAT: Summit’s sole objective is to educate, collaborate, network and learn how to execute on the best known practices in Online Marketing. The Online Marketers Summit (OMS) is an Invitation Only, “vendorless” educational forum for Marketers only. Set in beautiful San Diego, Marketers from leading companies gather every year to share best practices and learn from expert online practitioners.

The 10 city tour was an offshoot of the original San Diego OMS, which has been drawing a fair amount of attention with a couple of hundred marketers attending the events where I spoke in LA and the Bay Area. Couple of ways I noticed OMS is trying to carve a unique path is in their focus by encouraging audiences to literally boo any references to the speaker’s own company. Again, similar to Gnomedex where speakers are doubly careful to not make a pitch by respecting the audience.

I got a chance to talk about ways marketers can leverage social media and social networking, given the enormous interest in these topics recently and the fact that I work for a professional networking site – LinkedIn, and could share some of my recent experiences implementing social media strategies encompassing corporate blogging, LinkedIn Answers, etc… After addressing the true impact of social media today, I delved into a 5-part presentation outlined below:

1. Social Media Circus

2. The State of Social Media

3. The 5th P of Marketing (Participation) | Social Media Marketing Mix

4. Follow the L-A-M-P (4 step process to engage in social media)

5. Ten ways marketers can leverage social networking

The first three components addressed the genesis and evolution of social media and the last two provided actual ways marketers could embrace social media and social networking. I’ll be covering my favorite part of the social media keynote in an upcoming post called “Follow the LAMP – 4 simple steps to engage in social media”. It’s as simple as that. And for you marketers interested (what are you waiting for?) what’s interesting is that it doesn’t cost you anything to step into the realm of social media.

As my good friend, Jeremiah, says with regards to blogging, I’d say with regards to speaking — take the first step, just do it, and things start developing. I’ve already got a couple more requests to speak at similar events; mostly revolving around social media, social marketing and my experience practicing it at a leading social networking site – LinkedIn. This is all exciting stuff!

Filed under: Miscellaneous, Speaking Engagements

July 18, 2007 • 6:56 am 4

Guess who’s on the Social Media Index?

Personally, this could be analogous to a software company finally getting listed on the NASDAQ! He he… The Social Media Index is a listing of the Top 30 Social Media influencers on the planet and I’m stoked that I find a mention on that list, particularly since it validates the very evolution of my career path this past year – part evangelist, part community and social media marketer.

I’m sure we’ve all read and consumed various listings such as the Technorati 100, Viral Garden’s Top Marketing Blogs, ToddAnd’s Power Index 150, recently crafted Peter Kim‘s Top Marketer Blogs, and I could go on. All these listings attempt to capture the true influence of a blog on the collective mindset of an enraptured blog audience, which is a sliver of mainstream media (may I add). However the one common factor across all these listings are the individuals who power them and in today’s fractioned mindset, capturing influence is of primary importance, especially among marketers.

So, it’s no wonder that when David from Edelman decided to track influence across different social media services (from LinkedIn to Blogs and Facebook), the majority of the Top 30 social media influencers were marketers. I find myself sandwiched between Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim and Shel Holtz’s blog. I also find myself in the company of friends Jeremiah, Jeremy (who interestingly has a post on his social media consumption) and a slew of others. Nice.

Check out the entire post where David Brain (President and CEO, Edelman Europe) describes the rationale behind the research.

Below is a snapshot of the top 20 social media evangelists. Head over to the post for the entire list. After the jump, check out why I think this could actually redefine marketers!?

One of the major reasons I totally dig the philosophy behind the ranking is the following:

So what does this last list mean? The overwhelming majority of new entrants to this more ‘pure’ Social Media Index are individuals which is probably not surprising given that corporates or even collectives don’t really use Twitter or Facebook . . . people do.

Now, that’s the very essence of evangelism, which insists on the worth of people and their honest word-of-mouth opinion. For e.g. on LinkedIn, I recommend my colleagues and former co-workers, which can then be shared with those on my professional network. Likewise, on Facebook, there are apps such as CNET’s new MyTech app, which allows you to rate technology products (i just rated my GPS, Blackberry, camera, etc…)! This is organic marketing where I’m announcing to my professional and social network that I believe, have tried and will recommend the following. That’s the difference between evangelism and marketing or a sales pitch.

Let’s take another example, I was able to respond quickly to Steve Rubel’s issues and customer concerns about LinkedIn (I’m the community evangelist there). How? By being on Twitter and reading my twitter feed via Google Reader! Read all about it here.

Filed under: About Mario Sundar

July 13, 2007 • 7:13 am 11

Being Mario Sundar | Top Marketer Blogs

Quick Update: Karl Long’s “Experience Curve” blog has a Technorati rank of 440 and not 332 as noted. Apparently, there’s another blog of his that’s causing that Technorati confusion.
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Kudos to Peter Kim of the “Being Peter Kim” blog, for putting together a new list of Top Marketer Blogs (yes, I’m on it:) that he’s culled from three sources: Mack Collier’s Top 25 Marketing Blogs, ToddAnd’s Power 150, and the Z-list. What was interesting is that some of these blogs were mentioned in my Top 10 CMO blogs post on Marketing Profs. Speaking of Mprofs, it’s been forever since I started my series of marketing posts on the blog and in the interim they’ve had some terrific changes including a totally new look-and-feel. But, I digress… So back to the list of Top 13 Marketer Blogs!

Here it is:

  1. Flooring The Consumer :: Technorati authority = 504. Authored by CB Whittemore, Director of In-Store Innovation, Wear-Dated Carpet Fiber.
  2. ExperienceCurve :: 332. 440 Karl Long, Web/Social Media Integration Manager, Nokia. (updated)
  3. Marketing Nirvana :: 424. Mario Sundar, Community Evangelist, LinkedIn.
  4. The Marketing Excellence Blog :: 254. Eric Kintz, VP Marketing, Digital Photography & Entertainment, Hewlett-Packard.
  5. cgm :: 191. Pete Blackshaw, CMO, Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
  6. Decker Marketing :: 167. Sam Decker, VP Marketing, Bazaarvoice.
  7. Masiguy :: 162. Tim Jackson, Brand Manager, Masi Bicycles.
  8. AttentionMax :: 153. Max Kalehoff, VP Marketing, Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
  9. Churbuck.com :: 148. David Churbuck, VP Global Web Marketing, Lenovo.
  10. Emerson Process Experts :: 130. Jim Cahill, Marketing Communications Manager, Emerson Process Management.
  11. Bernaisesource :: 99. Dan Greenfield, VP Corporate Communications, Earthlink.
  12. John Dragoon’s Blog :: 29. John Dragoon, CMO, Novell.
  13. Randy’s Journal :: n/a. Randy Tinseth, VP Marketing, Boeing.

Since 13 doesn’t sound like a good number and since it’s missing at least two more of my favorite marketer blogs. Here they are:

* Damon Billian (formerly PayPal Damon) — my good friend Damon, who leads community efforts at SimplyHired

* Rohit Bhargava (VP of Interactive Marketing, Ogilvy PR) who runs (what I think) was the fastest growing marketing blog ever called Influential Marketing Blog!

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Speaking of all these Top 10 blog lists reminds me of my top three, Top 10 lists ever on Marketing Nirvana:

1. Top 10 CEO blogs
2. Top 10 CMO blogs
3. Top 10 corporate blogs

Filed under: About Mario Sundar

June 29, 2007 • 8:44 am 5

Breaking bread with Steve Jobs at Lunch

Or should I say, breaking bread while at lunch… with Steve Jobs at the next table. For those of you who’re looking for something related to marketing or technology, you may want to skip this post and check out my next one on social networking. Well, today as I was having lunch with a good friend of mine at Apple’s Headquarters Cafeteria in Cupertino, and in walks Steve Jobs with Jonathan Ive at around 1:00 PM, probably right after Steve’s company wide meeting (earlier that day) and then proceeds to grab a table right next to my friend and me! Nice.


Source: via Fake Steve Jobs via iPhone Matters

Speaking of the company wide meeting earlier yesterday where Jobs announced a free iPhone to every full time employee at Apple, yet again, Steve proved why he’s a genius when it comes to drawing the perfect analogies in reducing even complex strategy into the simplest form – Zen style.

He then talked about iPhone in relation to the rest of Apple’s business. Steve described it as trying to put the third leg onto a chair with only two legs. The first leg is the Mac business, which Steve addressed by saying that they have the “best Macs” in the new product pipeline ever right now, and that the stuff coming out in the next year is “off the charts.” Wow, sounds juicy.

He said that the second leg is the iPod and iTunes marketplace, which we all know has been wildly successful. The third leg of the chair, Steve hopes, will be the iPhone business, which he hopes to grow into something as strong as the iPod. He added that he hopes for the fourth leg to become the Apple TV, but focus is on the iPhone for now. This reiterates previous reports that Steve Jobs viewed the Apple TV as more of an experiment than a total dive into the set-top space.

Now, this may sound silly for many, but for someone like me who came to America six years ago believing in the meritocracy preached by Jack Welch, motivated by the marketing genius of Steve Jobs, and being someone who moved to the Silicon Valley the day after graduation to immerse myself in the technology mecca; seeing Steve Jobs yesterday at lunch made my day.

Of course, I didn’t have the courage to walk over to Steve and say that the the Mac evangelist campaign (check out the Mac evangelist page in 1997) is probably the reason I am a community evangelist today and instead here I am gushing on my blog.

Filed under: About Mario Sundar,

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