Interview with David Prince, VP of Marketing at CQ Fluency

David Prince is the VP of Marketing at CQ Fluency. They are a communications company with a difference: cultural fluency that ensures the message is adapted seamlessly for all audiences. He brings a wealth of knowledge in the worlds of brand building, multicultural solutions and team leadership. This interview will give you insight into why social media is essential for a business to be successful. 

What is your experience managing multiple social media accounts?

When I worked for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention we worked on the VERB campaign. It was a social marketing campaign to increase physical activity among youth. The sources of influence were on tweens, teachers, program leaders, and parents. Through this campaign I utilized multiple social media accounts to advertise. Back then MySpace was the hot commodity of social media as well as Facebook.

How do you stay on top of the latest innovations in social media?

I follow key blogs such as Social Media News and Social Media Network/Marketing. In my Twitter and Facebook newsfeed I follow several companies and prominent names. I engage in discussions on several LinkedIn groups. I also utilize Google alerts and receive an e-mail daily in regards to current events and trends in the social media industry.

What different social medium are you experienced in and how effective have you found them?

I am experienced in the Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare, and Pinterest. These social media tools are effective at brand building. Social media also drives sales for a company. It’s a great way to promote the brand and products. It increases awareness of the brand and image. Social media are a way to strike conversation with your consumers. You are able to see what their interests are and can relate to them through your next product or service.

Now that we covered the bases, here are further questions I asked:

Enhance Awareness/ Improve Perception:

How do you remain fresh and relevant in a constantly changing environment?

It’s very vital for companies to stick with their message and remain persistent in an ever-changing environment. You should stay on the message across all social media platforms. New people are always discovering your brand.

What ways have you helped improve brand loyalty in the past through social media?

While I worked for the U.S. Army I made a push to Twitter. I enhanced their technical abilities and initiated the first tweet from space during one of our projects. Overall, I raised the level of army technical standpoint.

How do you build an engaged social audience?

You must understand how consumers use the many platforms. Understand how they’re using and when they’re using it. I learned that Facebook is primary used  at home, Twitter is an on-the-go platform where Pinterest is used for consumers to "pin" images and objects that they like. All in all, you must know how consumers use different platforms differently.

Educate Your Audience:

Do you feel that social media can be used to educate our audience, if so, how?  If not, why?

Yes! You are allowed to tweet 140 characters depending on the medium you are using. You must repeat your message/motto but repeat it creatively to get the message across.

How do you get users to listen or participate in the discussion you are creating?

Best way to get people to listen is to ask a question! But, provide options to respond to the question such as:

“Have you tried XXX Company’s new feature?”

1. Yes, I like it!
2. Yes, I don’t like it!
3. Not yet
4. Jury’s out

It’s easier to interest people in online conversations when you make it easier for them to respond.

Convert Leads/Drive Sales:

In what ways would you suggest using social media to help drive sales and/or convert leads for our brand/company/product?

Reach out to consumers through TV, radio, and e-mail. You must identify who the core consumers are then it’ll be easier to create personalized online conversations for them to join.

Can you provide an example of a successful campaign you've launched in the past?

"Talk to a U.S. Army Solider" is a campaign I’ve launched. It’s geared towards those interested in joining the army such as recruits and their parents and families. The means of communication included, e-mail, and a discussion board on the goarmy.com site and a Facebook page. I learned that if you want to invite people to participate in your campaign go with the latest social media trend. Facebook is a social media asset that everyone must use to promote their service.

It was such an insightful interview. It was interesting to learn from a social media professional standpoint. Companies cant survive without social media. From building new potential partnership relationships, receiving real time customer feedback, to enhancing your brand image. Social media does it all! You must understand how to use it and when to use it. 

Facebook & Twitter More Addictive than Alcohol?

Social media is indeed very addictive. This generation (Y) feels the need to constantly be plugged in. It’s hard for people to resist the urge to check social networking sites for updates, it seems more difficult than turning down a drink nowadays. You would think the top two things the young generation long for during the day is sleep and sex, But, social networks are the hardest to resist. 

According to a new research on people’s daily struggles withself-control and desire, Facebook and Twitter are harder to resist than alcohol and cigarettes.  The findings explore the thin line between self-discipline and addiction. The researchers gave BlackBerrys to 205 adults and signaled them seven times a day at randomly selected daytime hours for one week. When they were contacted the participants reported whether they were experiencing any desires or urges for something and what it was they yearned for.

The majority of the reports proved that some felt strong desires for sex and sleep but cravings for cigarettes and alcohol were unexpectedly low. But in terms of behavior the participants had the hardest time refraining from checking social media when they preferred not to, and from working.

When you think of an addiction, one may think of it as being located in a substance or perhaps an activity and displaces everything else. In this special case, an addictive drug is viewed as changing the brain to make it unable to resist social media. However, addiction is a matter of imbalance between your personal desire to engage in the addictive behavior and your conflicting desire to avoid the negative consequence of the said behavior.

The participants in the BlackBerry research were mostly college students and employed people between the ages from 18-55. Aha! So, it’s evident that the younger generation fall victim to the unhealthy addiction of social media.  

A co-author, Wilhelm Hofmann of Chicago University said:

“Desires for media may be comparatively harder to resist because of their high availability and also because it feels like it does not ‘cost much’ to engage in these activities, even though one wants to resist. With cigarettes and alcohol there are more costs — long-term as well as monetary — and the opportunity may not always be the right one. So, even though giving in to media desires is certainly less consequential, the frequent use may still ‘steal’ a lot of people’s time.”

All in all, social media is harder to resist because it’s easily accessible and doesn’t cost much like other addictions such as alcoholic beverages. When the opportunity presents itself which is often, people are checking their phones to be constantly updated.


Below are interesting results signifying how addictive Facebook and Twitter are:

How often do you check or update your Facebook or Twitter? Do you check it after you go to bed...?

Is Social Media Taking Over Our Lives?

Is social media taking over our lives? Recently, social media has become one of the most powerful sources for news updates through media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus. For instance, companies and organizations are using Facebook Pages to update their employees and prospective employees. Nowadays, social media has a HUGE influence on networking and job searching as well. Companies are utilizing LinkedIn to screen employees for potential job opportunities.

Below you will see an Infogrpahic by Morrison & Forester’s popular Socially Aware Blog that captures American’s true obsession with social media.

Again, is media taking over our lives? Let’s see how much time we really spend on social media…

I thought to share this with you all because I found the statistics to be so fascinating! The numbers actually amaze me in the sense that I thought we spent more hours a month on social media networks. All the time spent interacting digitally hinders the face to face interactions and even creativity! It makes me think about those who are introverted and can network on line from inside their comfort zone but when in person they cannot articulate or communicate as effectively. As social media is relatively new I still feel there will be a impact sooner than we think. 

Just some food for thought!