Over the past few years, See.Spark.Go has embraced the idea of building communities through social media, like any good communications agency (wink). Very rarely do you find yourself talking one-on-one with your target would-be customer, but social media allows you to do just that from anywhere in the world.

Enterpreneur Magazine writer Mikal Belicove lists four critical elements to creating a social media content strategy for your business in this article and video (below), but I want to highlight the value of his step #1: positioning. These are the critical components for any company or organization to define its identity and space before proactive communications outreach can begin. They are:

1. Who are you?

2. What do you do?

3. Why does it matter?

4. Why are you better?

Define these, and you’ve nailed the inner core of your business or enterprise. Scripture says, “Out of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45) The same is true in business. Out of who you are as a company/organization/etc., your story flows. Here’s a great test: how would your co-workers, staff and customers answer the four questions listed above?

We couldn’t be more thrilled and honored to be the mouthpiece for so many meaningful and outstanding organizations whose hearts we buy into and believe in fully. So, we ask: what’s your story? We hope these questions help set you on the path to communicating well the story you’re living out. Enjoy!

It’s that time of year again! The weather has started to cool, Athens is full of red and black and a new semester has begun at UGA. While all this is happening, we’re excited to welcome new interns into the office. This semester kicks off something new in our internship program.

For the first time in See.Spark.Go history, we have three talented interns on our team! We’d like to introduce you to Amy Dodge, Heather Kevern and Libby Wilson, three Grady students with a passion for PR. Each of them brings unique skills and talents to the table and has proven to be a huge asset to our team!

Amy, a senior public relations and Spanish major from Roswell, Ga., has an extensive resume in the communications industry and is the kind of employee who you can count on to get the job done.

Fun Facts about Amy:

• She is originally from the Cape Cod area in Massachusetts and sailed as a child.
• To relax, you can find Amy with a cup of coffee and a magazine.
• She was a collegiate swimmer at University of Richmond for a semester.
• Her PR dream is to work for an international PR agency in Boston.

Heather, a native of Memphis, Tenn., moved to Athens as a freshman in college and has never looked back. Now, Heather is a senior public relations major with a communications studies minor and a certificate in new media. But don’t worry, she still has some Memphis roots in her, as her favorite food is Memphis-style barbeque nachos.

Fun Facts about Heather:

• Her favorite place (other than Athens) is Verona, Italy.
• Her passion is dancing. She’s got some great skills.
• She has an affinity for local coffee shops and farmers markets.
• She has a dream of starting her own Not-Just-for-Profit company that has a business model to support a philanthropic goal.

Libby, from the Golf Cart Capitol of the World (Peachtree City, Ga.), is a fifth year public relations major and speech communication minor who will graduate in December. As she finishes up school, we are thankful she is dedicating some of her time to See.Spark.Go.

Fun Facts about Libby:

• One of her favorite scents is the smell of honeysuckle trees.
• Her favorite food is sushi, which is great, because she works at RuSan’s on the side.
• Her family vacations at her cottage in Northern Michigan on Lake Huron, one of her favorite places.
• She dreams of being a travel writer. What could be better than seeing the world and writing all the time?

As the fall season comes closer, we are already seeing how talented and high-caliber these interns are. We’re thankful for their constant desire to learn and ability to achieve. We can’t wait to see all they accomplish this semester!

In addition to celebrating our fall interns, we are accepting applications for the spring 2012 internship.

To apply for spring 2012, please send your resume to lauren@seesparkgo.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

Each semester and summer we are so fortunate to have incredible interns in our office. We love being able to develop our interns and even more, to learn from them! Now that the school year is over and summer has officially started, we have two wonderful interns to introduce you to. They both have awesome talents and personalities that truly add to our office and we couldn’t be more thankful to have them on board.

Meet Jessica Seagraves and Heather Green, two rising seniors at the University of Georgia.

Jessica, born and raised in Marietta, Ga., is a Public Relations and Political Science major with a contagious positive attitude. After returning from a semester of interning for Congressman John Barrow in Washington D.C., we are thrilled to have her in the SSG office.

Fun facts about Jessica:

• She had the incredible opportunity to study abroad in Bejing, Shanghai and Xi’an.
• She is passionate about photography and learning the technical aspects of her camera.
• In fact, the best gift she ever received was her DSLR camera.
• Her dream job is to be the First Lady of the United States of America .
• If First Lady doesn’t work out, she would love to own a bakery.

Heather, a native of Hiawassee, Ga., is a Public Relations major who is never seen without a smile on her face. She previously interned with the Georgia Club in Athens and learned quite a bit about event planning. We are thankful she has decided to stay in Athens for the summer to intern at SSG.

Fun facts about Heather:

• The coolest place she has ever traveled was Ireland, with a remote part of Belize as a close second.
• She actually experienced a 7.1 magnitude earthquake when in Belize. (yikes!)
• She loves Mexican food – specifically cheese dip.
• Her parents own Hightower Creek Vineyards in her hometown.
• Her dream job would be to have her own talk show, but her PR dream job would be to work in an hospitality and entertainment public relations agency.

Now that you have met our new summer team members, be on the lookout for some updates from them in the future!

Guest blog post by SSG’s very own digital engagment expert, Rebekah Coons:

Have you ever finished a workday a better person than you began? The SSG team had one of those days a few weeks ago.

For the past 7 months, we’ve had the incredible opportunity to join forces with Chick-fil-A Leadercast and engage with leaders worldwide through social media. Chick-fil-A Leadercast is a one-day leadership event that reaches over 85,000 leaders across the globe through a live event in Atlanta, Ga., broadcasted to over 600 host sites.

Each year, a line-up of world renowned leaders share the peaks and valleys of their leadership journey and challenge their audience to settle for nothing less than radically influencing the world around them.

This year was no exception, the blockbuster line-up of speakers included: John Maxwell, Seth Godin, Sir Ken Robinson, Suzy Welch, Frans Johannson, Alison Levine, Muhtar Kent, Erin Gruwell, Coach Mack Brown, Dan Cathy, and Dave Ramsey. We knew the day of Chick-fil-A Leadercast would be exciting as we were tweeting, posting and live blogging to over 85,000 people worldwide! However, what we didn’t anticipate was what we would absorb from ‘sitting at the feet’ of world-changers for a day.

It was incredible to share ‘real time’ reflections from the sessions but at the same time we found ourselves gleaning so much from Chick-fil-A Leadercast’s ‘friends’ and ‘followers!’ Why did we leave better people than when we arrived? Check out some of our ‘lessons learned’ from the day and you will see why:

• “Successful people position other people well in the organization…instead of positioning themselves.” – John Maxwell
• “The problem with thinking inside the box is it’s really dark in there. It is at the edge of the box (not inside or outside) where the magic happens.”– Seth Godin
• “With imagination you can anticipate the future”.” – Sir Ken Robinson
• “Everyone has a story. There is power in telling your story.” – Erin Gruwell
• “Your values are like your fingerprint. They are the legacy you want to leave.” – Suzy Welch
• “If you don’t teach leadership everyday, your worst behaving employee may be your best ‘leader.’” – Coach Mack Brown
• “Fear is okay, complacency is what will kill you.” – Alison Levine
• “What are you going to do with the dash between the dates on your tombstone? It matters deeply what you do with your dash.”– Dave Ramsey

You can join the Chick-fil-A Leadercast leadership conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin!

Hi everyone! Lauren Locher here – the newest member of the See.Spark.Go team! I’m excited to be updating you on the whereabouts of our team, exciting news about our clients and Athens life in general.

Since January, I have been fortunate enough to learn a little bit about each of the incredible clients we work with. I have had the opportunity to dive into their stories and find out really what makes them tick. However, I have realized that the best way to learn is to see the action live!

About a month ago I attended the Boosterthon Fun Run at New Prospect Elementary in Alpharetta, Ga. and was absolutely amazed. As my first official Boosterthon experience, I loved being able to see the unbelievable Boosterthon team interact and encourage each of the students in a special way. With awesome amounts of enthusiasm, the team teaches a 9-day fitness, leadership and character program in the schools, culminating in a fundraiser fun run to raise about 75 percent more money than traditional fundraisers. Wow!

The Boosterthon team with New Prospect students.

As I walked into the school’s fun run, I saw tons of kids with huge smiles on their faces, running around the Boosterthon Speedway, receiving high fives from friends and family members. Despite the rainy weather outside, causing a quick change of scenery (the fun runs are typically held on the school’s track and field), the Boosterthon Fun Run still went off without a hitch in the school’s gym.

Students running the Boosterthon Speedway!

I absolutely loved seeing the way that teachers were able to participate with their students, through decorating the school, engaging with the students and wearing Boosterthon attire on the day of the fun run. You can tell that the program truly allows the school to create a positive and engaging community!

Overall, my first Boosterthon experience was a huge hit and I can’t wait to attend another fun run! I’m excited to see Boosterthon [CTW]!

Quite a few awesome things have happened at the See.Spark.Go office since we last posted. Not only have we moved into a new office (more on that to come!), but we also have two new interns for the semester!

I introduce to you our two wonderful new ladies: Maureen Flaherty and Hannah Springston.

Maureen, a Peachtree City native, is currently a senior at UGA, majoring in Public Relations. As an executive board member of Relay for Life, Maureen has been involved with many organizations on campus. Even though she is busy preparing for graduation, we are so thankful for her eagerness to jump into See.Spark.Go from the start of the semester. We love having her personable, hard-working self in the office.

Fun Facts about Maureen:

• She lived in Germany from age 2-5.
• Her MacBook was the best gift she has ever received.
• She swam with the whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium.
• She has traveled to 17 countries, but her favorite place she has visited is Tuscany.
• Her “dream job” would be as a dolphin trainer at Sea World, but her PR “dream job” would be to work in PR or special events for a resort or luxury hotel, or to work in the entertainment industry.

Hannah, born and raised in Buford, Ga., is currently a junior at UGA, majoring in Public Relations. Clocking in at 4 feet 11 inches, Hannah is full of energy and always willing to learn. Like Maureen, Hannah loves to travel and had the opportunity to study abroad with Global LEAD in Greece. As our resident chef, she always brings delicious treats to share in the office.

Fun Facts about Hannah:

• Her dream destination is South Africa and/or Bora Bora.
• Her favorite food is cheese, and we hear she makes a mean mac & cheese.
• She bungee jumped 28 stories into the Corinth Canal in Greece – it was “intensely terrifying but a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
• She sang opera in high school.
• Her “dream job” is to own her own lifestyle PR firm in either California or the Southeast.

So, you can see that our interns are pretty impressive. Both claim that one of their favorite parts of interning with SSG is being a part of our team, but we are even more thankful that they are here! We can’t wait to share with you some of the awesome things they are doing!

Last week, SSG attended the Chick-fil-A Leadercast as a guest of our client, Booster. The speakers were phenomenal, the entertainment was mediocre (kidding – Booster was responsible for the entertainment and did an incredible job!), but the insights…the truth that each and every component of the day offered was remarkable and worth repeating. Daily.

Here are a few of the nuggets I took away:

On Leadership…

“Leadership is who we are in all areas of our life, every role, every relationship.” – Connie Podesta

“Talent is God given, be thankful. Praise is man given, be humble. Conceit is self given, be careful.” – Tony Dungy

“You can’t take anyone to higher ground, until you find common ground. Leadership is influence. Influence requires connecting.” John C. Maxwell

On Success…

“Greatness is not a function of circumstance – it is a matter of constant choice and discipline.” –Jim Collins

“Starbucks didn’t reach store No. 5 until they were 13 years old. Most ‘overnight successes’ are 20 years in the making.” – Jim Collins

“Success, born of hubris (arrogance) leads to failure.” – Jim Collins.

“The signature of the greatest executives we studied is their humility.” – Jim Collins

“You have to be working for more than your financial bottom line. Every enduring institution has an answer to this question: what would be lost if we disappeared?” – Jim Collins

“Great companies are built on a purpose beyond making money and a set of core values that are unshakable. Purpose ahead of success. If we lose our values, we lose it all.” – Jim Collins

On building a team…

“The right people are on a mission and they don’t write better stories, they make the story better.” – Jim Collins + Mark Sanborn

“We hire ambitious people. The most important job you have is the job you’re doing.” – Ed Bastian, Delta CEO

“Employees take care of your customers, so take care of your employees.” – Ed Bastian, Delta CEO

“If you treat people like they’ll do something great, they’ll do something great.” – Jim Goodnight, SAS CEO

On inevitable change…

“We’re schizophrenic to change: part of us wants it, part of us doesn’t. And if you don’t like change, don’t have kids.” – Chip Heath (ha!)

“Positive change comes from focusing on what’s working and doing more of that.” – Chip Heath / When’s the last time you asked, “What’s working?”

“Providence follows the prepared mind.” – Steve Uzzell

“To the 6 questions of journalism—who, what, when, where, why and how—add this: are you sure? Making sure you know what you know is the key to being prepared.” – Steve Uzzell

Brilliance…

Dr. Ben Carson, pediatric neurosurgeon, was utterly brilliant and closed the day with powerful teaching. Learn about his scholarships at http://carsonscholars.org/.

And I’ll leave you with this pic of our friend John Maxwell wearing Booster’s fancy red Converses on stage!

Passion Twenty Ten kicked off the year for us this January with a call to global awakening. Passion was held at Philips Arena and the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta with 22,000 in attendance and students representing 37 countries and nearly 1,500 campuses. What incredible story we had the privilege to tell!

Throughout Passion Twenty Ten, the ideas of worship and justice were wed as students engaged in opportunities to impact lives worldwide through the Do Something Now campaign as an act of worship.

The city of Atlanta was greeted by the initial outpouring of tens of thousands of towels and socks for Atlanta’s homeless community that students brought upon arrival to the gathering. By the final day, an overwhelming response to many of the initiatives included:

• World Vision :: $62,160 covers 1-year sponsorships for 148 children & 1,000 kits packaged for AIDS workers
• Bibles Unbound :: $8,198 given to send 8,198 Bibles to East Asia
• CURE International :: $61,555 given to cover 111 surgeries for children with cleft palates in Afghanistan
• OneVerse :: $69,603 given to translate 2,784 verses
• E3 Partners :: $21,663 given to send 138 men to seminary in the Middle East
• Operation Mobilization :: $85,473 given to fund 1 Education Center for the Dalit people in India
• Living Water :: $111,513 given to build 22 wells
• HOPE International :: $59,164 given to fund 295 small business loans to pull women from poverty in Haiti
• Not For Sale :: $83,636 given to build 3 Border Posts to rescue women from the sex trade in Nepal
• Compassion International :: $47,111 covers 1-year sponsorships for 189 children
• Feed My Starving Children :: $16,589 and 108,432 meals packaged for the hungry
• Gobena Coffee :: $21,927 donated to support orphans in Ethiopia

With a goal of $500,000, students far exceeded that goal giving a total of $668,597 in addition to bringing 15,000 towels and 74,000 socks for Atlanta’s homeless. A couple attending gave a matching gift to double that amount to $1,337,194!

You can track along with Passion throughout the year by texting your email address to 30644 and/or join the Passion268Generation Fan Page on Facebook.

Starting in May 2010, Passion will be going to Kiev, Ukraine; London, England; Tokyo, Japan; Hong Kong, China; Manila, Philippines; Sao Paulo, Brazil and Vancouver, Canada. See you there!

Our phone service provider, Grasshopper, became the inspiration for spontaneous creative session this morning with our team.

It all started when we noticed our phone line was down (it’s back up, thankfully). When looking for the customer support number on Grasshopper’s Web site, we came across this publicity stunt they did when announcing their rebrand. From their site: “We FedEx’d 25,000 chocolate covered grasshoppers … to 5,000 of the most influential people in America, including bloggers, politicians, celebrities, entrepreneurs, CEO’s, journalists, reporters, TV anchors and more to promote our new Entrepreneur Movement.”

One of the things I love about the campaign is the parallel of an entrepreneur and a risk-taker, begging the question, “Are YOU brave enough to eat one?” I guess you have to be a risk-taker to find out. (I know you’re all wondering – the answer is no, we didn’t receive any chocolate covered grasshoppers despite the fact we are a client and a pretty influential bunch if you ask us!)

The result? Our creative session led to some VERY BIG, exciting and doable campaign ideas for existing and potential clients.

Yesterday, I was asked this question: “What are you working on BIG?” I love that question and I hope I always have an answer. Do you?

As stated in a previous entry, PR is ultimately about the story you’re telling. What if I said I know 80 individuals that are going to change the world and they all happen to work for the same organization? Now that’s a story, right?

These particular people happen to work at Booster, a company in Atlanta, GA that offers a fund raising strategy for elementary schools through the promotion of fitness, education, and character. But they are not just any fund raising organization. This extraordinary team asks students to get pledges for each lap they run in the Boosterthon Fun Run, which is held at the end of their 2-week program. This unique strategy not only cuts out product sales, but it promotes fitness, which is quickly declining in the U.S.

While these students are getting the benefit of fitness through running, the big win with the Boosterthon Fun Run is what these students are gaining by way of character. Not only are these experience leaders enthusiastic, they are incredible role models (I can affirm that since I married one). They have taken it upon themselves to be a good influence for these young minds across the nation, and I have no doubt that any parent would be thrilled to know the hearts of these team members and how they are impacting their children.

The key to Booster is their corporate culture of building themselves from the inside out. If they do not have balanced, grounded character themselves, they cannot make nearly the impact they do on a daily basis. From the corporate office to the experience leaders, the focus is leadership development. From there, they will change the world one child and one leader at a time. Get fired up! (As they would say).

Now that is a good story to tell.