Quick'n'Dirty Podcast: EMBARQ's social strategy and corporate microblogging

Notice anything a little different? Well, I've decided to move my part of the Quick'n'Dirty recap over to this blog, because this blog is about social media and business and that's what we talk about over on the Quick'n'Dirty podcast. Welcome! Now, with pleasantries out of the way, let's move on to talk about episode 13.

Aaron Strout was speaking at the very cool Ubiquity Marketing unSummit on Thursday so I once again had a guest co-host -- Bryan Person. Bryan is a friend of both mine and Aaron, and happens to be the founder of the popular Social Media Breakfast . He's also a social media evangelist for LiveWorld. We interviewed Zena Weist, who is responsible for interactive brand strategy at EMBARQ, a Fortune 500 telecommuniations company. It was a fascinating discussion as Zena explained the very detailed process that EMBARQ went through -- including revamping its entire communications policy -- in order to create the social presence it has today. If you want more on this story listen to the interview or read Bryan's detailed recap over here.

Other discussions:

• Social Network: Up on the roster this week was Yammer, a microblogging service in the cloud for businesses. Bryan discussed how successfully he and his Social Media Breakfast team have been using Yammer while I expressed continued trepidation over the idea of employees determining whether or not the company should invest in the service. In theory, we both agreed that Yammer is a service that is helping a lot of companies, but I still have concerns about any proprietary information contained in the cloud and the potential hidden costs for large corporations.
• Featured Twitterer: We love Deb Robison aka @debindenver on Twitter. Deb is a public relations and marketing consultant for Rudy Media and also conducted the popular "Red Couch" interviews (brought to us by Level 3) at last year's South By Southwest Interactive. She always has great insights, is an engaging conversationalist and is definitely worth a follow. As a funny aside, when we chose a random caller later in the show to bring on the air, we coincidentally chose Deb!
• Point / Counterpoint: While it wasn't as lively as my debate with Aaron last week over iPhone vs. BlackBerry, Bryan and I had a great discussion about online image and how it impacts professional perception. Sure, it's an older discussion, but our take on it focused on this newer age of "transparency" and how we're all encouraged to be ourselves online. And if being ourselves online, i.e. me posting videos of a karaoke outing, should that negatively impact my professional reputation? Listen to the recap for the full conversation.

On a final note, Aaron and I would like to thank Marc Meyer, author of the Direct Marketing Observations blog, who included the Quick'n'Dirty podcast on his list of 14 social media and marketing podasts worth a listen. Thanks Marc!

This week we'll have Thomas Hoehn, director of brand communications and new media at Eastman Kodak Company, on to talk about Kodak's foray into social media and community.

Remember, the Quick'n'Dirty podcast is recorded live every Thursday at 3 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. ET. Join us in the chat or dial-in to listen and potentially become a surprise call-in guest! Also, archives of the show can be found here and via iTunes by searching for QuicknDirty.