I am very excited to introduce today's guest post authored by Kevin Jagger. Kevin has been a leader and innovator in the field of social media's role in business and he is also one of the most inspirational and motivated people I have met. If you don't know already, Kevin is currently training full-time as a long track speed skater with the goal of competing in the Olympic games. Knowing Kevin's work ethic, leadership, and drive, I am fully confident he will achieve this goal! I highly recommend checking out Kevin's personal blog Long Track Long Shot. Kevin is also running a contest with this post so don't leave before checking it out at the bottom!
Thanks, Tyrell!
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Having an online following affords you the ability to provide ongoing commentary about your day – things you didn’t like, things you liked, and things you absolutely loved. These opinions have a real impact and influence over others who label you a thought leader within a given space.
Just yesterday I noticed an interesting tweet from Tyrell: 
With social media, businesses must be very conscious of their brand and their reputation at all times because the concept of “going viral” can go both ways.
Often brands say that they are “not online.” The fact is they are online, people are talking about them everyday. Whether they themselves have an engaged presence is a different story. An active Twitter account, for example, affords brands the ability to REACT to what is being said about their brand – both the positives and the negatives.
Here is one such example where Perdita Felicien, one of Canada’s most recognizable Summer Olympians, posts a question about what compression gear people recommend: 
The response comes from Reid Coolsaet, one of Canada’s top marathon runners. Given Reid’s extensive (and impressive!) resume, it is safe to say he is a “thought leader” when it comes to recovery techniques and compression gear.
And here is the response / result:
Talk about social media ROI!
The brand, in this case CEP Compression Canada, now has the ability to respond and react. They take the opportunity to reach out to Perdita (who is a Nike athlete) and offer her other CEP products that may interest her.
In addition to making the connection to Perdita, they now have the ability to leverage this engagement through other digital channels:
Much more powerful way to share client testimonials than the old fashioned, we send you product, you send us two lines about how awesome the product is, we post to our website. This is real. This is candid. This is two of Canada’s top athletes sharing their thoughts openly and honestly with the everyone to see.
By being active and engaged online, CEP was able to react and capitalize.
Win a Pair of CEP Compression socks!
As a thank you to Tyrell for his great work on this blog CEP would like to offer a pair of CEP Compression Socks to one lucky reader.
Here is how you enter:
1. Post a comment on this blog [1 entry]
2. Become a fan of CEP Compression Canada on Facebook [1 entry]
The contest will end at 12:00 PM on Friday August 26th!
