Tom Bowser – We All Have a Voice Worth Hearing.

“We all have a voice worth hearing,” says Tom Bowser during a recent presentation on social media at the Fort Wayne Regional Education and Conference Center. Sharing stories that helped those attending, Tom demonstrated the importance of sharing your story over social media. Serving at JH Specialty, a Fort Wayne Communications and Marketing Company, Tom offered ideas and solutions with his presentation. He is the Director of Traditional Marketing.

tom02rTom is an IWU alum who values his education from IWU. He invested in his alma mater by offering a presentation to fellow IWU alumni. According to Tom’s LinkedIn profile, “As early as I can remember, I have always had a passion for, and been involved in some aspect of leadership, strategic marketing and design.” Check out his profile at JH Specialty.

He shared a story about Dave Carroll, a gifted musician who had his $3,500 guitar tossed off the plane by baggage handlers and the reality was that he was not able to get a resolution. Since he was not getting any resolution some said that he was “statistically insignificant”. Being statistically insignificant means that while the majority of people get the majority of good service, there are some that don’t get the best service. The story had a great resolve as he used social media to help make others aware through a music video he created and posted on Youtube. The United Breaks Guitar song had over one million views in four days which tells his story. Currently there are now over 16 million views (for the first United Breaks Guitars video”). After the first video was posted, United’s stock dropped 10%, or $180 million in value. His book, “United Breaks Guitars: The Power of One Voice in the Age of Social Media” has become a training manual for United employees. Check out his music video.

Most companies use a traditional strategy to respond. United, as one example of companies that don’t know how to appropriately respond. He offered an example where Bob Taylor (from Taylor Guitar) offered online support and as a result his business in sales when up 25%. Tom shares that good social media strategies include listening, engaging, and resolving issues that build better social media policies. Check out Bob Taylor’s video.

For more information about Dave Carroll go to his website. Dave Carroll Music.

The team of alumni volunteers give of their personal time to serve their alumni. Talu_1207-alumni-association-logo_fort-waynehe IWU Fort Wayne Regional Network desires to serve regional alumni and friends through professional development. We welcome your input and should you desire to serve your fellow alum.

Contact the IWU Alumni Office for more details or send a message to rick.carder@indwes.edu.

 

Written by Rev. Rick Carder, Director of Alumni & Church Engagement at Indiana Wesleyan University.