Crisco National Pie Champion Dawn Viola now available for TV, Radio, and Web cooking demos

Orlando, FL, October 21, 2009 – Crisco National Pie Champion and food writer Dawn Viola is sharing her award-winning pie secrets just in time for the holidays.

Whether it's divulging the one ingredient that guarantees a flaky crust, or debunking the pea-sized mixing myth, Dawn's off-beat and engaging cooking demos will give listeners and viewers the confidence to bake perfect from-scratch pies, every time.
Dawn’s approach to pie making is a combination of tenacity and love. After a food allergy diagnosis made cooking with traditional ingredients an impossibility, Dawn took nearly two years to develop her award-winning Vanilla-Vanilla Bean Roasted Apple Pie recipe.
When she isn't making pies, Dawn is a freelance food writer and recipe developer for a variety of online publications. She has recently appeared on Food Network, Martha Stewart Radio, Fox News, Orlando, Chef2Chef.net and Desserts Magazine.
In addition to having the best apple pie in America, Dawn has also won awards for her non-baking recipes, including her Vanilla-Scented Pan Seared Sea Scallops with Tri-Grape Salsa recipe, and her Italian Sausage and White Bean Soup with Escarole.
Her persona is best described as fun, relaxed, and a little bit geeky, offering recipes in a style that is entertaining and easy to understand, no matter the audience’s level of cooking knowledge.
For additional information or to book Dawn Viola for cooking demonstrations, articles, or television and radio appearances, please contact Josh Neimand of WAGGMedia at (646) 807-9244 or WAGGMedia@gmail.com.
ABOUT DAWN VIOLA: 
Dawn Viola is a nationally recognized artist, award-winning competitive cook and food writer from Central Florida. She received a BFA in visual design, typography and creative writing from Swain School of Design at UMass, and worked in the design and marketing industry as a creative director and copywriter for over a decade before pursing an education and career in the culinary arts.

Contact Information:
Josh Neimand
WAGGMedia
(646) 807-9244
WAGGMedia@gmail.com

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Apologies

Quick apologies for the lack of updates.

WAGGMedia is in the midst of moving its offices. Regular updates will begin again shortly.

Thank you for your patience.

Feelings....nothing more than feelings...

A year ago, few even knew the term Social Media.

Now, not a day goes by where it's not in the news in some way, shape, or form. Whether it's Paula Abdul announcing she's leaving American Idol, a highly-touted young basketball player putting his career in jeopardy while showing off his tattoos (and some highly suspicious plastic baggies in the background), or an article discussing the latest trends, Social Media is everywhere and now fully a part of many of our lives.

But in a very personal arena that is filled with opinions good and bad, and feelings that run the gamut from happy to sad, angry to apathetic, how can a company trying to get a bead on how people really feel about their company or product measure, well, feelings.

According an article in the NY Times, there is now an emerging business tied into Social Media - Sentiment Analysis.

As scary and sci-fi it sounds, there are now programs already developed and more currently being developed that can translate feelings into cold, hard, data. And for a company trying to gauge where the public stands on something, data is a lot more measurable than feelings.

Still, it's an inexact science at best, and even those at the forefront of Sentiment Analysis will tell you that, as they did the NY Times in the above linked article.

But what does the future hold for this new field? Is it something that is a hot topic of the moment, and eventually will fade away to the next measuring tool? Or is it something that is going to become standard, much like Social Media has.

I'd bet on the latter. To a certain extent, many search engines already use public opinion when providing results. So, why wouldn't they incorporate your personal feelings on a topic when you're looking for information?

That being said, the potential slippery slope it creates could indeed cause a long slide.

What if you're online doing research on delicate topics like gun control or abortion? And previously, on message boards and blogs, you've made your opinion on the topic quite well known.

Are the majority of the results from your searching going to support your opinion because there are facts to back it up, or are they going to support your opinion because the search engine intuitively knows how you feel based on what you've said previously.

It sounds like something out of a Sci-fi flick - computers reading our minds and gauging our feelings. And it does seem a bit chilling.

Nonetheless, it's an exciting, emerging technology, and yet another important tool at our disposable as we continue to go forward in these exciting times. Learning how to use these tools, and harness their power can only help us more forward, both professional and personally, and as a society.

A world without Social Media

For the last few weeks, I was on vacation. For some of that time, I had almost no internet access. Three days with no access whatsoever, and another 4 days where only my Palm Treo 755p, which is almost like no internet access.

It was strange. Unable to update my blogs, to update my Facebook status, to send Tweets. It was almost like being stranded on a desert island, with no way to communicate to everyone back home.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not a total communications junkie. I don't have a Blackberry where I can check email 24/7, and nor do I want one. Yes, I am one of those people who constantly text, but when the situation calls for it, I have no problem putting down my phone.

This was different though. I enjoy Social Media. Heck, I've made it my career choice. But not being able to Tweet or update Facebook was certainly an experiment in patience. Yes, there have been times when I didn't update for three days, but the difference was, the access.

20 years ago, I'd go camping, and might lament missing my favorite TV shows. 15 years ago, I'd go camping, and miss this new thing called the internet. 10 and 5 years ago, I would definitely be missing the internet.

Now, it's Facebook and Twitter.

And based on some of the messages waiting for me when I returned to Social Media civilization, plenty of people missed me too.

Times have changed, and Social Media has become an important part of our world, on par with television and the internet in terms of getting your message across.

Facebook is the new morning paper

For years, I've told people that the internet was my morning newspaper. I don't read the newspaper as much as I used to - all the news i need is online, be it CNN.com, NY1.com, or any of the other endless sources of 24-hour news that exist on the 'net.

But in the past year or so, Facebook has been my source of news info. When I wake up, I *need* to know that Kristen is rooting her heart out for the local Roller Derby team or that Jimmie is looking forward to vacation with his family or that Dylan is working hard on the latest project at his job.

This is what news has become - it has become updates of the people we care about, not some stranger who was rear-ended on the Bronx River Parkway last night or shot in a trailer park in Tyler, TX.

And when *my* Facebook status indicated that this was how my day started now, the sheer number of responses from friends who did the same thing surprised me. Apparently, this really is where things have come, and where they are going.

One friend remarked "That is exactly why I like FB. I love knowing — however strange, banal or brief — how everyone is doing."

Another stated "Lol! Me too! But it's still reality and they're people we know so it's like catching up with a few hundred of your closest friends and family each day! So cool!"

And a third remarked "It is so bizarre but I do it, too. Then I blow through the NPR twitter feeds and email. All before my shower or speaking to another human."

On and on the responses came, all similar in sentiment.

Facebook has become the go to place for information about people in our lives - both personally and professionally.

Aside from the fun and relatively frivolous updates from our friends, seeing updates on your professional contacts may help you get that slight edge you need to close that sale, get that contract, or whatever it is you're trying to accomplish.

Social Media - when does your company get on board?

I recently read an article that discussed debunking the myths that Social Media was fast, cheap, and easy.

This touches on a solid point. That point being that a lot of companies hear about the next big thing - or the current big thing - and in an effort to get aboard, don't plan properly.

Rarely is anything that is put into place to reach a goal or accomplish something is fast, cheap, or easy at the beginning.

However, once the pieces are in place, Social Media can be quite cheap, can be very easy, and is without question very fast.

But building something takes time, costs money, and is often met with challenges that must be overcome.

If you want to go fast, cheap, and easy from the onset, the odds are good that whatever you're building will come tumbling down fast and easy, and the clean up won't be cheap.

Last month, I discussed with a marketing company in Texas their Social Media plan, and getting it up and running for them. Ultimately, they decided they weren't quite ready.

While I am a firm believer that companies need to be on the ball with Social Media and absolutely not let it pass them by, no one knows these companies better than themselves.

And if a company decides that now is not the time, then that is obviously a smart choice, as long as they begin to take the necessary steps so they can get involved with Social Media sooner, rather than later.

It is a train worth boarding. Don't let it leave you at the station.

Blogging - Invading our own privacy?

Blogging still baffles a lot of people. I've been doing it since the turn of the millennium over a decade ago, over a variety of platforms.

From political rants and stories of some minor health issues on Blogger to
lamentations on broken hearts and East Texas bars on Myspace to a
rambling on and off blog on my life to this one about the business I've begun, I've been putting my thoughts out on the internet for years now.

But why does blogging still seem to confuse and even scare people? Why are they reluctant?

Part of it, I am sure, is laziness and a lack of time. Heck, I just went more than a week without updating this blog, because, well, time got away from me. It does happen - no doubt. Sometimes, we lose track of time, and sometimes we really are too busy.

For the most part, however, I think we all really do have the time. Even if we only update a couple times a week, we're at the most losing, what, an hour of web surfing time? I would imagine that most of us could spare that time, and not be any worse for the wear.

So, if that's not the bigger reason, what is?

And the masses screamed "privacy!"

For some people, it's not an issue. Their life is an open book. For others, they struggle completely. And then there are those who's lives are an open book. I've got a couple friends who are sometimes called "mommy-bloggers", and they often find themselves straddling a fine line, protecting the privacy of their partners and children while writing about them at the same time.

Privacy is what you make it. When you blog, you're in complete control. You can discuss what as much, or as little, as you'd like. Your blog can be deeply personal, or superficial. It can be professional. It can be political. It can be a mixture of all three, or really, anything you want.

Blogs are just another tool of this information sharing era. They're a way of sharing information.

From a business point of view, it's a way to spend an hour a week potentially letting millions of people know about your business, at little or no charge.

It is virtually free advertising, and a simple Google search on nearly any topic will likely net you several blogs from people who are discussing that very subject. From social security lawyers to pilots to accountants, people in all sorts of careers blog.

Every one's doing it. Whether folks are involved with birds, bees, or educated fleas, everyone is blogging.

It is a way to possibly reach a nearly limitless number of people, and since you've got complete control of the content, it would be harder to find a more cost-efficient way to spend an hour a week.

The Revolution will be Tweeted

It was just a little less than 8 years ago, when I was frantically surfing the web, trying to get on any news site, trying to get any information. And while occasionally I would be able to get a full story loaded, for the most part, finding out information from the web while 9/11 was happening, was, at best, a near-impossible task.

Not to compare the two events in a sense of loss of tragedy, but when Michael Jackson died a few days ago, the web also came crashing to a halt.

This time though, it was different. Not only were you not able to access website for news, but various Social Networks - which didn't exist in 2001 - also slowed. Twitter, Wikipedia, an even AIM - AOL's popular instant messaging service - had outages for some of its users.

And it was through the Social Networks where I first found out about Jackson being hospitalized, and where I first found out he passed.

It was a Facebook post from a friend that announced he had been rushed to the hospital.

It was a tweet on Twitter where I first saw that website TMZ had reported his death.

A subsequent post by me on Facebook reporting that death led to one of the longest trails of response comments to anything I've ever posted on that site.

Interestingly, I didn't have a problem with any of the aforementioned outages on Twitter. It was my ongoing source for news, and perhaps because I use a third-party application to follow Twitter and send tweets, I was unaffected.

And apparently, I was far from the only person using Twitter to find news on Jackson and discuss it further.

Twitter as a tool to disseminate news is nothing new, in a relative sense.

It played a heavy role in Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and certainly some of the success of that campaign can be attributed to Obama's team understanding, and harnessing the power of Social Networks. It was used as a communication tool by an American student arrested in Egypt, and probably was what led to his release.

It has been used prominently as a communications tool in fighting large forest fires, and it was a way to spread eyewitness accounts of the terror unfolding in the 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

The first photos of US Airways Flight 1549 that crashed in the Hudson River off of New York City, were uploaded to the web via Twitter.

And of course, Twitter has been used prominently in the uprising over allegedly fraudulent vote totals in the recent Iran Elections. It played such a prominent role that the U.S. State Department asked Twitter to delay scheduled maintenance and downtime while the uprising was in full swing.

Times have changed dramatically over the last eight years, in a multitude of ways. I certainly wonder what might have been different about September 11, 2001, if the victims, rescue personnel, and people starving for news at home would have had Social Networking tools at their disposal.

Social Networking is not something that is just here for the moment, a mere flash-in-the-pan. Much like the internet itself, it is here to stay, and will play an even more prominent role in our lives as it matures.

Resistance is futile...

Recently, on a message board I frequent, the topic of Social Media came up. I was somewhat shocked by the comments of some of my peers, who seemed indifferent at best about it.

"I don't find (Twitter) particularly novel or useful technology, and predict it will have a very short lifespan," said one poster.

"I'm not very optimistic about the $$ to be made in Social Media Marketing, to be honest," said another.

While the advancement of technology is definitely something a lot of people are unsure of, it came as a surprise to me that people in their 40s, who work as lawyers and scientists and other fields that require a reasonable amount of time spent in academia, seem resistant to an emerging new way of doing things.

After all, these are also people who have probably had computers most of their adult lives, are obviously capable of using them and spending time online posting on message boards, playing fantasy baseball, and probably even doing research.

Yet the simple notion of instantly being able to reach out and organize a mass number of people (as we have seen in the remarkable uprising in Iran as a result of what many feel are bogus elections, or using these tools in a way that can be both far-reaching and targeted at the same time, is an notion that seems lost on many.

Currently, Social Media Marketing is a cottage industry, but it is starting to boom. It's in the news nearly every day, and people are finding a way to make money using it. It reminds me of the early days of the internet.

What if you had been one of those people who got on board early? What if you had been someone like Mark Cuban, who started Audionet in 1995, altered it a bit in 1998 as it became Broadcast.com, and then turned around and sold it a year later for 5.9 BILLION DOLLARS. Yes, billion with a "B".

Now, obviously, Social Media is a slightly different situation, unless you're the folks who actually started Facebook, Twitter, et al.

But the premise is still the same. Those who get on board early - and despite the influx lately of Social Media all over the place, it is still early - will be the ones with the advantage.

I also think of the music industry. A decade ago, Napster emerged. It was the first big-time and easy way to download large amounts of music, for free.


Yes, it is now illegal. Yes, it was akin to stealing. Yes, it can currently cost you a lot of money to illegally download music.

But the point there is that instead of embracing this new technology, the music business tried to stop it. Partially as a result of this, sales began to decline, and ultimately, plummet. Now, digital sales and legal downloads are booming, while traditional CDs may actually got the way of LPs, cassettes, and 8-tracks, in our life time, when only 20 years ago they changed the music business and became the reason why cassettes and LPs became essentially extinct.

If the music business had the foresight to embrace this emerging technology, maybe they, instead of iTunes, would be making the money, and maybe they won't be in the financial free fall they can't seem to emerge from.,

So why fear something new? Why run from it, cower from it, and disparage from it. You can only benefit yourself - and your business - by attempting to learn how to harness its power for you, and your company.

What's in a number?

Much has been made on the number of followers one has on Twitter.

While that's always been one of those pinball like numbers (who has THE HIGH SCORE??), I don't know that it really became the measuring stick it has until the whole Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN "who's gonna get a million followers first??!?!!" nonsense earlier this year.

The fact of the matter is that while getting commas in your follower count (you know, 4,815 followers; 6,324 followers; 162,342 follows) looks pretty, it ultimately doesn't matter if your followers are not your target audience.

Would you rather hit 10,000 people who don't care at all what you're saying, or 1,000 that care enough to not only listen, but to even pass the word on to their friends?

Sure, if you have a large enough number of followers, you're bound to get a few people in that bunch who do care. That's basically the infinite monkey theorem at work. And they might even pass it on to some of their friends.

But generally speaking, those pretty numbers don't amount to a hill of beans if they're not really paying attention. Who cares about a follower that doesn't really follow?

Having a large number of followers where only a few are the audience you're trying to reach also seems to defeat the purpose of Social Media Marketing. Whereas before we'd beam an ad across the television waves and bludgeon the masses, hoping that a few will blindly follow, now we have the ability to target those we want to reach, and thus, draw them in with material, information, and interaction they actually care about.

So be forewarned. If you're seeing those folks who promise to "GET YOU 10,000 FOLLOWERS WITHIN THREE DAYS!!!!", think carefully if you want a bunch of followers who don't really care about what you have to say. Think carefully about paying money to someone who is going to give you something you don't need.

If you don't know how to drive, and you can't afford your own driver, you're not likely to buy a car, so why would you do something similar here?

Then again, if you 10,000 followers, and they're your target, and they're paying attention, well, you've struck Social Media gold, but I honestly believe the only way you're going to build a following like that is if you mine it yourself, or with the help of someone who knows who to build something, not how to send out a million invites to follow you.

What do I do? Is there even a title for someone like me?

Note - this is more contemplative and curious in nature, and not so much an in-depth plumbing of the topic...

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The internet as we know it has been around for just about 15 years. Dare I say that no invention has changed our world in a global sense, ever. Sure, without electricity or home computers or any of the like, we wouldn't have the internet. But, the lightening quick way in which it has changed the way we live our day-to-day lives in the new millennium places the creation of the modern internet at the top of the list for me.

And now, we're hitting what is called Web 2.0. The changes and such will not have quite the sudden impact that the Web first did when it sucked some of us in with a new browser called Mosiac, and the subsequent decade that saw the 'net explode in popularity.

So my question is this - what is someone who does what I do, called? Perhaps it's already been decided. Perhaps not. Even someone knows, tell me, so I can stop contemplating such frivolity. :o)

People who create and run websites are called webmasters. But what about those who create and run Web 2.0/Social Media sites and campaigns. Web2.0 Masters? Social Media Masters? Something more creative and original? Help a brotha out!

Social Media Marketing and you

Let's face facts.

Joe's Burgers up the block is not likely ever going to have the marketing budget of the McDonald's across the street. The simple fact that I can use McDonald's as a basis of comparison speaks volumes about the power of their brand name - there are probably a relative few people on the planet who don't know the McDonald's name.

So what do the folks who run Joe's Burgers need to do to get the word out? Well, they can hope people just come in. That works sometimes, but not usually.

They can do some TV ads, some print ads, maybe even some banner ads on the internet. That certainly worked in the past to a certain extent, but they'd still be getting drowned out by the big boys of the burger world, and those ads can also be expensive, and not necessarily go to the target audience.

Ah, there's a clue. What is the target audience? What is the niche for Joe's Burger? Are they going to get the die-hard McDonald's fans? The ones who NEED their quarter-pounder with cheese fix? Probably not.

But if the burgers are good enough, they'll pull in that crowd that loves a good burger, and many places, through a few good reviews and some fantastic word-of-mouth, have blossomed into viable businesses that have been around for the long haul.

It used to be that word-of-mouth was like that old Faberge TV commercial. If you spent any time at all watching TV in the 70s, it stuck in your mind:


These days, that word of mouth can be multiplied exponentially, not fractionally. Why tell just two friends, when you can tell hundreds of friends? or even thousands of friends? And in some cases, tens of thousands, and maybe even hundreds of thousands of friends.

That's where Social Media Marketing and online networking come into play. A fan page on Facebook, an active blog, or a well-followed Twitter account can get you in the ear of lots of different folks, and it can do so at a time that is convenient for them, when they're more willing to hear what you have to say. A nicely groomed ning.com site can give a forum for customer feedback, where you can easily be an active responder.

The New York Times touched on how this brave new world can really play into the hands of small business. Whether you prefer the term grass roots or DIY, there is something very much organic about using these tools within an arm's reach to grow your business.

You've already dug the dirt, planted the seed, watered it a bit, and watched it sprout. Now is your chance to truly help it grow and blossom, and without breaking the bank to do so.

Social Media is growing by leaps and bounds, and while some major companies like Starbucks are learning quickly how to harness its power, others are either slow to respond, or because of their size, not capable of doing so.

This is a fantastic opportunity for small businesses to make a move, to increase market share, to maximize growth and potential, and also, of course, work on making the business both sustainable and profitable.

Sleep on it now, and it may be too late later.

Why do we Tweet?

I am probably going to make a lot of posts about twitter. It’s in the news daily, and its use had exploded over the last year.

And, I'm a big believer in the power it wields, as long as you learn to harness that power.

When I mention Twitter to family and friends, the first question is usually "Why?" followed up with a question akin to "Why do people care when I go pee or eat breakfast or take a nap?"

And my response is just they do, that they seem to develop a vested interest in your words and actions, and that once I stopped worrying about the whys, Twitter became much more interesting, and much more useful.

But for whatever reason, that "Why Wall" is a big one for some people, and they just can't climb over it and enjoy the revolution...

That's one of the other reasons I plan to write about Twitter a lot. I believe it's a useful tool for personal communications, and a very beneficial one for businesses trying to maximize whatever it is they do.

Not real writing

Writing a blog is simple. Simple to the point that anyone with a tiny bit of drive, and the ability to string together a few words to make a sentence, can create, write, and update a blog.

Because of that, I think, people and companies tend to be dismissive of blogs. And I think that's a big mistake.

I'm not sure what makes someone a "real" writer. Is it a degree in writing? Some sort of accreditation? Or is it just, the desire and some ability to, well, write?

Of course, there is plenty out there to dismiss. But to just put a blanket dismissal on blogs it to not only miss out on some sources of excellent information, but from a business standpoint, to see what the people are saying about your product or company.

And that's important. In pretty simple terms, if a lot of people are saying good, or bad things, about you and/or your company, that's obviously something you'd want to know, right? If there is a response, do the credentials of the responder truly matter? Again, exceptions to every rule, but for the most part, these blogs matter.

A really fantastic analogy I've heard - something I first read in David Meekman Scott's fantastic book "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" is that most people still think of the internet and blogs as an extension of traditional newspapers.

But that couldn't be further from the truth. Bloggers, for the most part, have never claimed to be "real journalists". So instead of seeing the Web as a broader version of a newspaper, see the web as a giant city, filled with individuals and individual opinions.

Scott said "It is better to think of the Web as a huge city teaming with individuals, and blogs as the sounds of independent voices, just like those of the street-corner soapbox preacher or that friend of yours who always recommends the best books."

I think that sums it up perfectly. Some blogs you can just walk past, and chalk it up to them being a bit of whack job. But other blogs are vital sources of information, and to bypass them is to bypass something so simple and quick and chock full of knowledge that could end up helping you and your business.

Don't be so quick to dismiss the blogosphere. There is vital stuff out there.

Interaction, not interruption

The premise is simple. No longer are we, as sales people and marketeers, invited to interrupt. We are now, with permission, allowed to interact.

The consumer grew weary of our TV ads, our radio spots, our print ads. We would disturb them no matter what they were doing.

Now, they are no longer content to be told that THIS IS A MUST BUY, HURRY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST, IF YOU ORDER WITHIN 24 HOURS GET THIS FREE GIFT!!!!

Instead, they want to spoken with, not spoken to. They want to discuss with themselves, and sometimes, with us, what they know about a certain product, place, or what have you.

This is the future.

This is the present.

This. Is. Right. Now.