Mopwater will return in full swing on January 5, 2009. Have a safe and happy New Year!

If you’ve got great media contacts and are skilled at working with the media, I may have the job for you. APCO Worldwide is looking for a media relations manager for its Washington,DC office. Interested? Read on…

APCO Worldwide, a global communication consulting firm, is seeking an experienced media relations professional with expertise in the areas of litigation and crisis communication to join our team. This position will be responsible for managing projects, designing and executing public relations campaigns, responding to media inquiries, providing clients with media training, and writing and distributing press materials. This position will require extensive travel. Qualified candidates must have a strong track record for media outreach; excellent writing and editing skills; BA/BS degree; knowledge of or experience in the government investigation process; and 6-10 years of journalism or media relations experience.

So if you’re in DC, have great experience, and you’re looking for what sounds like a pretty stressful gig with travel, apply here.

Why Twitter? (Part II)

As you may recall in Why Twitter (Part I), I promised to follow up with more ways that you can use Twitter for business.  If you’re a business owner/entrepreneur, artist, celebrity-in-the-making, you need to get on Twitter. Here’s why: Your customers are on Twitter.  Your would-be customers are on twitter. And more than likely, the competition is on Twitter.

Let’s say you sell…uh I don’t know, post-it notes (first thing I saw on my desk, sorry).  So anyway, you’re selling these post-it notes and you set up your Twitter page online.  You’re following a few people and you’ve got your mom, cousin and best friend following you back. But that’s it. You’re thinking “How in the world is this silly page gonna help me sell more post-it notes?” Let me tell you. Continue Reading

Here at the ASW/Mopwater HQ, we’ve been overwhelmed with your interest over the past month or so. What was conceived somewhat on the spot when my instincts told me that I should blog, has evolved into what I hope will be a great resource for you. But I can’t do this if you don’t read (and comment!) This is supposed to be a conversation, so let me know what’s on your mind!

From my family to yours, Happy Holidays. Thank you for being a part of our great year.

In case you missed it, you can view the December 2008  newsletter here.

Attention all social media kings and queens: Fleishman Hillard’s Washington, DC office is looking for a social media strategist who specializes in healthcare. From the announcement:

The ideal candidate will have healthcare experience; a strong knowledge of how to leverage social media (MySpace, Facebook, Ning, Sermo, Revolution Health, Daily Strength, Flickr, YouTube) and blogger outreach for clients; experience with integrated marketing communications campaigns; great interpersonal skills; an ability to juggle multiple tasks; excellent time management skills and a keen interest in learning more.

Candidates must have at least two years of experience. Previous digital healthcare experience at a public relations, advertising, interactive, marketing, health specialty firm or within a healthcare marketing or communications environment is a plus.

Are you on Facebook, Myspace and LinkedIn all day anyway? Might as well get paid for it. Get your resume together and apply.

Welcome to the first Test Drive My Job-a column that will profile marketing, public relations and social media professionals at various stages of their careers. Test Drive My Job is meant to do just that-allow you to test drive a job before embarking on a new career or industry change. Use the experiences of your colleagues to find out what careers may be a good fit for you. Feel free to connect on Twitter to learn more about each of their experiences.

I recently caught up with Peter Corbett aka “Mr. Social Media DC,” whom I met at the One party a few weeks ago.

Name: Peter Corbett,28

Twitter: @corbett3000

Current City: Washington, DC

Company: iStrategyLabs

Company Size: 2 employees + 20 something contractors

Job Title: CEO

Time @ Job: 17 months

Mopwater: What are your typical work hours? PC: 7am – 2am (yes…i average about 19 hours a day)

Mopwater: What’s your typical workday like? PC: I move client’s business forward with smart marketing programs that deliver results. Tactically speaking that means I spend a lot of time thinking about their brands and customers and then provide creative ways to deliver value to that audience. Once ideas are on paper, I usually get involved in executing digital builds or physical programs of some kind.

Mopwater: Where and how do you work? PC: I work everywhere. I have an awesome LAB in Dupont Circle and a home office. I travel a lot so I do a lot of work in hotels, coffee shops, book stores. I love this way of working – I’m a digital nomad!

Mopwater: What type of clients do you take on and what do you do for them? PC: We work mostly with consumer brands but also work with some non-profits and the government. We provide interactive strategy, experiential marketing and content creation services. Here’s our capabilities deck. We recently did this project. And this project and this one, too.

Mopwater: How many co-workers/employees do you have? How do you best collaborate with your team? PC: I have 1 employee, my COO. We have 20+ contracts that work with us both in person and virtually. We use wikis, blogs, twitter, facebook, Basecamp, conference calls and all manner of collaboration tools to do our work.

Mopwater: What are your favorite things about working at iStrategyLabs? PC: The most exciting thing is that iStrategyLabs is not definable and ever changing. We’re morphing with the market as we go and are batting a thousand with regard to delivering results for clients. Providing marketing services for clients is what we’re known for, but increasingly we’re an incubator/community developer/innovation company. It will be an exciting year in 2009!

Mopwater: What do you wish was different about your job? PC: I wish I didn’t have to think about internal operations at all – my COO came on board 3 months ago and soon that part of the puzzle will be completely off my plate.

Mopwater: Do you see yourself in this job in 5 years? If not, where do you see yourself? PC: Yes. This is a company I plan to run and keep for the rest of my life. There is no exit strategy. Being an entrepreneur is the most rewarding and challenging path in the world. If you plan to start you own thing remember this – it’s all or nothing. You’ll either be success or you’ll crash and burn. Be prepared for both!