Designated Editor wins 2013 Stevie Innovator of the Year, Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations and Business Services

Another great year, personally and professionally. Elise’s second time at the Stevie’s, although she could only listen in at that point. I’m particularly proud that  Designated Editor was able to help so many clients while having a newborn at home.

Here’s why Designated Editor was selected as a 2013 Stevie Innovator Winner

2013 Stevie Awards Innovator of the Year Suzanne McDonald. Baby Elise takes these things very seriously.

McDonald’s uniquely expansive POV resulted in a quadrupling of her client base in the awards year, none more important than the University of Rhode Island’s invitation to create the first-ever Social Media SWAT Team Program aimed at teaching college-level communications students how to use social media, including the incorporat ion of complex scientific information, in the way it needs to be done “in the real world.”  “Students use Facebook for friends, “ says McDonald, “but they have no idea how to use social media in a ‘big picture’ fashion, in a business setting, so they can operate ‘in the real world.’”

Up until now, universities have shirked their responsibility.” The result? A nationwide campaign aimed at preventing tick-borne diseases titled “Ticknado” that reached millions has become an “agency model” for universities nationwide.  McDonald won the region’s top business award; presenting at the prestigious South by Southwest conference is in the offing. Business in this awards year did boom – revenues and productivity doubled – and McDonald stopped long enough to give birth to a bouncing baby girl. But ask her what matters, and she’ll say it’s changing the way students learn social media and being at the forefront of that charge. Make no mistake: Most small and medium businesses don’t know enough about Social Media to make educated decisions.

They hire companies who play the so-called “Social Media Game”:  exorbitant retainers for standardized reports; “pushing” what they know rather what’s effective and generously giving what is needed; or providing rarely utilized “platforms,” driven by “machines” when an educated human is needed. And then there is Suzanne McDonald, a revolutionary in Social Media, whose business – Designated Editor – has fast become the go-to company for Social Media in New England. Ex-journalist and visionary who predicted print’s demise and dove headlong into New Media, McDonald is one of few if not the only pro in the region who is a TRUE expert on all aspects – from Google+, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress, Websites, blogger outreach/strategy, content development/strategy, SEO, events, press and newsletters to fully integrated marketing/branding.

A teacher at heart (McDonald designed and taught the University of Rhode Island’s first Social Media Strategies and Framingham State University’s Event Planning and New Media courses and is considered the region’s leading educational innovator), McDonald bones up on Ne w Media the way a star pupil does and then shares her vast learning and expertise with a diverse client base so that they, too, become pros – all for far less than the “big guns” charge their clients. McDonald also stands out among so-called “techies” in knowing that “Social” involves far more than “Media.”  “For business growth, face-to-face trumps Social Media,” McDonald says. “Mastering both – and the interplay between the two – is critical.” July 2012 through September 2013 was Suzanne McDonald’s banner year. It was then that Suzanne McDonald’s “techie” forum, Newport Interactive Marketers became a regional household word – 850 members “off the bat”; speakers who normally receive $5000-plus fees agreeing to show up for free, just to be in the company of McDonald and her following; and a powerful reputation for being one of the only techie forums that attracts 50% women.

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