Company: Designated Editor, Newport, RI
Entry Submitted By: Melissa Sones Consulting
Company Description: Designated Editor is New England's leading purveyor of Social Media expertise at affordable rates and that encompasses EVERY aspect of Social Media. Founded in 2006 by Suzanne McDonald, it is New England's go-to company for techie forums, business-to-business networking for technology pros and global clients needing one-stop-shopping for a world that has become impossible to navigate.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Upstart of the Year

Nomination Title: Suzanne McDonald, Founder

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2013 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Make no mistake: Most small and medium businesses don't know enough about Social Media to make educated decisions. They hire companies who charge exorbitant retainers for standardized reports; "push" what they know rather what’s effective; and/or provide rarely utilized "platforms," driven by "machines" when an educated human is needed.

And then there’s 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 course and Framingham State University’s first New Media one) and is considered the region’s leading educational innovator. McDonald bones up on New 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 them - is critical."

January 2013 through April 2014 was McDonald's banner year. Her "techie" forum, Newport Interactive Marketers, became a regional household word – 950-plus members "off the bat"; a day-long conference is in the works for 2014.

McDonald's uniquely expansive POV resulted in her client base quadrupling 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 incorporation 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:

Traffic to the client site soared 234%; thanks to a student-created blog campaign aimed at high-readership blogs potential visitors rose to 2.4 million; and this nationwide campaign aimed at preventing tick-borne diseases titled Ticknado by the students has become an “agency educational model” for universities nationwide. It won the top U.S. award for strategic viral video; McDonald won the region’s top business award. In 2014, the University hired McDonald to create the nation’s first university-based Social Media certificate - a cutting-edge curriculum that defines social media “success” and attracts top students

Business boomed in 2013-2014, notably from innovation-seeking global corporations, especially from tech-savvy Scandinavia; revenues doubled. McDonald give birth eight days before year’s start. But ask what matters, and she’ll say changing the way students learn social media and being at the forefront of that change.

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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the nominee:

Suzanne McDonald, a revolutionary in the Social Media universe, started her company, Designated Editor, with the express purpose of educating clients on EVERY aspect of social media from Google+ and WordPress to blogger outreach/strategy to fully integrated marketing - and to do it affordably and so thoroughly that she would become the leading purveyor of social media expertise in New England. McDonald's "techie" forum, in Newport Rhode Island, has a waiting list. Her business has doubled each year since she began.