I wanted to give a unique service; I wanted to give something that the average person was not able to give…and I wanted to make a bigger impact.

In launching the academy just about a year ago, we’ve already accomplished so much.   We wanted to open with at least 50 students, and we actually had 268!

This winter we anticipated starting the semester with 268 and we actually have a little over 600 enrolled. 

BGG:  What an incredible success measure!  What is the demographic student make up of The Web Academy?

EH: Students are mostly 25 to 40 years of age and are about 40% European American, 40% African American and 20% of other cultural make up.  Our students are largely either seeking for a second career opportunity or in need of retooling their skill sets.

BGG: Are there any interesting collaborations planned for The Web Academy?

EH: We are always welcoming of partnering opportunities – there is one collaboration we are emerging on which is very exciting for us.  We are about to partner with ethreelabs.org, their focus is on entrepreneurship, education and engineering.  Right now they have an outreach in South Africa and urban areas. Soon e-threelabs will be making donations to Haiti, in the form of what is called “portable solar suitcases”, which allow for portable electricity.  There will also be laptop donations to support the goal of education in IT. We are looking forward to helping get Haitians up to speed.  Our goal is to help provide training to position them for the outsourcing market. Everyone knows that any and every company outsources to India and Eastern Europe. We are excited to help Haiti to compete for these dollars.

BGG: Please tell us what was the inspiration behind your book, Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama?

EH:  In 2009, a friend was running for public office.  It was 2 weeks before the primary and she was not on one social media web site promoting herself!  As a favor to my friend, I decided to create an 18 slide PowerPoint presentation that talked about which social media sites she should join and some basic strategies for each site.  A few weeks later, I was a panelist at a business forum.  At the last minute the key note speaker could not attend and I was asked to present.  I presented that 18- slide PowerPoint presentation.  From there, I got asked to speak at other events and at each event my audience would ask if I had a book or anything.  A few months later, I turned the 18 slide PowerPoint into an 18 chapter book!

BGG: There is so much helpful information in your book.  In a way you (your book) may one day be considered a “classic reference”! With that said, there is so much with social media that could be thought of as unchartered waters, with the rules not yet fully written.  For example, with so many social networking options and minute by minute capabilities channels to promote whatever, how does one begin to understand “overexposure”, or is this concept something that people are no so concerned with today?

EH: Yes, you could say that we are in the ‘Wild, Wild West’ of social media culture. And the concept of overexposure could be likened to the thought of no such thing as “bad publicity”.  However I would strongly suggest that understanding one’s audience is extremely important, and is actually a specialty of mine.  

I would venture to say that overexposure in making the “hard sell”  is probably not a good idea.  Social Media does a great job of promoting brand, but not the hard sell. There definitely should be strategy involved.   If you’re promoting your business, or service or whatever, whether using social media or coupons and promotions in the mail, the concept is the same.  So then the question is – how much promotion is too much?  It boils down to having a defined goal. People should think about what’s realistic for them to effectively get their message across. Is it once a day? Or several times a day?  With out having a strategy in place, overexposure can absolutely be a risk.

BGG: Tell us about your driving influences that positioned you for success?

EH:  I have to give much credit to my Fraternity,  in my 20’s, I didn’t give a whole lot of thought to community services, but being influenced by a group of men whose sole purpose was to give back really enabled me to see the benefits to the community.  Also, my parents were excellent role models. They were associated with a company called Amway for 37 years.  Not once did my brother and I receive the long lectures about succeeding in life, but instead we watched them every day working their business into the evening hours.  We watched them win the trips to Fiji, we saw the diamond rings, the Jaguars, etc. so we knew what hard work and dedication would result in.  And so I got the message, and didn’t need the lectures – and I took on that “go-getter” mentality from them.

BGG: What would you say has been your biggest challenge? Proudest accomplishment?

EH:  I have to give you one answer to both questions; The Web Academy!  While establishing non-profits has many benefits, it is a most daunting task as a technology guy!  It’s great that so many have been helped already as a result of the Web Academy, and we want our graduating students to also in turn give back with free teaching.

A few years from now, we’ll be able to assist people on a much larger scale and also helping Haitians in receiving thousands of dollars in resources.  So it will be a bit further down the road when I can truly speak to our far-reaching accomplishments, but for now, I take humble pride in the work that we do.