Social Media MC Tips

Using LinkedIn to Grow Your Business

2011-02-09T12:18:00.000-06:00

The main purpose of LinkedIn is networking. When starting up or trying to expand your business your network is the best place start. There are a few simple steps to take to get this process rolling.

1. Your Profile is where you should start:

Make sure to make it as complete as possible, profile picture, work history and include the company link (if they are listed in the Company portion, it will populate for you), work history description (this is similar to what your resume should look like)
Education information - this is another way to connect, through your schools so list them
Websites - use good descriptions (not the generic ones given) then list all websites, social networks that you would want potential partners, employers or customers to view
Twitter - connect to your twitter page (your business should have one of these) you may have a personal one as well, they allow multiple Twitter links
Post Updates - you can automatically post these to Twitter at the same time, include links, share news about your business. This is a great tool to utilize.

2. Connect to as many people you know as possible:

Start with using the utility which allows you to search your email address book.
Next go to the "People You May Know" section on your home page
Finally if you want to look into specific companies, search the company and see the degree of connection you are to employees there. You can contact them via email for an introduction.

3. The Companies section is your next step:

Search the companies you are interested in connecting with
You can follow them to receive updates, when they post them
You can look through connections to try to get introduced (this is an option button as well)

4. Your Company Listing - make sure you create a listing for your company as well and complete it with description of services. Have all of your employees creat profiles and link to the company as well.

5. Groups, join them! Find industry related groups and join them, start discussions, participate in discussions and follow them. This is also a very good way to create new connections, through common interest and sharing of knowledge.

Here is another great resource for further detail on how to utilize LinkedIn:
http://linkedintelligence.com/smart-ways-to-use-linkedin/

5 Signs You Need a Social Media Break

2010-06-02T09:31:00.001-05:00

Social media is about interaction, conversations, networking, sharing. Those of us who partake in it enjoy it and usually contribute but everyone needs a break from time to time. We need a break from work, family and most things in life, including our Twitter and Facebook accounts. At least I hope you need a break occassionally. Here are some signs it might be time!

1. You wake up and the first thing you need to do is check your email, facebook, linkedin... all or any of your accounts.

2. You keep your phone next to you at all times, even while sleeping and if you hear the familiar ring that you have a new message you even occassionally wake up to check it.

3. People in your life start to complain or tune out when you constantly check your phone or give them only half of your attention.

4. You are finding out major life news about babies, weddings and more via posts instead of phone or face-to-face conversations.

5. Your network knows more about what's going on with you on a daily basis then your own family and close friends.

If any of these sounds familiar then get ready to take a break. How do you do this? I'm not sure what works for you, to each their own right? I have recently decided to do this and social media is my business. It started with a long weekend and has extended into an open-ended absence. Maybe just lightening my load and lessening my involvement for a while.

Should you pre-schedule tweets and posts?
Should you draft blog entries in advance?
Should you notify people what is going on?

These things are all up to you. Think about it and remember: The world is not nearly as obsessed with you as you are.

What do you think, have you taken a break? Do you have some tips to share?

How to plan a vacation using social media

2010-05-25T10:17:00.000-05:00

Summer is almost here and along with it will be lots of travel plans. Long weekends or weeks away. Whether your destination involves beaches, countryside or mountains social media can help! There are 4 simples steps:

1. Research - Look into the many useful resources that provide information, reviews and insight into any destination. Make sure you check out a variety of resources. A few popular places to start would be:

Wikitravel - "Open source travel guide featuring up-to-date information on attractions, hotels, restaurants, travel tips and more."
TripAdvisor - "is dedicated to providing you with honest, unbiased reviews of cities, hotels, resorts and attractions throughout the world."
Vacations To Go - A website that "helped more than two million travelers save hundreds of millions of dollars on discount cruises!"
Concierge.com - "is the ultimate site for vacation ideas, travel guides and trip planning tools, with maps, photos, and videos; restaurant and hotel reviews"

2. Planning - Now it's time to get organize. The trip is booked, what activities will you do, what is your timeline, how to get feedback from everyone going? Where to start, here are a few choices:

Facebook - Use your social network for some input, if your traveling partners have profiles, contact each other and share information via your page.
Google Docs - Email is an easy, private or shared communication then move to documents in Google docs, you can start your itinerary and share it with traveling companions.
Tripit - " Create a vacation itinerary online. Simply forward your travel confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com, and watch as TripIt creates a master vacation itinerary with flight and hotel details, maps, directions, and local weather."

3. Go Mobile - Use your iPhone, Blackberry, Droid, laptop or whatever tool you prefer to stay connected while on the go.

Most phones now come with a mapping or GPS system that can help you get around, check it out and learn how to use it before you head out to your vacation destination.
Yelp & Zagat to go - Both provide reviews of area restaurants, attractions and more. If you change up your itinerary or want to include something spontanious check it out first.
Foursquare - If you are in a location that is actively involved you can get ahead and find useful information.

4. Have FUN and Share - Now that you are living your vacation dream take pictures, let friends and family know what you are doing and share your thoughts of new experiences.

Flickr & Picasa - Allows you to upload and share photos easily
YouTube - Allows you to share video clips easily
Facebook & Twitter - Share status updates, pics and more with friends and family

These are just a few of the many resources in our social media landscape that can enhance your vacation planning experience. Do you have more recommendations?

3 Tips for Social Media Etiquette

2010-05-21T09:55:00.001-05:00

Social Media continues to have a significant influence on our society. Many people participate and have profiles on the online communities and platforms. Being a part of them is great but we should all be smart and consider our manners, just like we would in networking face-to-face. Helpful hints for your online etiquette:

1. Be honest - Start when filling out your profile information. Whether for fun or business, sharing information about yourself is your choice. How much to share, what to share, but be honest when sharing. Nobody is happy to find out they have been tricked or lied to. When commenting and participating be honest as well, these platforms are for us to communicate and get to know or help each other out so be true to their form.

2. Learn to Listen - Social media is a multi-way communication for listening, sharing and spreading information. If you only do the sharing and talking people will probably stop listening to you after a while. Follow the 80-20 rule. 80% of the time listen, help, share, 20% of the time promote yourself.

3. Be respectful of the community - Listen, read and learn how the platform you are joining works. There will be a natural etiquette on different sites and you should respect it. LinkedIn tends to be more professional and focused for networking. Facebook is more casual and personal. When joining groups, or smaller niches of a larger platform this is a strong consideration, some even have rules to follow.

Go out there and enjoy, exude the class you have while doing it! Any other etiquette suggestions?

10 Tips for Promoting your YouTube video

2010-05-19T17:11:00.002-05:00

You have spent time making your video clip, uploading it to YouTube and you are ready to see the view numbers starting climbing right? How do you make that happen...

1. Add your YouTube video to video search engines. Some great places to start would include, blinks.com, truveo.com, en.fooooo.com, clipblast.com, dobble.com.

2. Make sure titles, tags and descriptions are optimized for search engines (SEO). Think of how your target audience would search to find the video, carefull choose your words.

3. Include your brand on video. Introduction, credits, wherever you find appropriate include your companies logo, name and website.

4. Investigate top video trends. See what videos are at the top and get ideas from what has made them successful.

5. Include links to your YouTube account in email signatures.

6. Share it with friends and family and encourage them to forward and spread the word.

7. Include links and discuss your video in your blog, RSS feed always helps with SEO.

8. Make video responses on YouTube. Find popular videos, comment and you have created a link to your page. Stay relevant with your comments as well as positive.

9. Create playlists, this can help to organize your videos as well as make it easier for people to find them.

10. Take advantage of YouTube emails and bulletins. Email other users and create bulletins from your profile to other users' channel pages.

5 Tips for a Safe Facebook Profile

2010-05-14T10:53:00.003-05:00

Facebook is for networking, sharing things about yourself, staying connected easily with friends and family... right? Sadly this is still a world were people use the Internet to gather information and use it for harm. So let's be smart and always safe. I've made many of the mistakes I'm about to list on my personal page, it's easy to share too much without thinking about it. So here it goes, let's all be more aware...

1. Don't share your full birthday on your profile - This is valuable information for identity thefts that can gather further information based off this date and your name.

2. Do use a strong password - Make sure it's not too personal including names, numbers or words that could be easily connected to you. Mix it up, include numbers and symbols.

3. Don't provide your location - Don't let people know where you are, then they also know where you are not, which could be at home and allows to much information for potential theft.

4. Don't mention your child's name - Not only should you be careful where you have it on your page (if you have people who are not close friends) but also in picture captions. If that photo is tagged then many people outside your network have the potential to learn your child's name.

5. Do fine tune privacy controls - They are there to help, so go in and set them up. Also, set up groups so only certain people in your network can see your photo and personal information. Then use the controls so nobody outside your network can access any of your information.

Be smart, Be safe and have fun. Facebook is a great, just make sure you use it right. Do you have other helpful tips to share on being safe?

Top 20 Social Media Quotes

2010-05-12T09:58:00.004-05:00

There are so many, I chose the 20 that made an impact on me or made me laugh, after reading them. Please enjoy and feel free to add more.

"Social Media is the new black." - Annie Heckenberger

"The only way to put out a social-media fire is with social-media water.” – Ramon DeLeon, managing partner of six Domino’s stores in Chicago

“Privacy is dead, and social media hold the smoking gun.” – Pete Cashmore, Mashable CEO

“Twitter is like a tragically hip New York night club. It is a cool, easy way for companies to engage customers in social media. But the experience can be loud and crowded.” – Bob Warfield, CEO of Helpstream

“It’s hard to get lice out of your head, and there’s no easy cure for shaking off campaign-based thinking, either.” – David Berkowitz, senior director of emerging media at 360i

“Quit counting fans, followers and blog subscribers like bottle caps. Think, instead, about what you’re hoping to achieve with and through the community that actually cares about what you’re doing.” – Amber Naslund, Social Media Today

“You can be professional while also ‘keeping it real’ with your customers. By interacting with customers in a less formal way, you’ll build a strong human connection that helps build brand loyalty.” David Hauser, co-founder of Grasshopper

“The hardest thing for marketers is to turn over the brand experience to the community and let them define it.” – Eric Erwin, VP of marketing and product development at Wilton

“There’s a reason there’s only one Times Square and only one Las Vegas. We don’t want to be swimming in ads.” – David Spark, Socialmedia.biz

“The difference between PR and social media is that PR is about positioning, and social media is about becoming, being and improving.” – Chris Brogan, author of “Trust Agents”

"We no longer search for the news, the news finds us." Erik Qualman, author of "Socialnomics"

"Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks." - Unknown

“I hear YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are merging to form a super-social media site – YouTwitFace.” – Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show

“If content is king, then conversion is queen.” -John Munsell, CEO of Bizzuka

“This isn’t a direct marketing tool, this is human communication.” -Rob Key, CEO of Converseon

“Social media should improve your life, not become your life!” - Patrick Driessen, CEO of Seed Accelerator

“I think the internet will help bring about world peace. If you have 10 facebook friends in a country, would you feel a bit different about bombing it? The line between "us" and "them" is getting blurry, and for many, it's already disappeared.” - Dan O'Donnell

"People don’t believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves.” – Seth Godin

“Stop looking at the Web as merely a display opportunity and not a way to interact. That does not create a new business model, it just shifts one that isn’t growing and is outdated. The reason sites like Google are stealing advertisers from daily newspapers is not because Google has more eyeballs. It’s because Google used the interactivity of the Web to deliver a new, better way to advertise.“ – Sarah Lacy

“Social networks aren’t about Web sites. They’re about experiences.” – Mike DiLorenzo, social media marketing director of NHL

How to Create a Super Social Media Profile Picture

2010-05-06T07:30:00.003-05:00

If you are actively involved in social media sites, networking or having profiles anywhere then you know that pictures are usually involved in these profiles and highly recommended. We all like to see pictures next to a profile, the blank box is just no fun and we can lose interest quickly. I recommend that you use a real picture of yourself, graphic avatars can be fun if they depict something personal about you, but the purpose of avatars on profiles are to help personalize. Many companies use their logos for recognition, which is understandable, but if you are an entrepreneur, blogger or have personal profiles then we want to see YOU!

Common Question: Should you use a professional picture?
Answer: Sure, if you can afford one or have a photographer friend, but it's not necessary.

Common Question: Should the picture be a headshot?
Answer: If you want it to be. This is a representation of you, so do what you want. Most avatars are so small there's really only room for us to see your face but it doesn't have to be a head shot you would provide with a cv or resume.

You can have fun and change them up every once in a while so people notice something different and go to your profile to check it out. Okay, let's get down to it.

The device is not that important - cell phone camera, web cam, digital... this is a small picture so you don't need crazy mega-pixels.
Make sure there is good lighting - outside will provide the strongest and possibly best lighting but remember the sun can be harsh, so be careful.
Take multiple shots - try different angels so you capture the one that is best for you. Tips: chin down and face slightly angled to the side.
Create some distance - you don't want to have the camera right next to you, it can create facial distortion. There is always cropping so back up!
Edit - make sure you upload that into whatever image editing software is on your computer and play around. Enhance the color, crop, mix it up. You can use the same image and create multiple looks to mix up your profile pic every once in a while.

So quick recap, always have a picture on your profiles, use one of yourself, it doesn't have to be one you paid a professional to take!

Having said all of this I am lucky enough to work with photographers and would like to thank Mark Perlish for photographing with my new profile pictures. Check out his FB Page!

Stay Organized Wherever You Are With Evernote

2010-05-04T10:40:00.001-05:00

I've recently learned about a site called Evernote. It allows users to save ideas, photos, clips, screen shots, text notes anything you might come across while working on your computer, can be saved to your account and accessed from anywhere. It's compatible with most mobile devices, you can connect it with your social networking sites. It seems to be hooked up!

Functional, easy and best of all FREE. 'Make a note. Or 500,000 of them.' Cute. Most of all I like the elephant logo and green background, I'm a visual person and I love animals, what can I say. Having a strong presence on the social media networking sites and a good blog with great tips tricks will win me over in the end anyway.

They recently reached the 3million user mark and 1million of those users were attracted in the last 4 months. Things that can help with your decision to sign up:

One downside is that it takes up a lot of RAM space (If you run Photoshop, Adobe, Itunes, many programs which take up space at the same time, it slows down your computer)
It's $45/year for a premium account which allows for no ads, supports more file types, PDF searching, bigger upload capacity, faster image recognition and enhanced security.
Great for scanning documents and uploading them to save
Many personal and professional uses, they give ideas on the home page of website

I know there are other services out there that provide similar features. Opinions on Evernote or their competition?

Top 10 Facebook Pages

2010-04-30T07:30:00.004-05:00

There are so many Facebook pages out there, what makes one great? There are many components, clean, interactive, good content, participation... Many large companies, celebrities and brands have the money to spend and it has gone far in creating fun, interactive and popular pages.

Here are 10 Big Facebook Pages that I think are great, check them out and see what you think:

1. Coca Cola - 5,432,938 People Like, Coca Cola FB
2. Victoria's Secret - 3,304,240 People Like, Victoria's Secret FB
3. Disney - 3,410,670 People Like, Disney FB
4. Lady GaGa - 3,524,648 People Like, Lady GaGa FB
5. Best Buy - 1,125,964 People Like, Best Buy FB
6. Gap - 563,426 People Like, Gap FB
7. New York Yankees - 1,319,894 People Like, NY Yankees FB
8. Vin Diesel - 7,868,700 People Like, Vin Diesel FB
9. Starbucks - 7,025,233 People Like, Starbucks FB
10. Skittles - 4,383,981 People Like, Skittles FB

My next feature will be 10 small business Facebook Pages. Do you have any suggestions?

3 Tips to Social Media in 20 Minutes a Day

2010-04-27T07:04:00.005-05:00

Many people think that they don't have time to keep up with Social Media such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. That's not even including checking out what's going on with YouTube, Digg, Foursquare and all the other options for news and networking. Well even for entrepenuers and small business owners, committing 20 minutes a day to your social media efforts is a nice start. If you commit to 3 months of this, less then 2 hrs of your week, measure your results and then decide whether it's worth it.

You have probably read Social Media in 10 minutes a day, 1 hour a day and a variety of times. Is 20 minutes the right amount, I don't know but I know that 10 minutes is not enough time and 1 hour might feel like too much at first. I'm suggesting a reasonable amount of time that will allow you to accomplish something worthwhile.

What do you do in 20 minutes?

1. Determine what you want to use Social Media for and what sites you want to focus on.

Choose 3 sites
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Digg, Del.icio.us, Hulu and there are many more.
Choose the combination. (I recommend FB and Twitter as 2 of the 3)
Three is a manageable amount of profiles to start with

2. Develop a time management plan strategy

Log in to each profile daily at a scheduled time
Post, reply, add some new content, or share something you have found that is valuable
Manage lists, monitor possible industry connections
Focus on your tasks

3. Maxamize your productivity by using helpful tools

Ping.fm and Hootsuite are two optoins which allow you to manage mulitple profiles at once. They have tracking, the option to schedule posts and more.
Google Reader allows you to follow RSS feeds of your favorite blogs, podcasts and news sources.
Stumbleupon -helps you search for pictures, stories, videos and more selected just for you "As you 'stumble' from site to site, you will feel as if you are channel surfing the Internet, or rather, a corner of the Internet that is most relevant to you."- New York Times

Just through posting on LinkedIn, joining groups and participating in discussions we've been approached with a possible strategic partnership that provides my partner and I with the opportunity to learn more, connect with a strong company and strengthen our network. Think of a goal you would like to reach and aim for it.

If you decide to take the next step and incoporate a social media marketing plan then there is more research or you can find a company to work with that has done a lot of the research and can make it easier on you. Social Media Marketing with Social Media MC.

LinkedIn Introduces 8 New Features on 4.21.10

2010-04-22T07:30:00.002-05:00

LinkedIn has included some new features. Many of its enhancements are directly related to its sharing capabilities. If you are a Facebook user, you will recognize many of these new features. Here's a quick break down of the eight new features along with the video LinkedIn provides to further explain.

1. Status updates include the option to attach links
2. Status updates give the option of sharing with everyone or contacts/groups only
3. Status updates automatically pull an image in to attach to link
4. Sporting a new URL shortener lnkd.in
5. You can delete and edit posts
6. You can customize the excerpt of the news article you are linking to
7. There is a re-sharing option similar to "Share" on Facebook
8. When you re-share credit is given to the person who first posted it

If you want to connect on LinkedIn please find me @ Krista M Corey
What do think of the new features?

Foursquare: The basics on how it works in 6 steps

2010-04-20T20:35:00.001-05:00

Foursquare is popping up more and more in social media news. It is fast becoming a top mobile application people use to find spots and share information on their city.

How does it work? Here are the basic steps to start playing:

Step 1: Create a profile. You just need your email and to choose a password. Once you have a profile go into settings and you can set up your notifications, link to Twitter and Facebook, enter your location/contact information and upload a photo.

Step 2: Download it to your mobile device:

Iphone

Android

BlackBerry

Palm

Mobile Website

Step 3: Why join Foursquare? To share with your network where you are and tell others about the locations they request. The whole thing is known as a 'Check-In'. People check into locations, share where they are and have the option to add comments on their location/venue. Locations include restaurants, bars, event venues, entertainment, galleries, gas stations, offices and more.

Step 4: Start playing. As you see updates from your friends and network you will begin to see their favorite locations and learn about the locations in your city that are getting good reviews. You can update any location such as parks, zoo's, offices, cafes and your favorite tree.

Step 5: Sharing. Every time you check-in your updating your network with your current location and what might be good there. If you visit a restaurant you can update the best item on the menu or find recommendations from others on their favorite item. Every tip you update can be shared and/or discovered by others. Your recommendations are valued and you can find out people who are near you since this is a Geo-based mobile application.

Step 6: Earning points and unlocking badges. Every Foursquare check-in earns you points.
1. Finding a new spot in your neighborhood = 5 points
2. Making multiple stops on the same night = 2 points
3. Taking a friend along with you = 1 point

Continue checking in to earn badges. These badges will help you discover more new spots near or far, if you are traveling.

To unlock and get freebies, become the mayor. How? You need to be the most frequent visitor to a location, when that happens you become the mayor until someone get's there more often that you and steals away your title.

What freebies can you expect as mayor? From free coffees, meals, desserts to free hotel stays. The more involved the more you benefit from Foursquare, the more fun too!

Check me out on Foursquare @http://foursquare.com/user/kristamcorey

Tips for Making a Great Video Clip

2010-04-15T14:25:00.004-05:00

Video is where brands and consumers are headed, if you are not there yet. It's a 'Super Power' for SEO and brings variety into your messages. Words and pictures go so far but who doesn't like a little live action?

Here are a few quick tips for making a great clip!

1. Prepare- YouTube, Hulu, Viddler whichever you choose to create your video profile. Set it up first, create a profile, personalize it, include some information on your company, contacts. Once you are set up, link your profile to your other social media sources.

2. Plan - Thought most video clips are not professionaly shot or edited there should be some thought behind them. Layout these key points:

Topic/Focus of clip
Points to touch on, highlights of what you want to convey in message
Introductions/Credits - will there be some editing to include recognition and branding
Props - what will you need to make the clip more visually fun and entertaining

3. Practice - I'm not saying plan out a rehersal schedule. Sit in front of a mirror or go over it with your 'behind the scenes' helper and run through it a few times to see what is working and what might need to be changed.

4. Pizzaz - We are not professional actors but it's always more fun to have a little humor in a clip. Be realistic, try to stay comfortable, include music (if appropriate), movement (even if it's just gesturing). Spice it up, we've all seen enough clips with someone sitting in front of their web cam recording themselves talking. Wow us!

Finally, have fun, it will show in your clip that you are and not everything related to business has to be so clean and professional. Show a more relatable side of your brand through these clips.

Chicago Social Media Events - April 2010

2010-04-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

Social Media Club Chicago Hosts SOBCon Opening Party

Social Media Club is a worldwide organization, with local chapters, that serves as connecting organization for anyone interested in social media. Membership is free and open to all levels, including beginners. Chicago’s SMC chapter, launched in October 2008, presents events that mix socializing, networking and learning. SMC Chicago events include: the future of social media with Jason Falls; Brand U.0 with David Armano; social media meets Chicago media; BtoB and social media; and women, blogging and social media.

When: Thursday, April 29 from 5:30pm - 8:00pm
Where: Kimble Office
325 North Wells Street
Chicago, IL 60654
http://smcchicago0410.eventbrite.com/

Celebrate Foursquare Day in Chicago

We hope Foursquare Day encourages people to get out with friends and celebrate. There is the possibility to earn a Foursquare swarm badge.
When: Wednesday, April 16 from 6pm to 9pm
Where: Lincoln Station
2432 N Lincoln
Chicago, IL 60614
http://foursquare.com/venue/8958

BNC After Hours - 'Where Master Networkers Go To Network

Business Network Chicago (BNC) has introduced an exciting new networking format to the Chicago business community which includes top-notch speakers, targeted speed networking, and unstructured open networking. This new format has received rave reviews. People love the speakers, speed networking, venue, food, and, as always, the friendly and helpful crowd of Chicago's top business professionals.

When: Tuesday, April 27 from 6pm - 9:30pm
Where: Texas de Brazil
51 East Ohio
Chicago, IL 60611
http://april2010afterhours.eventbrite.com

The New Media Market: Social Media All-in-One-Day Seminar

Seven of Chicago’s top female social media experts will come together to share their knowledge with women who are eager to learn about the advantages of online marketing to grow their business, build their brand and create community connections.

When: Saturday, April 24 from 8:30am - 5pm
Where: Pinstripes
100 West Higgins Road
South Barrington, IL 60010
http://thenewmediamarket.com

Windy City Social - Spring 2010 Marketing Challenge

We’re creating an amazing, interactive networking event that where you’ll collaborate with Marketing / Social Media/ PR and Sales professionals across several disciplines – share your expertise and learn from them while competing to be the best! Three business leaders will present live businesses cases. You will work in teams to develop the best possible Marketing plan, which you will present to the group. Each business leader will pick a winning team. Winning team members will each receive a fabulous bag of prizes AND your name and website will be listed on our Winner's Page for one month.

When: Wednesday, May 19 from 5:30pm - 9:30pm
Where: Macy's State Street
111 North State Street
Chicago, IL 60602
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago/Windy-City-Social/54635003541

If you have an event you would like featured or to share, please email me krista@socialmediamc.com.

Tips to Designing On Your Own

2010-04-09T15:51:00.001-05:00

Design is a significant part of branding, marketing and web presence. It is the art that draws us in to brands. It is expression, gives brands their identity in a visual aspect. There are many great designers out there but design is a cost. For entrepreneurs, small business owners and individuals looking to try some design on your own. There are some great web applications that allow you to test the waters.

Aviary - Here you can play around with photo-editing, logos, web templates, filters, color pallettes, screen capture and more. I went in as a complete novice and found it to be easy to navigate. The set up is similar to Photoshop and if you have the inclination and time you can play around and start creating some cool things.

Gimp - This site allows photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. They have a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter and more.

Photoshop - Even the well known Photoshop has a free online editor you can test out. If it's something you decide to get more involved with or take to a more serious level you can upgrade into the expanded software options. Photoshop is the leading digital image editing application for the Internet, print, and other media outlets.

So get out there, test your graphic muscles and let us know what you think. Do you have any other recommendations or opinions on design sites?

Top 10 Twitter Background Designs

2010-04-07T23:23:00.002-05:00

There are so many fun Twitter backgrounds out there. After seeing some a few months ago it inspired us to personalize ours a little more. Here are some of our favorites and the reasons why.

1. @stevesipress - This was actually the page that inspired us. What personalization, the pictures, Steve is sharing something of himself on his page. Plus who doesn't love pictures and the way he has them posted up with tape in a polaroid format makes the feel of a family photo so relateable. Then the information on other places to find him, blog, email, Facebook. What a quick way to share some more information. This is a feature we appreciate on any Twitter page and the format Steve chose is clean and flows with the feel of his page. Great job!

2. @thinkgeek - We are fans of monkeys, what can we say. We also love graphics so when we saw @thinkgeek we fell in love. The background is not too busy and the focus is on the logo, which matches the cute icon of a monkey face. Again it has the information for other contacts/profiles to the left, clear and easy to read.

3. @zenabobena - Lets start with the name, who doesn't have childhood thoughts of playing the name game when they ready this. 'Zena Zena Bo Bena Banana Fana.." So cute, the bird, paper, handwritten information. Great personalization she is ' A self proclaimed doodle expert" and I bet she loves chocolate chip cookies too (the one in her background is a little covered up in our image, go to her page to see it for yourself). We love everything about it!

4. @djuro - Again we love graphics and especially people. Do you notice the plant pot is a RSS feed icon. It's the little details sometimes. She offsets the pink hair girly girl with a darker background. Great color choices. Some basic information, including the pronunciation of her name and that she's a 'bubble wrap popper'. Through an image, graphic and a few words we can see her personality coming through. Plus we just love the icon picture, holding up her cartoon eyes over her own.

5. @theprodesigner - There is a lot going on but it's not overwhelming, nice balance. Showing off some work and talent while sharing information in a creative way. The tag coming down with other contact/profile information. We said it before but we think it's a great idea. Even the split screen with the black top fade and purple bottom fade. What a combination of a lot of things that just work. Nicely done!

6.@hoot_of_loot - This is one of the more simple designs we chose. We like the icon, we know, we know, people want to see pictures but why do there always have to be real people?? The owl, what does it represent here... well the target consumer base is teachers buying school supplies. Then the use of colored pencils are enough to bring in some fun to an otherwise pretty simple background. We like how they look spilled out and fall to both sides. The theme comes together with the owl icon, colored pencils and it's still cute. We like the name too!

7. @jeffandrewsdsgn - This page does have more going on the many of the others but the images are showing off his work. It's great work too. We don't find them overwhelming and there is a lot of variety in the images but he chose colors that worked. The neutral color for the background helped bring it all together and he just has the company name spread throughout, subtly. Well done!

8. @problogger - Great use of an image, doesn't it feel like he is just looking right at you and there's just the hint of a smile. We like how he used both sides of the screen too, logo on the right with contact information. We see many pages focusing on the left but there is a complete feeling when the whole page is used. We have seen this on other top twitter background lists and agree.

9. @kathika - This background represents exactly what it is about, travel. You look and you see what you are getting. It has a clean organized feel but there was time put into it. What a great feeling for a travel blogger to portray because that is what you would want from their posts. We like the icon, information provided and unique background of the globe. The best part is it was created with http://twittbacks.com a free twitter background service. So check them out!

10. @jakemarsh - Yes, we have to end on one of our favorite uses of a graphic, vector person. This is what we picture from Jake Marsh, professional, great ideas, Mac lover, hard working. This is what this graphic portrays to us along with the clean, wood background. We decided to check out his website to see if we could find a real life picture of him. Great website!! Same theme, which is important for branding, it's clean, adorable and if you go to it scroll down and read the footer. We love it when personality comes out in unexpected places!

Do you have a favorite Twitter background? Is it one of our top 10 or a different one, please share.

Interesting Social Media Statistics - 2010

2010-04-05T23:58:00.003-05:00

Social Media Statistics - 2010 update

View more presentations from Social Media MC.

Tips for Article Marketing to Help Increase SEO

2010-03-31T16:52:00.001-05:00

"Article marketing is a type of advertising in which businesses write short articles related to their respective industry." - Wikipedia

This is a great tool for any company to use to help with SEO and to help chances of being noticed by a publication that could take an interest in writing something about you themselves. There are many free resources online to use to publish these articles.

One way to do it:

Write an article/press release about your company once a month (1x12 = 12/year)
Publish the same article on 5 different publishing sites (12x5 = 60/year)
That is 60 new links and articles out there about your company a year.

What if you double those efforts twice a month and 10 publishing sites, now you have (24x10 = 240/year).

What are some great resources for free writing you ask:

Do you have any recommendations for Article Marketing?

6 Goals for Social Media Marketing

2010-03-25T13:40:00.001-05:00

Are you utilizing Social Media in your marketing strategy? If it's something you are considering it helps to understand the goals of implementing Social Media Marketing. Here are the 6 most common.

Goal 1. Increased Brand Awareness - This is the most comon goal and an important step for marketing a product or service. Content can be created and spred through Social Media to increase WOM (Word Of Mouth) spreading and brand familiarity. Improving public perception and generating buzz.

Goal 2. Reputation Management - The goal is to present your comopany in the most positive light. This can involve monitoring public forums and providing feedback within your community. Staying involved is the most important way to maintain your reputation.

Goal 3. Improve Search Engine Rankings - COnsidering the larger picture of SEO and link building, creating content on SM sites only helps to improve this. You connect to more people, network and link. It helps to target the highest potential liks and larger communities.

Goal 4. Engagement - Createand participate in dialog between you and your audience. Engage them, question the, make them think and respond when you are questioned. People are talking about you (we hope), so join the conversation.

Goal 5. Increase Relevant Visitor Traffic - Use Social Media sites to engage the consumers that are most interested and likely to share your product or service. Reach your target office more directly then just through advertising.

Goal 6. Improve Sales and Service - Use these communities to connect with influencers in your industry and communities. Use reviews, promotions and incentives to generate participation, lead to sharing and WOM increase.

Do you have any more specific goals?

Social Media Marketing solutions for individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses.

2010-03-21T09:40:00.001-05:00

Social Media MC - Creating Marketing Programs

View more presentations from Social Media MC.

Women vs. Men in Social Media

2010-03-17T10:20:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered which sex dominates what social media sites? Any guesses? We thought it was interesting to learn that according to a study by Pingdom, 84% of social media site users are women. Some sites do tend to be favored by men, can you guess which ones? The News sites, such as Reddit and Digg. Check out the chart below for some more interesting statistics.

Take this information into consideration when you decide where you want to focus the efforts of your social media program and your target audience! Are there other sites you would be interested in getting similar statistics for? Which ones?

4 Twitter Tips - Tweeting Time Management

2010-03-12T23:28:00.000-06:00

Twitter is great for leaving a quick message or sharing some information in a brief 140 character statement, right? Have you found yourself logging in to Tweet something or leave a comment and 90 (or more) minutes later you realize you have been lost in the twitter web. That's the power of it, you see an interesting post and click on it, you want to check out a picture, maybe follow someone new. Like many social media sites you can get lost for lengths of time. This is what can be great about them, why people find them fun and interesting. What if it's for work and you need to maximize your time? The social web might be a place, at times, you need to manage more carefully, here are some helpful hints.

Link your site to other social media outlets, YouTube, Facebook, Linkedin. Many of these allow you to share your posts, write in one spot and share with all.
Use a management system like Hootsuite or Social Oomph. You can schedule tweets later, manage multiple accounts, direct message. Very useful and not as distracting.
Layout the keywords you want to monitor at the start of the week, track it using Monitter.
Retweeting is sharing others information that you find useful and helpful to others without having to spend the time to create it yourself. Creating valuable content is very important so don't just focus on retweeting but if you want to keep your page active you can combine this with your own 'new' content.

It's always good to share the love too, we all want to give recognition to those who are putting good content out there for us to learn from.

Do you have some tips to share on Tweeting time management?

Facebook Statistics - Do you have a fanpage?

2010-03-11T21:40:00.000-06:00

Have you checked out the latest Facebook statistics?

If you have a company and have not started a Fan Page yet please look at the numbers below and ask yourself why not? You are probably seeing more commercials, print, radio and all forms of advertising including 'check us out on Facebook'. Why not save costs on print advertising and direct people to your Facebook Page where you can post updates, have newsletters, run promotions, connect to your RSS feed, allow your consumer base to participate in the conversations about your company. Provide polls and get valuable feedback. There are so many resources that can now be linked up to your Facebook Page and it's a free resource. Does it make sense not to have one?

Below are some numbers we love to see. You can keep up with current statistics by clicking on the link below.

Facebook Statistics

Company Figures

* More than 400 million active users
* 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
* More than 35 million users update their status each day
* More than 60 million status updates posted each day
* More than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
* More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
* More than 3.5 million events created each month
* More than 3 million active Pages on Facebook
* More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
* More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day
* Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans

Average User Figures

* Average user has 130 friends on the site
* Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
* Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook
* Average user clicks the Like button on 9 pieces of content each month
* Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month
* Average user becomes a fan of 4 Pages each month
* Average user is invited to 3 events per month
* Average user is a member of 13 groups

How Social Media helped Boost the Oscars

2010-03-09T13:33:00.000-06:00

NBC realized the power of Social Media this year when it came to their big event. They started off by livestreaming the nominations online. They improved the Oscar.com website and created a very impressive Facebook Page and Twitter account to keep up with all the happenings. They also designed a free application for Iphone users to download.

If you watched the pre-show on the red carpet you would have noticed lots of mention to drive traffic to these social media outlets as well. They encouraged people to tweet, text and participate. Did it work?

Well Advertisers seemed the think so, "The price of a thirty second spot for the show this year runs around $1.45 million, up from $1.2 million, good news for ABC." - CNBC Inc.

eHow article

2010-03-08T14:43:00.001-06:00

http://www.ehow.com/i/#article_6042057

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

12 Blogging Tips

2010-03-04T09:44:00.000-06:00

Blogging is a huge part of Social Media, of networking and being connected online. Not just being a blogger but following and participating in discussions. It's how we share news, opinions, tips and updates. Here are some hints to keeping up a successful blog.

Post often, if you are inactive people will stop reading
Use catchy titles, it's all about the first impression, catch their interest immediately
Ask open-ended questions, this leaves more room for discussion and input
Comment often, you need to participate, don't just put your information out there. Plus people can find you through good comments on other blogs.
Use images - Duhh! :)
Easy to scan, don't have lots of big articles, people want a quick read
Customize, people see the same cookie-cutter blogs everywhere, be original (we can learn from this one too!)
Blog mailing list, start one right away, you can update your followers directly
Smart topic choices, make sure you're interested in your topic and know how marketable it is
About page/section, make it more personal, tell us about yourself (the author)
Links, include links to other blogs and useful sites
Use videos - just like images, Duh! :)

These are some easy tips to apply there is a lot more you can do to have a successful blog. Just read, and keep up with it. Like most things you will learn as you go. Have any tips of your own to share?

10 Way to help Build Links

2010-03-02T09:05:00.000-06:00

Building links is a great way to help your Search Engine ratings. It is recommended that your company site have a minimum of 20 reputable links it's connected to. To see how many places your company site is linked you can go to Google and type in "link:http://www.companysite.com" for results.

Have a love for lists - 101 tips, 10 ways to .... these are very popular searches.
Share the link love - recommend experts, sites, blogs and include their links. Those you link up to may thank you or reciprocate by giving you some link love back.
Build credibility, have a photo, good about section and privacy policy that is easily accesable, so you are a site that seems more trustworthy.
Easily Accesable - have content that is easy to understand and Share options so others want to spread the word.
News & Syndication - submit articles, write up press releases, contact people in your network who might be able to help get you published. Perform surveys and polls that will gather interest.
Social Bookmarking - Create quality work and ask friends to tag it for you. Digg and Del.icio.us are great ways to get noticed by hundreds of bloggers.
Directories - make sure you have submitted your site to the directories that allow free submission, Google, Yahoo, DMOZ.
Reviews - the more you get the better chance of being found, plus consumers listen to their peers more then they do advertising. Yelp, MerchantCircle, Amazon, ask past clients for reviews.
Blogs - we can't empahsize the importance. Don't just have one, use it, post regularly, comment on others and be an active member of the blogging community. Comments get you noticed too.
Link Trading and PPC - Find others with similar content and offer to post their link if they do the same. PPC (Pay Per Click) this is a good way to generate more traffic to your site and opens you to possible link building, more exposure = more opportunities.

This is an overview. Do you have any helpful hints to share on link building? We would love to hear them, keep reading because we will have more specifics of the above 10 steps in future blogs!
Share the link love, recommend experts, sites, blogs and include links. Those you link up to may thank you or reciprocate by giving you some link love.

Getting your company in the News

2010-03-01T19:03:00.000-06:00

If you create a well written press release combining social media and you optimize it for news search engines, you've made it easy for both the media and consumers to find your news.

There are a variety of places online to write a press release for free. Some include

www.PRweb.com
www.PR.com
www.EWorldWire.com
www.BriefingWire.com
www.INewsWire.com

There are more too, you can find the ones that you prefer. We have found success with PRweb and INewsWire. The more news and reliable sources connected to your company name the higher you can be found in the Search Engines. Tie in your press releases, interviews, any articles written on your company with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Every company that will be utilizing Social Media, which we hope is all of you, should have someone on their staff that can write well.

Do you have any ideas to share on getting your Company in the Press?

Categories of Social Media

2010-02-23T14:33:00.000-06:00

People don't always realize all the different components of Social Media. There are so many ways to integrate it into your business. Below are categories with a few recognizable examples of each.

1. Social Networking (Facebook, Linkedin)
2. Articles/Publish (Blogger, WordPress)
3. Photo Sharing (Flickr, Picasa)
4. Audio (iTunes)
5. Video (YouTube)
6. Microblogging (Twitter, GoogleBuzz)
7. Livecasting (BlogTalkRadio)
8. Productivity Applications (Yahoo!, Survey Monkey, Gmail)
9. Aggregators (Digg, Goggle Reader, Yelp, Reddit)
10. RSS- Rich Site Summary (Feedburner)
11. Search (Google Search, Bing, Yahoo Search)
12. Mobile (Iphone, Blackberry)
13. Interpersonal (Skype, AOL IM, Chat)

Do you have a favorite outlet to share?

The Power of Linkedin - 5 steps to optimization

2010-02-22T19:02:00.000-06:00

If you are in any way a part of the business world then you should have a profile on Linkedin. 'With more than 45 million users representing 150 industries around the world, LinkedIn is a fast-growing professional networking site that allows members to create business contacts, search for jobs, and find potential clients. Individuals have the ability to create their own professional profile that can be viewed by others in their network, and also view the profiles of their own contacts.' -Linkedin

5 steps to optimizing your profile:

1. Profiling - make your profile as complete as possible, picture, contact information, websites, job history, education. Give detailed descriptions of your work history, use keywords.

2. Joining - join groups related to your industry, then join in on their discussions. Many give insight and helpful tips. Join alumni associations for your schools, this will open many doors for new connections to grow your network.

3. Sharing - write status updates, share what's going on in your industry, with your company. Share information, ask and answer questions with your network, groups and stay active.

4. Updating - having a successful profile will mean keeping up with it. Update job positions, awards received, organizations joined, contact information. Keep the latest and greatest out there for others to see.

5. Connecting - link it up to wordpress, twitter, there are many new applications and free widgets available through linkedin. Keep checking your email for new contacts that have joined. Connect, share your linkedin profile on your other sites as well so people know how to find you.

Linkedin is a time investment but more importantly it's an investment in networking the smart way.

Google Reader's latest Feed

2010-02-18T21:55:00.000-06:00

They just launched 'Recommended items' on Google Reader. This is replacing 'Popular items' which seemed to promote some content that might not have included quality items. What is popular to some is not always interesting to others.

Google explains the new feed:
“With the latest round of improvements, we’ve started inserting items selected just for you inside the Recommended items section,” Google

What are they using as input to create this feed? That is not clear yet. It will be interesting to see what they recommend. Do you use Google Reader? It's a great tool to gather all the information you want to follow into one spot. What do you like/dislike about Google Reader?

Facebook Is the Web

2010-02-18T21:44:00.001-06:00

Facebook Is the Web’s Ultimate Timesink [STATS]

Posted using ShareThis

Top 5 Social Media Books

2010-02-16T23:12:00.000-06:00

You can read about Social Media tips and tricks everywhere, it's not just the internet. Browsing around Barnes & Nobel the other day, while in the business section I saw there were 5 shelves of top recommended books on business and 90% of them were SM related. Facebook, twitter, SM in one hour a day...you name it there is a book out there. After some research below is a list of 5 highly recommended books, there are many more. Walk into your local bookstore and check it out for yourself!

1. Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
2. Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel
3. The New Community Rules by Tamar Weinberg.
4. Twitterville by Shel Israel
5. Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josoh Bernof

Do you have a recommendation to share?

Everybody's doing it - Join the Social Media Revolution!

2010-02-08T22:01:00.000-06:00

Everywhere I turn, there are advertisements including social media. Watching the Superbowl we decided too late that we should have been counting the commercials that directed consumers to a facebook or twitter page.

See some of the best commercials for yourself!

Superbowl 2010 - 10 best commercials

I drove by a new church opening in our community and scrolling across their digital sign was a message to follow them on twitter. I smiled, even the churches are catching on. Networking, it's a way to connect with your community, your clients, your friends, family. Keep people in the loop of what is going on with you, your business, share information.

It's growing and improving and it's not going anywhere. Sending pictures by text, recording a video clip and uploading it to youtube.com on your phone. The things we have the ability to do in just minutes, it's great, remarkable. What company would not want to take advantage of all of this, most of it's free, it's the time it takes to figure out what is the best for your business, how to set it up and optimize it to work for your business.

Have you seen any interesting uses for Social Media Advertising?

8 Tips For Getting Your Fan Page Found In Facebook Search

2010-01-29T12:22:00.001-06:00

We are all busy and don't have time to write something every day. One of my favorite things about blogging is it doesn't all have to be original. Share the knowledge. There is so much information out there on the internet these days, when you find something good, share it. I'm constantly finding great articles that I think can be helpful to small businesses. Below is a good one for anyone with a FB Fan page, Oh, if you don't have one - you need to get one!

8 Tips For Getting Your Fan Page Found In Facebook Search

Posted using ShareThis

Tweet while driving hands free

2010-01-29T00:19:00.000-06:00

http://socialnomics.net/

This is one of many great articles we read about on Socialnomics blog. If you do not follow it you should start. Lot's of great statistics, facts and insight into Social Media and it's continued growth.

Do you have a favorite blog to share?

99 designs

2010-01-26T21:49:00.001-06:00

We are a new company starting out and it's not the first new company we have started. All companies need a logo, brand recognition and continuity. Businesses need to be recognized and the best way to do this is to keep things simple and the same. A logo is a perfect start to doing that.

We have had good luck and a lot of fun using 99designs to run logo contests for the companies we work with. It's not always the right choice but you don't have to guarantee you will choose one of their logos either. The best way to use the contest is by searching other contests running and contacting designers you think are good and invite them to enter your contest. Also, give feedback, it's key to getting the logo you want.

We highly recommend 99designs and know there are similar companies out there that do the same type of thing but they don't measure up, in our book!

The importance of Social Media

2010-01-18T17:29:00.000-06:00

This is a way to connect yourself to people beyond your network.

Six degrees of separation could not be more true in the internet world.

Do you have your business linked up to the following:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Blogger
City Search
Yelp
Google
Yahoo
Bing

These are just a few places that you can register for free, connect with others, be found, advertise, get reviews... the list goes on. I mentioned the Biggest, most well known. I can't tell you how many times my sister and I have talked to a business owner who says they have a presence on Facebook or LinkedIn so we go check it out and they have a page but no fans, no picture, no contact information. Just having account does not mean you are utilizing these sites.

Social Media is growing and the more presence you have on the internet, the easier it is for you to find, the better for your business. Connect with your clients, get reviews, input and provide a better service/product to them. Are you using social media for your company or even yourself?