This weekend the Kent County Sheriff Department posted a recruitment video to their Facebook page. The video was supposed to be a 20 second clip inviting people to apply for 911 openings. Kate, the woman in the video, became a little camera shy and the recording session had almost an hour worth of footage and bloopers. Joel, their savvy social media guy, decided to create a video that blended Kate's professional footage and some of her mistakes. While the department's overall engagement is ... Read More
Social Media Articles and Posts
Social media articles and blog posts covering all aspects of social networking and social media for small to mid-market companies.
Snapchat Marketing: Is it Truly Viable for Business?
Is Snapchat marketing truly viable for business? I tend to go up and down on my opinion of Snapchat and if marketing via this social media platform is worth the time and money. And then I look at my teenager daughter and her friends. As much as it pains me, Snapchat marketing is not only viable, it can't be overlooked if you are a B2C company that markets to teenagers. If you are marketing to younger consumers, take a moment to watch the teenagers and young adults around you. Look at them ... Read More
An Introduction to Using Snapchat for Marketing
Is using Snapchat for marketing really a viable option for today's businesses? If you are around teenagers or young adults, you've probably heard of Snapchat. My daughter uses it and it is her primary vehicle for communication with her friends and peer group. While I personally hate that app, the teenagers are eating it up and consuming more pictures and messages than we adults can fathom. This means B2C marketers have to at least consider the social media platform for marketing to certain ... Read More
Social Media Best Practices
Social media best practices simply equate to playing by the rules, believing in social karma, making nice with those around you. In a way, it’s kind of like preschool meets high school. You need to listen and learn the rules before you can be one of the popular kids. Our Top Social Media Best Practices Friday Follow (#FF) Twitter users that you respect and value as leaders or friends Do not misuse Twitter hashtags or you'll use not only lose followers, you could be booted from ... Read More
Social Media Mistakes: Don’t Be “That Guy”
Social media mistakes are unintentional blunders that are typically made by very well intentioned people. Even with all the free information on the internet, a large number of people jump into social media without knowing the basic rules of engagement. In some cases, these mistakes are made by people who claim to be social media experts. For those of us who have who live and breath social media every day, it is painful to watch and even more painful to see unsuspecting companies pay for ... Read More
Google+ Should Be Your Marketing BFF
This month I presented a Social Media Boot Camp for the Long Term Ecological Research Network. I followed up the group session with two days of one on one calls for the individual sites across the country. Each university had an opportunity to discuss any aspect of social media. Much to my delight, everyone had questions about Google+. As I talked about Google+ with each call, I realized I really love Google+. I knew I liked it, but I didn’t know I loved it until I heard myself say it over ... Read More
Social Media Isn’t Just a Buzz Word
For the last few years social media has been the talk of the internet. Websites like Quora and Pinterest have become the Cinderella stories of the tech world. What originally started out as a novelty, has now become an integral part of SEO and content marketing tactics. Everyone wants to be seen on these social networking websites or be heard talking about how cool they are to use for marketing. My Travels Within the World of Social Media My social media experience started with Facebook. ... Read More
Social Media Can be a Band-Aid and Not the Cure
This week I had a call from a very nice gentleman who wanted help with social media and blogging. He also mentioned the need for a little organic SEO. Great I thought, this is my thing and we’re a perfect fit for each other. I love the combination of social media, blogging, and SEO. To me this combination is like “Rebecca candy”. What Lies Beneath is Always So Scary At the end of our discussion I promised to review his website and dig further into his online presence. I’m not going to offer to ... Read More
Social Media is About the Shoes
Social media is everywhere and everyone thinks that he/she is an expert. The local dry cleaner, your lawyer or dentist, even the defunct SEO agency. These days everyone is into social media. Even my mother-in-law. But Are All These People Really Experts and Can They Truly Execute a Social Media Campaign? Well I think many agencies and people are just natural social media experts. Take my client Detroit Garden Works for example. Deborah, the owner, is a self-taught blogger and she is great at ... Read More
Detroit 2020 Uses Social Media to Unify, Inspire, and Act
Last night WXYZ-TV launched a new initiative called Detroit 2020. The tag line is “Unify Inspire Act”. It is a news program and Internet marketing campaign designed to capture the public’s attention and focus it on the positive aspects of Detroit and the future of Southeastern Michigan. More specifically, where we will be in the year 2020. I cannot tell you how this news series and their social media outreach have touched me and so many other people in the metro Detroit area. I was privileged ... Read More
Do Facebook Likes and Twitter Followers Really Matter?
Facebook likes and Twitter followers do not equal success. If you are a fly-by-night, wannabee internet marketing consultant, then yes, by all means, use Facebook likes and Twitter followers to measure the success of your online marketing efforts. Otherwise, dig deeper to see if your social media efforts are worth the time and money spent. Social media is about engaging with your audience, increasing brand awareness, and providing value to the visitors who land upon your Facebook page or ... Read More
For Detroit, Social Media Empowers Us
I’m sitting at the #140Conf Detroit conference at the Filmore in downtown Detroit. I’m a geek who lives in the burbs amongst subdivisions so coming to busy Detroit always pushes me outside my comfort zone. I was just in Detroit just last month for TEDxDetroit, so Woodward Avenue should not freak me out. Yet no matter how cool my GPS lady is, driving around unknown streets in rush hour traffic does make me uneasy. But then I arrive and as soon as I’m at the venue and I sit, I am at ease. I ... Read More
Malibu Boats: A Case Study in Social Media Excellence
When I met my husband many years ago, I quickly became painfully aware of his two loves: hunting and boating. No matter how great his love for me, I could not interfere with his beloved hobbies. In 2008 we purchased a new Malibu Boat to continue his tradition of summer days spent on the water. Our Malibu Wakesetter was a major purchase and something I personally struggled with until I realized we spent every weekend on the boat and dragged along numerous friends and families with us. We are ... Read More
Popularity Contests Take the Next Level With Social Media
We are all familiar with the popularity contests of high school. The idea of becoming homecoming queen or the student council president scared me as a teen, as neither were my thing. I was more quiet and into other pursuits. What is funny is now, some twenty years later, I find myself in Internet marketing and social media. What is even funnier is the fact that I didn’t gasp at the idea of Mashable’s Open Web Awards Social Media Edition popularity contest. Instead, I’d love to be nominated ... Read More
Twitter and Linkedin Unite in Social Matrimony
This week Twitter and Linkedin united to share status updates across their mass social media networks. I was thrilled, as I love both communities. As soon as the functionality was released, I was on my Linkedin profile attempting to unite the two applications. And for a moment, I quickly fell out of love with them and all the social ramblings they represent. At first, the process was bug ridden and would not connect my profiles. I am fairly savvy on the computer, so I knew this was not ... Read More
Google and Twitter Make Social Search a Reality
Last week Google officially announced their newly formed partnership with Twitter. The officially statement indicates this partnership will allow social media updates on Twitter to appear in Google’s search results. Google also demonstrated their new Social Search feature at the Web 2.0 conference to really get Internet marketing consultants excited. Although this new feature isn’t live yet, Social Search will be launching soon on Google Experimental and Google Labs. What does Social Search ... Read More
When the Secret Service Goes After Social Media Misfits
Social media is not for everyone and the events of the last few days are a classic example of why this statement is true. Over the weekend a poll was released on Facebook that questioned the public’s desire to have someone kill President Obama. Yes, as amazing as it is, this story is true. Facebook responded quickly and shutdown both the poll and the third party application used to generate it. While some may dismiss this as just pure silliness, it is not. It is not only a very sad display of ... Read More
9/11 Remembered Through the Eyes of Social Media
I was sitting by my computer when the phone rang. My sister was calling my office in the middle of a workday, which was very odd. Did you hear was all I remember her saying and then silence – utter silence. I had not heard about the 9/11 attacks and quite frankly I almost did not believe her. I tried to access CNN’s website, but our Internet lines were jammed with activity and my screen stood in an abyss of grayness. I was completely cut off from the world or at least this is how I felt. I ... Read More
Michigan Embraces Social Media with Pure Michigan
I am a born and raised “Michigander”. I am also, an Internet marketing consultant. This summer my two loves united as the State of Michigan embraced social media and pursued vacationers through hardcore social media and online advertising. I am not only a Michigan girl; I was raised in a very small northern Michigan town that financially existed off of tourism. The survival of my little town of roughly 2,000 people is based on the cottage rentals, canoe trips, and bar tabs of summer ... Read More
MySpace Proposes to iLike
Prior to launching my own Internet marketing company, I worked for an ERP software developer for almost a decade. I loved the company and the people, but was amazed at the industry. I watched in disbelief as Y2K came and went, and countless ERP software vendors evaporated through my ten year stint. As I transferred myself fulltime into search engine optimization, social media, and web design, I thought this would change. I thought these acquisition crazy companies were just ERP software ... Read More
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