Mobile marketing, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google, Flickr, Blogs and the list keeps growing.

 Bloggers help is on the way!

Blogging is a wonderful channel to market your business but only if you have a great ’channel’ people want to ‘watch’ over and over again.  Do people tune in but then tune out? Are your subscribers growing? If your blog isn’t tuning people in and your subscribers aren’t growing, help is no doubt needed.

Social Media Examiner, known quite well for their stellar online events have partnered with BlogWorld Expo to present the Blogging Success Summit 2011. The training is all online and with live instructors! It begins on February 1, 2011 and runs through February 22. This summit is very exciting for those of us who blog or want to blog. You are probably asking about right now “what will I learn and who are the instructors?” Stay with me because the answers are about to be revealed.

Blogging Success Summit learning objectives overview

• Discover the best ways to market your business with a blog!
• Find out how to build an engaging blog presence.
• Discover innovative ways to generate quality leads and increase sales with your blog.
• Learn how to drive traffic with your blog with Facebook and other social media platforms.
• Discover how to grow a loyal blog readership.
• See how successful businesses built their blogs.
• Learn from powerful industry experts!

The above list is just a sample list of the learning objectives but I think you get the picture.

A peek at some of the instructors

Social Media Examiner and BlogWorld Expo have pulled together a power-house team of industry experts. The list below is just the short list!

• Richard Jalichandra (CEO, Technorati)
• Joe Pulizzi, co-author of Get Content Get Customers
• Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book
• Mari Smith, co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day (I call her the first lady of Facebook. I had the privilege of meeting Mari this year and sitting in on one of her workshops. She rocks!)
• David Siteman Garland, author of founder of The Rise to the Top video blog and author of Smarter, Faster, Cheaper
• Denise Wakeman, founder of the Blog Squad
• Darren Rowse, author of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income (he is known for much more that I have room to list here).
• Mike Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner

 These are a great list of people for you to follow on Twitter too during and after the Summit.

From an instructor’s point of view

I attended Social Media Examiner’s online Facebook Success Summit 2010 and LOVED it. As a technology speaker and trainer, I know well the difference between good and bad training. I also know how valuable the right training is to success in our respective businesses. It can mean the difference between success or failure. Mike Stelzner’s summits have the right name –  Success Summit.

Super Goodies

• Attend online (no travel – you could attend in your PJs if you wanted)
• Sessions will be recorded so if you miss a session you can go back and listen. I LOVE the fact that you can download these videos to your desktop and use for months to come.
• Learn from industry experts. In fact, they have a Q & A at the end of each session so you can ask the experts yourself.

 There is much to learn from this Summit!

Early bird gets the worm!

Early bird registration is available through mid January at $297.00, which is 50% off the full registration price. If you are on a budget (most of us are) you can split the payment into two installments – $167.50 at registration and the remaining $167.50 in 30 days. Seats are limited to 2500 and the Social Media Examiner summits are sell outs. Register now.

Do you like free gifts?

Social Media Examiner is giving free access to a seminar by Michael Stelzner and Darren Rowse – Building Community with Facebook and Blogs, a $59.00 value. All that you have to do to obtain is just sign up for updates about the Blogging Success Summit.

PROOF BLOGGING WORKS…

In October 2009, Michael Stelzner started Social Media Examiner, a blog for marketers and small business owners. Almost overnight, his site became one of the top business blogs in the world. He didn’t advertise, didn’t rely on the press and almost none of his traffic came from search engines.

Slightly more than a year later, he has nearly 50,000 email subscribers, a half-million page views a month, and has generated nearly $2 million in sales from the site.

Everything he does focuses around delivering high-quality content along with intelligent marketing.

Michael’s story is not unique. A significant 43% of U.S. companies will be marketing via their own blog by 2012, according to eMarketer.

Now the connection… Blogging represents a new marketing frontier because it bypasses all the costly middlemen and allows you to own your own platform, quickly engaging with your customers and prospects! AND this presents an enormous opportunity for you.

Spread the word!

You will find a LinkedIn Share button at the top right of this article and a social media toolbar at the bottom of the screen.

Technology has and continues to provide us with a wealth of tools to help us in our day-to-day work and ways to market our businesses. There are so many tech tools that it is like being in a candy store and not knowing which candy to try first – you just want to try them all. It can be overwhelming deciding which tech tools are best for your business.

GinaSchreck, President of Synapse 3Di and yours truly decided to break these tech tools down into a Top 5 Trends in 2010 Review.  We have 5 quick videos for you that we hope you will find insightful, fun and helpful to you and your business in 2011. Enjoy!

TREND 1: MOBILE FOR BUSINESS

Mobile has truly changed the way we work. Mobile is a huge trend and growing. Tablets, QR Codes, Android Apps, Mobile advertising. How can mobile help your business? Find out more in part 1 of our 5-part segment.

TREND 2: FACEBOOK FOR BUSINESS

Facebook was constantly in the headlines but really when aren’t they? Facebook Deals, Facebook Places, Groups, New Message Inbox and who could forget the Facebook movie! Facebook is huge for business and will only grow more so in 2011. It’s a big train you should seriously consider boarding before it leaves without you.

TREND 3: CLOUD COMPUTING IN BUSINESS

Are you confused by the term cloud computing? Many still are. Cloud computing is changing the way we do business. Sharing and collaborating on documents to photos to files can all be done in the cloud. More and more businesses are working in the cloud – a trend you will see grow in 2011. Gina and I discuss cloud computing tools and how they can help your business.

TREND 4: VIDEO FOR BUSINESS

YouTube celebrated their 5-year anniversary in 2010. In May of 2010 there were over 2 billion views a day on YouTube.

Today, anyone with inexpensive camera equipment like a flip camera or even your smart phone can create and upload video.  You don’t have to be a professional videographer to create and benefit from video. Video is HUGE for business. 

If you are new to video or even if you aren’t, I suggest you read Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business by Steve Garfield. You can find the book on Amazon. In the interim don’t miss out on the tidbits Gina and I share in this next video about Video!

TREND 5: IPADS, READERS & TABLETS

When you think of tablets in 2010 you no doubt think of the i-Pad.  Readers and tablets have certainly made it easier for us to consume content on the go.  They aren’t just a trend they are here to stay. Find out what I got this year and love, in part 5 our final segment.

Donna Gilliland is an award-winning instructor and a certified technology trainer. Donna is founder and President of MOSTraining, Incorporated.

I am a technology/social media speaker and trainer who remembers when floppy disks were floppy and DOS was king! I help small businesses learn and leverage technology to grow their business. It’s a fun ride all the way to the finish line!

Follow me on Twitter @MOSTraining or Facebook or both. ‘See’ you online!

LinkedIn Profile: www.LinkedIn.com/in/DonnaGilliland

You can find MOSTraining on the web at http://www.MOSTraining.com

In today’s economy that can be a difficult task, especially for smaller companies whose advertising budgets are often very tight and in some cases non-existent, making it almost impossible for many small businesses to develop and implement a marketing campaign. Small business may not be able to afford conventional marketing channels such as TV, Radio and expensive print ads.  In fact, even if they could, for many these marketing channels may not be the most effective marketing route.  So what is a small business to do?

A real deal for small business

I recently came across DealPair.com and as I traveled the site I wanted to know more so I picked up the phone and called. To my surprise and joy, Sreedhar (Sree) Unnamatla, co-founder of DealPair.com agreed to an interview.

DealPair.com launched on October 10, 2010. DealPair is a self-serve advertising platform geared toward small business.  The business owner can take control of their own promotions and launch their promotions via DealPair.com.

Drive before you buy. A business can “test drive” DealPair free for 30 days.  After 30 days the merchant can continue with a charge of only 10% of the revenue from each promotion upon successful completion of the promotion.  This is quite a discount to the merchant considering the fact there are similar services to DealPair which charge the merchant 50% of the revenue generated.

DealPair.com deals are available from a wide range of businesses from restaurants, bars, salons, spas, theatres, concerts, home improvements, events, classes and more.  

Tapping into the Facebook community is icing on the cake 

In addition to the web site DealPair.com,  DealPair has a fully integrated application that Facebook users can now add to their Facebook page. Deals will be posted to the user’s wall based on user preferences. Friends and friends of friends can see the deals too. The advantage to users is that group buying provides deeper discounts. The perk for the business - greater visibility via Facebook.

Sree explained that “the market has moved from the coupon to collective buying.  The market is interested in social buying. As groups of people come together and buy, the small business will see a larger volume of customers and be able to provide service and products. One side gets the discount and one side gets more customers. It becomes easy for users to try different things which were otherwise not possible, given the limitations of the wallet.”

A platform for buyers and sellers

As Sree stated during the interview, “we want to be a platform that buyers and sellers can come to without restrictions and perform their commerce. We are building that technology.  We want to reach out to small businesses in all parts of the country where merchants can come online and publish their product or services on a promotional basis.  We did not want to be restrictive. Merchants know their business. Every sale needs to generate profit for them to be in business.”

This is wonderful for the small business because DealPair provides the technology platform to promote their deals. That is a huge savings in of itself. In addition the business has the added bonus of  more eyes to see and learn about their company and products. Now that is a real deal! 

Where do businesses signup and get started?

Merchants can go http://business.DealPair.com to get started. The merchant must create an account on DealPair. The registration process will include providing a physical address and contact information. Merchants and their deals must be pre-qualified before they go live on DealPair.

How it works for consumers

Consumers create an account on DealPair.com by visiting the site directly or by accessing their Facebook application. Consumers can then download the coupons.  

 Businesses and consumers head over to http://www.DealPair.com for some sweet deals.

Special Note: at this time DealPair does not offer an option for virtual based companies – those who are not bricks and mortar. However, stay tuned to DealPair.com for all the latest.

I think we all know what a party is and it is probably safe to say that you have been to a few in your time. There’s always a host and guests. Sometimes, there are even gifts given out at parties. Take that same concept and take your next promotion online via a Twitter party!

What are Twitter Parties?

As a business owner, I too was curious about Twitter Parties so I began my research. During the research I came across TweeParties.com, which is owned and operated by Erin Boudreau.  Get your party hats on and ready to learn more about Twitter parties and how they can help both business and consumer.

The simple answer is that Twitter parties are parties held online via Twitter.  The length of these parties is usually an hour or two in length. Each party has a specific topic or theme. Many parties provide prizes, thus making the draw to attend even more enticing.

Keep in mind that it is much like a party in real life and the life of the party is determined in part by how engaging, interesting and fun you make it.

Business Benefits

In a word – exposure! Twitter parties are quickly becoming a hot way for businesses to gain exposure for their products and services. Erin explains that “the online events are a way to gain exposure for products and services, engage customers in real-time, increase followers, subscribers and web site traffic. Basically, if you have a client base that exists somewhere on Twitter, you can reach them often with a party.

I think with Twitter, frequency is the key to getting your message out there, whether in daily tweeting or hosting events, parties are great for small businesses, because they are a low-cost ad tool that helps reach a national or worldwide audience.”

Erin is currently helping organize a film premiering on PBS, “The Longoria Affair”, scheduled for November 9, 2010. View the full details at: http://bit.ly/bXVaTy

Erin’s party tips and strategies…

Direct from Erin herself – “get people talking: sharing their opinions and experiences. During a party, you might have a guest expert on the topic that people can ask questions of, or even a celeb host.

Giveaways are often also a component of the party: fun trivia gets people involved; prizes often bring in attendees. I have given away gift cards and cheesecakes. A company will often give away product samples.

To get started, I would recommend (no surprise) trying one with an experienced host who can guide you through the process. However, if you are a savvy Twitter user, attend many parties and do your homework, anyone can give one a try. Dive on in!

Going with a host has many benefits: they’ve been there, know the ropes and they have followers who might be the demographic you want. I’ve seen parties with sponsors from everything from retail businesses to nonprofits, TV shows, authors and social sites.

There are ways to track if your party was successful by tracking the hashtag to see how many people tweeted and how often.  Another way to judge a party’s success might be to have a special offer code for that party, or mail list sign up, etc.

When planning a party ou have to think about what you want out of it such as followers, special offers, mail list signups. I would suggest that Twitter parties only be a piece of the puzzle in your social media marketing plan. It is not a ’1 and done.’

Parties and chats are similar – both try to engage people in a conversation about a specific topic or event. I think the difference between chats and parties lies in the sponsor: A party usually has one that has some kind of message to convey. In a party a friend calls friends and invites them over to the house for a party with a theme, has food and door prizes! A party has a defined sponsor, topic, marketing message.

I would say right now, the most popular companies having parties are selling consumer products to women/moms. More and more groups are having parties. Weekly cooking party (#FNIchat) and travel party (#TNI) are popular with men too!

Prizes do attract people, but I’ve had many people tell me the topic is equally important. I usually never win anything, so before I started hosting parties; I only attended those that had interesting topics and guests.

I would recommend that if you want to get serious about parties to have them on somewhat of a regular basis. Another regular party that has had great success is #SpaWeekGossip.  There is a different topic every week and people look forward to it.

There are many nonprofits having parties: for cancer awareness, gluten-free diets, animal and adoptions to generate awareness.

Another suggestion for hosts  is to devise a landing information page with all the party details.”

Erin has many great tips on her website. Read on for the contact details and about some BIG news about Erin.

Contact Erin

If you would like to learn more about upcoming Twitter parties and/or setting up your own party be sure to visit http://www.TweeParties.com Take a look at Erin’s calendar containing a list of upcoming parties while you are there. Be sure to sign up to become a TweeVIP and get Erin’s weekly party updates and other specials.

Follow Erin on Twitter @TweeParties and on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/TweeParties.

BIG news for Erin Boudreau

Erin and her company are featured in the December issue of  Website Magazine. Read the article at: http://www.tweeparties.com/documents/TweePartiesWebMag2010.pdf. Congratulations Erin!

Megan Berry, Director of Marketing at Klout.com Explains Klout Scores!

I recently conducted an online webinar on the topic of Klout scores. I invited Megan Berry, Director of Marketing at Klout to be my guest speaker and unravel what some might consider a mystery when it comes to understanding Klout score reports and one’s measure of online influence.  You just might be surprised at what it all really means. In addition, gaining a better understanding of your Klout score report may help you with your own social media influence strategy.

A  link to the webinar is provided at the end of this blog. In the webinar I chose one of my favorite technology speakers, Gina Schreck as the live example during the Megan’s guided tour through the Klout report. The live example is extremely insightful and will help you interpret you own Klout report.

What does your Klout score and report components mean? In simple, it is the measure of one’s online influence. You can equate it to a credit report for social media. Klout scores range from 1 to 100. As Klout will tell you – “the Klout score is highly correlated to clicks, comments and retweets.”

What do the varying scores mean? I bet you are thinking that someone who has 10,000 followers will have a much higher Klout score than someone with 1,000 followers. Think again.

As Megan states in the webinar, “follower count is not a useful metric of influence.  It is a tiny component.” Klout looks at engagement – how many people are acting because of what you say such as retweeting your messages, placing you on Twitter lists and/or clicking your links. Are you influencing people to take some type of action? The other level of engagement is the “who”, as in who is engaging with you?

What is considered a good score? Let’s say that you have a Klout score of 32 – what does that mean? According to Megan, a score above 30 shows expertise in social media. Above a 50 is approaching social media thought leader status.

Score Subcomponents. There are many subcomponents to your score. One of which is True Reach, which is the measure of your engaged audience. Another is Amplification, which represents how far your message spreads beyond your own network and it is a key component to your online influence.

What is your influence style? Are you an explorer, curator or celebrity? Klout has 16 different types of influence. This is different from your Klout score. It is your influence style and as Megan stated, “one style is not necessarily better than another.” For example, a Curator is defined as one who finds the best content all around the web and shares what they find. This influencer type doesn’t necessarily create the content they share and they usually have a very wide audience. A Celebrity influence style is generally one who is the creator of content and it is content that others engage heavily within.

What if you don’t like your influence classification? How can you go about changing your style of influence? Megan suggests that you look at examples of your peers and those you aspire too.  Perhaps your current style classification is that of Curator but you would rather be known as a Thought Leader. Keep in mind that your style of influence can change based upon many online activity variables. You might be an Explorer today and a Thought Leader tomorrow.

What is your Klout influence on Facebook? Klout now measures your influence on Facebook. This is a new feature of Klout that wasn’t in place when the webinar was delivered just a few weeks ago. You can now connect your Facebook account to Klout for a Facebook Klout analysis. You will be able to view your Facebook report card, so to speak and find out what your true amplification on Facebook really is.

Visit www.Klout.comto view your Klout report or anyone else you might be curious about. Klout’s site does a very good job of explaining the influence metric, be sure to visit  www.Klout.com/Kreport specifically for the influence metric breakdown.

Don’t’ forget to view the recorded Webinar for a very insightful tour of the Klout report given by Megan Berry, Director of Marketing. In the end, you will know how to interpret your own social media “credit” report or should we say your social media report card. Megan takes us through a live example of @GinaSchreck’s Klout report. By the way, at the the time of the webinar, Gina’s influence style was defined as Explorer and as of this writing her influence style shows as Thought Leader. I think Ms. Gina is own her way to yet another influence style – Celebrity status.

You will need Windows media player to view the recording. You really don’t want to miss this so get your coffee, tea or milk and watch the show! It’s about 20 minutes in length if you subtract the introduction and closing.

Please visit often for the latest happenings in mobile marketing and social media. Please feel free to leave comments and let me know how you enjoyed an article and/or articles you would like to see here.