In October 2009, Bloggy Boot Camp was launched as an extension of The SITS Girls blog community. Designed as a conference series, attendees have the opportunity to grow their online business relationships in person, as well as increase their understanding and education of blogging and social media.

Attendees are a mix of ordinary and extraordinary women, ranging from young, single girls in their 20s to mothers to retirees. All span a multitude of backgrounds and experiences. The audience is connected through an interest in discovering new blogs and being a part of a community that provides support, friendship, and a platform for learning.

2013 Phoenix Session topics include:

Paid Blogging Campaigns: How to partner with a brand to successfully execute a paid campaign on your blog.

Brand Ambassadors: Becoming a brand ambassador/social media spokesperson can be a very lucrative opportunity for bloggers. Learn how to pitch and secure these positions.

Work/Life Balance: We all talk about achieving a balance between our online and offline worlds, but how do people really do this? Learn sure-fire techniques to succeed online while managing to not lose sight of the people who really matter.

Managing Social Media for Businesses: Monetizing your blog isn’t the only way to make money online. Another option is to manage social media for a business. Learn how to put your skills to use by growing social media accounts and increasing the bottom line for businesses.

How to Get Help, aka Be More Effective and Work Less: What if it were possible to clone yourself and get more done online? You can, but only if you consider getting an intern or assistant. Let us help you understand how to secure a paid (or unpaid) employee, what to look for in a candidate, and where to find people.

From Blog to Business: Setting yourself up as a business matters. Get the inside scoop on insurance, taxes, and which type of corporate structure is best for you.

Get Connected on Twitter via Hashtag #BloggyBootCamp

Interested in getting connected with our 2013 attendees? Then be sure to use the hashtag, #BloggyBootCamp, and follow @BloggyBootCamp on Twitter.

1. Getting Started

Log in to your account using your User name and password.

2. View Your Profile

Check out the latest likes and comments on your profile as well as respond to followers.

3. Edit Your profile

You can update your name, email address, password, bio and more all from your desktop.

4. Add a badge

Your community can now be directly linked to your page by adding an Instagram Badge directly to your website, blog, newsletter and more.

“They were just pushing out messages from public relations and marketing, but they didn’t really listen to what their followers were saying,” I remember him saying. “I told them they really need to respond to these people, this is what social media is all about.”

Not all of his assumptions about social and business were on, but he hit the nail on the head with this comment. Customers don’t go to social media to be marketed to. They go to interact with their friends and fans.

Late last year, I concluded a research project meant to assess whether 14 of the nation’s top brands have responded to such expectations on social media. The experiment dubbed “The Great Social Customer Service Race” involved tweeting brands such as Coca-Cola and Walmart every weekday for a month. We measured the percent of total tweets they responded to, and the speed of their response for messages that did receive a response.

We sent these messages from four different personal Twitter accounts. Questions were designed specifically to prompt a response. These ranged from “urgent” queries – or messages sent at the point of purchase decision – to negative feedback either addressed directly to the brand, or just with the brand name and no @ symbol.

The infographic here shows the results of the race. Additionally, we picked up a few best practices companies can use to improve their social response. Those are also outlined below.

Listen for Brand Name With or Without the @. Less than eight percent of responses came during the weeks when an @ was not used. The failure of brands to respond to negative, positive or other important tweets leaves a bad impression on the customer and anyone who follows them. Listening for these conversations also presents unique opportunities to surprise and delight the customer.

Important Keyword Triggers are Your Friend. When we designed questions for the race, we specifically included questions with important intent, sentiment or risk of switching brands. Social listening software can be programmed to send service messages to the front of the line if they contain keywords such as “help,” “mad,” “thank you.” These rules are imperative for brands that need to automate tweet prioritization.

Keep the Customer Informed. Coca-Cola and McDonald’s committed huge errors when two of their replies came several days after the questions were sent. For the instant-gratification customer, this is the same as not responding at all. One way your company can streamline social customer service is by integrating listening software with help desk ticketing programs. This enables users to automatically convert a tweet into a ticket, then mark it as open, resolved or waiting a response.

Capitalize on Customer Service for Marketing. Social should not be separated exclusively in marketing, or community management or customer service. You need to look at the bigger picture. In our credit card group, MasterCard earned special recognition by capitalizing on an opportunity to market a customer service interaction. When one of our participants asked whether the credit card is accepted globally, the MasterCard team responded and re-tweeted her message. In another instance, MasterCard used the customer service opportunity to pitch our Twitter participant a new product.

About Ashley Verrill
Ashley Verrillis a market analyst withSoftware Advice. She has spent the last six years reporting and writing business news and strategy features. Her work has appeared in myriad publications including Inc., Upstart Business Journal, the Austin Business Journal and the North Bay Business Journal. Before joining Software Advice in 2012, she worked in sales management and advertising. She is a University of Texas graduate with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Puzzle Pieces Marketing had the exclusive opportunity to preview Seaworld’s Christmas Celebration and let us tell you, they throw one heck of a party. Sure, it was over 80 degrees, but that’s not totally atypical for a Christmas in Southern California – so we listened to holiday music and pretended like the weather was getting a little less frightful. From the food, to the guests, to the desserts… we wined and dined our way through several courses and a one of a kind show featuring Shamu and his friends.

A sampling of the menu choices including a seafood bar, gourmet mac&cheese, warm buttered rolls and turkey carving station, and jalapeno corn bread muffins.

You can customize a plate or buffet menu to fit your party needs. We will work with your budget to make the best possible choices for your group and event. Would you like to add wine and beer? Those services are available too!

Animal Meet&Greet: Get up close and personal with some amazing friends at Seaworld San Diego

Available Add Ons: Live acoustic music, fresh floral centerpieces, and beautiful handcrafted party favors

Delectable desserts like warm apple pie with vanilla bean ice cream and strawberry cheesecake topped with fresh whipped cream.

Animal encounters are Seaworld are often the highlight of any trip. Get up close and personal with some of your favorite friends! We made friends with Pete, the Humboldt Penguin but those other two guys had some big chompers we just weren’t sure about. Thank you zoom lens for keeping me at least 3 feet away from the alligator at all times! (I know he looks small and sweet, but that’s just what they want you to think! Awww…Don’t look at me with those third eyelids *Heart melts*)

What party is complete without the sweet sound of music, fragrant aroma of fresh flowers and a special keepsake to remember the evening? All of these are optional add-ons to your party. Be sure to mention your request early on so there is plenty of time to reserve your night!

I know we mentioned the food before but we couldn’t help ourselves to seconds on dessert. These sweet treats were served in mini cast iron skillets and the apple crisp was served warm and covered with vanilla ice cream. The cool, creamy taste of the cheesecake was a perfect compliment to the fresh coffee and hot tea available as well.

If you you are interested in booking your company party and would like to work with a company who knows and plans amazing events with great companies like Seaworld, please be sure to call and reserve your date early. We can help plan all of the extra details to make sure your evening runs smoothly and is something to be remembered.

Written by: WATTson™ – Puzzle Pieces Marketing’s smartie with all the bright ideas.

With its attractive advantages, marketing outsourcing might be assumed to be a logical choice for nearly every company looking to grow its business.

Here’s 10 reasons why companies should outsource their marketing efforts:

#10 Your department has limited resources… Few marketing departments are large enough to handle the workload required of them. Writing quality copy takes time—more time than your staff might have even in a 60-hour workweek.

#9 Your people have other priorities… Too many demands are regularly placed on too few resources. Which is why other tasks routinely take priority over producing collateral. And getting some “quiet time” to write can be impossible with a busy meeting schedule.

#8 Some people just can’t write well… Writing requires a certain skill, and some good people are (at best) only mediocre authors. Sorry, but it’s true. The difference between writing and writing well can make all the difference in the marketplace.

#7 Most (normal!) people hate to write… A white paper is too much like a term paper, and an article is too much like an essay for most people’s tastes. So writing is often the least favorite part of the job. Then there’s the dreaded “writer’s block” that so frustrates the task—and devastates worker productivity.

#6 Staff writers are hard to cost-justify… Despite the written word’s vital importance, few marketing departments can afford a full-time writer. And people who write product documentation may or may not have what it takes to produce the compelling copy needed for marketing that same product.

#5 Running out of runway… Deadlines have a way of creeping up—fast! The big launch. The major trade show. The new marketing campaign. So much work with so little time to get it all done. In these situations, outsourcing may be the only way out!

#4 Getting an outside perspective… The insight of an “outsider” can prove quite valuable. New ideas. A freshtake on an old challenge. A whole different way of looking at something. It can make a BIG difference! Take if from the Red Lion Area School District. An additional eye can help save a ton of embarrassment!

#3 Getting specialized talent… Most consultants are specialists. For example, I specialize in writing white papers and contributed articles for computer networking companies. And if humility permits: I’m very good at what I do!

#2 Getting great results… Outsourcing to the right writer is the best way to get the best marketing collateral possible. And doesn’t your company deserve the very best?

#1 Outsourcing is easy…
When done right, outsourcing is easier on your nerves—and easier on your budget!

Did you know you can pay money to get people to like you? Seriously.

In today’s growing social media market it’s not hard to find online companies that will literally pay people (aka bots) to like, follow, friend and subscribe to any one of your many online accounts.

Whether the cost is $5 or $5,000 the ultimate question is: Should you buy your “friends”?

In two words: Absolutely NOT.

So why do social media gurus, online marketing “experts”, and other alleged internet professionals do it?

1.    Laziness – It takes a lot of work to build an online community even when you aren’t following the rules. So where do you find 2,000 people who might actually consider paying money to use or own your product/service?

Not through these paid bots, that’s for sure. Many of these alleged “Likes” are zombie accounts, which means although the lights are on, nobody is home. And let’s face it, nobody + nobody = nobody. Where is the value in sharing your content if, literally, nobody is reading it? Answer: There is none.

2.    Incentive – In the past the size of your online community represented a kind of social media currency. The more likes, subscribers, followers and fans you had, the more professional you appeared and the more clout you garnered.

Social Media managers measured a company’s virtual ROI based on the volume, thus resulting in the rise and subsequent market for the “bot” industry.

3.    Inexperience – In my opinion none of these marketers really understood the long term consequences of their actions. Or if they did, they didn’t care.

As social media evolved and the major companies began to catch on to these inflated numbers the algorithms changed. It stopped being about quantity and shifted towards quality. The more users engaged with your business and brand the higher your score became on sites like Klout. Companies left with thousands of dead profiles have suffered credibility due to the lacks of engagement.

In the end, it’s cheating. Not only the system but yourself as well. You can’t honestly expect to build a successful business on a false identity. The expectation that your leads are genuinely interested should never have to come into question. So get creative, get networking and get off the bot buying bandwagon, for your own company’s sake.

Written by: Meg Salas - Social Media Coordinator, Puzzle Pieces Marketing

According to the Web page where the documents were posted the hack was meant to be a warning and not a threat.

“We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as a threat,” read the note. “There have been many security holes exploited in Web servers belonging to Yahoo! Inc. that have caused far greater damage than our disclosure. Please do not take them lightly.”

In a statement Yahoo! apologized and urged users to change their passwords.

“At Yahoo! we take security very seriously and invest heavily in protective measures to ensure the security of our users and their data across all our products,” the statement said. “We are fixing the vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data, changing the passwords of the affected Yahoo! users and notifying the companies whose users accounts may have been compromised.”

Need to change your password? Check out the image below for step by step directions:

Orbitz Worldwide CEO Barney Harford explained an Orbitz user’s computer type is “just one of many factors that determine which hotels to recommend a given customer as part of our efforts to show customers the most relevant hotels possible.”

Click here to learn more about how Orbitz is using the data. Orbitz’s public acknowledgement of their customized results should also serve as a reminder that every click we make contributes toward building our online user profile. Those ads you see for new kitchen sinks three days after doing a Google search for “kitchen sinks” are no coincidence.

Are you using your website analytics to work for you? If not, maybe you should…

There are five different categories now available on Facebook. In descending order of the most permissions, they are Manager, Content Creator, Moderator, Advertiser and Insight Analyst.

The Manager has the most permissions, including sending messages, creating posts, ads and viewing insights. The Manager is the only admin who can access admin roles. Check out this graph from All Facebook.com that describes the privileges. All administrators start off as managers but privileges can be assigned after they are created.

The ability to schedule posts is the other great newly added feature.

Facebook now allows administrators to prepare a post and schedule it to appear in news feeds at later time by adding a specifica date and time in the future before you post it. The new feature allows you to schedule a post up to 6 months in advance in 15-minute intervals”.

Here’s how:

From your Page’s sharing tool:

• Choose the type of post you want to add to your Page
• Click the clock icon in the lower-left of the sharing tool
• Choose the future year, month, day, hour and minute when you’d like your post to appear
• Click Schedule

Posts scheduled to the past will do so at the appropriate time.

In addition, page admins can back-date content choosing dates in the past. Back-dated posts will appear immediately appear in the appropriate time and date on the page’s timeline.

All scheduled posts are visible on pages’ activity logs.