Why did the chicken cross the road? To get more Facebook “likes,” probably (or possibly to up his Klout score). Or maybe, just maybe, he was looking for Gahlord Dewald, who was fixin’ to fry up some analytics and serve them for his clients’ pleasure. Gahlord is no guru. He’s no rockstar (though he plays a MEAN bass). He’ll scoop up the foundationless blatherings of fly-by-night “social media experts” and take them to school. Gahlord will tell you like it is with no BS, no bunk, no pie-in-the-sky promises. He’ll show you how to focus on the hard data and translate it into more business for you. And then? He’ll have some chicken fingers and a side of deep-fried social media “expert.”

Now I’m not sure what the difference is between a “mean bass” and a “nice trout” but there must be a difference. Or if I’m mistaken on the subject in context perhaps I should draw the comparison to a mediocre ukulele? On the serious note Gahlord is a fellow scientist who wants to know “why” not simply “that sounds good”.

Join us on Tuesday, May 8, for a chat with Gahlord as we find out how his synapse fire and why you should care.

Click here to listen to the show live on Tuesday at 9AM Pacific Noon Eastern!

All Google. You know, when your list of tools takes up a triple scroll on a Wiki page you’ve assembled a lot of stuff. When your uses per day are in the billions … well, you’re probably doing okay. We won’t even get into the amount of revenue Google is generating and we’ll never make it through half the list of tools they offer so we’ll “run it down” and see what sticks.

Of course  Google Drive will be a topic as will ads, maps, Zeitgeist, trends, sites, picnik, friend connect … tired already.

So here’s what you should do, bring your best Google experiences and your toughest Google questions and we’ll get Mike Mueller, Jeremy Blanton and Lisa Oden to answer them for you while I chuckle.

Make sure you get in the chatroom where some sort of party time not-really-listening event happens.

Click here to listen to the show!

I suppose the redeeming factor of Instagram is that people are creating their own content.

Now don’t get me totally wrong on this I am very happy it is easy for people to share my content and when someone does I am highly appreciative, thankful, grateful, and totally stoked, dude. However, when someone asks me to connect and all I see from them is regurgitation of other people’s stuff, a.k.a. OPS, I have to pause and ask, “why should I?” That said, please share this video …

Today we examine the health of blogging, look at some of the changes in blogging and talk about how blog fits in to future strategic planning for businesses operating online.

Live at noon Eastern (9AM Pacific) we’re going to tell you how one family has earned over a half-million dollars ($500,000) from just one YouTube video. And give you the links to check it out yourself. http://blogtalkradio.com/jckc

Give us a listen today and call in to the show (347) 215-7478 with your comments or questions. Join us live in the chatroom and listen online at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jckc

Paul Chaney - Social Media Handyman

We love Paul.

After all, what’s not to love? This guy wrote one of the coolest, and greatest, books on the whole social media movement, “The Digital Handshake”. Please join us in welcoming Paul back for his second visit with Social Media Edge Radio.

Paul Chaney provides Internet marketing and social media consulting services to small and medium businesses, agencies and non-profit organizations. His expertise lies in effectively combining the conversational marketing aspects of social media with conversion mechanisms that are fully aligned with business objectives. His “Social Media That Sells!”system is one every small business should use.

You can find Paul on Twitter at @PChaney or at his website http://www.thesocialmediahandyman.com/

You can find Paul’s book on Amazon “The Digital Handshake”.

Guest Caller Paul Serwin

There is never a week we can say “not much happened in social media for small and medium business” and this week is no slumper. Pinterest is climbing the charts like a rocket and will be one of our focused topics as we explore how to capitalize on this wild trend. We’ll have a short, planned, guest caller segment from Paul Serwin aka @LeverageSuccess to comment on this growth and toss around a why and how or two.

Mike Mueller is always on the Facebook and today is no exception. Mike, of AreWeConnected.com, is a multi-year regular contributor to Social Media Edge Radio and brings an excellent article today about how to drive traffic to your custom Facebook page. As a fellow custom Facebook page creator Mike has learned how to read the data and make it work for his small and medium business clients. Custom Facebook pages are still widely underused and offer the small business an here-to-fore unavailable opportunity for connection to the greater world at large.

Today’s topics will also include Facebook’s new Interest Lists, reaction to Google’s Personalized Search Results, Twitter’s recent purchase of Posterous, the demise of Gowalla, and much more. Listen live on Blog Talk Radio and be sure to get in the chat room where it can get very active! We are also syndicated on the iTunes network where you can listen at any time.

As always we encourage you to experiment but track your results. While you can’t plan and guide an asteroid strike you can plan and guide your social marketing existence. Listening to this show every week – or going back and listening to nearly 4 years worth of episodes, ha, is a great way to start. We feature best selling authors and top names in the online marketing and social media “game”. If you don’t ever start you won’t ever finish and if you don’t track, rinse and repeat you’re destined to continue repeating failures. So, assess plan and execute but verify everything along the way!

Welcome all of our friends from #blogchat and #smallbizchat today. If you don’t participate in those regularly scheduled Twitter chats jump on board. I’m sure you’ll be welcomed and there is knowledge abounding.

Next week’s guest is author and marketing professional Paul Chaney.

Want a copy of today’s show notes? Subscribe over there —>

Author Shel Israel

We are very pleased to welcome back for the third visit author Shel Israel to discuss his newest book Stellar Presentations: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Giving Great Talks. There may not be any better time to discuss exactly this topic as the global economy is still going through volatile changes. Business must go on and the best presentation may be the one thing lacking for your ultimate success.

Three points about the book:

• It is very well written and easy to comprehend as expected from Shel
• The perspective it offers is global and any person giving a presentation will gain from reading it
• It may be the most guiding book of its size, only 76 pages, ever written on the subject

Join us live on March 6 at 9AM PST for Shel’s segment and hear what the book has to offer as well as other wisdom from Shel.

Our vernacular changes and progresses more into speech created as a result of technological innovation we accumulate more words to indicate an action or describe an event which previously did not exist. Within this change comes a challenge for the serious minded business professional choosing to engage in the digital space with clients, prospects and even detractors.

Un-connecting, as in the phrases used in the title to this post, should be of high concern to the social media operative who is using the many platforms to engage with the public. In fact it should likely be regarded as intensely as denying an application for a store account, club membership or even barring entry to a physical location. We have yet to see, but I’m certain with the high proliferation of attorneys who will sue anyone for any reason, suits brought against corporation citing violations of civil rights as a result from a disengagement.

Unfriend – the act of disconnecting with a user on Facebook.

Unfollow – the act of disconnecting with a user on Twitter.

Unlink – the act of disconnecting with a user on LinkedIn.

Uncircle – the act of disconnecting with a user on Google Plus.

The discussion should be highly active and should be based on statistical data, legal liabilities and brand control. While it certainly has been discussed it is recommended the level of evaluation on the effects of disengaging will likely escalate rapidly after the first case is brought to light.

Do you know of a case with a prospect or customer being “unned” on a social media network by a company?

Have you heard of any complaints which have escalated to the courts as a result of “unning” by a business?

Additional reading and research available from these sources:

Zoe Fox posted this article on Mashable in December 2011 - This Is Why You Were Friended or Unfriended

I looked for input from trusted friends like Mari Smith, Jim Kukral, Danny Brown and Liz Strauss but did not quickly find anything. So if you guys want to weigh in I think this is a very important topic for the small business and enterprise as well.

Jessica Murray - Social Media Club

LIVE on the air, noon EST (9AM PST) Januray 31, 2012

Jessica Murray serves as Global Community Manager for Social Media Club (SMC), the world’s largest organization of social media professionals with 300K+ members across 325+ chapters in 52 countries and growing. She loves working with a diverse international community and being aligned with an organization that strives to create higher standards in the social media industry.

Back in 2010, Jessica and co-organizer Ian Rhett founded Design-A-Thon Nashville, which brings together more than 30 volunteers from the digital community in Nashville for a 24-hour all volunteer website challenge benefiting a local underserved nonprofit.  Jessica previously co-founded Social Media Club Nashville before joining Social Media Club International in 2010.

Join us LIVE on Tuesday January 31, 2012 at Noon EST or 9AM PST for our first exclusive interview with Jessica. She’s promised to bring us breaking news about Social Media Club’s upcoming events for 2012 and especially on big one which is right around the corner!

You should do your best to join us in the chat room where things get a bit … out of control! Join the chat, live, here.