Social Media Can be a Band-Aid and Not the Cure

Social Media Band Aid

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 help or even send a proposal, unless I know what help is needed. So I dug further and I did Read more

Social Media is About the Shoes

Jenny's Birthday 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 social media. Deborah claims to not know what she is doing, but she is really good. She connects with Read more

The Magic Formula of Great SEO

Traffic Source Overview

This weekend I looked back at SEO related statistics for a B2B website I launched in November of 2009. A full year has passed and I wanted to see the progress this company made over a twelve-month period. After launching the new WordPress website, the client retained me to work on their internet marketing efforts. It helped free up time for the client, it gave their internet marketing a cohesiveness it would not have had otherwise, and it gave me time to nurture my new baby. I believe it was a good year for SEO and Google Analytics agrees with me. The Data Doesn’t Lie I decided to Read more

Detroit 2020 Uses Social Media to Unify, Inspire, and Act

Detroit2020

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 enough to have a small part of last night’s TV launch. The producers spoke with me Read more

Do Facebook Likes and Twitter Followers Really Matter?

Like Me and Follow Me

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 Twitter profile. Notice I started with the concept of engagement, because at the core of social Read more

For Detroit, Social Media Empowers Us

Detroit

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 am once again in my zone of like-minded geeks and creative people who love social media and the Read more

What We Can Learn From Twitter

Today my neighbor called me and asked, “What the heck is a 140 conference?” I explained it was a Twitter conference that was occurring in Detroit tomorrow. He asked me if I was going and I said of course. He then proceeds to review the speakers and saw a fairly large connection of 140 participants to my Twitter account. Next he moved onto TEDxDetroit and his entertainment grew. He said, “Holy cow you’re connected to a ton of these people too.” Yes, yes I am.  Social media optimization is part of my business and I learn a lot from these people and conferences. I enjoy them Read more

Malibu Boats: A Case Study in Social Media Excellence

Malibu Boats

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 now known for our “super cool” Malibu boat that produces “monster waves” and our desire to Read more

Conflicts Within Marketing, Social Media, and ERP

Since college I have loved ERP software.  I embraced the concept of an order entry system back in 1993 when I created a tiny Lotus 123 script to enter a basic sales order.  From that day on I was hooked.  I mean really hooked.  I fell absolutely in love with technology and could not turn back no matter how hard I tried. After college I found a temporary position at a barcode and data collection distribution and before I knew it, I was a full-time employee running their operations.  Why?  Because I fell in love with the ERP system they installed three months before my arrival.  That 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 or win.  What the heck happened to me? Maybe I grew up or morphed into someone else. Read more