Posts Tagged ‘blogging’

Goin Mobile

1 Comment » Written on May 4th, 2010 by
Categories: Digital Media, PR, Social Media, Strategy
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This month is abuzz with mobile. Both the Triangle AMA and TIMA have speakers on mobile marketing and ads. Mobile Internet traffic is increasing with the proliferation of smartphones and Wi-Fi devices. This post is actually being drafted on an iPhone so I can gauge what a mobile blog post is all about.

For one it’s really intense in terms of keying this in using a keyboard that only uses my thumbs and no mouse. This has made me focus accurately and correctly writing the first draft. Reminds me of the typing class I took in high school. The final result is going to be produced in less than 45 minutes. No links, photos or anything else. Just good old fashioned words strung together to try and keep the reader engaged, informed and educated.

True I could write this on my laptop using Word and its tools like spellchecker. But what is mobile blogging if I don’t actually use the WordPress iPhone plugin to actually draft a post? Editing is a bit tricky but I am curious how viable a Smartphone is as a field reporting unit.

No doubt an iPad would be better suited for the task. And in time I do foresee content being drafted on tablet devices in increasing numbers. I’ve already envisioned my grade school children will be using this type of device in middle school within the next three to five years.

But going full on mobile is rapidly happening all around us. Home phone accounts are giving way to a family of four wireless plan. Our phones have address, contact information, calendar and notes stored in them for easy access. Geo location features and apps allow us to find each other and share locations. Smartphones have become the mobile convergence devices that deliver true computer telephony integration.

But I gave to say that mobile blogging on such a device is difficult. It’s taken me longer to write this post. And many times my large thumbs hit the Shift or Return key by accident! It has taken me longer to write this post and I have had to revisit the copy more than usual but that’s not a bad thing!

What’s your experience blogging on a mobile device? What challenges have you experienced? Or does it not compute for you?

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Posted in Digital Media, PR, Social Media, Strategy

Lunch With The Leaders

11 comments Written on March 16th, 2010 by
Categories: Events, Marketing, PR, Social Media, Strategy
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Approximately six weeks ago the first Raleigh Media Leaders event was held at The Busy Bee.  Over 150 professionals from marketing, advertising, media and technology gathered for an evening of interaction and stimulating conversation.  The event was unique in that there was a grand prize for the evening, a drawing for “Lunch with The Leaders,” a lunch with three area media leaders with three media leaders attendees.

I was fortunate enough to be the host for the lunch held at The Pit BBQ.  The Leaders that volunteer their time for the event were:

Joining our leaders were three very special business people.  Karen Albritton, president of Capstrat was the first winner and a media leader in her own right.  The other winners included Charlotte Goodman-Smith and Christine Fawley of Pleasure Mechanics and Richard Knott, a freelance graphic designer.

Lunch With The Leaders at The Pit

Lunch With The Leaders at The Pit

After introductions we began a great marketing discussion around how to market your business especially when you are new to a market.  Charlotte, Christine and Richard are all new to the Triangle area and own their own businesses.  They face challenges in getting their name out and breaking into marketing and media channels.

One great strategy that Patty recommended was to work with non-profit associations and attend networking events like Media Leaders as well as Ad Club, Triangle AMA and AIGA.  Barrett offered great advice to keep reminding associations of the important contacts they have and how to get introductions.  By offering your services to help the association you can get great network connections.  Patty also suggested that when attending professional association meetings ask people if they hire freelancers.

Patty also told them to make sure you tell your story because, “if you don’t then others will tell it for you.” I could not agree with her more.  Being in control of your message is vital to marketing your business.  Patty reviewed the process that her firm does when meeting with new clients, the first step is to find out everything about them. What is their story? What are their goals? Then, develop a strategy and supporting PR program to deliver.

The discussion then centered around media and PR.  Patty noted that reporters write about trends and if your business has a story relating to a current trend then you may have the ability to get their attention.  Another tool that Andy mentioned was Help A Reporter Out where reporters ask for sources for stories they are currently researching. HARO allows you to find a possible media placement by offering expert advice, thus creating exposure and awareness for your brand.

This lead into a discussion around personal branding and the use of social media.  Andy gave a great tip on whether you should start by blogging.  He stated that sometimes it’s better to find a blog in your subject matter area and offer to write a guest post.  Many times these blogs already have a larger following that what you would be able to build in the near term and will drive more visitors to your web site or online presence. Another tip Patty offered was to enter award competitions and benefit from the publicity generated by the award and related events.

Andy also spoke about becoming an industry expert and getting quoted in newspapers, magazines and website articles.  He noted that small articles can sometimes lead to larger ones so many times he offers his opinion to bridal or travel publications since someone is reading that publication that may work at Inc. or Fortune magazine and then contact him for another story.  Barrett states that research is important to stories so play a part in it and offer your expertise to reporters.

Lunch with The Leaders did not disappoint to say the least.  Not only did Patty, Andy and Barrett offer great advice to Charlotte, Christine, Richard and Karen but everyone had the opportunity to make another business connection.  I feel that our leaders learned about our event winners as well, asking about how they started their businesses, their backgrounds and what brought them to the area.  The BBQ was not bad either! Thanks to The Pit (@ThePittBBQ) for sponsoring the lunch and providing a great atmosphere.

Again my thanks to the other Media Leaders team members for creating the event that lead to this lunch: Phil Buckley (@1918), Morgan Siem (@morgansiem @mediatwo_social), Dan London (@danlondon) and Sarah Burris (@sarkatbur).   What’s in store for the next Media Leaders event on April 6?  Register now to attend!

I’ve included information about our Lunch with The Leader winners as well if you would like to learn more about them.  And thanks again to our Leaders, Patty Brigulio, Barrett Joyner and Andy Beal.

Our Lunch With The Leaders attendees:

Christine Fawley
Charlotte Goodman-Smith
@learnpleasure
www.pleasuremechanics.com

Karen Albritton
@kalbritton
www.capstrat.com

Richard Knott
www.RichdDesign.com

For more photos from the event, view the Flickr set.

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Posted in Events, Marketing, PR, Social Media, Strategy

Five Starting Points to Build Your Online Presence

No Comments » Written on February 23rd, 2010 by
Categories: Digital Media, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
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Last month I spoke to the Triangle Area Freelancers on how to use social media to market yourself.  The group is primarily freelance writers and they had some excellent questions including:

  • Should I get on Twitter?
  • Where do I start with social media?
  • Blogger or WordPress, which is better and should I pay to host my site?

I have to keep reminding myself that there are still many people out there that are new to social media and interactive technology.  With the rapid pace of change it can be scary and hard to get started with confidence that you are heading in the right direction.  Even tough the mainstream media keeps blasting out stats like Facebook is the largest country on Earth, there is still a huge majority of people dipping their toe into the water.

Based on these questions and my presentation I thought it would be a good post to create the five starting points to marketing yourself on the web and creating an online presence.

  1. Create a web presence that you own. Whether you decide to create a blog or just a simple site to direct online traffic to learn more about you and your craft, own your own site.  Many people use Blogger and WordPress free hosting and even though this is a great, low-cost entry into creating a web presence there is a downside.  Google and other free hosting sites legally own your content according to the terms of the agreement.  Therefore find a reliable hosting provider that can host your domain and site.
  2. Create a Twitter account even if you don’t want to post. There is valuable information on Twitter including many people asking for some to provide services that you may offer.  Even if you don’t want to chat on Twitter, create an account so that you own your name or brand name and you have the ability to listen.  Use search to create listening agents and investigate possible opportunities.
  3. Create and manage your LinkedIn profile. Many business users are on LinkedIn and not Twitter.  They don’t use Facebook for business so LinkedIn is the main business social network.  Over the past year LinkedIn has really added interactive features and functionality that allows users to profile their work and cross-reference other sites.  Look for people asking questions that you have expertise in and answer them.  The interaction may lead to a job or lucrative project.
  4. Understand the medium. After being a PR and marketing writer for the past 18 years, I Discovered that blogging is much different form of writing.  When I wrote for trade journals my article length was 1,500-3,000 words.  Blog posts tend to be 500-1,000 words.  Use Google to search for web sites and blogs in your subject matter and begin looking at them.  Find the ones you like and pattern your presence after theirs.  Add your personal flavor and opinion and let your site visitors appreciate what you bring to the conversation.
  5. Define your goals. Determine what you want out of your web and social presence.  Do you want to capture leads? Do you want to increase awareness?  Are you looking for a business partner? Establish baselines and track your metrics from that point forward.  Be realistic and revisit your objectives every few months, revise and keep momentum going forward.

There are many other starting points and advice but I wanted to stick to the key points.  Many times we find ourselves consuming too much information and losing focus of building the foundation properly so that we can add to it later.  Thanks to Kristy Oberlander Stevenson and the Triangle Area Freelancers for inviting me to speak.

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Posted in Digital Media, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy

2009 Wasn’t All That Bad!

8 comments Written on December 31st, 2009 by
Categories: Social Media
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2009 Wasn’t All That Bad!

2010 is here tomorrow and it’s hard to believe that just 10 years ago I was preparing to move back to the Triangle after a three year stint in Charlotte.  At that time I was newly married and without kids.  Well a lot has changed in my life since then including the birth of my two children and maturing to the next phase of my life.

The first nine years of this millennium has been a roller coaster ride to say the least.  When I moved back to the Triangle in 2000 the dot com bubble was starting to burst.  Marketing and PR were dramatically changing as the Internet and Web were becoming more prevalent in our lives.  Companies were beginning to change the way they communicated to their customers and we started learning how to do more with technology.

Now as I look back on 2009 there were many good and bad moments.  The bad being more on a national level as we struggled with financial crisis, job loss, two wars, and other challenges we face as a nation.  But there was a lot of good in 2009 also.  This year marked the year that more of us connected using social networks and got online in a whole new way.  I started using social media in 2008 but 2009 marks the year that it took off.  I was amazed at how many people I connected with and reconnected with old friends that I had not seen or talked to in many years.

I am constantly amazed at the level of talent and passion that is right here in the Triangle.  Social networks allow us to find other like minded people that we normally may not have met.  Groups like Social Media Club and SEO Meetup provide excellent free forums for learning and sharing this new technology and best practices.  Local entrepreneurs and startups are able to rapidly connect and communicate with potential clients and partners.  Events like Ignite Raleigh and Social Media Business Forum allow us to share our passion and meet others face to face after having online conversations.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted in Social Media

Deep Fried Mashup and Branded Communities at SMC Triangle

2 comments Written on November 18th, 2009 by
Categories: Events, Marketing, PR, Social Media, Strategy
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Last week the Triangle Social Media Club had two guest speakers, Karlie Justus (@karliej) and Jason Peck (@jasonpeck). I’ve had the pleasure of meeting both the speakers and interacting with them on Twitter over the past several months. I was glad to see Karlie speak about the NC State Fair since I had been trying to catch up with her to find out how effective social media was in promoting the State Fair. I have written two blog posts about the NC State Fair and Deep Fried Tweetup in the past few weeks so was interested to see how the campaign went for the NC Department of Agriculture (NCDA) that manages the Fair.

The goals of the social media campaign were to reach new audiences as well as reach media in a new way. The campaign started in July of 2008 and ran for a full 16 months. The team began with a new web site design and created a blog that communicated interesting facts about the Fair as well as announcing entertainment acts and other announcements. Other social media sites that were created included Facebook group, MySpace page, Twitter account, Flickr photos and YouTube channel. Some of the more interesting stats were:

  • 70,000 unique blog views with 27,000 unique visitors in October
  • Facebook page had 5,000 friends, 420 fans and over 1,400 photos tagged
  • Twitter account had over 2,331 followers with 1,828 updates and 422 direct messages. Many of the direct messages were from local media that supplemented the PR plan.
  • YouTube channel hosted 37 videos and had 58,000 unique views with 55 subscribers.
  • MySpace page had 928 friends with 8,000 blog views and 99,000 page views.

Other social media tactics included having a Deep Fried Ambassador contest among local bloggers, inviting bloggers to the press conference and hosting the Deep Fried Tweetup on the Thursday night of the Fair. The Tweetup attracted over 150 attendees and further extended the Deep Fried brand. One interesting note was that Thursday traffic spiked with 2000 unique visits to the blog and average of 60 tweets per hour. The event was also streamed and attracted 43 views.

 Overall the NCDA team achieved success by incorporating social networks to further establish relationships with fair attendees, media representatives and other audiences. Also social networks facilitated customer service by responding to questions from the general public and directing them to specific information on the web. Karlie also pointed out that it was a team effort and that her coworkers contributed to the effort (Jen Nixon (@jennix5), Natalie Alford (@joynatalie), Brian Long (@brian_long66), Andrea Ashby (@aasbhy) and Paul Marshall Jones (@pmarshalljones). Great work by this group!

Whew, that’s a whole blog post, but wait there’s more! Jason Peck had a tough act to follow but did a fantastic job speaking about branded communities. Jason’s company eWayDirect takes features of social networks and brings them into a single platform. The goal is to bring people together while having full control of the look and fell, content, ads and metrics. I have a dream and that is what eWayDirect offers…a single platform with control, basically a branded community.

Some of the great advantages to their approach include:
  • Protection: no random Facebook ads, your community is spared from junk and spam
  • Exclusivity: you may not want everyone, just certain people that are your customers and prospects
  • Research: polls, metrics and other tools to gather information from your community.
  • Business metrics: the ability to determine revenue per member. Mmmm, ROI is that something everyone keeps talking about regarding social media?
One of the biggest advantages is the ability to aggregate existing content into a single location. My job requires me to try and automate all the outbound communication including social media. I have been able to use tools like RSS and other data exports to cross reference all the sites. But in order to aggregate all the RSS feeds and sites content I would have to create another site, basically a portal. Hence one more site to design, configure and maintain.
Jason gave a few examples of how his customers have employed their technology. One great example was ELF (Eyes, Lips and Face) beauty network. Their goal was to identify brand advocates and deepen relationships as well as acquire new customers. The campaign started with a personal invitation to the network and also has a desktop announcement feature that I want to find out more about.
ELF had some great results three months into the campaign including:
  • 4,500 new members
  • 56,000 visits
  • 5,000 unique visits, increase of 75%
  • 9% of members opted to received the desktop notifications and reminders
  • Average revenue per member increased 270% more than non-members
Again social media ROI can be achieved with the right strategy, platform and planning. Jason closed his presentation with some great lessons learned:
  •  Have a purpose for your community, give people a reason to join
  • Make people feel welcome, it’s important
  • Establish measurable goals ahead of time will drive you towards them during execution
  • Make sure the community does not exist in a silo
Many thanks to Jeremy (@jeremysaid) and Brian (@unravelthetwine) of Twine Interactive for hosting the event and Our Hashtag (Wayne, Jeff and Ryan) for organizing the best social media series in the Triangle. I met another great group of people whom I’ve followed and chatted with on Twitter and other networks so it’s always great to attach a person to an avatar!

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Posted in Events, Marketing, PR, Social Media, Strategy

Is Google Becoming the Next Wal-Mart?

No Comments » Written on November 11th, 2009 by
Categories: Marketing, Strategy
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As a long time web addict, I have watch Google’s rise to power from a distance at first. I started with Yahoo! and even bought stock in the company. To me they were the first and I was happy with my search results. When I first heard of Google I thought, great name but there are plenty of search engines and I’m happy with Yahoo!

However much has changed since the 90s and Google has evolved from much more than just a search engine. Google has developed and offered email, online mapping, office productivity, video, voice and now Android mobile Wi-Fi devices. This week alone Google announced free Wi-Fi in 40+ US airports, an operating system and purchased AdMob, the largest mobile advertising marketplace. For most companies this would be a year’s worth of development and acquisitions.

And let’s not forget Google Wave that has slowly been creeping out over the past few months. I’ve sat patiently watching this play out a bit as well. Many a tweet has passed by me stating, “I’ve got Google Wave invites, who wants one?” This past week I finally asked for one and low and behold last night I got three! In fact I’m writing this post just before I strap on my digital board shorts and get ready to ride the Wave! (Hint: more about Google Wave in a near future post!)

Let’s face it what is Google going to do next? Offer electricity and water to your home? Online ticket brokering, personal shopping, pet sitting services? At some point when does Google become like Wal-Mart and become too much. Is being able to offer ALL things to ALL people a great idea but somewhere along the line your quality suffers and consumers turn on you? Is that OK as long as you return profit to your shareholders?

Sadly to say the answer to both of the previous questions is yes. Yes you can try and be all things to all people but at some point you cannot deliver the ultimate in quality, price and service. Wal-Mart uses extra low prices to get you in the store; once you’re in they want you to buy other stuff they make profit on. Sounds like a casino, free drinks as long as you are gambling!  But Wal-Mart has recently rebranded itself including changin the logo to soften its image.  Their tag line changed from “Everyday Low Prices,” to “Save Money. Live Better” Will Google have to do the same in 10 years if they face similar consumer backlash?

The other marketing strategy Google has done extremely well is the free model. Free as in you don’t have to fork out money. Of course Google does own your content and tracks data that is valuable to advertisers and other research hungry marketers like me. But we don’t care as long as it’s free and it works! Yet we know it’s not free entirely. There are ads and other sponsored messages that are supporting the costs.

Don’t get me wrong I like Google. I use many of their tools and their technology is great. This blog you are reading is free from Google. I know many of you out there are saying yes but Blogger is basic and WordPress is better. I agree with you as well and in the coming months I will wean off Blogger and build my WordPress blog. But to get started and not have to deal with design and configuration, Blogger gets you blogging. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

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Posted in Marketing, Strategy

Deep Fried Blogging at the NC State Fair

1 Comment » Written on October 15th, 2009 by
Categories: Events, Marketing, Social Media
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The North Carolina State Fair opens tomorrow and runs for the next 11 days. From deep fried candy bars and corndogs to the latest kid character giant stuffed animals, the Fair is an exciting time in Raleigh and for everyone attending.

Everyone has their Fair memories and stories. I have to state that the Fair grew on me since I did not grow up in NC. I moved here when I was 16 years old and was puzzled when my high school classmates were upset when the school did not have a “State Fair” day. My previous experience with the Alabama State Fair was not that great and prior to that I’m not sure if I had ever been to a state fair.

I can’t remember the first time I went. I think it was a few years later when I was attending NC State that I first went to the Fair. Looking back I’m amazed that it took me so long to go to the Fair. Now I get excited and enjoy taking my kids and sharing their future memories of going to the Fair.

This year I’m even more excited to go to the Fair due to the Fair’s social media presence over the past several months. The Fair is run by the State of North Carolina Dept of Agriculture and has a team of professionals to manage their marketing, promotions and communications and now social media. Some of their titles even have the word “Officer” in them which is way cool for a PR/Marketing geeks like me.

The social media team has done a brilliant job using Twitter to generate interest for the Fair. There have been contests, trivia, links to blog posts and other great chatter leading up to the Fair. Also this year the first Fair Triangle Tweetup will be held on Thursday Oct 22 from 7 to 9 pm. I even drove by the Fairgrounds last week to see how strong the Wi-Fi network was and was happy to see two strong network signals on my iPhone.

Other marketing efforts have included the Deep Fried Blog where staff members assumed pen names like Bearded Lady and Cotton Candy to personify the Fair experience online. Other social network sites include Flickr, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. I especially liked the deep fried food previews posted on YouTube the past few weeks, where the latest Deep Fried goodness is tested.

From a design standpoint I think the team hit a home run on their web site. The look and feel of the site has an old fashioned, feel to it to capture the history and heritage of this 150+ year event. The use of historical photos from the fair combined with the links to social media really worked well. The ragged edge brown paper and old wood barn background makes you feel like this is posted on the outside of a barn.  The Playbill font and antiquing of the social media logos complement the design and serve their purpose to draw attention.

From a content standpoint the site has all the info you need when attending the Fair and that’s no small tasks. The event has over 800,000 visitors each year and it seems like there are over 100 different events going on each day including livestock judging, concerts and tractor pulls!  If I had to manage an event like this I would probably go crazy about 15 minutes before it started.  That’s if I survived the planning and setup.  There are many things that go wrong or are unexpected when managing live events. I could probably have Ken Burns do a whole documentary on these stories alone over the years.

I plan on attending the Tweetup and will post about the event. Also I am working on interviewing some of the NC Dept of Agriculture staff that worked on the social media program after the fair is over to find out how well their planning and hard work paid off. Stay tuned over the next few weeks to see how it unfolds. If you’re going to the Tweetup and we have not met say hello and let’s connect!

Here’s my first Fair tip: if you have small children and want to avoid crowds, go first thing in the morning after you eat breakfast and get to the Fair by 9 am.  You can get in a good 4-5 hours before it gets really crowded and be home for an afternoon nap.

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Posted in Events, Marketing, Social Media

Social Media Planning

1 Comment » Written on September 8th, 2009 by
Categories: Strategy
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I received some good comments from Rob Laughter @roblaughter from my guest post on triangleb2b.com on the Triangle AMA case study.  Rob asked me about what went wrong and did anything not go according to plan.

Well that made me think about the plan or lack thereof.  A big part of my strategy was to get the chapter to move beyond the web site and create some conversations online between members, marketing professionals and chapter board members.  Both Twitter and LinkedIn allowed that opportunity to move beyond email.

But what was the plan? That’s a great question and to be honest we did not have one other than, “we need a blog!” I think many organizations and companies tend to follow what the read and hear about in the business press.

As the newsletter editor I knew that a blog would give me greater flexibility in tagging content and generating feedback than a traditional web page.  But other technical features like RSS feeds became a life saver in that I could post once and publish many.  I’m a sucker for automation but if you’ve been a one person marketing department all your career you know why!

As far as Rob’s question regarding did anything go wrong.  Yes, several times I posted to the chapter’s Twitter account by accident on TweetDeck.  I had to go and delete the tweet but some feeds like LinkedIn are slow to update and the erroneous post stayed on LinkedIn for a few days.  I also discovered that when I updated the blog layout it erased some of the widgets I had created.  Now when creating a new layout I tend to make copies of all the widgets’ code to replicate in the new layout.  Of course this would have been nice to know at 11:30 at night when I decided to change the layout!

I saw a great article the other day on social media and how you should not over think it too much as the lifespan of a tweet or blog post is short.  The author did not advocate making errors but stressed the fact that overanalysis may lead to no social media publishing at all.  I think that was the attitude I had, try it and see if it sticks.

Another question Rob posed was am I prepared if something goes wrong? I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

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Posted in Strategy

It’s All About the Blog

1 Comment » Written on August 14th, 2009 by
Categories: Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
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Today is the last post in my 30-Day Blogger Challenge and it has been a fun and at times tiring experience. I have posted a few blogging lessons learned during the course of the challenge and wanted to write today about this blogging experience in terms of how it impacts marketing.
I started this challenge to get myself in the habit of writing more and maintaining a consistent, albeit for only 30 days, schedule. In several presentations and webcast of Web 2.0 and social media marketing the topic of establishing a blog and maintaining it has been emphasized as one of the key strategies. I could not agree more.
One of main reasons for this strategy is that blogging helps with search engine marketing. Google and other search engines look for fresh content and can give higher result rankings for sites that have blogs posting regularly. I Googled my name and the term marketing today and I was 8 of the top 10 search results!
Blogging is also a great method to get customers to your site. In my own experience I’ve seen my visits increase 573%! To break it down some more, in the last 29 days my blog has had 290 visitors with 188 unique visitors, just under 500 pageviews and my bounce rate dropped by 3%.
If you tell a small or medium size business that they could increase traffic to their site with no advertising by over 500%, do you think you would have their attention? Of course you would, but the real challenge is that it would be up to the customer to keep it going.
The real power of blogging is what social media is all about, being social and communicating. The conversational and informal blog tone reads more like someone telling you a story versus trying to sell you something. As consumers and customers become more savvy of traditional marketing and sales messages, they seek out someone they can relate to and gives them input, direction and comparative experience.
I plan to keep blogging, but not every single day as I have done the past month. I will take the weekend of and try to post at least two times a week.
What’s your 30-day challenge?

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media, Strategy

Social Media Case Study: Triangle AMA

3 comments Written on August 12th, 2009 by
Categories: Strategy
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Triangle AMAOver the past few weeks I’ve written several articles about member based associations using social media. I thought today’s post would be a good time to reflect on a case study that I personally have been working on over the past year. I serve on the board of the Triangle Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) as the Vice President, Newsletter.

Getting started can be difficult with new technology. As a group we knew we wanted to start a blog, but what do we post on it? My responsibilities as the newsletter editor required writing, editing and laying out the monthly HTML email newsletter. This proved to be the best starting point to put content on the blog.

Blogger was chosen as the blog platform for its ease of use and quick ramp up time. I knew that getting a WordPress blog would be nicer in terms of features but would take more time to get built. Blogger allowed for a quick and easy deployment. The page was modified to include the AMA logo, chapter description and link to the web site.

The site is located at http://triangleama.blogspot.com and includes meeting reviews, photos and interviews from socials, video and multimedia embeds of presentations and podcasts. Additional links to other social media sites and RSS feeds have been added to the layout. Since launching in December of 2008 the site has recorded over 920 unique visitors and 2,440 page views.

Once the blog was set up Twitter was the next obvious choice. Twitter’s simple messaging allows the chapter to communicate upcoming meetings, chapter announcements, blog posts, podcasts, and links. Triangle AMA’s Twitter account @triangleama quickly built a strong following of members and other marketing professionals in our geographic area and over 565 followers.

Triangle AMA’s LinkedIn Group was created in November 2008 and quickly started having members request to join. One of the challenges in creating and launching the group was deciding if the group would be restricted to dues paying members. The decision was made to allow non members to join the group as long as they were marketing professionals based in central and eastern North Carolina. It is important to monitor groups on LinkedIn as we had some people join that were spamming or only interested in selling to our members. This also created the need to write some guidelines for discussions to alert groups members of the purpose of the group and put policy in place. Currently the group has over 575 members and displays content via the chapter’s Twitter, YouTube and blog RSS feeds.

You Tube was selected out of a need to broadcast a phone interview of an upcoming speaker. The audio was matched to simple slide animation with the speaker’s photo, title and company logo as well as a call to action slide with chapter web site URL. The Triangle AMA YouTube channel was set up using some of the materials already developed for Twitter and Blogger. Two original podcast have been created for chapter events with more planned for the upcoming year. Another featured that YouTube offered was to add video clips used during speaker presentations as favorites. These clips have also been embedded in blog posts recapping chapter speaker events. The Triangle AMA YouTube channel has over 420 channel views and 92 videos watched.

Selecting a photo site proved out to be more difficult than expected. One of the hurdles was to create an account that multiple users could login to upload photos and did not have bandwidth restrictions. After some initial testing of Flickr, Slide and Picasa, Slide was chosen. Over a dozen photo albums of for monthly meetings, socials and the 2008 holiday party are viewable. Photo and slideshows are embedded in blog posts for respective events.

Other sites currently under development for Triangle AMA include SlideShare for sharing presentations and creating a portal. The portal would include all chapter content as well as content from AMA Nationals, members, sponsors and other sources.

I want to note that several people were responsible for making this happen for Triangle AMA over the past year. Committee volunteers, board members, guests and members have all participated at various levels including being interviewed by me during socials.

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Posted in Strategy

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