2 Comments Posted in Guest Post, Marketing, Micro-Blogging, small business, social media, social media marketing March 3, 2009

Guest Blog: America’s First Viral Restaurant: Kogi

Jamie Varon spends her days writing on her blog, intersected. Intersected is that place where work, love, and life all meet and you wonder, “Where the hell do I go from here?” She is also currently looking for a job (any takers?) and resides in the Bay Area. Her goal is to one day achieve world domination through her blog, but for now she’ll settle for a decent readership. Jamie is a writer, a marketer, a graphic designer, and on her good days, a comedian.

By now, I think most of us have heard about Kogi BBQ. It‘s been said to be “America’s first viral restaurant” because the Korean BBQ taco truck tweets where it will be headed to in LA and hundreds of people show up … Read more

Leave a Comment Posted in small business, social media marketing March 3, 2009

I Dare You To Influence Me

In the world of small business owners… we would all love to be influencers. We would love to be perceived as the expert in the matter of which we are selling and we should be. A question that keeps surfacing among the “small biz chatter” is directed toward the subject of influence.

Well… I think we are here to finally answer that. Thanks to Lisa Hoffmann and Mashable. Lisa was reading a post from Micah Baldwin (Lijit Networks) called HOW TO: Measure Online Influence and I decided to check it out and read it for myself.

I wanted to sum up some points Micah made and push them towards the small business owner.

Social media marketing is very much a brand development tool for the small business owner. … Read more

2 Comments Posted in baby boomer, Guest Post, social media, Social Strategy March 2, 2009

Guest Post: Social Media, For Folks of My Vintage!

Today’s guest post is by Linda Fitzgerald. What is She working on?

Growing an online community for ‘chronologically maturing’ women traveling through the 2nd half of the journey. Developing and launching the face to face companion neighborhood networks known as “AFFILIATED WOMEN INTERNATIONAL.

Kyle laughs when I use that phrase! It refers to those of us who grew up in the shadow of the “greatest generation”. Those who are supposed to sit on the porch & do nothing!

But social media is not just for the young. It’s become a phenomenon valuable for all ages. Ask folks who work in geriatrics about using social media as a means to keep the brains of elder persons alive and well. Not to mention the health benefits of staying connected to others … Read more

3 Comments Posted in Marketing, small business, social media, Social Media Community, social media marketing, Social Strategy, twitter March 2, 2009

Yes. My Voice Matters.

I was reading through my weekly intake of Jason Falls at Social Media Explorer and came across a post with a reference from the Cluetrain Manifesto. First off, I love the book. I read it when it came out a couple of years ago and still keep it around my desk. In his post, Jason makes reference to Cluetrain point fingers at the marketing industry asking them, “Where is the consideration of the people?”

From Cluetrain:
Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

I agree with Jason when he says that the Cluetrain Manifesto basically introduced the concept of social media to Corporate America. It is also extremely important for small business owners to understand the concept of listening and starting conversations.

Social … Read more

2 Comments Posted in business, My Life March 1, 2009

Being a Results Driven Blog and Company

As some of you may know… actually the majority of you should know… I own a company called Brandswag in Indianapolis and Oklahoma City. Our company helps small and mid-size businesses with blogging, social media marketing, graphic design, and simple web design. Overall we are a viral-marketing consulting company.

The biggest problem we have had over the last six-months is taking social media marketing from a “smoke and mirrors” marketing tool to an actual results driven solution for clients. We have finally started to see results from our consulting engagements and we need to make it a point to share those results.

My blog is for theory, conversation, and ideas (as well as some rants) but I wanted to start giving a taste of what Brandswag is doing in the … Read more