Firebelly

MARCH 3, 2011

I’ve been in a couple of meetings lately where the people are overly focused on increasing the size of their Facebook Page communities (or what they think are communities). Let’s think about this. They want more people, but what does more people or more specifically more “Likes&# mean? Here are some realities: 1. It’s easy to click a Like button.

Facebook 237

Facebook Communities Meeting Company 237

Firebelly

JULY 7, 2011

Todd Tweedy, AF Expo moderator (l) and Stewart Quealy, Director of Content, Events/Conferences at Mediabistro.com (r). I had the benefit of experiencing this conference as an attendee and speaker. Here are 7 reasons why you should attend the next AllFacebook Expo : 1. Facebook focused education. Facebook has 750 million users and the real opportunity is to for people, and brands especially, to do more with Facebook and its apps.

Conference 233

Conference Hotels Education Energy 233

Firebelly

JULY 21, 2011

Mark Juleen - Dynamic, inimitable "apartment marketing nerd" …Apartment marketing has evolved into storytelling, relationship building, and measurement – and the future is already here. This week J.C. Hart will break ground on a $19 million project, they’ll enter their fourth year with a mostly digital marketing program, and will begin working on a social layer to their CRM system.

Energy 230

Energy Collaboration Project Team 230

Firebelly

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Cabot Cheese's board for appetizers brings appetizers made with their cheeses to life. This week at work, I was explaining Pinterest to some of my coworkers, and one of them posed a question that I had yet to ask myself — What brands are using Pinterest? How It Works. If you haven’t heard of Pinterest, it’s basically an online bulletin board.

Conversation 229

Conversation Brands Fashion Loyalty 229

Firebelly

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Google+ Pages for brands have launched; let the comparisons to Facebook brand pages begin! Many people have been boasting the potential search engine optimization advantages these Google+ Pages will have, but there are 5 important things Facebook Pages have that Google+ Pages currently do not. 1. Vanity URLs. Find us at facebook.com/firebellysocial is a lot easier to remember (and takes up a lot less space) than find us at [link]. 2.

Google 227

Google Brands Comparison Policies 227

Firebelly

DECEMBER 4, 2011

Social analytics, the role of social in the future of SEO, and his favorite city – Auckland. Our visualization of the candid, cerebral, caffeinated Alan K'necht. I’m thrilled to bring you this interview with Alan K’necht! Alan and I hung out in San Francisco recently. He’s candid, cerebral and caffeinated – even as we discussed the merits of spending the weekend in San Fran after the conference.

SEO 224

SEO Sample Samples Analytics 224

Firebelly

FEBRUARY 18, 2011

Recently a lot of websites and blogs have made the transition from Google’s Blogger service to an independently-hosted WordPress installation. It can be a tricky process, because transferring isn’t easy when you have hundreds of posts published already. So, what’s so great about WordPress? Why bother with the work just to make what may seem like a trivial switch?

WordPress 222

WordPress Blogger Content management systems Template 222

Firebelly

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

Professional Blogger and Book Author Erik Deckers on disruption, middle men and his deepest secret. Erik Deckers, is co-author of No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing (2011), Branding Yourself: Using Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself (2010) and Twitter Marketing for Dummies (2009). That’s a pretty formidable output in any terms.

Social Media 219

Social Media Marketing Sports Banking 219

Firebelly

MAY 25, 2011

We’ve all heard that sitting is going to kill us, yes? No? Oh, well let me terrify enlighten you. I’d tell you to sit down for this news, but well…you’ll see. Click to embiggen. Scared yet? *looks down at the chair I’ve been sitting in for…oh god I’m going to die*. I’m a fidgeter to begin with, but I’m also a reader and I have an unhealthy love for my dvr, so combined with work I can sit a lot during any given day.

Delicious 219

Delicious News Company 219

Firebelly

JANUARY 17, 2011

Below are 5 social media must-reads from last week that we wouldn’t want you to miss. 26 Facebook Advertising Tips. By Garin Kilpatrick Below you will find 25 Facebook Advertising Tips that will help you get a better understanding of Facebook Ads, save money by getting a cheaper cost per click, get more clicks from your Facebook advertising. Social Media Is Free: Social Media Marketing Is Not.

Social Media 219

Social Media Comparison SEO Cost 219

Firebelly

JUNE 9, 2011

As many of you know by now, our son Enzo was born a few days ago. It has been a long road for us and our happiness is immeasurable. The entire process has been emotional, especially his birth and the last few days. There’s been an outpouring of support and love which we are so humbled by and completely appreciate. There’s also been a lot of “acts&# that have been remarkable and have left a deep mark on me.

Mobile 217

Mobile Meeting Process Communities 217

Firebelly

APRIL 12, 2011

Business Insider analyzed the Twitter habits of the Twitter staff from tweets sent last week and weekend (day and night) – specifically for source – and the results were interesting. How Twitter staff tweet is similar to the general public. The most popular Twitter client is the website (32% staff usage vs. 35% general public usage), but here’s where the Twitter staff usage gets curious: • 22% of the tweets were sent from an iPhone (double the general public). • 18% of the staf

Tweetdeck 217

Tweetdeck Twitter Technorati iPhone 217

Firebelly

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

What do Nicki Minaj, “techertainment”, solomo, and walks on the beach have in common? Brandon Prebynski is at once engaging, funny and charming. He doesn’t do coffee – juice only please. His questions have stumped national speakers. He’s most recently fascinated by video, mobile, and analytics. Here’s some insight into his psyche through an interview we did a couple of weeks ago.

Social Media 216

Social Media API Marketing Mobile 216

Firebelly

OCTOBER 7, 2011

Community makes your who you are image credit duncan alney (c) 2011. Part 1 of 2: teenage perspectives on community and trust. While community can be experienced in countless ways, the meaning of community might be pretty universal. This was definitely clear to me yesterday – as I was at Westfield High School’s “Entrepreneurship 101” class (the second session to be exact) – interacting with kids between the ages of 14 and 18 – and their visionary teacher Lauri Russo.

Communities 213

Communities Class Groups Groups 213

Firebelly

JUNE 17, 2011

On Tuesday, Google let loose on to the world a slew of new announcements , all changing the way users can search the web. First and foremost is Search by Image, a new feature that opens desktop searching up to the features of Google Goggles for Android phones. In a style similar to the popular app, users can upload or enter the URL of pictures and instantly be presented with matches and all kinds of information – such as what the image is of, where it’s at (presented in Google Maps,) and c

SEO 212

SEO URL Google Features 212

Firebelly

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

At my job, I am constantly surrounded by people who are building a brand. They are building brands for their new companies or, more often, themselves. They, as individuals, are the brand. The key to building a brand is to pick a word that describes your brand and stick to it. You define the word. The word defines you. And when an individual is the brand, everything that individual does helps form the definition of that brand.

Brands 209

Brands Twitter Tips Loyalty 209

Firebelly

MARCH 22, 2011

This week’s must-see YouTube Tuesday video is a funny after school special parody about a mom who gets addicted to social media called Please Stop Using Social Media, Mom. Check it out and let us know what your favorite line from the video is. One of my personal favorites? “I know I can learn to Like things in real life again.&#. [Video URL: [link] ].

Social Media 207

Social Media URL YouTube Mobile 207

Firebelly

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

I’ve used these 5 tips with my own community management work and have seen outstanding results. Let’s get started. 1. Use relevant content. If your content is relevant to my life, I’ll participate regardless of whether I agree or not. Without relevance, it’s just content for the sake of content. 2. Be inclusive. Look closely at your community demographics.

Conversation 207

Conversation Tips Facebook Guidelines 207

Firebelly

DECEMBER 26, 2011

Below are 5 must-reads related to 2012 social media predictions that we wouldn’t want you to miss. Social Media Predictions For 2012. By Avi Savar Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other outlets are constantly evolving and experimentation is necessary to find success. Once we accept that “social” does not equal “transactional” we’ll all be a lot more adept at using it in 2012.

Social Media 206

Social Media B2B Analytics YouTube 206

Firebelly

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

Help us raise funds for 500 AIDS test kits. December 1st is World AIDS Day. I’ll be tweeting as part of an all day Indiana AIDS Fund “Tweetathon” to raise money for 500 free AIDS test kits that cost $10 each. The parts I like best about this are (a) it’s easy to see where the funds raised are going – 100% will go towards these 500 test kits (b) it’s a great use of my time, relationships, and network.

Campaign 203

Campaign Social Media Statistics Hashtag 203

Firebelly

AUGUST 5, 2011

Apple iOS icons are a professional touch. Recently, HubSpot’s Website Grader began factoring mobile optimization in to its scores. After all, it’s about time for mobile platforms to be considered in the production of every website, as more people are owning smartphones. This doesn’t mean making a completely new version of the website built just for mobile.

Mobile 202

Mobile Apple Hubspot Applications 202

Firebelly

NOVEMBER 16, 2011

Brands have become quite good at asking customers to Like them on Facebook. Once they get the Like, however, many brands fail their fans. Most simply ignore them. In fact, 95% of Facebook wall posts are not answered by brands ! Because it’s lame to say “Like me! Like me! Like me!” and then not like your fans back, here are three ways brands can reciprocate the Like and show fans they like them back: 1.

Brands 202

Brands Facebook Discount Communities 202

Firebelly

DECEMBER 6, 2011

I’ve been on a bit of a Foursquare sabbatical lately. Self imposed exile maybe. But more like Ulysses (the Greek hero not 18th U.S. President), I’ve grown a bit discouraged with the lack of benefits, the lack of interaction with my friends (interaction in my peer group seems like more of a novelty) and the growing addiction I was urging myself into.

Foursquare 201

Foursquare Proposal Discount Groups 201

Firebelly

MARCH 15, 2011

Today’s YouTube Tuesday video is the Flutter: The New Twitter mockumentary. Sometimes 140 characters is just too long; nano-blogging is the next big thing. [Video URL: [link] ]. What can you say with only 26 characters?

Twitter 200

Twitter URL YouTube Video 200

Firebelly

OCTOBER 26, 2011

Halloween is less than a week away, and if you still don’t have a costume, here are a few easy ways to take part in the festivties and pay homage to your favorite social media trends this year: Facebook Notification. Make yourself a red talk bubble with a white “1″ in it that attaches to your hand, and stack different notifications (Halloween-themed or otherwise) under the red talk bubble.

Social Media 199

Social Media Notification Hashtag YouTube 199

Firebelly

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

When out window shopping for fun gifts to send to my friends in the Midwest the other day, I stumbled upon these Social Media Citations that made me laugh and triggered my inner dialogue to say, “I know a few people who need served with these on a daily basis!&#. This got me thinking about the biggest annoyances I find on social media. I asked friends, reviewed my own wall and searched around the Internet.

Social Media 199

Social Media Energy Review Research 199

Firebelly

MARCH 10, 2011

Sustainability is critical to ongoing success with your social media marketing strategy. Here are 6 tips for building a sustainable program: 1. Avoid burnout. Whether you’re over talking and burning your audience out, over taxing people inside your program or promising levels of service via social media that your company can’t deliver, the prudent approach is to have a balanced approach.

Strategy 199

Strategy Tips Discount Loyalty 199

Firebelly

JULY 11, 2011

Below are 5 social media must-reads that we wouldn’t want you to miss. Four C’s for Community Cultivation. By Ike Pigott I have a friend who is building a nice niche community around natural hair. While not entirely new to communications or even blogging, she was new to the concept of building an intentional audience. She asked me for suggestions, and this is what I shared with her.

Social Media 198

Social Media Overview Project Social Networking 198

Firebelly

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

BLOG! Blogging should be the meat and potatoes of any social media marketing (and/or SEO strategy). The benefits of blogging outweigh the costs. Seriously. So, why are you looking at us with blank stares and mouth agape? Whether you have no idea what a blog is or the idea of writing intimidates you into a frozen face of fear, you are not alone in your hesitation to blog.

Social Media 197

Social Media Upcoming Marketing SEO 197

Firebelly

FEBRUARY 11, 2011

Guest post by Brandon Prebynski , Social Media Lead, Global Emerging Markets at Cisco Systems. The amount of activity within social media varies for each business and its objective(s). Depending on which method(s) you use to build your strategy (or lack thereof) to participate at any level with social media, there are various steps you take to achieve your objective.

Influencer 198

Influencer Social Media Community building URL 198

Firebelly

MAY 19, 2011

My friend Hugh Vandivier is a community activist, he’s an advocate of the arts and he’s a culture strategist. In a spontaneous conversation in our local coffee shop, Hubbard & Cravens, he encapsulated what community means to him. 1. It happens around common interests. 2. It’s made of three types of people. - People that makes things happen. - People that know what’s happening. - People that wonder what happened. 3.

Communities 198

Communities Types Conversation Engagement 198

Firebelly

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

Stories give our lives meaning. It is our stories that connect us as individuals to our communities and the world. Here’s one of my stories and how I relate to my community. Over the past few years, I’ve made a series of short films as part of what I call the The Emotion Project. Basically, I find one person and they talk about their experiences with one emotion.

Video 198

Video Film URL Project 198

Firebelly

MAY 13, 2011

There are tons of incredibly useful Twitter tools out there, but those are for another post. There are some fun, incredibly useless Twitter tools on the internet, as well, and you can experience the ghost of Twitter’s past. MyFirstTweet – It all started when Mashable posted a listing of the first tweets of various famous tweeters. While viewing through and reading the musings of such thoughtful scribes as Bill Cosby, Mark Zuckerburg, and… well, Snooki, it’s kind of cool to see

Tools 197

Tools Twitter Flickr Social Networking 197

Firebelly

SEPTEMBER 3, 2011

People ask me all the time for my recommendations and thoughts on building online communities – and why this is such a good time to build them. The answer is layered and yet perfectly straightforward. People are less willing to commit to traditional organizations. People want greater transparency from traditional organizations. People want to make smaller commitments to more organizations.

Communities 197

Communities Organization Research Brands 197

Firebelly

FEBRUARY 16, 2011

Adding a custom tab to your Facebook Page can be an effective way to help your Page stand out from the crowd, promote exclusive “fan-only&# deals, showcase a new product or simply welcome new visitors with a branded splash page. Tabs can be fancy with a lot of bells and whistles, but I recommend focusing more on news feed optimization and keeping your tabs simple.

Tips 197

Tips Facebook Discount Applications 197

Firebelly

JANUARY 26, 2011

In Facebook for Business Tip #1: Pages Not Profiles , I discussed the importance of your business to use a Facebook Page instead of a Profile. So what’s next? Promote your page offline. If you build it, they will not come. You need to let people know about it. First, go to facebook.com/username and secure a custom URL for your Facebook page. Then, put that URL everywhere (where it’s appropriate).

Tips 198

Tips URL Facebook Advertising 198

Firebelly

SEPTEMBER 10, 2011

“I don’t know if I should build an online community&#. I hear this very often when I’m working with clients that are launching a community – or building the foundation of what might become a community – to be more accurate. A couple of over arching considerations: What are the marketing goals and how will building a community support them?

Questions 197

Questions Communities Organization Activities 197