When I tell people what I do for a living, I commonly get questions about blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and, of late, Pinterest. The questions range from basic to advanced, and they show that people are interested in social media but want to make sure they are making the best use of their accounts. In my conversations, it’s rare to be able to tackle every topic at once. Fortunately over the next two months, there are four workshops that we’re doing on social media that will get your questions answered. Read the rest of this entry »

I made three predictions of what would happen in social media in 2011, and the forecasts came true.  Let’s take a look at what I predict in 2012, and we’ll see how I fare in the coming year. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re officially in the heart of the 12 Days of Christmas and if you’re stuck on your final gift ideas, Shopycat might be the help you need.

Shopycat is a Facebook application that launched earlier this month which analyzes the data from your friends profiles on Facebook and then makes gift recommendations based on the information it collects.  The app was created and built by Walmart, so gifts come from their inventory, but it will also give you gift ideas from other sites like RedEnvelope, which features unique gifts; ThinkGeek, a site featuring gifts for geeks, and Barnes & Noble. Read the rest of this entry »

These stats in the headline shaped my trip to Chattanooga last weekend. I headed down to contribute to 48Hour Launch hosted by  The Company Lab (CO.LAB) at CreateHere.

48Hour Launch is an event founded in 2008 by Sheldon Grizzle and Alex Lavidge in which individuals form teams around ideas and turn them into products in 48 hours,  as written in the Times Free Press, “Chattanooga’s 48-hour launch propelled moneymaking ideas from concept to creation over the weekend.” 48Hour Launch was hosted by The Company Lab’s (CO.LAB) and described in its blog post “What You Need to Know About 48Hour Launch.” The event itself is organized chaos - as each group is camped out at their table turning their vision to reality using whiteboards, computers and conversation to refine their product ideas.   Read the rest of this entry »

In Iran, Egypt and now the U.S., the power of social media is on display. In the U.S., we’ve seen massive customer response to an unexpected rate hike made by Netflix and the banking industry with the debit-card fee. I was recently on WBIR-TV to talk about the role that social media played in the debit-card fee reversal, but the issue is certainly larger than just that one example.

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You use social media for your business, and all the experts tell you that you must have authentic and real-time conversations, right? In a perfect world, everything would be real-time, however, you’ve got a business to run, meetings to attend and other things to do than frequently update your social media networks.

You may have even asked yourself, “how do these people post all the time?” Here’s the secret about how some of the most prolific bloggers and brands keep up that posting schedule. They pre-write and schedule their posts and updates. It’s actually quite simple to do and there are a number of tools out there that can help you schedule your Facebook updates or Tweets hours, days or even weeks in advance. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I spoke to a joint event for the University of Tennessee chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and Ad Club, titled “What’s so great about LinkedIn???,” and I thought I’d post some of what I shared with them here on the blog.

First, LinkedIn is incredibly important for job seekers. Your profile is your chance to tell your story about what you do, where you’ve been and who you know — all important factors to landing your next job or client. If you don’t have a profile yet, start with this post I’ve written about tips on creating a great LinkedIn profile. When your profile is ready, it’s time to look at how to get the most out of LinkedIn. Read the rest of this entry »

At Moxley Carmichael, we focus a lot on social media usage on the local level. We develop strategies to help local companies (even the ones with a national footprint) find their niche presence on social platforms. And we coach them on how to operate as a helpful member of their digital communities. The tool shed is full of social media outlets, and we help determine and set up the right fit for the desired result – connecting to their customers. Read the rest of this entry »

QR codes have quickly become the topic of more and more questions I get each week.  The curiosity with and interest in these strange graphics has mushroomed and I’m not the only one to notice.  As I mentioned in my previous post on QR codes, they have a number of great uses on brochures, print ads, and signage.

QR codes can be incredibly helpful to the person scanning.  One of my favorite examples is a print ad in a magazine where the QR code took you to a mobile friendly website that had an explanatory video and more details on the product.  Use of the code extended the reach of the ad by providing me additional targeted information about the product. Read the rest of this entry »

Banjo is a new location-based social media app that just launched for Android and iPhone. When you open the app, Banjo (http://ban.jo) will show you people who are near your current location based on public data from social networks. It initially shows you a grid of 16 people near you and from there you can view a person’s profile, which includes their bio and recent tweets. Most apps are about sharing with people you do know, so I find this app interesting because it uses mobile technology to let us connect with those around us that we don’t know. Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that oversharing of information can result in situations that are unfavorable, even dangerous so please be careful about your sharing. So let’s be very clear here, this app pushes the boundaries that most people will be comfortable with, but it is very good at showing you what’s going on immediately around you. Read the rest of this entry »