The Detroit Free Press recently reported about the effect of social media tools on the marketing strategies of real estate sellers. Online networking tools entail a learning curve, and therefore a commitment of time and energy. And then there’s the manual labor of updating the listings on all those social media “outposts.”

Is that energy well spent? Yes, according to one profiled in the story: “There’s never too many sites,” she said. “There’s no overkill – the more exposure, the better.” Read that article HERE

Are you a broker or agent? Has social media revolutionized your marketing?

When: 6 pm: Registration and networking, appetizers, cash bar
6.30 pm: Opening remarks by Michelle Hudson of the News-Press
6.45 pm: Keynote address: Turning Social Media Contacts into Actionable Relationships
7.30 pm:  Executive panel
8.15 pm : Closing Remarks

Where: Holiday Inn Airport at Gulf Coast Town Center

Cost: Free, registration required

Featured speaker: Deborah Shane

Panelists:

Suzanne Boy, Attorney at Henderson Franklin Starnes & Holt, P.A.
Sarah Owen, CEO at Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc.
Dean Piccirillo, Principal and Senior Financial Advisor at HBK Sorce Financial LLC

Moderator:

Pason Gaddis, President and Publisher, Florida Weekly

Event description

Is there room for social media in the boardroom? At the next Social Media Club of Southwest Florida event, discover the opportunities social media provides for professional people in leadership roles.

A recent study by UberCEO found that in the Fortune 100 companies:

* Only 2 CEOs have Twitter accounts
* A mere 13 have LinkedIn profiles
* 81 percent do not have a Facebook profile
* Not one Fortune 100 CEO has a blog

The surprising lack of tweets in the C suite offers enterprising leaders a chance to differentiate their company by becoming the face of it, even — maybe even especially — if it’s not part of the Fortune elite. However, social media does present that “yet one more thing” to learn and manage, and many executives may have to break down long-existing silos in their corporate culture in the process.

Enjoy an in-depth overview of the time management and implementation issues that face busy professionals who decide to become the public face of their business, as well as the brand loyalty and corporate goodwill social media can facilitate. Explore the objections professional-level employees may have when embarking on a social media campaign, along with best practices and the opportunities for timely customer service intervention.

Keynote address:

Deborah Shane will present “Turning Social Media Contacts into Actionable Relationships”

Social media makes it easy to meet lots of like-minded people. Once you’ve harnessed the power of the social networks to gain all those followers, then what? The point isn’t simply to gain a huge list of online friends. However, many users haven’t learned the all-important next step: bridging the gap between online networking and real-world results. So, how do you turn those contacts into actionable relationships?

Deborah Shane will help us discover the fine art of social media contact conversion. She is a dynamic speaker and professional trainer who devotes her energy to helping professionals realize their full potential. Explore how and why “to put yourself out there, bring value to someone’s day, and get personal!”

Following Deborah’s presentation, stick around for a spirited panel discussion featuring local professionals who are also experts in social media relationship management.

Deborah Shane is owner of Train With Shane. She spent 20 years in broadcast media (radio) in sales, management and training in corporate America with Cox Radio and Clear Channel. In 1994, she began training and mentoring sales professionals both through continuing/adult education programs and broadcast media. She has designed and developed several original sales and professional development curricula. The expression you only come this way one time” has always motivated her to follow her dreams and take some risks along the way. TWS is an expression of all of her skills, passions and gifts. Find her on Twitter at @DeborahShane.

Executive Panel

Suzanne Boy is an Associate at Henderson Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A. She concentrates her practice in employment law and is the lead writer of Southwest Florida HR Law & Solutions, Henderson Franklins employment law blog. Suzanne also speaks to businesses and professional groups on various employment matters. In addition to her employment law practice, Suzanne also handles a variety of commercial litigation matters including contract and business disputes, foreclosures and bank-related litigation, landlord-tenant issues, and estate-related litigation. She serves as general counsel for several of her corporate clients. Suzanne also has an active civil appellate practice.

Find her on Twitter @suzanneboy.

Sarah Owen is Chief Executive Officer at Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc., the umbrella agency for The Soup Kitchen, Meals on Wheels, Faith In Action Senior Transportation, Hands & Hearts Montessori Preschool, and two United Way Resource Houses. The agency is dedicated to providing food to the hungry and transforming the lives of those in need through partnerships, collaborations and innovative social service solutions.

Her journey into the non-profit arena came by way of a career in public relations and corporate communications. Sarah has worked in investor relations, public relations and corporate communications for publicly traded companies on the New York Stock Exchange as well as private companies throughout the Southeastern United States.

Find her on Twitter @hungerfighter

Dean Piccirillo is a Principal and Senior Financial Advisor at HBK Sorce Financial LLC. Dean has been practicing for 20 years, working closely with families to help them plan for their long-term goals and with businesses and other institutions to help them establish or enhance retirement plans. He leads HBK Sorces Retirement Plan Unit, working closely with all of the firms corporate clients sponsoring qualified retirement plans. In addition to the Certified Financial Planner certification, Dean also maintains the Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist certification and the Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst certification. He was recently named as one of the Top 300 most influential retirement plan advisors in the U.S. by the 401(k) Wire.  Mr. Piccirillo writes online regarding pension and retirement planning matters on his professional blog at www.deanpiccirillo.com.

Find him on Twitter @deanpiccirillo or on his blog at www.deanpiccirillo.com.

Moderator

Pason Gaddis, President and Publisher, Florida Weekly

Pason Gaddis is President and Publisher of Florida Weekly. He is a 15 plus year newspaper advertising sales veteran. Prior to Florida Weekly, he served in a variety of sales and sales management capacities from 1998-2007 with Gannett, Inc. and successfully launched several new newspapers and magazines.

He is heavily involved in several local charities including the American Heart Association along with serving on the board of directors for the Lakes Park Enrichment Foundation, Great Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Press Service.

Florida Weekly on Twitter: @FloridaWeekly

ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO COST AND THIS EVENT IS FREE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, SEATING IS LIMITED AND YOU MUST BE REGISTERED TO ATTEND

A lot of “gurus” would like to tell you the best case scenario. Social media is free, powerful and fun. I couldn’t agree more.

However, it’s not a panacea. It’s not the only ingredient in your marketing apothecary, is it? I certainly hope not. Think of it like an insurance portfolio. You don’t just get one type then say forget it. There’s health, life, auto… Missing one coverage could be disastrous. But that’s between you and your agent to figure out – and in life as in marketing, disasters can be instructive.

In addition to my social media warrior princess gig, I also do some newspaper writing and editing. Recently I had to talk down a reporter who had gotten himself into a sticky place with his editorial subject. His report was just that – a report – and needed some serious reworking. My 11th hour rewrite for the paper didn’t please the freelancer, who had promised his contact a certain tone to his story.

Note to freelancers: Do NOT do this. Your editor will ultimately determine the tone in keeping with his or her editorial guidelines and the publication’s journalistic integrity. Your job stops at submission.

But that’s not my point to this piece. Wait for it…

The reporter’s subject is a marketer who’s brought an ultrapremium luxury item to market and…drum roll…left it to social media buzz to get the word out.

Here’s the truth: leaving it to social media followers to do your marketing for you means you lose a substantial amount of control over your message.

Balancing buzz with other marketing components will help insure your message.

So my advice to that freelancer: If he wants to write what the marketing company behind the product wants him to write, then he’s not a journalist, but a copywriter who has limited input into the creative vision.

My advice to his contact: When you “go viral,” you’re capitalizing on buzz at that point, not necessarily a commitment to product quality.You CAN have both, but that requires careful engineering and concerted marketing portfolio management.

It does strike me as a sort of dark genius on the subject’s part to squeeze all the blood out of his particular social media turnip, then cop a “poor me” attitude with the press. You want profile, you get profile.

Remember “the medium is the message?” This mantra was beaten into me as a young ad copywriter fresh out of college. It was true when Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase in his Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, published in 1964. Is it as true today as it was then? How does it apply to new media platforms?

By the way, if anyone tries to pass him or herself off as a “guru,” take a good, hard look at the expertise they’re actually bringing to the table. You want substantial marketing chops, not a yogic hermit in a mountaintop cave – unless you’re the Beatles, in which case you probably don’t have to worry much about your buzz.

Intuit isn’t dumb. In fact, they’re freakin’ brilliant.

They’ve got this thing going called the “Love A Local Business” contest. A local business can win a $35,000 grant – a dream for an entrepreneur. I mean, THINK what you could do with that money! All that’s needed is votes from people who know your business. Yes, it’s an unadulterated popularity contest.

My husband does amazing stonework, providing dreamscapes for homeowners and commercial applications. He also does water features and rainwater harvesting. We run the business together. We do a pretty good job. Well, he does an incredible job, and I just try to be a shortcut for him so he can concentrate on what he does best. On the side, I do writing gigs and drop into the Hot Tub whenever I can.

We keep overhead low. It’s just the only way we care to operate – and the only way we could operate in the current economic climate.

So when we come upon an opportunity to get ahead with little or no investment, we jump on it. We entered the contest and immediately canvassed our social media connections.

Like I said, Intuit isn’t dumb. Not only do they provide a custom URL to post in emails and on social networking sites, they provide web site banners and how-to tips for social sharing. Of course, the expected side effect, is with all our canvassing, we’re becoming a bigger name dropper than Hilary Rowland. I never in my life felt compelled to tweet about Intuit. I’ve never once mentioned the company in all my travels in Facebook, LinkedIn and Digg. Except today.

Even more brilliant, Intuit provided us with a site to monitor the comments our fans provide and our current ranking. The more we see happening, the more we think we actually stand a chance and naturally, the more ways we want to find to get the word out about – not merely a contest – an Intuit contest. I even joined networking sites I wasn’t on before. Yeah, like I really need MORE.

I heart Elemental Stone and Waterworks. Please vote for us. Please. No, really.

And consider doing a similar contest for your business. As far as viral marketing, it’s as organic as you can get. And it works.

Now what?

You probably would like some visitors, comments – activity in general. Your blog doesn’t live in a vacuum, right? Or, at least, it won’t for very long unless you just like to hear yourself type. One important step is to register with blog directories, such as the one hosted by Technorati. Simply sign up for an account there, create a profile just like you would at any social networking site then file a “blog claim.” You’ll see this option as you set up your account. You will be able to furnish a description of your blog along with keywords and categories that will help readers find you.

Technorati will tell you it will take some time to investigate your blog claim – don’t worry, they won’t send a claims adjuster to your office or anything like that. You will, however, receive an email with your Secret Squirrel instructions. You’ll be given a “token code,” which you will put into a blog post. Then hit “publish.” When you tell it to go ahead, Technorati will crawl your site, find the code, and verify you are a human blogger who actually owns that blog. That’s it.

Yes, you will have a weird bit of code in your post. Mine is: 7E3NX6A3VE53  You can get rid of it when you get confirmation. Or just write about your experience and help other people with this handy household tip.

Don’t you love learning together?

What is your blog, and what is it all about? When did you start it and why? Tell us in the comments for this post.

UPDATE: Technorati will tell you it will take “some time” to complete your claim, and they’re not kidding. I posted the above the same day I initiated my own claim and only received notification that it was complete on Feb. 22 – almost a month later. Was it worth it? We’ll see.

Time: 7pm – 9pm
Where: Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport
9931 Interstate Commerce Drive, Ft Myers, FL
Speaker: Carlos Cardona
Sponsors: Fifth Third Bank and Kiss Your Web, LLC

Carlos Cardona is a one-of-a kind talent; a visionary with over 15 years of Web experience and proven success in creating and leading companies to include an Internet portal and search engine he invented and sold to Microsoft. Carlos has been recognized by Hispanic Magazine with both the Hispanic Entrepreneur Award as well the “100 Most Influential Hispanics” distinction in 1999 and 2000 respectively.

Register Here for free

Event Description

The Social Media Club of SWFL is partnering with Hodges University and the Southwest Forida Hispanic Chamber for this wonderful event. With 21 million Hispanic Internet users projected by this year, Hispanics are adopting social media as their primary source of communication, news and entertainment faster than any other group. The Hispanic community’s buying power is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2013. In order for businesses to connect effectively with this huge demographic group as it moves online they will need to understand how Hispanics are using these tools.

With 21 million Hispanic Internet users projected by this year, Hispanics are adopting social media as their primary source of communication, news and entertainment faster than any other group. The Hispanic community’s buying power is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2013. In order for businesses to connect effectively with this huge demographic group as it moves online they will need to understand how Hispanics are using these tools.

To help educate the local professional community about how the Hispanic market is growing on the Internet, the Social Media Club of Southwest Florida has teamed with the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Institute at Hodges University for a workshop on Monday, January 25th from 7:00 to 9:00 PM Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center. For meeting will include a presentation that by Carlos Cardona an entrepreneur and web strategist followed by a panel discussion including local Hispanic professionals experienced with or experimenting with social media in their businesses.

Carlos Cardona currently serves as Chief Social Media Strategist for Welltok, Inc where he is in charge of reinventing how healthcare companies use social networks to help individuals better their lifestyles. Prior he served as the Chief Social Media Strategist to Newlink Groups a public relations firm where he managed social media strategies for clients such as Oracle, Pionner, Smirnoff, Skype Latam, Tourism board of Mexico and others.

Carlos also served as a Project Lead & Development Manager for Microsoft for several years and was the founder of Yupi Internet (now MSN Latino, and part of the global MSN network) a leading web-portal that targeted the Latin American and US Hispanic market, which attracted more than 10 million unique visitors with over 200 million page views per month in less than 3 years, which was subsequently acquired by Microsoft.

Location

Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center
9931 Interstate Commerce Dr.
Fort Myers, FL 33913
Phone: 239-561-1550

ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO COST AND THIS EVENT IS FREE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, SEATING IS LIMITED AND YOU MUST BE REGISTERED TO ATTEND

As Dr. Watkins attests, a local business can dominate online. I think you’ll find this program to be eye-opening and – as I write in the post below – will save you time and energy and focus your marketing dollars to eliminate waste. Enjoy!

Free secrets at:
33 Days to Online Domination for Your Local Business

Congratulations, you have a company web site (or at least I hope so!). How much did it cost? As you know, a good one can run you thousands of dollars. Maybe for that amount of money, you’re thinking, “Well, that’s done.” A web site, however, is NOT the same as web presence. Unlike crock pot cooking, it’s not a fix-it-and-forget-it proposition.

So your site exists on the World Wide Web. But how do people find you, and what incentive do they have to do so? Enter the role of Internet marketing. You wouldn’t just throw some signage on your truck then expect the phone to start ringing off the hook, right? Then why do so many business owners do that very thing when it comes to Web advertising?

As opposed to large, national corporations, local businesses often feel at a disadvantage. They simply don’t know how to market online, or they haven’t learned the value of it. Just like with anything new, we use our excuses as a shield.

“I don’t have time for the Internet.”

OK, well I hope your competition doesn’t, either.

Recently, I took an Internet Marketing Mastermind class, which was taught by my good friend, Ray Higdon. I have an extensive media background and always knew the importance of marketing on the net. However, in the class I learned techniques and tools – many of them free – that I wished I had known about years earlier. They would have saved me time, money and a ton of headaches. Ray plans to run another Mastermind sometime in the near future. When he does, I’ll be sure to let you know.

In the meantime, he and his partner, Brad Dohack, are offering a FREE video explaining the Biggest Internet Marketing Secret for Local Businesses. I don’t know how long they’ll be offering it for free, so I recommend you check it out right now.
33 Days to Online Domination for Your Local Business

I believe the time is now for your local business to learn secrets like these. Wait much longer, and it will be your competition cleaning up in the online arena. Isn’t it nice to be a pioneer, instead of playing catch up?