Kansas City SEO and SEM

by: Anne Haynes
I just finishing watching a breakfast meeting from the Kansas City Social Media Club and there was a woman speaking about being the social media face for her company. And while I believe people trust people over brand logos, I wonder what happens when this generation Y employee decides to seek greener pastures? Let’s face it the younger you are the more likely you are to make career moves. Will the employee have some level of job security if the social media trends are great and job scrutiny if the trends are low?

How do you hire a Social Media Community Manager? Do you give them a personality test? Do you grade them on their sense of humor and wit? Because let’s face it not all people in the social media environment are interesting. And more importantly, not everyone knows what “to say” and “not to say” in a social media forum. People have been fired from their jobs because they’ve made mistakes in communications through message boards, instant messaging and emails. David George-Cosh, a National Post technology reporter freaked out in Twitter when a marketing consultant was tardy in calling him back for an interview. And while David George-Cosh’s tweets on twitter were protected, he was called out in an open forum for being unprofessional and down right rude! In many ways social media is like building a home, think twice and type once. A rule growing up comes to mind as well; if you can’t say it over a loud speaker, don’t say it at all!

The social media industry will be interesting to watch and monitor in the next couple of years. Be certain that people will be placed under the microscope for the messages they send out as individuals and as organizations.

If you love FriendFeed as much as I do, you will love using this script to make FriendFeed your all in one social media desktop application. You can access twitter and and other social media services without ever leaving FriendFeed.

 
Click here…

By: Anne Haynes

I’ve been reading the Social Media Predictions 2009. The introduction by Peter Kim speaks volumes; he subscribes to RSS feeds. From the latest information I’ve seen RSS feed subscriptions are down. And it makes sense; people don’t have time to read thousands of RSS feeds in a day. I’ve been involved in the internet since the TRS-80 or 1980 when I used command line to get recipes over the internet. While recent studies suggests smarter people have thousands of RSS feeds, who really has time to read them? It’s the same analogy of having too many friends to follow with social media. How many social media friends have you never met in person are online friends? What defines a social media friend? Is it the person that says good morning after you’ve broadcasted “Good Morning” on Twitter? Is it when you’ve posted a photo of funny socks on Brightkite and everyone else takes photos of their socks and posts them on Brightkite? Or is it just the information and/or feeling you get when you learn about the Google and Yahoo deal and the fact that someone cares about your socks! I’m looking forward to seeing and witnessing the movements in social media. If you interested in what some of the experts are saying, check out the Social Media Predictions for 2009.

By: Anne Haynes

Today I met with two clients that have recently been given the keys to their WordPress blogs. They have their userids/passwords and training on the back-end. Now it’s the exciting part; watch them grow and prosper in their freedom from monthly Content Management Systems (CMS) fees.

One of my clients is just growing social media legs and I gave him/her a good introduction into the space. Following is the email I sent him/her tonight, I hope you enjoy the message!

You MUST!!! Get on this internet marketing/social media/mobile computing ride! With me and the people you meet on these networks you will become the premier educator and strategist in the internet marketing world. What I’m introducing you to is so cutting edge! It reminds me of the days when I would hang out at bars and write out the word GOOGLE on a napkin so the person could go home and search on Google. We are in a new era! My mother always said to me, “Annie you are who you hang out with….” With social media we hang out with some of the elite in our industry and by association we become elite!!! You must walk cautiously because you are transparent in the social media world and everything you say or write online is consumed by the masses. If you keep your tone positive and educational you will move mountains one stone at a time. It’s not about getting 400 plus connections on linkedin, it’s about getting 400 plus recommendations on linkedin. It’s so easy to add people and include people with social media these days that you really need to set yourself aside from the norm and be special, exceptional and inspiring! So, we go in our quest to be exceptional in our interworkings with clients and social media friends.

by: Anne Haynes

I received my brightkite t-shirt today from Zazzle.com. I took a picture – because a picture speaks a thousand words!

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The process of buying my shirt is interesting, so here it goes:

BigGuy: Brad and littleguy: Brad from bigguylittleguy.com (bigguy: @boffman and littleguy: @belpers) took a road trip to Brightkite in Colorado and they shared their trip on Brightkite. The first thing I noticed was the picture that was taken outside the Brightkite headquarters. There was Brad and Brad smiling for the camera with their thumbs up! Then came the Brightkite stickers! Oh man once I saw the stickers I had to have one. But wouldn’t a t-shirt be better? I posted a comment asking about a t-shirt. In minutes @brady (one of the founders of Brightkite) sent a message pointing me to Zazzle.com to buy a Brightkite t-shirt. I was done with my purchase in 2 minutes and my shirt arrived within a few days!

I spoke on the phone with littleguy tonight and he told me that Brightkite is about to open up the flood gates for everyone to join Brightkite. So, no need to ask me for an invite any more, everyone will have free access.

I’m looking forward to Brightkite opening up an advertising network because the already localized service it’s perfect for targeting specific geo markets. A little birdy and not twitter, also mentioned a video feature coming soon! I’m so excited and to think, just last week, I was talking about a Brightkite video feature being a natural extension of the already stellar service. Looks like I’m going to need to buck-up for additional memory on my cell phone now!

Think globally and act locally with Brightkite!

by: Anne Haynes

I just spent the morning on LisaNova’s YouTube and she is one funny girl! On Fridays I’ve been making a habit of finding the funny stuff on the internet. I was watching my FriendFeed and this video showed up on TechCrunch “The Rise and Fall of Twitter”. Enjoy, a good Friday Laugh!

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Last.fm just flicked the switch – and poof new design. I’m having a hard time having myBloglog recognize my last.fm account….more to come later.

by: Anne Haynes

Tonight I was thinking about an experience today on BrightKite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook could hurt or help a marriage. I’m a somewhat new user to this type of communication and because it so fun, you learn through trial and error. Let’s face it- if you’re using iGoogle and gadgets it’s like a party behind your computer. You can think about these applications as a play ground for the ADD in you. These are the places where you receive quick fast and filtered industry information before anyone has time to blog about the latest news. You can comment on FriendFeed and reverse feed into Twitter. Bottom-line the days of keeping “in-touch” with people through email are going to become an experience of the past.

How to save a marriage using BrightKite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook? I’ve turned on a few Kansas City, BBQ loving people, onto the using the four social media applications in conjunction together. And as my friends join, we figure out the ramifications of playing feisty online. Today, there was a conversation with @belpers on twitter when we joked about jealousy of friends. I’m an SEO Queen and while in my industry you can never know everything, when my following friend started making friends with another SEOers, I did get sensitive. Belpers aka BigGuyLittleGuy twittered his fear that his wife and teenage child would see his twitters about “girlfriend” and “jealousy”. Ahhhhhaaahaaahahahah! At first I was worried, but then I knew belpers and his character of being a loving husband, so there were no worries. But there could be situations when using these applications that it could be harmful to a marriage. Oh and let’s face it Christy Brinkley’s marriage issues are plastered all over the TV right now who needs more bad stuff.

Then in the middle of my evening belpers checks-in on BrightKite.com – I have a Brightkite invite if you need one send me a note. You can see through BrightKite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook that he’s at the gym, then gas station and so on….!!!!!! It hit me that couples having issues with trust and jealousy could use these friendly tools to validate where they are at any given time of the day or night. Is trust a characteristic of a good marriage? Is jealousy a sign of a bad marriage? Can your Facebook profile help you when checking into your spouse? Well that’s up to you and how you use Brightkite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook.

I love emerging technologies and I feel blessed to be associated with so many “A” players in the industry. Thanks for your includes and friendship!

by: Anne Haynes

In the past couple of months I’ve been playing around with Twitter.com and while this service was offered to me back in January 2008, I dismissed it as being lame. Why would anyone want to know what I’m doing right now? What value does knowing I’m drinking a latte at Scooters add to anyone’s day? Then one day I made “time” for Twitter! And it looks like Amazon has made 15 million dollars worth of time for Twitter. With this said, what does Twitter offer? Why would Amazon invest in a micro blogging service? Let’s discuss….

Product Ratings: real-time – Imagine if you purchased a mountain bike on Amazon and while you were riding your bike through the woods you loved it so much you sent a message from your cell phone. Yes, twitter allows you to send messages via your cell to a custom twitter email address. Now this review or rating you give via your cell phone syncs with Amazon and boom – you get the picture.

Product Photos: real-time – Imagine if you’re on that new bike and you decide to take a self portrait with your new bike – the one you purchased from Amazon (and the third party merchant). Well, now you have a following. While product ratings are great, personal pictures and events with a product are more interesting. Potential buyers need pictures and video on the internet today!

Product Chat: real-time – Imagine if you could talk to someone who’s purchased the bike right before you’re about to add your bike to the shopping cart? OK now it’s a different business model!

I remember back in 1995 when I was trying to be a chat room monitor for ZDNet. While I was never approved as a monitor on ZDNet, I did my duty monitoring an internet radio station’s video conferencing broadcasts using CU-SeeMe. And what I learned was there are “some” freaks on the internet! Mind you it was 1995 and I was one of the first women using CU-SeeMe and at this time – one of the first women on the internet and wow it was fun! I want to do another post about CU-SeeMe!!

Bottom-line, if Amazon is thinking of using real-time chat for products reviews, they need damage control! For the manufactures that create the products sold online, this should feel like a wake-up call. If manufactures aren’t listening to their buyers/customers this information should be a reason to install a blog and listen – track and monitor what the consumer really wants from their manufacturing plants. The best way to know what consumers/clients want is to listen and the best way to listen is to have a blog! Don’t worry enterprise manufactures, you have control over comments.

If you want to leave a comment, send me an email – I’m overloaded with blog spam and updating my own database and site – it takes time. Email me now!

by: Anne Haynes

In the last 2 months I’ve educated myself on social media tools and ways to make these tools work for you instead of sucking time out of your daily grind. I remember when I finally left myspace and went to facebook. It was early 2008 and while the glittery profiles brought me into Myspace and the music kept me logging into my profile, the industry news was drawing me to rekindle my facebook connection.

The facebook experience was overwhelming. It didn’t take long for me to hate facebook. The login alone gave me anxiety; too much to do and not enough understanding of what I was doing. Then the usability and data overload issues happened; friends requests, add application requests, announcements, etc. Facebook seemed like a big waste of time to me. But then I decided to soak; sit back, study, understand and analyze the facebook experience. It’s taken me a few months to get my facebook groove on, but it’s been well worth the time.

Today I read a segment in this months CREATIVITY Magazine (twitter:creativitymag) Refacing Facebook. In April of this year facebook announced a redesign targeting late spring, but the overwhelming feedback from the development community pushed the facebook redesign out. So with this said, more speculation on what will make a new facebook friendly is still out.

In the CREATIVITY Magazine article DL Byron, Principal, Textura Design mentions the lack of facebook integration within his other online presences/accounts. He specifically states flickr and YouTube. You know its times like these that DL Byron is wishing print production was just a little faster to the newsstands than technology is to social media. While he may have been referencing facebook as a technology entity, the facebook friendfeed application does this now. It’s clear in my consulting business and within the industry that the elite are onto these slick social media integration tools and it’s just a matter of time until these tools are second nature to everyone.

I’m just happy about my igoogle:

Let’s review:
I have the BeTwittered Google gadget on the left of my login page because well I read left to right and this concept is the same with dashboards. I have digg in the middle to keep me up on the hot topics on the internet. And finally, my favorite social media application: friendfeed on my right. What I find amusing is to see my twitters show up in friendfeed.

Now, let’s circle around to facebook:
In my facebook, I’ve added the friendfeed application and now all my friends can see my activity on the web.

It’s always tough to speak out about the social media industry especially when the topic is technology. Just when you say something doesn’t exist, the developers update the code and poof within seconds it exists.

For those of you wanting a dropbox invite, I just received a few more. If you need a BrightKite invite, shoot me a message.