Latinos and Social Media Strategies for Nonprofits - December 16th, Los Angeles, Ca.

commUNITY® : Latinos and Social Media Strategies for Nonprofits Free Workshop...

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
8am-2pm (PST)

The workshop is promoted by VPE, a Hispanic Public Relations firm, whose social media practice area, commUNITY®, is geared to bringing online opportunities to Latinos.

During this free one-day social media workshop, you will learn how to utilize the latest web technology for your organization’s advantage. Presenters will share outreach strategies and how to manage an online presence for your organization in support of your mission. You will get key insights and recommendations to harness the power of new media to maximize your dollars.

Throughout the day there will be guest speakers on a variety of social media topics. Kicking off the morning is Marci Rosenblum, co-founder of the Web Success Team, who will be talking about “Effective Branding in a Social Media World.” Marci will discuss the pros for carrying your brand forward in social networks; and the benefits that it creates for spreading your message to the right demographics.

Other topics include successful social media campaigns. You will learn from nonprofit organizations using social media. This session will focus on successful strategies and challenges in launching social media campaigns including online fundraising, community organizing and civic engagement. The afternoon session will delve into developing social media strategies. You will learn what steps to take before launching a social media effort and strategies to use to engage with your online community.

Take-Aways:

• Learn about the most useful web tools for nonprofits.

• Discover latest trends and how to use Social Media to communicate with constituents

• Conversation with experts on how to develop strategies and manage online presence.

• Discussion with organizations that have successfully used social media for promotion, advocacy and fund raising.

About VPE

VPE is one of the industry’s first and most recognized Hispanic-owned public relations agencies. In an effort to bridge the digital divide, commUNITY® , VPE’s social media practice area, was designed to bring online opportunities to the Latino US population. This speciality includes an essential educational component to bring resources and skills to the non-profit organizations that serve the community.

Social Media commUNITY® ranges from strategically utilizing various online tools and platforms to get a unified corporate and social message out to Latinos, applications include blogs, message boards, social networks, viral marketing campaigns, user groups and news groups.

VPE Public Relations
1605 Hope Street, Suite 250
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(626) 403-3200

Social Media Trends That Indicate the Future - WebProNews Video

Where are we going with social media? That question is asked very frequently by businesses that want to know what they can do to be ready for the future. Before looking too far ahead, Jeremiah Owyang of the Altimeter Group recommends that businesses first look at what is currently happening.

Although social media adoption is increasing, many brands are still struggling to be effective with it. Businesses have to understand what consumers are doing now in order to be successful moving forward.

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One trend that businesses need to grasp is that “real-time is not fast enough.” Customers are quick and companies, no matter how big the staff, just cannot keep up. Owyang advises businesses to create advocacy programs to address this issue. An advocacy program is a group of customers that act as a company’s “army” and take care of problems that arise. Since most companies already have a group of people that support them, all they have to do is enable them for the task.

Another trend is that most consumers find corporate websites irrelevant. As a result, businesses should utilize platforms such as Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, and Twitter Connect to bring a social experience to their own website. In addition, businesses have the opportunity to personalize its content for customers.

Predicting the future is nearly impossible. But if you look at what is happening around you and integrate it into your business, chances are, you will be just fine.

Balancing Blogs And Twitter - WebProNews Video

Sites like Facebook and Twitter may receive more attention in some circles, but blogs aren’t going anywhere. At BlogWorld, Blogger Product Manager Rick Klau talked to WebProNews about the state of Google’s blog publishing system, along with blogging in general and how newer communications options come into the equation.

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One big thing worth noting is that Blogger recently celebrated its tenth birthday. A host of fresh features were introduced at that time to both expand how people regard the service and thank individuals for continuing to use it. And use it is precisely what they’re doing.

Klau stressed that, with regards to blogs and Blogger, we’re not talking about a static or declining environment. In fact, he stated that 290,000 words are written on Blogger per minute worldwide, which represents an increase of 10 percent versus six months ago.

Klau said that Twitter and blogs “each have their place,” too, as blogging and microblogging aren’t part of a zero-sum game. If conversations are fragmented, that’s fine. That can even be good. Twitter became the second-largest source of traffic (after Google) to Klau’s blog when he implemented software that tweeted about his latest posts. He recommended this sort of service.

Another good idea to explore is using the new “share to Twitter” feature on Blogger.

As for what, precisely, to do with a blog (if you’re new to them or just looking for some expert advice), Klau’s advice was solid: “focus on the content.” Also, don’t imitate what other people have done . . . instead find what you’re passionate about and stick with it.

The Value of Video Branding - WebProNews Video

Although online video has been around for some time now, it has seen extensive growth in the past couple of years. Based on research from comScore, YouTube is even the second largest search engine following Google. According to Kevin Ryan, CMO of WebVisible, marketers have finally realized their need to utilize video.

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He went on to say that they understand the importance of having their own YouTube channel. This allows brands to have control over the message they send out to the public. Another method for maintaining that control is hosting video on your own site, as we do here at WPN. With video hosting, there are costs involved as well as the need to provide high quality production to reinforce the brand.

Overall, people are beginning to take video a lot more seriously. Ryan still refers to the space as the “Wild Wild West” but says we are starting to see inklings of what it could look like in the future.

Low-Cost Search Tactics from WebProNewsVideo

Although search marketing is not known as being an extremely expensive marketing endeavor, it still takes some monetary resources. Not every small mom-n-pop business has the budget to fund these efforts. There are some small businesses that even have to make a choice between paying utility bills and investing in search marketing strategies...

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Matt Van Wagner of Find Me Faster explains that, in spite of these circumstances, the Web offers every business an opportunity to be found, even with a small budget. First and foremost, a business needs to have an online presence with a website. The site does not need to be elaborate, but needs to be able to operate and provide basic functions.

He recommends utilizing David Mihm’s site called GetListed.org. This site gives actionable tips and information for small businesses and the best part is, it is free. If you are going to do paid search, Van Wagner suggest being conservative and local in what you do.

Discover Who Your Audience Is - WebProNews Video

How well do you know your audience? Many advertisers think they know their audience well, but unfortunately, some do not utilize all the resources that would help them know their audience even better...

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Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist with Google, explains how tools such as Google Ad Planner and Google Insights for Search provide data that help advertisers truly understand the demographics of their audience. These tools essentially allow users to build a target audience profile based on actual data and analytics.

Avinash says, “The reality is, you can focus by using data.”

He went on to say that he has found that many advertisers only have opinions on their audience but neglect to run experiments and tests to validate their views. Although experiments and tests take time, they save advertisers from targeting the wrong audience.

Is your advertising campaign working? Can you prove your target audience with data? If not, you may need to re-evaluate and make sure you truly know who you are targeting.

Banned by Facebook! One Woman's Story. - Web Success Team

Banned by Facebook! One Woman's Story.
By Eric Pangburn, Contributor, Web Success Team

While the social media marketing site Facebook may be something you are intimately familiar with and use on a daily basis, the name “Marci Rosenblum” may not exactly ring a bell. So who is Marci Rosenblum and why should you know about her? As it turns out, Marci was banned from Facebook — a situation that we may all face at some point or another — and what she learned during her experience may have significant implications on your Facebook habits, as well as your overall online marketing experience.

We Depend on Facebook, Until…
Facebook is of course almost as ubiquitous on the Internet today as Google is. It is certainly more popular than the other large social networking site (which we won’t mention by name since the MySpace team may still be feeling a slight sting at having been overtaken just last January). Facebook marketing has simply captured the imagination of the collective cyberspace public in ways that few Internet phenomena have before and probably will for a while. It is a great way to build your business online and can therefore be potentially invaluable to your web success.

Most people start out by using Facebook as a means to keep in touch with friends and family. Facebook makes it easy to post pictures, chat with acquaintances, send them personal messages, join in on group discussions and quizzes…the list is virtually endless, and if there is some way that you can reach out to someone and be reached back in return, there is probably a way to do that in Facebook.

Many enterprising individuals have since used Facebook as a means to touch base with their customers. There is no Facebook rule that disallows this, and Facebook has proven to be quite a potent tool for any business. The same benefits that Facebook affords you for personal use can be wielded to great results for your business, online or otherwise.

So far so good. But just like any other privately owned web site, there are a number of rules and regulations implemented that may not always be clear to you, and in fact may seem downright unfair. This is where Marci comes in.

Marci's Story
Marci Rosenblum is one of the many people on Facebook who has a hugely popular Facebook profile. Plenty of good content, a steady stream of regular visitors…it appeared that Marci was way ahead of the Facebook pack. Unfortunately, Marci was banned only a couple of weeks ago, for reasons that weren't quite clear to her. To the extent of Marci’s knowledge, she was in full compliance of all of Facebook’s terms regarding use. This included the clause that stated that users have the privilege of “unlimited posting.”

As someone who has relied on Facebook for many years and has spent a considerable amount of money on ad expenditures, this banning was quite distressing for Marci Rosenblum. The impact of all the lost contacts is quite significant as you may well imagine.

Lost in (Cyber)Space
For someone with that many contacts, Marci losing her Facebook account was akin to losing her cell phone, PDA, or personal directory of contact numbers. Put yourself in her position, and you can possibly understand the feeling of frustration at virtually being cut off from crucial contacts. Since so many people rely on Facebook for their web presence, losing an account is almost like losing your online identity!

Apparently, the cause of all Marci's Facebook problems was her placement of links on her “fan” page as well as her “profile” page. Through some unwritten rule in the Facebook terms of agreement, this was apparently enough to warrant a ban. No matter what you may think of Facebook's policies, the loss of all those contacts for such a seemingly minor infraction appears to be excessive. Even more alarmingly, a look at Facebook's terms of use shows that they can ban an account for any reason whatsoever, which apparently covers Marci’s case.

Things could have been easily avoided if Facebook maintains an air of approachability and openness with regard to their policies. Barring that, there certainly is no reason why they would have to be so hard to get a hold of, as Marci later found out for herself.

Like all people who have an issue with a company, Marci wrote a letter to the Facebook management asking why her account was banned and how she could be reinstated. If only it were that easy. Marci in fact had to write no less than five letters before she got a response, and even then it wasn't exactly the answer that she was hoping for. Her account was supposedly banned for “spamming”, a practice that Marci felt she wasn't guilty of. In fact, there are currently numerous other Facebook accounts that are clearly guilty of spamming, yet strangely remain allowed to carry on with their activities.

How to Avoid the Facebook Ban-Hammer
Based on Marci’s Facebook experience, we have pinpointed a few things to keep in mind that will help you avoid the fate that befell her:

* You could post as many links as you want on your “fan” pages, but posting links on your on your “profile” page is a definite no-no.
* Posting the same links on your “profile” page that you have on your “fan” page can get you banned.
* The Facebook site administrators can be extremely difficult to get a hold of. You will have to send them a lot of emails on five different email addresses, before you can expect to get a response, so persistence is key.
* Keep a backup of all your Facebook contacts. As Marci found out so harshly, even getting your Facebook account reinstated will not get your contacts back. If your contacts are essential to your business — as they probably are! — back them up!
* In spite of the apparent vagueness of the Facebook terms of use, you simply have to try and make sure that you conform to all terms regarding use. They can be very hard to reach as Marci has seen, so any thing you can do to avoid a banning would be for the best.

Making the Best of Facebook
All this isn't meant to downplay all of Facebook’s benefits…and they are considerable. Nevertheless, a clear picture of what you can expect regarding your use would go a long way in helping you get the most out of your Facebook account. Make sure that you post links only on your “fan” pages, and you can continue to use Facebook for its many networking benefits.

Build Web Success!
The Web Success Team specializes in building and marketing direct response websites that take full advantage of the latest developments on the Internet. The Team has an arsenal of effective web strategies, online tools and proven techniques to promote your products and services. Plus, we’ll show you ways to increase the amount of qualified traffic to your site through the expanding “social web” and how to convert visitors into buyers at a higher rate of return.

> Marci Rosenblum - Web Success Traffic:
http://www.websuccesstraffic.com

> Join Marci's Facebook Fan Page:
http://artist.to/fan-page-marci-rosenblum/

Do You Depend on Social Media? - WebProNews Video

Twitter experienced a severe outage last week that left the site down for several hours. It was later revealed that the microblogging service was the target of a distributed denial-of-service attack as well as Facebook, LiveJournal, and certain Google websites.

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The evidence gathered at this point seems to indicate that the attack has ties to a political controversy. The incident is allegedly linked to the ongoing disputes involving Russia and Georgia.

What’s somewhat surprising about this situation is how much of an impact it had on Twitter and other social media users. Businesses, celebrities, and protesters all use various social media websites.

Social media has become a large part of everyday and business life. When it is taken away, how do you react? Have you grown dependent on social media? When social networks are down, is it simply an annoyance or does it alter your entire day?

Is Social Media Making Us Less Social Offline? - WebProNews Video

If you need to contact a friend or colleague, how do you do it? Do you go see them, call them, email them, or use some form of the social Internet? Although answers may vary, using the social Web as a primary form of communication is becoming a growing trend. A study conducted by Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 7 percent of Americans rely solely on the Internet for the majority of their social communication...

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But does this mean that as we become more social online, that we become less social offline? Kim Krause Berg, who has studied this area extensively, said:

“We’re actually becoming more social on a broader, more global scale… we’re talking to more people, we’re connecting with more people because we have the ability to do so… and we’re not so sure what to think about it.”

According to Kim, the social Web is very fascinating to us because it is still in the baby stages. In addition, we’re still trying to figure out how to use it. Users should be aware that challenges and conflicts do exist in the social Web but need to learn how to balance them with their everyday lives. Remember that the social Web was meant to make people more social, not less.

Are you so involved with the social Web that you are becoming antisocial offline? At social gatherings, do you spend more time connected to the social Web through your mobile device or communicating with the individuals around you?