It was good to meet with Rich and Steve from CEObuilder and the great group of CEOs that were able to attend.

We  Fluid Studio recently gave social media training to many Utah CEOs involved with CEObuilder.

It was good to meet with Rich and Steve from CEObuilder and the great group of CEOs that were able to attend.

We spent 4 hours talking about social media (like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn) and other resources that can help improve web traffic. Even though we were only able toskim the surface, I think attendees came away with some pointers that they can use to really help them improve their visibility on the web.

Below are some slides I shared during the presentation:

Have you heard?

iTunes 9 will likely include integration with Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm.

Mashable provides some additional details about that rumor (courtesy of The Boy Genius Report) as quoted below:

At the heart of the

Have you heard?

iTunes 9 will likely include integration with Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm.

Mashable provides some additional details about that rumor (courtesy of The Boy Genius Report) as quoted below:

At the heart of the supposed features is the ability to broadcast what you’re listening to, as well as an application – separate from iTunes – that would consolidate all of your social networking profiles. BGR says this app is comparable to Yahoo One Connect, a mobile application that the search media company launched last year.

While playing in the same arena as Facebook (especially post-FriendFeed acquisition) sounds like an unlikely route for Apple, it would clearly make sense for them to allow you to easily broadcast what you’re listening to, song purchases, and ratings/reviews to social sites.

One can easily imagine Facebook Connect and Sign-in With Twitter options being added to the product, with status updates that automatically include short links to the music (not to mention movies, tv shows, and apps) that a user is broadcasting about. That would directly translate to additional revenue for Apple, without requiring them to make significant changes to its iTunes strategy. Details, as with most things Apple, are scarce, but this will be a development worth keeping an eye on.

Would you use iTunes to integrate with social networking platforms? Is this a good move for Apple?

What are your thoughts?

Facebook now allows users to secure a URL for both their profiles and any Facebook pages they administer.

Facebook has some nice features and is rich in content. Now is the time to get your vanity URL for you 

Facebook now allows users to secure a URL for both their profiles and any Facebook pages they administer.

Facebook has some nice features and is rich in content. Now is the time to get your vanity URL for you and/or your company.

You can also just give people a straightforward URL string; before, they had to use the search feature to find you.

For example:

http://www.facebook.com/dyejo

You can only choose a URL only once, so choose with care! No changes as of press date.

What if someone squatted on your name that you can have access to?

If it is personal, sorry. There are a lot of Joe Smiths, so

facebook.com/joesmith

will go quickly!

If it is for your company, contact the Facebook team. They may be able to help you and you may have recourse.

Remember: stake your claim now!

The charts below are very interesting in what they reveal.

  Businesses use social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn for a variety of reason.

The charts below are very interesting in what they reveal.

An Twitter-exclusive promotion brought in 15% of their day’s business, an associate of Naked Pizza told Advertising Age. “Sure, there’s the brand marketing and getting-to-know-you stuff…but we wanted to know: Can it make the cash register ring?”

Apparently it did.

Recently, Ad Age offered five tips for marketing on social media platforms:

* Track sales made on social media.
* Don’t use Twitter as Facebook (and vice versa). Know what each can do and the strengths/weakness of each platform.
* Create a conversation with friends and followers.
* Sell last-minute inventory.
* Alert followers to changes.

But Rebecca Meadows, director of development and marketing, is frank about the fact she’s not yet using those social networking sites for 

Fluid in the news . . .

But Rebecca Meadows, director of development and marketing, is frank about the fact she’s not yet using those social networking sites for her twin goals: marketing and raising money.

“You have to have a strategy and we don’t,” said Meadows, one of 14 nonprofit leaders in attendance last week when John Dye and Philip Case of Bountiful’s Fluid Studio offered a two-hour introduction to social media, which struggling nonprofits are using to reach more potential donors.

“You’ve been forced to do more with fewer resources,” said Dye, Fluid’s President. “You need to go where the people are and social media are where the people are.”

His point was that nonprofits can use Facebook, Twitter and other methods to build a community of people who share their passions. From that community, donors of time, talent or treasure may arise.

Facebook and Twitter are Web-based networking programs by which messages spread “virally” — but in a good way — among friends and like-minded people.

“People don’t want to be sold to,” Dye said. “They want to interact and be heard.”

And that two-way communication is something social media has that static Web sites — as well as traditional advertising — lack.

One key, Dye and Case said, is to emphasize the nonprofit’s role in the wider world.

“You need to be a good member of the community. Promote others even more than you promote yourself,” Dye said. “If they know you’re into this to be self-serving, they’re probably going to turn you off.”

The message resonated with Meadows.

While Tanner Dance needs to raise money because of legislative cuts and drops in ZAP tax collections, she was thinking about a problem faced by a range of arts groups: Schools can no longer afford buses to take children on field trips.

“You want the kids to have the experience of coming to the university to see a performance,” Meadows said.

So as she sat in last week’s seminar, Meadows had a flash: What if hers and other arts groups collaborate on a Facebook “Cause” site to raise money for the buses?

Several Salt Lake City nonprofits already have used Facebook to raise money.

The Road Home shelter last fall promoted a flag football game between former Cougars and Utes. Tickets were $5 each and the proceeds went to The Road Home.

And the Utah Humanities Council just created a “Cause” link from its Facebook page, garnering $10 from two donors by last week.

By Kristen Moulton

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 05/15/2009 09:33:31 AM MDT

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12372325?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

Fluid Studio is excited to offer Part 2 of the Social Media Educational Series for Utah and help you become familiar with LinkedIn! (Click here for the presentation slides from Part 1 on Twitter).

This 90-minute discussion 

Fluid Studio is excited to offer Part 2 of the Social Media Educational Series for Utah and help you become familiar with LinkedIn! (Click here for the presentation slides from Part 1 on Twitter).

This 90-minute discussion will be on Wednesday, April 22nd at 11:30 a.m.

The current plan is to host it at the Metropolitan Restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City (173 West Broadway). Lunch will be provided.

For businesses or groups that wish to maximize their marketing dollars and not get left behind in the world of social media, Fluid is only charging a nominal fee of $29/person for the education series.

If you sign up before Friday April 10th, we are offering a discounted rate of $19! Click HERE or purchase a ticket below to register.

Why are we doing this?

Fluid Studio believes social media is an effective marketing tool for you and your business.

• Cost—compared to traditional marketing, social media is relatively inexpensive and can be created and deployed quickly and efficiently.

• Reach—social media has the ability to directly reach target audiences and demographics down to their specific current interests, past experiences, etc.

• Return on Investment (ROI)—Using the analytics inherent in social media tools, you can create, distribute, and track web, video, e-mail, and other social media marketing tools immediately.

About the Presenter:

John Dye, President of Fluid Studio, has been a longtime participant in social media realms and has helped numerous companies effectively incorporate social media into their overall marketing strategy. John will help businesses first understand the basics of LinkedIn before moving on to some of the more practical and advanced features.

How familiar are you with social media?

Have you ever felt left out of a conversation or didn’t even know about the conversation because you haven’t been able to wrap your brain around where to start with social media? 

How familiar are you with social media?

Have you ever felt left out of a conversation or didn’t even know about the conversation because you haven’t been able to wrap your brain around where to start with social media?

Does hearing about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace, Digg, blogs, and other social networking sites make you want to crawl into a hole because you don’t know what’s going on?

If so, this seminar is for you!

Fluid Studio is excited to offer a Social Media Educational Series for Utah and help you become orientated in the ever-changing and exciting world of social media!

The first 90-minute class in the series will be on Thursday, March 26th at 6:30 pm at the SLC Downtown Sheraton Hotel (150 W 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT).

Businesses or groups that wish to maximizes their marketing dollars and not get left behind in social media, Fluid is only charging a nominal fee of $29/person for the education series. If you sign up now, we are offering a discounted rate of $19! Click HERE to register.

Why are we doing this?

Because we believe social media is such an effective marketing tool for you and your business with its cost, reach, and return on investment (ROI):

• Cost—compared to traditional marketing, social media is relatively inexpensive and can be created and deployed quickly and efficiently.

• Reach—social media has the ability to directly reach target audiences and demographics down to their specific current interests and past experience.

• Return on Investment (ROI)—Using the analytics inherent in social media tools, you can create, distribute, and track web, video, e-mail, and other social media marketing tools immediately.

About the Presenter:

John Dye, President of Fluid Studio, has been a longtime participant in social media realms and has helped numerous companies effectively incorporate social media into their overall marketing strategy. John will help businesses first understand the basics of social media before moving on to some of the more advanced features of social networking.

In this down economy, many enterprises are looking for the “silver bullet” to help them with the marketing/advertising quandary they find themselves in—”how can we get noticed and stay front of mind but reduce/eliminate our current promotional budget?”

The 

In this down economy, many enterprises are looking for the “silver bullet” to help them with the marketing/advertising quandary they find themselves in—”how can we get noticed and stay front of mind but reduce/eliminate our current promotional budget?”

The short answer? There is no silver bullet.

The bit longer answer? Things can be done, using social media, to help broadcast your message, but it complements (doesn’t replace) traditional marketing and advertising objectives. Social media is just one tool in the marketing/advertising toolbox, and when strategically used, can be very effective in gaining awareness and marketshare.

I recently read a great article on SOCIAL MEDIA HEADHUNTER that seems to agree with my assessment—you can read it HERE. Let me know your thoughts and comments—drop me a comment.

How familiar are you with social media?

Have you ever felt left out of a conversation or didn’t even know about the conversation because you haven’t been able to wrap your brain around where to start with social media? 

How familiar are you with social media?

Have you ever felt left out of a conversation or didn’t even know about the conversation because you haven’t been able to wrap your brain around where to start with social media?

Does hearing about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace, Digg, blogs, and other social networking sites make you want to crawl into a hole because you don’t know what’s going on?

If so, this seminar is for you!

Fluid Studio is excited to offer a Social Media Educational Series for Utah and help you become orientated in the ever-changing and exciting world of social media!

The first 90-minute class in the series will be on Thursday, March 26th at 6:30 pm in the Salt Lake City Library (210 E. 400 S.).

Businesses or groups that wish to maximizes their marketing dollars and not get left behind in social media, Fluid is only charging a nominal fee of $29/person for the education series. If you sign up now, we are offering a discounted rate of $19! Click HERE to register.

Why are we doing this?

Because we believe social media is such an effective marketing tool for you and your business with its cost, reach, and return on investment (ROI):

• Cost—compared to traditional marketing, social media is relatively inexpensive and can be created and deployed quickly and efficiently.

• Reach—social media has the ability to directly reach target audiences and demographics down to their specific current interests and past experience.

• Analytics and Return on Investment (ROI)—Using social media tools, you can create, distribute, and track web, video, e-mail, and other social media marketing tools immediately.

About the Presenter:

John Dye, President of Fluid Studio, has been a longtime participant in social media realms and has helped numerous companies effectively incorporate social media into their overall marketing strategy. John will help businesses first understand the basics of social media before moving on to some of the more advanced features of social networking.

Jeremiah Owyang is a highly respected social mediatician (I just coined the term).

Although the source link below is a bit over a month old now, it has some insightful data.

You cannot ignore social media—the numbers (and trends) 

Jeremiah Owyang is a highly respected social mediatician (I just coined the term).

Although the source link below is a bit over a month old now, it has some insightful data.

You cannot ignore social media—the numbers (and trends) do not lie!

From Jeremiah’s blog post:

If you’re seeking stats from 2008, I’ve compiled them on this similar post of 2008 social networking stats.

Stats are important –but on their own, they don’t tell us much
Stats on social networks are important, but I’m going to need your help in creating a community archive, can you submit stats as you find them? I’m often asked, “What are the usage numbers for X social network” and I’ve received considerable traffic on my very old post (way back in Jan 08) of MySpace and Facebook stats, even months later. Decision makers, press, media, and users are hungry for numbers, so I’ll start to aggregate them as I see them.

How I interpret stats
Numbers don’t tell us much without insight and interpretation, in fact, you’re going to see conflicting numbers of usage from many of the agencies and social networks themselves. The key is to look at trend movements, don’t focus on the specific numbers but the changes to them over time. I put more weight on active unique users in the last 30 days vs overall registered, in fact, the actual active conversion rate will often range from 10-40% of actual users sticking around and using the social network, so don’t be fooled by puffed numbers. No single metric is a good indicator, you have to evaluate the usage from multiple dimensions, so you also have to factor in what are users doing, time on site, interaction, and of course, did they end up buying, recommending products, or improving their lives.

Click HERE for more detail!