happykatie :: katie rocks out the interwebs

Social Media etiquette for the campaign volunteer

Bill White Campaigners Social Media Training

View more presentations from Ed Schipul.

I feel so honored to be a part of a special Social Media training for Mayor Bill White's Senate campaign volunteers today at the Houston Technology Center (MAJOR hat tip to Monica, Laura and Andrea White).

You can link to Ed and I's presentation and connect with Bill White's social network outreach here:  www.schipul.com/billwhite.  We'll be updating that page as his campaign progresses - we really think the world of him and wish him the VERY best in his campaign efforts.

Mom 2.0 Summit starts today - and so does the Laptop Mama coloring contest!

Calling all Internet-loving mothers and marketers - the Mom 2.0 Summit starts today featuring an enormous variety of super duper lady Bloggers and a few dudes (including Ed Schipul and Guy Kawasaki).

I'll be speaking this evening, but as my table chats last only a few minutes you might blink and miss me - so here is a 'She's Crafty' page outlining some of my favorite spots for inspiration, how-to help and links to help monetize your crafting obsession.

I am also running a 'Laptop Mama' coloring contest for Mom 2.0 Summit attendees and YOU!!  Download your favorite Mama Online coloring sheet (created by the AMAZINGLY talented Illustration Dan, he's so rad).  You have 2 choices:  NAUGHTY or nice.  Choose wisely.  Or don't choose at all - you can color both and submit, I'm not a coloring page nazi here.  Visit the www.happykatie.com/shescrafty page for further details.

Word to yo' mama!

Social Networks for Small Business Marketing

Social Networks for Business

View more presentations from Katie Laird. (tags: social media)

I taught a fun class at the University of Houston's Small Business Development Center today on social networking for small businesses.  Little did they know, they got a lesson in the art of Storytelling as well as a walk through of some of the more relevant social networks.

Thanks so much to all who attended - we had a full house and lots of great questions.  Can't wait to hear from you again :)

You should really give your employees dancing cupcakes

This is a random quickie note to say that I adore the fact that Schipul lets me put photos of myself with cupcakes dancing in the background to promote upcoming public speaking gigs (like Mom 2.0 Summit, coming soon!!!) on our homepage.

DANCING CUPCAKES!!!!!  CUPCAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Thanks Brandi :) )

Slideshare loves the Mac contingent with Keynote files!

Upload Keynote to SlideShare

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: apple upload)

 Ed and I are Keynote fans for our public speaking and Slideshare nerds for sharing our presentations after the fact (waaaay better than hoping folks in the audience write links down correctly).  Unfortunately, these are two of our favorite things that don't always play nicely together.

Here's Ed:  www.slideshare.com/eschipul
Here's me:  www.slideshare.com/happykatie

But this week there's been some improvement (although it does require one more step than PC users have to endure) in Apple-Slideshare friendliness.  Not perfect, but there you go:

1. Select Keynote file and compress it to a .zip file 
2. Upload .zip file to Slideshare 
3. Dance around at your desk because you don't have to export to .ppt or .pdf if you don't want to

UPDATE  Ashwan from Slideshare says:
This is Ashwan from SlideShare, just wanted to say that the extra step is not because we love Mac users less (far from it!) It's because a .key file is not really a file but a folder (or a document bundle) and we ask you to create a ZIP so that it's a single file you upload to SlideShare.

A brief Social Media update for associations - join Facebook, people!!

Social Media for Associations - a 2008 update

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: social media)

Thanks to a great group at the Houston Society of Association Executives yesterday, we had a super discussion on associations using Social Media. 

A big thanks to David from the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) and Sonal from IFMA - they had some great examples of their organizations actively participating in the online networking world.  One topic that kept coming up - Facebook, Facebook, Facebook.

Peeps on the go - Mobile Web made easy for Public Relations geeks

 

Are you a Crackberry addict or an iPhone junkie?  Or are you just plain confused watching people walk around with headset in ear and cell phone in hand 24/7?  Perhaps I can help :)

I am speaking on Mobile Web for PR pros at PRSA Houston's PR Day tomorrow (my first PR Day speaking gig ever!!) and will be leading 2 30-minute table talks about the basics of Mobile Web.

So what the heck does that mean?  Basically, it means that soooo many people on a global level have access to cell phones than computers (over 2.7 Billion cell phones out there vs. under 1 Billion personal computers) that savvy PR gurus have to change with the times and communicate with their Web visitors where they actually are.

The Mobile Web = Mobile people (not the hottest new handheld or the latest iPhone).  People are on the go - whether they are customers, friends or family - and have easier access to the Internet through their cell phones than ever.

I have included my general 'what to know about Mobile Web' outline after the jump -- or you can open up this PDF as well for easier printing.  If you're attending tomorrow, you'll also get to hear Ed Schipul speak in the first breakout session on Strategic PR with Social Media!  DOUBLE WHAMMY!!  :)

Pssssst....  Looking for the Wii Giveaway post?  Click here!

 

Image thanks to Flickr user IamSam!

Mom 2.0 Summit - coming at ya' Feb. 19-21!!

May I just take a second to brag on my extraordinary friends?  The Kirtsy crew, OpMom, Monica Danna... just to name a few...

I am so lucky to have ladies this passionate, brilliant and beautiful in my life for a variety of reasons (like brunch, impromptu phone call calm downs and random midday IM sessions) - but most excitingly right now for putting on amazing Community events like the upcoming Mom 2.0 Summit in 2009.

It's a mom-focused new marketing summit in Houston focused on connecting moms, bloggers and marketers and helping us all be stronger communicators and better people in general.

There's going to be a stellar speaker line-up that I am beyond excited to be included among!  Register today and get ready for some serious brain candy, friend making and networking.  You go girls! 

Blogging for Business - Sweeter than cupcakes?

Blogging for Business - Sweet for all sizes

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: business small)

This is a recent presentation I did for an Internet Marketing for Small Business class at the UHSBDC last week.  It's always a challenge to know exactly what a varied audience is looking for when discussing Blogging for Business 101, so this presentation gave a wide overview of companies making a success of it in different ways and the tools they use to get there.

This particular presentation has a few general points on defining a Blog's success (the message primarily being that you need to be creative, pro-active and diligent in finding a definition of success and measuring it - lots of pre-launch evaluation action):

• What are you specifically telling your visitors to do?
  • Eyeball those driven hits to specific areas of your Blog, your services/products page, a special landing page on your main Web site, etc.
• Action in your comments area
  • Try www.intensedebate.com for a more social approach to commenting
• Are you getting talked about, linked to or visited by Influencers?
  • Prolific Bloggers vs. Influential Bloggers - use Technorati or IceRocket rankings to determine who is who influence-wise (you want Influential btw)
• Pick your reader's brains with polls (like www.polldaddy.com)
• Get people signing up for your newsletter (www.mailchimp.com)
• Raise funds (www.chipin.com) and track your campaign goals

Not a comprehensive list, of course - but a basic starting-out kind of thing.  I look forward to running classes where the Social Media training is more hands one versus example-driven and theoretical.  Fun to really get your hands dirty, whether with clients or passionate marketers diving into the Social Media world.

happykatie moderates AMA Healthcare SIG on Social Media

This morning I am speaking at the AMA Healthcare SIG about how some of the absolute coolest Houston health care organizations are using Social Media to connect patients, increase awareness and grow their communities.

Demystifying Web 2.0:  Using Social Media to Reach Healthcare Audiences
Katie Laird // Schipul - The Web Marketing Company (moderator)
Fri 20-Jun-08 8:00 AM to Fri 20-Jun-08 10:30 AM

I did say 'absolute coolest' health care folks right?  I was totally not lying:

• Paul Griffiths, CEO, MedTouch
• Jay Drayer, CEO, CareFlash
• Jennifer Texada, Webmaster, MD Anderson
• Chris Ferris, Webmaster, St. Lukes

I've dabbled a bit in the Social Media Healthcare world preparing for company public speaking and to give good client support -- here's a little bit of brain candy from this brave new world:

• The Wisdom of Patients - a white paper on health care in the SM world
• The Health Care Blog
• Beth Kanter's recent Health 2.0 presentation
• Trusera - social network sharing the power of Been There
• Patients Like Me - patients helping patients
• Google Health - online and secure personal health records

Stay tuned for a wrap-up post with lots of link love and slides from our amazing speakers today!