social media

April 04, 2009

Social Media etiquette for the campaign volunteer

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.

February 17, 2009

Social Networks for Small Business Marketing

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 :)

October 30, 2008

Blogging for Business - Sweeter than cupcakes?

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
  • 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.

September 11, 2008

The places geeks go when obsessed with the weather


Ike ain't playing!
Originally uploaded by davidherrold

Hurricane Ike has brought out the weather junkies in us all, both in our steamy city of Houston and on the interwebs at large. 

Here are some spots to keep up-to-date with the wild and wacky weather, as well as add photos, storm cloud divinations and other handy stuff:

July 25, 2008

Blogging for Business panel - thanks to HTC!

Thanks so much to the Houston Technology Center, Marc Nathan, Kelsey Ruger and Steve Latham for a fun and well-attended 'Blogging for Business' Educational Series panel

It was a great panel that covered everything from the sociological push for humans to grow their community (now online through Social Media, way back when through gangs in NYC <grin>), the business reasons behind why Social Media is a good move for businesses and how to get your strategies in place for business Blogging.

On a personal level, I was very excited to see, among many much-loved familiar faces, Kami (@kamichat on Twitter) and Cathy Stucker (@CathyStucker on Twitter) in person for the very first time. 

As so often happens after a public speaking gig, there were a few other things that I wish I had shared during the panel -- hopefully some of you attendees are reading this now :) and I'll probably have a few more things to add by the end of the day:

  • (This one was prompted by Mark Schmulen from NutShell Mail - thanks dude, can't wait for my cupcake!!)  Blogging is just plain AWESOME for search engine love - not only are relevant Blog posts full of rich keywords that will help drive traffic to your blog (and subsequently to your site if you are linking strategically), but search engines are amazingly fast at picking up Blog posts. 

    This means that if you regularly write topical and timely posts on your Blog, you will show up incredibly well in Google - our Schipul 'The SEM Blog' has actually seen super Google listings in as short as 60 minutes.  Now THAT is hot :)
  • When getting started in the Social Media and Blogging sphere, you first need to get your feet wet by reading Blogs, signing up for social networks and just getting your sea legs.  After you've been reading for a while and have picked up some of the nuances of specific social networks' communication styles and etiquette, then you need to get to work on developing your Personal Brand

    Even if you're not starting your own Blog or plan on posting other content online, it's hugely important that you have a consistent way to brand yourself:
    • Find a photo of yourself that you like to use as an avatar (the little picture thingie that represents you on different sites)
    • Come up with a name that is easy for people to remember to (for instance, I am 'happykatie' everywhere -- except MySpace b/c some British girl beat me to it not that I am bitter -- but everywhere else no one ever has to question how to find me)
    • Have bio, professional and personal interest info ready to fill out as much of every site profile that you can -- the fuller your profile, the richer your experience will be on social networking sites.

April 02, 2008

Thanks AMA Houston Tech SIG for the Business Blogging conversation

Amahouston The AMA Houston Tech SIG hosted a great Blog Forward presentation today with 3 panelists of various Blogging heritages including myself (www.happykatie.com and Schipul), Greg Price (of PKF and www.fromgregshead.com) and Michael Berry (of Ops Manager at Clear Channel and of KTRH blogs).

Many thanks to Rob Roberts and the AMA Tech SIG crew for hosting the event.  I'm hoping that participants walked away with some actionable Blogging ideas for their own business online marketing adventures.   Scroll to the end of this post to view my presentation slides or visit me on Slideshare here.

In the end, it's all about the right people and the right content.  Once you have those right, the possibilities are limitless.  Recruit from within, grow your peoples' personal brands and BLOG!!  I highly recommend checking out this article by Ed Schipul on what to do when starting a Social Media program for additional background.

In case your geekery meter hasn't overloaded yet, here are some links that I shared while on stage:

Blogging Tools

  1. Typepad (which Schipul uses and I use for 2 blogs):  www.typepad.com
  2. Wordpress (a great free blog platform that I use for 1 blog):  www.wordpress.com
  3. Movable Type (a little more complex, but great for group blogs):  www.movabletype.com
  4. Blogger (free, but I'm not a huge fan):  www.blogger.com

Blog Analytics Tools

  1. Google Analytics (free and greatly improved!):  www.google.com/analytics
  2. Feedburner (free tool to track your RSS feed #s):  www.feedburner.com
  3. Stat Counter (another freebie):  www.statcounter.com

Link Grab Bag

  1. Flickr (online photography community):  www.flickr.com
  2. Slideshare (like YouTube but for Powerpoints):  www.slideshare.net
  3. Technorati (a search engine for Blogs):  www.technorati.com
  4. Del.icio.us (social bookmarking site that rocks):  http://del.icio.us

Thanks to all who participated - I look forward to seeing you on the Blogosphere :)  And, of course, feel free to drop me a line sometime:  happykatie at gmail.com.  Photo thanks to Ed Schipul - click here for more AMA Houston pics!

April 01, 2008

Blog Forward panel with AMA Houston tomorrow!

Amalogo It's always great to be in a room full of Blogging geeks, that's why I'm really looking forward to speaking tomorrow at the AMA Houston Tech SIG breakfast panel entitled 'Blog Forward - The Rapid Evolution of Blogs as a Marketing Tool'.

I'll be joining Greg Price (of PKF and www.fromgregshead.com) and Michael Berry (of Clear Channel and KTRH.com blogs) as we dive into how our organizations have been using Blogs to connect with our clients and save the world (or something like that).  Event details:

Blog Forward - The Rapid Evolution of Blogging as a Marketing Tool
Speakers:  Greg Price, Katie Laird, Michael Berry
BMC Theater - 2101 CityWest Blvd.
Wed 2-Apr-08 7:30 AM to Wed 2-Apr-08 10:30 AM

March 28, 2008

Thanks to HSAE for a fun Social Media discussion!

I had a great time with the Houston Society of Association Executives today at the Social Media for Association Roundtable.  They are really a fun-loving and curious group which (if such words were ever used as proper nouns) could be my middle name.  Many thanks for the warm welcome!

If anyone is in the Houston area and is interested in some free Social Media training, the company I work for (Schipul - The Web Marketing Company) offers regular classes and would love to have you.  Plus we have a foosball table and lots of toys to play with, so you'll have a grand old visit. 

Free is awesome, just like this Social Media class.  The details:

Social Marketing Seminar
Presented by Schipulite Kim Lange
Schipul - The Web Marketing Company

Fri 18-Apr-08 1:30 PM to Fri 18-Apr-08 3:00 PM

March 27, 2008

Social Media Marketing for Associations roundtable tomorrow!

Hsae_logo

I am very excited to be speaking and leading a panel of great Houston association gurus tomorrow at the Houston Society of Association Executives Social Media Roundtable.

Social Media Marketing for Associations Roundtable with HSAE
Katie Laird Strategic Advisor
Schipul - The Web Marketing Company

Fri 28-Mar-08 11:30 AM to Fri 28-Mar-08 2:00 PM


If you're in the area do drop by - I'll be giving a brief Social Media 101 overview and then we'll dive into a discussion on what's great, good, blah and otherwise for local associations branching out into the Web 2.0 world.  If nothing else, you'll get to see me at my most hyper and this time I have pictures of cupcakes in my presentation - does it really get any better than that?!?

You can also find my slides tomorrow on Slideshare:  www.slideshare.net/happykatie

February 11, 2008

happykatie on Facebook for business in the Houston Chronicle

Cool beans, I got a mention and a couple of photos in the Houston Chronicle yesterday.  Thanks to Imelda, I got hooked up with a really super reporter named Cori Shropshire who was looking for random ways that older (= non-college aged) people used Facebook.

We emailed and chatted on the phone a couple of times, which mostly meant me subjecting Cori to a lot of Facebook happiness and Schipul personal branding blabbing.  This is what she got:

Katie Laird, a 25-year-old Web marketing consultant, jumps on and off the site all day, helping her clients, many of whom are older and less tech-savvy than she is, boost their Internet visibility. "I love it when gray-haired men ask me if I'm on Facebook," she said.

There, "you get more done and have more fun," she said, after conceding that really only about 40 percent of her Facebook time is purely work-related.

"Sometimes ... we have big marketing pushes. I'm on there for business all the time, and other times its 100 percent random personal stuff," Laird said.

"So much of my personal is also work stuff ... there's no black and white these days."

That fuzzy gray area is Facebook's appeal, users say, since the site's features allow them to be themselves. Enthusiasts say LinkedIn.com is too stodgily professional and MySpace is a circus, although several say they use both.

Facebook, said Laird, is a more pleasant alternative to the wild-and-crazy days spent ... well, perusing other social networking sites.

"Facebook is far less time-consuming than YouTube," she explained.  To be productive, she suggested limiting Facebook check-ins to twice-a-day.  "Everything in moderation," she said, then laughed.  "Must leave time to blog, too."

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