happykatie :: katie rocks out the interwebs

Thanks AMA Houston Tech SIG for the Business Blogging conversation

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!

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Blog Forward panel with AMA Houston tomorrow!

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

Thanks to HSAE for a fun Social Media discussion!

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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

Social Media Marketing for Associations roundtable tomorrow!

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

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."

Got Social Media? conference lovin'

Ed
Originally uploaded by eschipul

Congratulations to Erica, Kelsey and all Houston-area geeks on a fantastic first Got Social Media? conference.  Missed the awesomeness?  Get your fix here:
 

• Got Social Media? site
• Got Social Media? Ning community
• Got Social Media? Flickr photos
• Got Social Media? presentations on Slideshare
• Got Social Media? Hashtag love

P.S.  Don't miss Ed Schipul's great pink boa picture. (You're welcome, Ed!)

Social Media and You - A Schipul Instructional Film

I present to you the latest and greatest from the Schipul Instructional Films series:

Crazy mad props to Jaymac and all of the Schipul crew.  Hands down some of the coolest people I know.  UPDATE:  This Social Media video was based on a 1950's PSA video here (it's even funnier if you watch this one too...)

Got Social Media? SMM rocks out in HOU

I am beyond excited about the upcoming Got Social Media? conference on January 24th!!  As I mentioned earlier, some of my fave people will be speaking on everything from Women in Social media, non profit technology, measuring your SM ROI, etc. Props to my lady Erica for being a major force behind this event!

Have you seriously not registered yet?  You can use a special 'friend of Schipul' code to knock off $15 from your ticket - SO DO IT NOW!!:  SCHIPUL

A good start to 2008: tethered-happykatie

So I'm not going to lie, I feel sad that this is the first real post I have written in 2008.  But no worries, this isn't going to be one of the apology lame-a** posts.  Instead, I have some beautiful things to share with you:

** Currently I am quite blissfully happy looking at photos taken at Avant Garden of a beautiful show, NeoFormalism1.  Ed Schipul took some beautiful photos (please see above) that are posted to his Flickr account.  Rose and Olive were there of course and I got to meet painter Terrell James, Jenny-Beck (of Nova Arts Project) and Varina (of Arts Houston), as well as hang out with my fave office neighbor / morning commute stalker pal Jonti.

** Today, not only did I get to hang out with Jenny the Bloggess and Laura (aka: The Queso) but I also got to meet Karen (of Chookooloonks) for the very first time.  She was awesome and is now pretty much Ella's favorite new person :)  I love being with intelligent, fierce Blogging chicas!

** NetSquared is going to be amazing this month on Tuesday, Jan. 8th with Kelly McCann of the AIDS Houston Foundation.  Free booze and amazing conversation - RSVP online here!

**  My cheeky new art club, Houston Dr. Sketchy, is holding its first event next Sunday, January 13th from 2-5pm at Avant Garden.  It's  an awesome art geek gathering with a killer DJ (Low End Theory), fun contests and a different life model every month (this time we get a little Burlesque with Ann Berlin).

** Houston is getting its very first Social Media conference on Jan. 17th with the Got Social Media? event.  There are some great speakers (Ed, Laura, Erica and Kelsey among them!) and is one more awesome way that the Houston tech community is growing in leaps and bounds.

Things have started out crazy-busy, but very good, in 2008 - I'm looking forward to starting at Boston University early this year, Adam is about to move into some great studio space at his ceramics shop and (absolutely, 100% most importantly) Ella/happykiddo is blossoming into an even more beautiful and hilarious little sparklette. 

Hope your year has started out smashingly well :) Drop me a line and let me know what you're up to!

Where my stitches at? (or how I conned Ed into hanging out on the roof)

I have to brag on Ed Schipul for his awesome camera skillz.  He obligingly took some great photos of some original happybuela knits :) for her to post on Ravelry.  Thanks Ed!!

Actually, that's really what I wanted to write about - Ravelry.  A cool knitting-focused social network that makes my life a happy place.  Especially now that I have a near obsessive compulsive need to buy yarn and make beautiful things.

Ravelry lets you queue up new projects, share FOs (finished objects), catalog your yarn stash and search for new projects and tips.  I especially like the site as it gives me another way to connect to knitters and yarn junkies I like

It's a user-friendly site that plays nice with Flickr accounts, blogs and social bookmarking.  And get this, I even click on the ads they run.  Like all the time.  Niche Social Media sites are the bizomb.  Look me up sometime (I'm happykatie - surprise, surprise) to check on my progress into the world of UFOs (unfinished objects) and needles.