An Overview of the Social Media Crash Course (#bizsuccess)

Like I discussed yesterday, last Wednesday I attended the Online Marketing & Social Media Crash Course with keynote speaker Starr Hall sponsored by Entrepreneur Magazine, Sprint, and Deluxe. I can't tell you how valuable the information was for me as well as my business. Below is a snippet of what we learned, you're going to have to just catch the next free seminar!

• Advertising, Promotion, Publicity, Public Relations, and Marketing ARE NOT all the same things!
• But we use social media to achieve the above actions.
• The foundation to your business is your image...your image is your website.
• Communicating to potential clients one-way will force them to leave your site and you without a client
• You website needs at least 3 calls to action (click here, try this, do this)
• If visitors to your site have to think...they're confused...if they're confused, that equals a NO
• Three things you must do to be successful with social media branding:
• Post consistently
• Post personality
• Build Social Proof (build a presence and prove that your company is the one to go to; be a buzzmaker, get people to back you)
• Choose quality not quantity
• I discussed this here.
• The more people you know, the less you know them!
• Top 4 mistakes made with social media: (are you doing this right now?)
• sites and posts aren't current
• incorrect grammar and "net-i-quette"
• being a pushy sales person >:(
• being just a voice, not engaging

That was just a snippet of what Starr taught us that day, I'd offer to post the second half...but well, you're going to have to catch it at the next seminar! Utilize Starr Hall's tips and tricks for being a better social marketer and watch your quality engagement go up!

The Unemployed Entrepreneur

Internships [dot] com: A review

I hope you have been enjoying the continuing progress of myself as well as my company SOA Event Concepts. Over the past couple of months we have planned some great community events, gone to some fantastic free events, met new affiliates and clients, and most recently hired our first group of interns!

I have to say that these interns are a wonderful group of women who bring diversity, creativity, and ambition to my company. Speaking with some of my friends about what they are doing to acquire interns or extra help it's normally the same ole same ole, Craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, inside help at a college. All of that is great and don't get me wrong, I've helped folks to create some of those intern posts. But...I have to stay, I stumped upon a gem when a friend of mine told me about internships.com

When you first stumble upon internships.com you'll notice how easy the layout is. It's not overly complicated like, say Monster.com. It is straight forward and literally took me a few minutes to create my company's profile. One thing I REALLY liked about internships.com is the fact that companies have to create a profile AND interns have to create a profile. I remember when I was a PA, posting internship requests on Craigslist and having to deal with spam and spammers. With internships.com the only messages you receive are messages from potential interns and the only interns that contact you are the ones who are looking for your specific industry.

It gives you the opportunity to really read about potential interns by looking at their resume, checking out their blogs and social media profiles and even allows you to contact them without having to go through your email. It keeps you on task with their drop down window that helps you to categorize them based on the interaction (whether you contacted, interviewed, offered a position, or rejected them)

Best of all about internships.com....IT'S FREE.99!!!!! YES AS IN $0.00!

I would recommend any company, start-up, or small business who doesn't feel the need to spend hundreds of dollars to find interns (paid or not)create a free internships.com profile and start looking for the next people to take their company to the top!

The Unemployed [but Empowered and Intern having] Entrepreneur

Tron Legacy: The Set Design

I saw Tron: Legacy over the holiday break and I must say....it was incredible. I'm personally a Daft Punk Fan and will forever be a fan of awesome imagery. The set design of one particular scene in the movie was especially fascinating to me.

Set Designer Darren Gilford

Working in the event industry, I have been taking note of the increasing trend of modular, transparent and illuminated pieces. In Tron: Legacy, they took illumination to the 22nd century (past the 21st). By keeping the design itself simple with accents of grey, black, and silver the room itself is awe inspiring. The crystal chandelier is a great addition and helps the room to transition from the mid-century "living room" space to the  modern dining room space. Although the floors and walls give off the majority of the illumination in the room, the chandelier helps to create a romantic mood.

Tron: Legacy [Disney Pictures (c)2010]

The over sized fireplace was a wonderful focal point in this living room space. What was intriguing was not that it glowed with wood embers but it glowed with a digital "waterfall" like feature. The French settees of black leather and transparent hardware helped to pull in the darkness of the rock walls but also helped the room maintain a common theme. 

All in all this is by far my favorite set in the entire movie. In 2011, I can absolutely see people, event designers, and clients getting inspired by Tron: Legacy.

Check out more about this set design created by Darren Gilford for Tron: Legacy from the LA Times at Home blog.

The Unemployed [but Inspired] Entrepreneur

SOA's review of The Social Network

I went with the boyfriance's mother to see The Social Network this past weekend. I have to say, I really enjoy movies that are based on a true story. My inquisitive nature makes me always want to know the background story to the things that I have or enjoy in my life. Even though The Social Network is not an authorized biopic of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, I felt that it had real authenticity. [Side Note it is based off of the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich] I'm not going to go into serious details because you should go check it out for yourself, but after watching The Social Network I've learned three things:

First, loyalty is hard to maintain when money is involved. And it's one of the first things to go.

Second, the need for privacy and protection is prevalent no matter what business you are in.

Last, a great idea can come from anywhere. Even from someone else's mediocre idea.

Everyone can't be the next Mark Zuckerberg or have a crazy story for how they became the next, youngest or newest billionaire. But always remember, you have a great idea building inside of you. Never try your hardest to be the next anyone. Always do your best to become a greater you. It's up to you to believe in yourself to become the next great version of [insert your name here].

The Social Network in theaters now!
The Unemployed [but Empowered and Next Better Me] Entrepreneur