Social Media Think Tank.

Posted on by Thor

Mark Baratelli of The Daily City, organized a social media think tank at IZEA in Winter Park Village in which participants would outline one thing that worked for them to promote their business, and then they would ask a question of the other participants to learn Some thing new. New social media platforms are popping up every week, so it is impossible to stay on top of all social media platforms. Some people spread themselves to thin, not getting the most out of any one platform.

Melissa Marie who owns The Falcon Bar and Gallery, now has her bartenders using snap chat which raises awareness about what events are going on in the bar. My question had to do with the ways to promote events to media like newspapers and magazines in town. A week after the meet, I got an email from one of the attendees that had a list of all the media contacts in town. I am slowly getting those contacts entered as a list in g-mail so the I can sent out press releases to everyone.

Mark was proud that he had used Twitter to stay in contact with every media that shared his mission of enlightening and entertaining. It became clear that there is much I need to learn about social media but there are only so many hours in the day.

FLBlogCon inspired at Full Sail Live.

Posted on by Thor

Florida Blog Con is a full day convention held once a year to inspire and inform online Blog writers. Bess Auer organizes the event which has grown exponentially large over the past five years. The first year 100 people sat in a school auditorium and this year Full Sail Live (3300 University Blvd, Winter Park, FL) was completely full for the opening Keynote speaker which was Ted Murphy CEO of IZEA.

Sunshine Woodyard Baker gave a talk about what PR agencies expect from bloggers who are invited to cover an event. All of her points directly relate to what I do every day as I try and gain access to bigger and better events to sketch. There is a major advantage to be the first to blog about an event. It is shared on all social media extending the articles reach. Since I have such a huge back log of as of yet unpublished sketches, it is harder to get a post to go live quickly. Only when I’ve been paid to document an event, will I get it up the next day.

Nicole Siscaretti‘s discussion about the merits of using instagram caused be to download the program the next week. Within a day there were 400 followers. I love that instagram is a completely visual interface and I use it now to take photos of sketches in progress. Like Facebook, people can “like” an image or comment. It is another ball that I need to juggle in my social media outreach. I heard Professor Josh shoot several photos behind me as I sketched. A few days later he posted a digital sketch of me in action. Another thing on my “to do list” is a weekly newsletter. Katy Widrick pointed out that e-mails are a great way to reach young connected individuals. I tried to set up a Mail Chimp newsletter account once and failed. Her talk made me realize that I have to go back and battle the chimp. She showed an image of 3 intersecting circles with a sweet spot in the center. Those circles were blogging, social media and a newsletter. I can’t find my sweet spot until I complete that triad.

Eddie Selover gave an inspiring closing keynote. Eddie organizes Pecha Kucha here in Orlando where about eight speakers give Power Point presentations with a hitch. Each slide is only shown for 20 seconds and there are 20 images. The speaker can not stop, go back or pause. The train keeps moving quickly forward. Eddy pointed out that with such a condensed format, a speaker must edit and re-edit so that every word is aimed at conveying the central theme or concept. What is left is often poetry and pure emotion. There is magic in coming together to listen to stories. The fact that Pecha Kucha events in Orlando always sell out is a testament to that magic. Derick Orth then gave a Pecha Kucha presentation about his travel adventures as a vagabond. There is a website called couch surfing which offers travelers a chance to hang out with local hosts around the world. Rather than complain about his dead end job, Derick decided to travel and teach English in Japan for income. His life turned from consumption to connection. The world became his classroom and he had control over his recess schedule. Life became more important than fears. Eddie went on to point out that bloggers need to go out and live a life worth writing about. Every day can be an adventure.

Florida Blog Con Speakers

Posted on by Thor

The first speaker I heard at Florida Blog Con was Katy Widrick, she explained why bloggers need a media kit and branding plan. She is the executive producer at Growing Bolder Media group and she has seen media kits that are good, ban and ugly. This is the first time I’ve considered the need for a media kit but now it is on my to do list.

The next speaker Jennette Scott explained how to make money blogging. This was a real eye opener. I tried setting up Google Ads on the blog last year and didn’t see a cent from it so I disabled the service. With Google ads, you make $1 for every thousand impressions. I never made a dollar. The turning point was when I started seeing Full Sail ads on AADW. I immediately dumped Google ads. Jennette explained affiliate marketing which is her primary way of making money from her blog. Any time someone clicks on a link on her blog, she makes money. I use links extensively so this feature seems a no brainer. She collaborates with IZEA which is an Orlando Internet marketing group that has celebrities market products using social media. Other ways Jennette makes money blogging include direct sponsorships, freelance gigs, paid content, and free items that she is given to write about. Amazingly she makes more money now than she ever did in her previous 9 to 5 job.

After lunch, Jason Headsetsdot.com, the founder of I wear your shirt spoke about “How to sell Yourself Without Selling Out”. He was hilarious. He started asking companies to pay him if he would wear their logo on a tee shirt for a day. Amazingly this turned out to be a very lucrative way to make money in the age of social media. Even his dog began wearing company logos and the dog became an instant Internet celebrity. Jason’s advice included…

1. Be different.

2. Build an audience.

3. Be interesting.

4. Under promise and over deliver.

5. Know what you control.

6. Find your niche. What is your style?

7. Build your list. Building an e-mail list of people interested in your site is important.

8. Create content and syndicate that content.

9. Sell that shit.

10. Be different and work hard. You don’t get what you don’t ask for.

11. Give people their crack, interact!

Jason actually sold his last name. He put out a Facebook invite for any company to buy his last name. The highest bidder was Headsets.com who paid him $30,000 for the rights and so Headsets.com is Jason’s last name. I have much to learn as I begin to monetize, and market Analog Artist Digital World in a brave new world.