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Largest Social Media Event Focused on Business in Arizona - SMAZ5 10-7-11

SMAZ - Social Media AZ (Social Media for Businesses in Arizona)

Want to learn about Social Media and Digital Marketing focused on business? This is the event you should attend! RSVP Today! 

A business focused event designed to help businesses understand, improve and learn about Digital Marketing, with a Social Media focus. Covering Social Media, Search, Mobile and more. Learn from Industry Experts and Corporations that are well versed in using Social Media to reach and support their clients.


Presenters range from Fortune 200 executives to Social Media authors and SEM architects with years of experience willing to share the challenges and rewards of implementing internal and external Social media strategies. Learn policies, processes, tool sets, and monitoring techniques from the experts. Bring your questions and meet the right people.

• Why join us? Focus on Real World experiences!
• Learn from and meet the best in the business!
• Mobile, video, search, social, measurement, and more.

The major Digital Agencies will all be there. Everything from the 101 session, Small / Medium Business to Enterprise. Join our panel of experts in a comfortable environment allowing for direct interaction.

• Ask questions that are pertinent to your organization
• Hear and see how other companies are approaching Social Media, the challenges and successes.
• Case Studies will be emphasized, real world information!
• What tools are being using?
• How do you measure success?
• How do you convince your management?
• What questions do you need to ask to be successful?
• How to address corporate policies around Social Media?

Meet others with similar goals and make new connections. Oh and there's some great food too. Exceptional prizes are being given away as well!

For additional information please go to: SocialMediaAZ.org (Use #SMAZ on Twitter: SMAZ conversations on Twitter)

Please visit and thank our sponsors:

ExactTarget

KEO Marketing

Vertical Measures

City of Tempe

BulbStorm

Mint Social (Social Media Marketing Company)

SpyFu

Black Dog Promotions

Infusionsoft

The Kelly Law Firm

Shwaag.com

aloft Hotel Tempe

Madcap Theater

PopChips

Our partner associations:

Business Marketing Association (BMA)

Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)

Social Media Club (SMC)

Arizona Interactive Marketing Association(AZIMA)

Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization Arizona (SEMPO)

Location: 730 S. Mill Ave Tempe, 85281

Date: Friday, October 07, 2011 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM (MT)

Register TODAY!

SMAZ5 10-7-11: Largest Social Media Event Focused on Business in Arizona

SMAZ - Social Media AZ (Social Media for Businesses in Arizona)

Want to learn about Social Media and Digital Marketing focused on business? This is the event you should attend! RSVP Today!

A business focused event designed to help businesses understand, improve and learn about Digital Marketing, with a Social Media focus. Covering Social Media, Search, Mobile and more. Learn from Industry Experts and Corporations that are well versed in using Social Media to reach and support their clients.


Presenters range from Fortune 200 executives to Social Media authors and SEM architects with years of experience willing to share the challenges and rewards of implementing internal and external Social media strategies. Learn policies, processes, tool sets, and monitoring techniques from the experts. Bring your questions and meet the right people.

• Why join us? Focus on Real World experiences!
• Learn from and meet the best in the business!
• Mobile, video, search, social, measurement, and more.

The major Digital Agencies will all be there. Everything from the 101 session, Small / Medium Business to Enterprise. Join our panel of experts in a comfortable environment allowing for direct interaction.

• Ask questions that are pertinent to your organization
• Hear and see how other companies are approaching Social Media, the challenges and successes.
• Case Studies will be emphasized, real world information!
• What tools are being using?
• How do you measure success?
• How do you convince your management?
• What questions do you need to ask to be successful?
• How to address corporate policies around Social Media?

Meet others with similar goals and make new connections. Oh and there's some great food too. Exceptional prizes are being given away as well!

For additional information please go to: SocialMediaAZ.org (Use #SMAZ on Twitter: SMAZ conversations on Twitter)

Please visit and thank our sponsors:

ExactTarget

KEO Marketing

Vertical Measures

City of Tempe

BulbStorm

Mint Social

SpyFu

Black Dog Promotions

Infusionsoft

The Kelly Law Firm

Shwaag.com

aloft Hotel Tempe

Madcap Theater

PopChips

Our partner associations:

Business Marketing Association (BMA)

Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)

Social Media Club (SMC)

Arizona Interactive Marketing Association(AZIMA)

Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization Arizona (SEMPO)

Location: 730 S. Mill Ave Tempe, 85281

Date: Friday, October 07, 2011 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM (MT)

Register TODAY!

AZIMA Serves it Up with Social Media July 12th, 2011

Join us to hear from a panel of local Chefs and Restaurateurs who've been reaping the rewards of creating thriving online communities to support their foodie customers. Social media certainly has its benefits for those who love dining out. From free appetizers for Foursquare check-ins, to Twitter notifications about happy hours, to Facebook messages including discounted entrees, there's always something tantalizing happening online. RSVP for EVENT

EVENT: Serving it Up with Social Media

MODERATOR: Ty Largo, Principal & Creative Director at UP Agency, a local marketing/PR firm where he works closely with many local hospitality providers.

PANELISTS: Chef Justin Beckett (@beckettstable) opened his highly anticipated restaurant, Beckett's Table, in the fall of 2010. Long before his first dinner service, Beckett strategically earned thousands of social media followers who witnessed the step-by-step process of recipe development, restaurant design and even had opportunities to contribute to the restaurant's concept. The online engagement resulted in a booming business from day one. Jennifer Granillo, Burrito Wrangler & Marketing Consultant, Chipotle Mexican Grill has spent nearly ten years spreading burrito love with Chipotle Mexican Grill. As a marketing consultant for Chipotle, Jenn leads strategic sales and brand building initiatives and community relations efforts for the restaurant's locations in Arizona, Utah and Idaho. 

DATE: July 12, 2011 TIME: 6 pm- Networking & Cocktails and 7 pm- Program & Light Dinner

LOCATION: Scottsdale Hilton (6333 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85250)

PRICING: A light dinner and one drink are included in the cost of the event. Student: $25 (Enter "STUDENT" promo code) Members: $35 (Enter "AZIMAMEMBER" promo code) Non- Members: $45 At the door: $55

R.S.V.P. for Event

Hurry - Few Seats Remain! Online Marketing Summit comes to Phoenix June 16!

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to attend the most education-packed online marketing event in Phoenix - June 15-16.


Choose from workshops, conference sessions & training covering the hottest online marketing topics including:

• social media
• email marketing
• search engine optimization
• website usability
• analytics, mobile
• integrated marketing
• demand generation
• ...and more!

All NEW Interactive Marketing "INSIDER" Tips shared Phoenix!

Here are just a few of the most recently announced high impact sessions added to the OMS lineup:

-Social Media: Identifying and Measuring Social Media Brand Advocaes with Lise Brende, Microsoft.

-Search Engine Optimization: Leveraging User Generated Content for SEO

Conversion with Eric Moore, Bazaarvoice

-Mobile Marketing: Mobile Marketing - How to get results in less than 24 hours with Andjelika Martin, M Resort

Geo-Somo - Social Mobile Geo-Marketing with Matthew O'Brien of Mint Social

- Why Social Mobile Marketing is Essential to Your Business (Dominate in Local Search)

Register with promo code IMA15AZ to save 15%!

Event Details-


Phoenix | June 15-17 Sheraton Phoenix Downtown 340 N. 3rd Street

Featured Speakers -

Jeramie McPeek Vice President, Digital, Phoenix Suns

Lise Brende Director of Marketing Analytics, Bing & MSN, Microsoft

Laura Laney Sr Demand Generation Manager, Adobe Systems

Matthew O'Brien, CEO, Mint Social

Rock The Waterfront for Charity with Bret Michaels May 13 Scottsdale

Former Poison Front man Headlines Concert May 13th Benefiting Phoenix Children’s Hospital and The Boys & Girls Club of Scottsdale.

Tickets: http://bit.ly/ixaK7G

“Rock the Waterfront” will be held at the Scottsdale Waterfront from 4:00 to 11:00 p.m.  Bret Michaels will headline the show, with additional bands opening for him.

Concert Lineup

• Jeordie & the Mixology Project at 4:30pm (www.myspace.com/jeordiethemixologyproject)
• Random Karma at 6PM (www.randomkarma.com)
• Walkins at 7:30pm (www.thewalkens.com)
• Bret Michaels at 9PM (www.bretmichaels.com)

 


“I’m honored to partner with The Council to support these charities,’” Michaels said. “It is a great local organization, and as a life-long diabetic I can truly appreciate what a difference these charities are making to children’s lives.”

Tickets are priced at $35 for general admission and $125 for “Golden Circle” admission, which includes food and six drinks as well as access to VIP seating, bars and restrooms. Food and beverages will be also available for purchase inside the gates.

The leadership of Executive Council Charities is the host for this charity concert.  To purchase tickets and for more information, please visit http://bit.ly/ixaK7G

AZIMA Event - Customer Acquisition from Organic Search on May 3rd

Arizona Interactive Marketing Association (AZIMA) Event!

Join us to hear from the leading author Vanessa Fox, the author of Marketing in the Age of Google who has been called a “cyberspace visionary” by Seattle Business Monthly. She is an expert in understanding customer acquisition from organic search. She shares her perspective on how this impacts marketing and user experience and how all business silos (including developers and marketers) can work together towards greater search visibility at ninebyblue.com. Register Online

She’s also an entrepreneur-in-residence with Ignition Partners, Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and host of the weekly podcast Office Hours. She previously created Google’s Webmaster Central, which provides both tools and community to help website owners improve their sites to gain more customers from search and was instrumental in the sitemaps.org alliance of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Live Search. She was named one of Seattle’s 2008 top 25 innovators and entrepreneurs. Her book, Marketing in the Age of Google, provides a blueprint for incorporating search strategy into organizations of all levels.

Date: Tuesday, May 3rd 2011

Time: 6:00p.m.- 8:00p.m.Event

Location: Scottsdale Hilton (6333 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85250) A light dinner, and one drink is included.

Pricing:

Student $25 (Enter "STUDENT" promo code)

Members $35 (Enter "AZIMAMEMBER" promo code)

Non- Members $45At the door $55

Register: http://bit.ly/iDCyOm

Google encroaches on social, with its new +1 feature.

You click on stuff that your friends like. It's a simple enough fact, but it's tremendously important. It's the insight behind the Facebook "like" button, wherein you can share with your social network what links interest you. And it's the insight behind a new feature launched by Google today, something it's calling +1. In a blog post today, Google explained how it was building on its recent decision to include information in your searches about whether your friends liked a given link (shared it on Twitter, for example). With +1, which Google's Rob Spiro calls "the digital shorthand for 'this is pretty cool,'" anyone with a Google account can now opt in to publicly endorsing websites they like. Google introduced the new feature with a video. The web is a big place, it explains, and we could all use some friendly pointers to help us navigate it.



David Zax, the author of this post. Read More:

Keynote Speakers For Social Media AZ Are Now Revolution Authors Jay Baer, Amber Naslund

For immediate release -  January 18, 2011 Tempe , AZ – Social Media AZ (SMAZ) announced that social media experts Jay Baer and Amber Naslund will be keynote speakers at Social Media Arizona (SMAZ) and the Smazzie Awards. Baer and Naslund are co-authors of the recently released book “The Now Revolution”. SMAZ will also be hosting a book signing with Baer and Naslund.  

Fred von Graf, the founder of Social Media AZ commented, “Jay and Amber are pioneers in the use of social media and are on the cutting edge. They will provide all attendees invaluable insight on how to take advantage of the rapidly changing landscape that is social media”.  

Naslund also commented on her involvement with SMAZ, “ I'm so passionate about bringing The Now Revolution to organizations like SMAZ, because we're past the 'hey, neato' phase of social media. Businesses need tangible, scalable ways to adapt their operations to accommodate a new era of communication, and that's why we wrote the book. Jay and I are really looking forward to sharing the shifts we think companies need to make to be nimble, responsive, and relevant today."  

All attendees will receive a FREE copy of “The Now Revolution”   SMAZ and the Smazzies will be held at the Madcap Theatre in Tempe on February 11, 2011. For additional information and to purchase tickets visit the Social Media AZ website at SocialMediaAZ.org (Use discount code 'SMAZ4MINT35' for 35% off)

About Social Media Arizona (SMAZ) and “The Smazzies” SMAZ/Social Media AZ (SocialMediaAZ.org) is a business focused event designed to help businesses understand and use Social Media. Learn from Industry Experts and Corporations that are already using Social Media Marekting to reach and support their clients.

Presenters range from Fortune 200 executives to Social Media Marketing authors and SEM architects with years of experience willing to share the challenges and rewards of implementing internal and external Social media strategies. Learn policies, processes, tool sets, and monitoring techniques from the experts. The SMAZZIES (http://bit.ly/SMAZZIES) are awarded to local individuals and organizations that exemplify some part of the rapidly evolving world that is Social Media.

Media Contact:

Scott Kelly

Black Dog Promotions

480-206-3435

scott(at)blackdogpromotions.com  

Fred von Graf

Social Media Arizona

602-652-2703

Fred(at)SocialMediaAZ.org

How to do Viral Marketing in Social Networks

It’s no secret that Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking sites have grown exponentially over the past few years. Social media is arguably the most effective way to market to your targeted audience, when done right.

 

Mint Social's mindset is, "Bring your message to where the people are vs. trying to get them to your website. Strategically market to your prospects on their turf (social networks and other web 2.0 sites)."

 

The major search engines love social networks and you can’t overlook the link-building opportunities offered by social networking sites and others user-generated content sites.

 

We like to say, "Widgetize your marketing message for getting shared and for speading it across the web with the least amount of effort.".

 

Pitchy content is less likely to be shared and passed on through social connections vs. educational content. Want to go viral...contact the social media marketing company. Read the full post - http://bit.ly/iazxxI

In This Economy Are Businesses Hiring Social Media Marketing Internally?

Many businesses often face the question of whether to pay for social media marketing (SMM) services or to use someone in your own company to help you achieve your company’s online goals. Can you hire all the knowledge to build a long-tern social media marketing strategy or do you acquire your marketing foundation from a top social media marketing company? More companies fail using in-house SMM and social media optimization SMO “experts” than succeed because the learning curve and knowledge base hits a plateau. If going the in-house route, be sure to enroll your in-house champion(s) into education based associations like AZIMA, SEMPO, SMAZ and many more online marketing related educational associations like this. There are some critical things to consider and decision to make for selecting your SMM/SMO strategy.

Here is the most important thing to consider:

 

Do you have the appropriate resources and know how to get results and measure results with SMM/SMO?

CEO of Mint Social, Matt O'Brien says, "social media marketing it time consuming, especially if you do not have the right tools and the right plan to simplify your marketing efforts. As someone who has spent more than two decades doing this kind of work, Mint Social built their model by implementing our social media footprint process for over 100 clients. There’s a certain amount of dedication, skill, and experience needed in figure out the best methodology for tracking results and generating ROI (beacuse it is constantly changing). Your in-house must have the knowledge and access to the tools to maximize your marketing efforts with social media."

 

Your company is most likely not willing to get results based on a learning curve. Would you trust the success of your company to anyone who can't has not built a foundation and ongoing strategy that can be left behind if they are no longer working for the company?

Something you will not hear from most businesses in the SMM/SMO space is how to build your in-house team. Even if you have a short term plan for hiring the experts for the sake of bringing these resources in-house, make sure you find a company that is willing to transfer their expertise and share the tools they use to make you the most successful possible for when you bring your resources in-house.

Mint Social will give you the answers...learn more from the social media marketing experts.

What to Look for in an Effective Internet Marketing Program

The Internet is flooded with a sea of websites. Everyone has one these days – businesses, nonprofit organizations, and websites for specific real estate properties for sale. If you do not have a website, get one up and then return to this post for the next step. If you have a website, do you ever feel like you have a billboard in a basement? Unless you have a very loyal Web surfers, your company most likely won’t get noticed unless you implement one of these strategies:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• SMM/SMO (Social Media Marketing - Social Media Optimization)
• PPC (Pay-per-click) Advertising
• Search Engine Directories

There seems to be as many SEO, SMM and PPC specialists out there that promise you great results as fish in the ocean but they can’t all be “the best,” so here’s how to figure out which online marketing company is right for you:

 

1. Pay Per-Click (PPC) – This is a program in which you can pay to get clicks to your website. These are effective in getting you started, waiting for the major search engines to catch up. This is buying ads in Yahoo!, Google, MSN or Facebook and pay for every click that drives traffic to you website. Experts like Anthony Bajoras at Move Software can help.
2. SEO – Your website’s pages are checked by certain scientific methods for a percentage of keywords that you choose so that you get targeted by the search engines. The top goal is to get on the first page of the results list of the major search engines, like Yahoo!, Google, or MSN.
3. Search Engine Directories – This can be a costly venture, but it may be well worth the expense. Although it all depends what your budget can stand.
4. SMM/SMO (Social Media Marketing - Social Meida Optimization) - bring your content to where 75% of people are on the Internet to build trust, community and inbound traffic. Learn more on the social media marketing blog of Mint Social.

Your online marketing consultants can help you decide whether to go the organic route, social marketing route or a fee-based plan. There are some consultants that may determine that a mixture of programs is what your company needs to stand out in the crowd. Find a program that is tailored to your niche market and helps your company meet all the goals you set, not only in visitor traffic but also to your bottom line. We all know that the more people that know about your company, the better your chances are of getting them to buy your goods or services.

Learn how to automate your online marketing with the best in class social media management tool.