Lip-Sticking

Facebook for Places from Mari Smith

Professional Facebook expert, Mari Smith, shares insight into the way businesses can use Facebook Places. Do you use this tool? How is it working for you?

 

Chevy's got a Super Bowl App and a big Game Time Sweepstakes

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

For anyone that is a true football fan, last Sunday was by far one of the most exciting NFL conference championship game days you can have. Yes, it will take a while for Raven fans to get over the missed chip-shot field goal and the 49er's to wonder what if they didn't turn over the ball in overtime. We're now moving on to Super Bowl XLVI with a big rematch between the Patriots and the Giants. As I said in my last post, I'm betting on Eli Manning and the New York Giants to be this year's champions.

The Super Bowl has now become the most active topic of the millions of us who write blogs posts and updates on Facebook, Twitter and now, Google+. In 2011, the only Facebook status update topic in the world, amongst 800 million users at the time that beat out the Packers winning Super Bowl 45 was the death of Osama bin Laden. Since many of these tweets and Facebook updates come via a mobile phone, this year General Motors and Chevrolet is adding mobile to their mix to capitalize off this.

When bigger gets in the way of better

by Yvonne DiVita

Time to go shopping. Time to get groceries or birthday gifts or home goods. I search the ads in the Sunday paper (yes, we still get the Sunday paper), I look at my email and check the incoming from my favorite stores and... I sigh.

Bigger is not always better. 

That's what I think. When ready to shop, I seldom - almost NEVER - go to Walmart. I call people who shop at Walmart 'walmartians'... and if you're one, I apologize but...seriously, do you know what you're doing? You're supporting big business when small business really needs your help. 

While Walmart is the favored place to shop, with Targee' (fancy spelling of Target) a close second, I think, it wasn't always so. Back in the day, when I was a kid, we shopped for groceries and some home goods at the A&P - the Great Atlantic & Pactific Tea Co. They gave out green stamps - not loyalty cards. You licked the stamps and put them in books and when you had enough, you could get free stuff. It was our job, we being the kids, to lick the stamps and put them in the books. You had to have LOTS to get anything. Much like the loyalty points on my bank account... I have about 10,000 but it gets me little or nothing. I need 100,000 to get anything that's worthwhile. 

“Teach us,” is the cry of the women

By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

This is a quote from the Global Hope Network International's web site about a village in Afghanistan the group is helping become self-sustaining.  

Qala e Nadar is a small village framed by rugged mountains on one side and less than fifteen kilometers from Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan on the other.

Overlooked and forgotten, Qala e Nadar is small and too close to the city to merit help. Thirty years ago, the traditionally nomadic community settled on this dry, arid and barren plain. There is no accessible school, no local bazaar, no immediate health care, no electricity, no running water, and no literate adult. The community is sustained by some of the men and teenage boys who get periodic work in nearby brickworks...

“Teach us,” is the cry of the women of Qala e Nadar. A start has been made.

Of course, there are many women who need help - throughout the world.  So many, in fact, it's totally overwhelming.  And, in a google search there were about 191,000 results for "adopt a village."  What's so special about GHNI's program?  

How Much Do You Love To Write?

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

As an entrepreneur you wake up every morning with an itch to get in front of your computer and start writing, right? You're looking forward to jumping into your social media updates, writing a blog post or two, putting together a proposal or even composing business correspondence. Raise your hand if you love it. Hhhmm I am not seeing too many hands. Do you find writing to be a chore? Just not something that you enjoy because you don't know what to write about, you stress about grammar and punctuation or is it simply the blank screen that makes you freeze?

Regardless of the reason, there are many of you out there who simply don't embrace the task of writing. Thankfully there are tools out there to help you with your writing tasks and there are writers that will work with you to compose daily correspondence, blog posts and even perform your social media for you. 

Women and Health: Designing Your Second Half of Life

by Yvonne DiVita

Yes, there is a 2nd half to life for women. It comes around age 50. Unlike our mothers, who considered 50 'old', today's women know that 50 can be enlightening, invigorating, freeing, and full of expectation. We disdain the rocking chair on the porch. If we knit, it's because we need a blog post! If we cook, it's because we have a passion for taste - and love sharing. If we're married, we're happier than our mothers were (because we have a friendship as well as a marriage), and if we're not married, we're content and full of the wonder of life as it beckons us with invitation.

The BlogTalk Radio show shared here (from Kelley Connors and Real Women on Health) happened on Wednesday. I was sorry to miss it as I had a good number of questions I wish I could have asked. Like - if estrogen is so important to a woman's health, why does it cause complications later in life? And, are we too focused on not aging, today? We say we're younger and more vital than our parents were - and we're proud of that. But, aging is normal. Why fight it? I like sitting and relaxing and just... watching a bit of TV, or watching the geese fly over the backyard or strolling around the walkways of our neighborhood, at a leisurely pace - not because walking is good for my health, but because I like to walk. What's wrong with that?

Leverage Social Media More Effectively: Use an Editorial Calendar

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

Whether you’re a small business owner or an individual who wants to jump into the social media fray but are worried you simply won’t know what to write about, -- long term – use an editorial calendar as your guide. The implementation of an editorial calendar helps keep track of social media status updates, article marketing efforts and blogging. Consider your editorial calendar much the same as the kind newspaper and magazine editors use.

Knowing who your target audience is will be the first step in planning your editorial calendar. If you don’t know who you want to reach, you won’t be able to effectively put an editorial calendar in place or target your marketing efforts. Spend time determining who your ideal client/reader is then work on your calendar.  

Getting Ready for Super Bowl XLVI and those silly Doritos Contest Ads

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

It's that time of year again to be writing about one of the biggest marketing events of the year. Super Bowl XLVI will be played on February 5 in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium. Now that the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints have been eliminated, what teams do you think will win? I'm going with Eli Manning and the Giants. Here's a great article I read yesterday from the WSJ titled "Why Giants Really Could Win It All".

So the next question will be what marketing and advertising campaign will come out a winner? The team at Doritos is at it again with their sixth "Crash The Super Bowl" contest. This contest has become the grandfather of all user-generated contests. The contest finalists have now been posted and last week their submissions surged to the top of the viral video chart after generating over 1.7 million views. This year's contest received more than 6,100 entries from people hoping their video will become one of two Super Bowl ads to be televised during the game, with a possible $1 million prize if viewers rate their ad highly enough.

Breaking Bad Habits

by Yvonne DiVita

Life is not a box of chocolates, it's a series of habits. You learn what works and what doesn't and, as a human being, you lean towards what works over and over until it becomes... automatic. For instance, as a child you learn that crying gets you attention, good or bad, it doesn't always matter. The older you grow, the more you understand that crying isn't the best attention getter in your arsenal. (laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone)

A plaque on the wall near my desk reminds me daily:

When I'm 64 - No, When I'm 90- I wanna be her...

From Advanced Style, a blog about women, style, age, and confidence - that's MY description anyway, there's Ilona Royce Smithkin who is 90 years young (yes, young, just watch this video and see if you don't agree) sharing some thoughts on life and growing ... up. Up is better than 'old'... isn't it? 

Would that WE who are not 90 yet, but aspire to reaching that milestone, could embrace her advice and learn that it's not about others, it's about us... just as she has learned it's best to always be yourself.

This is too fantastic not to share. OMG! Look at those eyelashes! Mom, this is for you!