Social Media helped Remarkablogger get new wheels! Yes! Remarkablogger paid it forward to those who contributed to his car accident fund. As I posted earlier this week about contributing and paying it forward, I learned about his totaling his car and need on Twitter, a microblogging platform in which people share with friends. It’s like a group chat with posts, called “tweets,” that are less than or equal to 140 characters. He tweeted from the hospital!
Many people donated to his car accident fund. Michael was able to put a down payment on a 1998 Saab today, 12.12.08. That’s 4 days after his accident in which he flipped over and walked away! The generosity of his online friends’ donations brought him to tears!
How was this possible? Social Media gave him wheels again!
Paying it Back – Free Blogging Webinar
Michael Martine held a free blogging webinar on Ustream as his way of “paying friends back” for paying it forward to help him in a crunch.
He announced he was going to offer the webinar as a “thank you” to those who donated. He also opened the session up to anyone who wanted to join on Ustream. Requesting money for a car may be an unusual request, especially in hard times when so many people are in need. Asking, in itself, is difficult and humbling for most of us. Michael combined his understanding of technology and Social Media to provide a value and give something in return for his donation request.
He explained:
I’m doing this because… well, because I didn’t die today. Like I said, I’m in a bind and need to raise fast cash. I want to offer you something of intense value in exchange for your donation, and I hope you think that’s fair.
Social Media goes pink for breast cancer awareness during October, and so have I. The month of October was declared “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” in 1985. Think Pink October!
Breast Cancer Awareness, a Brief History
Pink ribbons are often worn to commemorate a survivor or a love one who lost the battle. In recent years, corporations sponsored events, organizations put on races, grocery products were imprinted with pink ribbons. The goal has been increased awareness of and raising of money to fight breast cancer. Many of these campaigns continue. Some are still successful while others have not been. (More about that shortly.)
In 2007, viral marketing expanded reach of this campaign with the launch of television shows dedicated to breast cancer awareness – Deal or No Deal and Warriors in Pink were dedicated to raise awareness of breast cancer.
Social Media has gone pink for October in 2008. Read the rest of this entry »
“Take 5 – Top 5 Take Aways” is a new series in which I share my key take aways from recent industry trends, news, tools about search, social media and online marketing. A series infers a regular schedule, so plan on Take 5 to be posted weekly. Which day? I’m not sure, yet.
Why 5? Take 5 is a spin off from “eat 5 fruits and vegetables each day.” It’s often hard to eat properly with busy schedules. It can also be challenging to keep up with rapid changes in search engines, social media and online marketing. However, most of us can digest five key points without feeling overly stuffed with too much information.
Read the rest of this entry »
Written while listening to Huey Lewis, Heart of Rock & Roll. Is he giving us insight into SEO?
Songwriters understand the value of good lyrics. Where ever there is real, live music, there is good content. Musicians, for centuries, have been writing and singing songs that speak of their heart and soul. Their lyrics can have far-reaching influence.
- A popular song can put a town on the map. I recently moved to Folsom, California. People immediate connect Folsom with Johnny Cash. His At Folsom Prison song created an association that outlives him.
- A catchy tune can result in memorizing a phone number you never plan to call. Tommy Tutone’s song, 867-5309 Jenny, embedded that phone number in our brains.
Good copy is the core of a memorable song! It’s all about the content…and the jingle. Read the rest of this entry »
This is written to SEOs and Social Media marketers, myself included.
Are we using our skills and talents to make a positive impact? Are we helping optimize society? How are we giving back and making a difference?
Is SEO “all about me?”
SEO, the process of getting websites to rank high in the search engines, is a critical component of online marketing efforts.
- We need to develop a lot of content.
- We optimize various forms of content (text, pdfs, podcasts, video) and our website(s) for universal search.
- We work to improve PageRank (authority) with Google while building up “social trust” by getting more links from other sites.
- We Blog, Sphinn, Digg, Thumb, Tweet, Snip, Share, Bookmark, Comment…
Focusing on SEO can result in tunnel vision, since a lot of this effort is “all about me!”… My website. My clients. My reputation. My content. My opinion. My pocketbook. Me. Me. Me. Remember, I’m talking to “myself” as well. Read the rest of this entry »
