Social Media Marketing Training: 5 Reasons to Have a Blog

August 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

1. Establish Yourself As an Expert

  • Do you have great ideas to share in your industry?
  • What makes your company special in today’s economy?
  • Do you visit a lot of trade shows and conferences?

These are perfect reasons for any company to start sharing its unique content and show its expertise.  Through blogging you can answer the most common questions your customers have about your products or services, give them tips and suggestions on how to successfully use your products and impress your prospects with the knowledge you have about your industry.  After all, a blog will help your business stand out from your competitors and be a real industry leader.

2. Increase Traffic to Your Website

By creating keyword rich content, blogs give you the perfect opportunity to rank high in organic searches.  By being more important than your competitors in Google search you can easily drive more traffic to your website.  After reading your blog and finding it interesting and useful visitors are likely to check out other pages on your company’s website to learn more about the blogger.

3. Stay Up to Date In Your Professional Field

Creating new content on a regular basis takes a lot of time and effort.  You are spending your time doing research, analyzing competitors and putting your thoughts into a new subject for your new post.  This research and work will help you in your business far beyond the blog itself.  Blogging is a very convenient way to refresh your knowledge about popular industry topics and keep yourself educated on new technologies and achievements in your field.

4. Build Better Relationships With Your Customers

Providing your customers with valuable information and giving them advice in return for nothing will help you connect with your customers in deeper and dynamic ways.  Blogs are not static like most websites and because of that there is a great opportunity to create a real online interaction with your client base.  Customers have the ability to immediately react and reply to your blog posts. Their feedback and opinion about your products and services will help you constantly modify your products and services or customer service in a way that will ensure their opinion is heard, matters and makes a difference.

5. Gives You a Chance to Express Yourself

Blogging is a great tool for expressing yourself and motivating your employees.  By creating a fun and engaging atmosphere around your company blog you have great chances to involve your employees in this process and show them how they bring value to their work place.  When employees are able to connect with your customer base and beyond through self-expression coupled with direct customer feedback and interaction in a fun and creative media, they are likely to enjoy the process of getting the word out about your company.

Blogging creates a very informal, direct feedback media for getting your message out to your audience and engaging that audience with dialog and interaction.  Start blogging today and establish yourself as an expert, increase traffic to your website, stay up to date in your professional field, build better relationships with your customers and give yourself a chance to express yourself!

Why have you started a blog?

 

Mariya Newman

Follow me on Twitter (@MariyaNewman) and add me on LinkedIn!

 

Filed Under: blogging, social media marketing, Social Media Tools, Social Media Training, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

The Power of the Blog

February 28, 2011 By 2 Comments

As I was reading New York Times Magazine yesterday, I came across an article about a Mommy blogger who receives around 100,000 hits on her site per day as she blogs about everything from her family, her job, her kids, her pets or her life as an ex-Mormon. This amount of traffic is a number that every blogger strives for! Coming from woman who blogs daily about her everyday life, businesses should be working to do the same with their corporate blogs. In Krista’s digital marketing training, she talks about the importance of a blog for businesses, large and small.  Here are a few reasons why blogs are an essential tool for your company’s digital marketing plan!

1. People Like Original Content…and so do search engines

People read publications, blogs and other written content because it’s an insight other than their own.  People read for guidance, assistance or just a general understanding of a topic.  Blogs are such a great tool for your business because you provide your audience with information about what your business does as well as providing insightful information and tips relavant to your product or service.  This information is original to YOU and only you.  Therefore, you should create content that potential clients will want to read about.  Also, many search engines are programmed to surface blogs that contain valuable rich content.  In sending out this new, informational content, your blog is put at a higher standard for search engines.  So blog content rich and blog often!

2. Get Personal.

Blogs allow you to step off the pedestal for a moment and provide your readers with a more personal interaction. Blogs allow readers to comment on posts where the writer can then provide personal responses to these audience members.  This form of digital marketing creates that relationship that companies have with their audience and potential clients.  It gives the company personality and a way of showing your audience what you’re about and encouraging client-company interaction.

3. It’s Easy.

In blogs, you are providing YOUR insight. There is no formula for providing advice or expressing your opinion.  Share with your audience what you know and be the expert in your field.  In doing this, you are creating a professional reputation for your company and enhancing your exposure through frequent postings. Creating these frequent posts with lots of key words will increase your SEO and ultimately bring more traffic to your blog and your site. How much easier can it be!

How are you using blogging for your business?

Add me on LinkedIn and follow me on Twitter (@scunn07)!

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Social Media Speaker: 10 Ways Dental Practices can use Social Media

September 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I know that a lot of small businesses and practices are interested in social media marketing to grow their business. I speak with thousands of small business owners a year (probably just like you) who hear about social media but don’t know exactly how they can get value from social media.
I have worked with many of these business owners to help them find success in social media, and I know that dental practices can get results using social media marketing. I know first hand that social media can provide a better ROI than traditional marketing methods. Social Media marketing can deliver results when used strategically and with the right plan.
Here are 10 of the most common ways that your practice can use social media to grow their business:

1. Share Deals and Promotions on Twitter

Twitter is a powerful way to share deals and promotions with your patients (and future patients)! Big companies like Dell Outlet have sold millions of dollars through Twitter, but it works for small companies too. Naked Pizza, a small pizza store in New Orleans had their highest ever-sales day from a Twitter promotion. Vista Prints sold $25,000 directly through Twitter in their first year. Find and connect with your target audience and give them irresistible offers, such as free teeth whitening, on Twitter.

2. Share news and Updates on Facebook

Don’t have a fan page yet? If you have fans or patients who are passionate about your practice, you should have a fan page. Use it to connect with prospective patients and keep them up to date on your new products or services. I was recently getting my car fixed and found that the mechanic frequents the same neighborhood bar as I do. He told me that he checks out their Facebook page every day to see what food and drink specials they have. This bar has a creative new drink special for Happy Hour every day and a different free food item available.
Whether is it food and drink specials, new services in your practice, new practice news or regulations, a Facebook fan page can be a powerful resource to keep your patients up to date. Over 1/3 of people who are fans of practices on Facebook are fans for this reason – to stay up to date.

3. Network on LinkedIn Groups

Lots of small practices as well as business professionals grow their practices or businesses by networking with people. Meeting people and sharing helpful knowledge drives business over time. People do business with people they know, like and trust.
LinkedIn groups allow you connect with others based on a shared interest. You can join a group and contribute to discussions or share interesting news. By using LinkedIn to build relationships you can attract new patients over time.

4. Connect with Prospects with a Webinar

Webinars are becoming increasingly popular ways to connect with prospects and provide value to potential patients. Webinars are virtual and web-based. A webinar is typically hosted around a specific topic and people sign up, call in and login on their computer and they can watch and listen to a live session on a specific topic.
Webinars are very popular in categories that are high-information. Most B-to-B business fall in to this categoy, but it also works for consumer products and services. If people are looking for knowledge or information about some special service your practice offers, a webinar can be a powerful tool to share information with them and position your practice as a leader in the industry.

5. Be a Thought Leader with a Blog

Blogs are very popular for a variety of reasons (we’ll discuss one more of them later in this post). One of the reasons is that a blog can establish you as an expert and thought leader in your industry. If people trust you and see you as knowledgeable they are more likely to join your practice.
Run a gym? Share workout tips. Real Estate Agent? Share posts highlighting the people and events in your neighborhood. Restaurant? Show how you make signature drinks or menu items. For a dentist practice, share patient success stories or new procedures offered exclusively at your practice as well as some tips about oral hygiene.

6. Connect with Patients and Prospects with an email newsletter

So maybe *technically* this isn’t social media, but it is relatively simple and cheap for most practices to create a newsletter. Constant Contact and MailChimp offer services for under $25 a month and are easy to use.
An email newsletter can keep your patients and prospects up to speed on news, deals and promotions. Email remains the preferred communication method of most people (1:10 preference over social media) to stay up to date.

7. Join an online community

There are online communities for almost everything these days. Seek out a discussion forum or community that is specific to your business and participate!
You can connect with patients (or potential patients) and really learn about them. What are they interested in? What do they talk about? What do they want and need in a dental practice? Participating and listening to communities that are comprised of your target market can improve your practice and also lead to sales as you build relationships.

8. Monitor and Respond to your Reviews

There are many business review sites – from product reviews on amazon to restaurant and store reviews on yelp! to complaints on The Ripoff Report. For dentists, RateADentist.com is a site that offers a place for patients to provide reviews of their dentist. Whatever your business line, chances are there are review sites that are relevant. Even Facebook has included reviews on fan pages. Google has reviews in their listings.
Look for and respond to reviews (both good and bad). Saying thanks to a good review can build an evangelist and encourage word-of-mouth. Responding to a negative review can help clarify the situation. Showing that you care about negative reviews and plan to take action shows your side of the situation to the hundreds of people who view the review.

9. Get Found on Search Engines with a Blog

Another great reason to start a blog is to get traffic from search engines. Because blogs are content rich (you typically create content for them on a regular basis) search engines give traffic to sites with blogs.
In almost anything that you search for you’ll find a number of blogs show up in search results. If people find your practice through search a blog can increase the probability that you will show up in results. This leads to traffic and (hopefully) new patients.

10. Generate Awareness with a Video

Videos can be great ways to connect with your audience. A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a million! Video is a great way to share information – whether it is a video showing before & after interviews with patients, customers talking about their satisfaction or a video demo of your special service – videos are powerful tools.
Create a video for your practice to make a deeper connection with your audience. There are many different creative ways to use and share videos.
This list isn’t exhaustive – it is simply a handful of the tactics and tools that are included in the Social Media Action Pack.

How are you using social media for your practice?

Filed Under: Internet Marketing Strategy, social media marketing, Social Networks Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How General Mills creates conversations with influencers through social media

April 14, 2010 By 1 Comment

Last week I was at the BlogWell conference in Cincinnati where David Witt, Manager of Brand Public Relations for General Mills shared how General Mills is creating conversations with influencers through social media.

David shared some specific insights from the launch of the Fiber One 50-Calorie Yogurt from April 2009 – March 2010.

Conversations Work at Driving Sales

The Fiber One snack bars launch showed that online conversations were the second most important driver of sales (after being on shelf).  Generating and encouraging online conversations worked better than any other marketing tool (other than of course, having the product available to buy).  While David couldn’t share a specific ROI from the conversations, they know with certainty that conversations drive sales.

David also shared a chart that shows that conversations and sales are highly correlated – sales grew when there were more conversations and declined when there were fewer.

Getting Set Up For Success

David said that having clear objectives & strategies was important to be able to measure success.  For Fiber One the objective was to build awareness and position the Yogurt as a great dieting tool.  They planned to leverage Hungry Girl (a well known weight management blogger) as the spokesperson.  The goal was to drive trial and conversation.

Tying your metrics to your goals and strategies is important so that you know what success looks like.  You can also develop more strategic campaigns.

What Fiber One Did

Fiber One used a lot of different social media tools in different ways to create a comprehensive social media strategy.

  • Hungry Girl, a blogger who sends a daily email, and said that Fiber One bars taste better than Snickers.  She has over 1 million subscribers to her email.  Fiber One brought her on as a “celebrity” endorser and even has Hungry Girl featured on the package.
  • General Mills has a program called “Pssst…” that provides “insiders” with special information about the company and a preview of news.  The newsletter included Fiber One Yogurt messaging with a coupon.  They also featured a video message from Hungry Girl and a Hungry Girl book giveaway.  They also did a personal mailing to people in the “Psst…” community who were active dieters and sent them free product.  They got very positive feedback from the people in their community who they sent the mailer to.
  • To launch the product they also worked with Bloggers in a program called My Blog Spark.  They send bloggers product on a relationship basis to let them know about new products.  They created a “snack attack” video featuring Hungry Girl and her staff and did some early product seeding – bloggers had the opportunity to try the product first and share a product review.
  • They also connected to Facebook and Twitter where consumers like to talk about Yogurt, and through key partners like SparkPeople (a diet/fitness site).
  • Part of the key is to find tools that the bloggers want to use.  Fiber One created a Embeddable Micro site that provided blog readers with coupons and free product.  This makes it easier for bloggers to share their opinions.  As a part of a live taste-testing the brand recorded consumer testimonials that were then available to bloggers.
  • Consumers are willing to participate and be included with brands.
  • There is a natural gravitational pull towards a niche (like a weight management community).  Leverage the community.
  • Provide meaningful and relevant brand experiences for consumers.
  • Provide content in a format and in a location that they find useful and familiar.
  • Be respectful and treat consumers as friends.  Be respectful.  Don’t lie to or embarrass your consumers or “friends”.
  • The brand experience must be remarkable.  Set clear objectives upfront but test and learn as you go.

Key Learnings

A Note on Blogger Disclosures

When General Mills created the blogging network of My Blog Spark one of their key elements was disclosure.  My Blog Spark already had guidelines similar to the new FTC guidelines. My Blog Spark requires bloggers to disclose that they get product for free and if they get a free flipcam.  They also request that bloggers do not make product claims that can not be substantiated.

The key to working with legal is to ask them “what is needed for you to say yes?” and engage them.  The two key areas are product claim liability and disclosure.

Filed Under: blogging, social media marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

10 Reasons You Should Create a Corporate Blog

October 22, 2009 By 3 Comments

Blogs were hot a few years ago, but their popularity with marketers has been lagging lately as focus shifts to twitter, facebook and now iphone apps.

But blogs have tremendous potential to play a key role in your marketing strategy.  Most organizations can benefit from a blog and often blogs have benefits beyond what you may initially think.  Some reasons to consider a corporate blog include:

1. Search Engine Optimization1124847_person_question

This isn’t something that a lot of organizations consider when they start blogging, but blogs are one of the best things that a company can do to increase their traffic from search engines.

Search engine traffic is based on two things: 1) Your site and how it is structured, the content and how often it is updated and 2) People who link to you and how they link to you.  Blogs are a great source of both – they typically include lots of keywords and relevant content and they are also updated regularly.  In addition people often link to your blog posts which further helps your search engine traffic.

2. Build Positive Equity – Be Someone who Really Cares

Blogs can also help position your organization as caring about the issues that are important to your clients or customers.  You can take up their causes, talk about things they care about, offer free advice, etc.

A blog allows you to build equity for your organization, which can lead to positive mentions online, recommendations and ultimately sales.

3. Content for Social Media Syndication

Blogs are a great “hub” for your online presence.  Publishing blog content gives you something to share with your customers on other social sites like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.  All of these social sites can be great sources for lead generation, and publishing engaging blog content provides you with something relevant to share.

4. Position Yourself as a Thought Leader

You can use a blog to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry.  If you are a b-to-b company you can highlight your knowledge of the industry and relevant issues.  B-to-C companies can show consumers that they really know their stuff by sharing knowledge and expertise that matters to customers.

For example a laundry detergent manufacturer could share information about how to remove stains or keep clothes looking new.  A furniture company can talk about the ergonomics of different furniture and how to select the ideal desk/chair/bed/couch for your body size and use.  Options are endless. 

coffee-and-wine-together-by-steve-hall5. Humanize Your Brand

People like people.  They like to work with people.  They like to do business with people.  A blog can be a great way to showcase the *real* people behind your brand and put a human face to it.

On your blog you can share videos and photos from your organization, and you can also have real people from your people talking like real people (not like commercials or sales people).

Blogs can be a great way to build stronger relationships with customers by humanizing your brand.

6. Respond to Issues and Problems

When a crisis hits, organizations often scramble to figure out how to respond.  The most effective responses are transparent, authentic and genuine.  Official PR releases and comments from PR people don’t typically make people feel better or reassure them.

When a crisis hits a blog can be a great place to post a real response from a real person.  The message doesn’t have to deviate from the official response, but using more natural language can help people understand.  Using your blog you could post a human response, and share a video of the CEO apologizing and explaining the situation.  This can go a much further way with your consumers than a canned press release.

7. Build Newsletter Content

Email and newsletter marketing continues to be a great way to stay in touch with your customers.  Rather than sending an email newsletter full of promotions you can send insightful and relevant articles from your blog.

This can increase your email distribution list and ultimately lead to more sales over time as customers give you permission to interact with them.

talking-boxes8. Let’s Give them Something to Talk About

You probably have fans – either officially on facebook or unofficially.  Writing great blog content allows your fans to interact with you.

They can talk to you and share their opinions.  This can help you get even closer to your consumers and allows them to feel like they have a voice with your organization.

It gives them something to talk about.

9. Communicate with Customers

When you have corporate news you may issue a standard press release, but the release may not make it out to most of your audience.  A blog lets you communicate with your customers right on your site.  You can also talk about things that aren’t press release worthy – like new features, a policy change or fixing a glitch in the system.

A blog is a quick way to get messages out to your customers – especially if you are not currently doing email marketing.

10. People are Tired of Marketing – Blogs Add Value

These days people are inundated with marketing messages – on their phones, their computer, their social networks, TVs, Bathroom stalls, billboards, subway adds, napkin ads, and so on.  Most of us have learned to ignore most of this advertising, and we may completely tune it out.

A blog allows you to create a connection with a customer based on providing them with inherently valuable content.  I read a blog post once about how to take better pictures that was posted by a photo website.  After reading the great post I went and checked out their site.

Great content that is relevant to your audience can get you in the door without accosting them with marketing messages. 

What other reasons do people have for creating corporate blogs?  Share your ideas in the comments.

Filed Under: blogging Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Presentation: Introduction to Social Media for Executives at the European American Chamber of Commerce

October 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

This is a presentation that Krista Neher, CEO of Boot Camp Digital gave to executives at the Cincinnati European America Chamber of Commerce.

Introduction To Social Media
View more presentations from Krista Neher.

Here are some of the key ideas of the presentation.

Social Media is about:

  1. Conversations – It is about people talking to people. Be respectful of that.
  2. Amplification – Voices are amplified online. People have the ability to spread messages to lots of other people.
  3. Control – Brands are losing control over their marketing messages. Consumers are gaining control.
  4. It Matters – Social media is big and growing. It isn’t a trend that is passing. People trust people. Eyeballs and time spent online are growing. You can connect with more people faster with social media.

The Basics on Social Media Channels

Blogsspeaking-at-eacoc

Are big and growing. 77% of internet users read blogs. Over 26 million americans have started a blog.

You have two options to participate (they aren’t exclusive):

1. Start a blog as a way to connect with consumers.

2. Reach out to bloggers and build relationships with them.

Twitter

Twitter is big and growing. It is predicted to have 18 million users by the end of 2009. By 2010 over 15% of US adults will have a twitter page.

There are lots of different opportunities to build your brand on twitter – and real results. Dell has transacted over $2.5 million in sales. JetBlue answers customer support.

People are probably already talking about you on twitter. Find them. Talk to them. Participate in shaping your brand online.

Facebook

Has over 300 million active users. It isn’t just for young kids – the fastest growing demographic is 35+.

Your customers are on Facebook and may want to connect with you there.

One company in the room was surprised to discover that they had a facebook page. They were even more surprised to see that customers had been using the wall post section to post questions.

Some of your customers may want to use facebook to connect with you. Be there and participate. Give them service where and when they want it.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn presents a great opportunity to connect with prospects and find specific people or companies. It is search friendly – so you can use it to look up specific people and see how you are connected to them.

The key to success on LinkedIn is to do more than just create a profile. Be active, use groups and questions to build your network.

The Job Boards can also be very effective – you can post jobs and get fantastic applicants.

Soooooo……….

The key to success with social media is to be strategic – start with clear goals and objectives. Be disciplined – don’t let Facebook and Twitter become time drains – use them strategically and clearly set and define the amount of time you are willing to spend on them.

Questions/Comments?

Filed Under: Speaking & Presentations Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

7 Myths of Social Media Marketing Revealed

October 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Social media is the shiny new toy that every marketer wants.  And why wouldn’t they?

dollarsMyth #1: Social Media is Free

Fact: You should expect to invest in social media.

Whether you are spending employee time or paying an agency or consultant, the reality is that social media isn’t free.  What’s more, to be effective in social media a great investment in learning and research is required.  Most social sites are free to join, but using them effectively takes time and sometimes money.

Social media isn’t free – remember – Time is Money!  Doing it right isn’t as easy as signing up.  Be prepared to invest.

Myth #2: Younger People “get” Social Media

Fact: Social Use of Social Media is NOT the Same as Employing it as a Marketing Strategy

It would be like hiring the kid who watches the most TV to write your ad copy.  Sure it might work out (there are some examples of brilliant consumer created ads), but most of the entries are garbage.  The reason  is that it takes more than exposure to the medium – it takes strategy, marketing know-how and great creative execution.

Young people are often more active on social sites like Facebook and Myspace, but don’t confuse this with the ability to use these tools to build your business.

Myth #3: Social Media is Easy

Fact: The Barriers to Entry are Low, but Getting it Right is Harder

It is easy to sign up for twitter or start a blog, but using it effectively to build your business isn’t quite so easy.  Many marketers focus on “getting a fan page” or “starting a twitter account” but creating a social media account is only the first step (although arguably it should be the last step – after developing a strategy and evaluating options and resources.

Many companies fail witht their social media efforts and give up.  Since the barriers to entry are so low, anyone can join, but to be successful dedication, knowledge, strategy, creative and research are required (to name a few).

Social media may be harder than you think – failure rates in corporate blogs are high and many corporate twitter accounts lack any real engagement (sometimes by both the company and consumers).

When using social media to build your business be prepared to roll up your sleves and do some work.

clockMyth #4: Social Media is Fast

Fact: Social Media Takes Time

Social Media takes time – both to listen and understand the communities as well as to figure out how to use it effectively.

Getting it right in social media is difficult, and it takes trial and error.  TV ads have great ROI but marketers spent decades perfecting the ads down to a formula.  When entering social media be prepared to try different things and measure results.  There isn’t a magic formula – different things work for different audiences and in different communities.

Seeing an ROI from social media takes time.

Myth #5: Social Media Can’t Be Measured

Fact: Social Media is Measurable – But Measure More than just Followers and Fans

Marketers struggle with measuring social media since it doesn’t always result in a direct transaction – especially if you don’t sell products online.  What is more, many people focus on the wrong metrics – like fans and followers – versus effectiveness metrics like engagement and sentiment.

Measuring fans and followers is like using only reach to evaluate the effectiveness of your TV or print ad.  Effectiveness is a combination of how good your creative is times the number of people who see it.

There are a number of effective ways to measure social media beyond just looking at followers and fans.  What are the click through rates to your corporate site from social sites?  How many key influencers in your audience have you connected with? How many people retweet you?  What is your score on Twitter Grader or Klout? How many of your fans visit your page? How many bloggers mention you? What is the sentiment of your brand comments online?  These are just a few, and the right metrics will depend on your goals and objectives.

You can also set up campaigns to specifically measure twitter.  Create a specific coupon code or run social media specific promotions and measure engagement.

Myth #6: Social Media is for Everyone

Fact: Consider Your Strategy First, then Choose the Tool

There are a lot of surprising success stories with social media – companies that you think would have a tough time using social tools that are actually extremely effective.

That being said, social media isn’t for everyone.  If you don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to it you may end up wasting your time completely.  Creating an account that is later abandoned may end up having negative impacts on your organization and can signal that you don’t really care.

Creating an expectation that you will communicate with consumers by a social channel and then ignoring them may create more problems than it solves.

Be sure that you have the right resources before diving in, and set clear expectation about how you will communicate.  If you decide to abandon a social channel, communicate it clearly and provide alternate channels for people to get in touch with you.

talking-boxesMyth #7: Social Media is a Great Way for me to Talk

Fact: Social Media is an Effective Tool for Listening.  Talk Later.

When entering social media, the first question many people ask is “what should I say?”.  The first question should be “Who should I listen to?”.

Prior to entering a social media, spend some time listening to the people that you want to connect with.  What are they interested in?  What do they talk about?  What makes them mad?  What are the acceptable norms of communication?

Companies often jump in and lead with a heavy marketing message versus listening, understanding the community and really joining the conversation.  By listening first companies can more effectively participate in social communities.  Remember, they are social (it isn’t just a clever name).

What do you think?

Filed Under: social media marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Social media workshops to build business in Cincinnati

June 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Grow Your Business in a Down Economy with Social Media

Cincinnati Ohio — June 29, 2009 -  BootCampDigital, a leader in social media consulting and training, today announces the launch of social media marketing courses to help local and regional businesses spark new growth, gain new customers, and beat the down economy. The first courses – in an ongoing series – include two half-day social media marketing courses held July 20th and 21st in Oakley, on Cincinnati’s central east side. The BootCampDigital courses are presented in conjunction with the Cincinnati chapter of the American Marketing Association.

“Many companies – big and small – struggle with how to effectively use social media to grow their business,” said Krista Neher, CEO of Boot Camp Digital “Others can’t afford to hire outside consulting. We created these training courses as a cost effective way for organizations to take advantage of the power of social media in driving their business.”

BootCampDigital social media courses are specifically designed to help enterprises understand and implement social media strategies to build their business.  This solid understanding is more than just theory and strategy. “Participants and businesses will leave the sessions with the working tools and action plans they can use to start building right-away,” adds Neher. “If a course ends at noon, businesses can be online, with effective social media tactics and tools, by one o’clock in the afternoon.”

More than a lunchtime seminar or online presentation, BootCampDigital training is built upon interactive, face-to-face exchange of ideas and best practices. Participants meet with social media enthusiasts, learn from guest presenters and successful case studies, and come away with proprietary and effective social media working materials.

The July 21st course, Social Media for Marketers, is a half-day session designed to cover use and processes behind six effective social media tools – blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Flickr and YouTube. Interactive workshops and networking discussions aid the creation of individually crafted action plans participants can use to start their interactive campaigns.

At Building a Successful Blog, the July 20 course, participants learn and use all the tools to create professional Web logs, or “blogs”.  Course content includes the right blog platform, technical and design issues, how to write great content and how to market blog and build community and audience.

Both half-day courses will be conducted at 3500 Madison Road in Oakley.

Scholarships available to jumpstart individual employment

To further accelerate local economic growth, BootCampDigital is donating 20% of the seats in all classes to unemployed workers with The Economy Sucks Scholarships. “I had the opportunity to quickly create a successful Internet marketing and social media consulting practice — because this is such a high growth sector,” said Neher. “I want to help others find the same success.” The scholarships cover the entire tuition of the course as well as all workbooks and guidebooks.

To qualify for scholarships participants must be currently out of work, and explain how attending this course will help the job search.. “We want people to know the resources and what’s available right now,” explains Neher. “We believe that getting smart people back to work is going to beat this down economy. We encourage people looking to build themselves, and the their next employer, to apply online at www.bootcampdigital.com/contact/scholarship.“

For more information about BootCampDigital courses and consulting, see www.bootcampdigital.com.

About BootCampDigital

BootCampDigital, founded in January of 2009, is a Cincinnati-based marketing consultancy that emphasizes the creative use of technology and social media to grow brands online. Providing marketing solutions for Fortune 500 companies as well as start-ups and small businesses, BootCampDigital brings a unique combination of traditional marketing skills and experience, technical knowledge as well as creative new marketing approaches with an emphasis on online and social media marketing.

BootCampDigital CEO, Krista Neher, is an internationally recognized authority with a track record of successfully growing businesses using twitter and related social media tools and practices. Prior to BootCampDigital Neher was in finance and marketing at Procter & Gamble, and also served as vice-president of marketing for recently acquired Internet startup Photrade.com.

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