Social Media Club Louisville

Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing and world-renown search engine optimization (SEO) expert, will be the featured presenter at Social Media Club Louisville’s February gathering. Odden will provide practical advice with his presentation, “10 SEO Tips Communications Professionals Must Know.” The event will take place from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, February 16 at the Louisville Visual Art Association at The Water Tower. The event is free and open to the public. Hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar will be offered.

Odden is one of 25 online marketing experts featured in “Online Marketing Heroes” published by Wiley and has been cited for his search & social media marketing expertise by The Economist, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune. As an active thought leader in the search marketing industry, he contributes to top industry publications such as Mashable, iMedia Connection and MediaPost along with publishing Online Marketing Blog, recognized by Advertising Age as one of the top marketing blogs on the web.

Odden’s TopRank Online Marketing is a digital marketing and public relations firm specializing in strategic internet marketing consulting, training and implementation services including: online PR , search engine and social media marketing. A veteran internet marketer, Odden has consulted for clients including: HP, McKesson, BT, Northwest Airlines, PRWeb, Supervalu, WebAwards and the national PRSA.

From Jason Falls, president of Social Media Club Louisville:

“When you think of search and social media, one person stands at the intersection of those industries and it’s Lee Odden. His background in public relations gives him a unique perspective of understanding the on-the-ground communications professional and what they need to know about search engines to write and think for the web. This session will be as educational as any we’ve at at SMC Louisville. We’re excited to have Lee in Louisville.”

Please RSVP with the form below and join us to learn SEO from one of the top thinkers in the social media and search engine optimization.

November has two exciting events in store for Social Media Club Louisville. Our monthly gathering will be Monday night, Nov. 16, from 8 p.m. until 9 p.m. at Proof on Main as we welcome measurement guru Katie Paine to town. The informal meet-and-greet will be a great time to network and meet one of the leading thinkers in the social media space today. The gathering is free. Please RSVP below to ensure we account for enough space at the restaurant. Please note that you do not have to print a hard copy ticket to attend. We only use Eventbrite to ensure numbers for space. Everyone is welcome and the event is free and open to the public.

The following day, we will co-host our Social Media Strategy Boot Camp with the local chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. For more on that event, please visit the IABC’s website. The early bird special pricing has been extended until next Tuesday, Nov. 10.

We hope to see you at both events. Come meet Katie Monday night then settle in for some fantastic learning on Tuesday.

There’s been a fair amount of demand for Jay Garmon’s materials from last night. So, without further ado, his presentation:

And the video from it:

Jay Garmon can be found online at JayGarmon.net.

Social Media Club Louisville is thrilled to partner with the International Association of Business Communicators to present a day-long, intensive boot camp for communications professionals focused on Social Media Strategy and Measurement. “Social Media Strategy Boot Camp: New Age PR and Measurement for ROI,” will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 at Masterson’s in Louisville and will feature internationally renown measurement guru Katie Paine, Bad Pitch Blog author Kevin Dugan and SMC Louisville president and social media strategist Jason Falls.

To sign up, visit the IABC Kentucky’s website. Pricing is as follows:

Early-bird registration through November 5:

• Members of IABC, and the Social Media Club (defined as anyone on SMC’s mailing list by Oct. 19):  $99
• Non-members : $119

Regular registration:

• IABC/SMC members: $119
• Non-members: $149

The intent of the boot camp is to go a bit deeper into developing social media strategies, integrating them with traditional public relations and communications efforts and then understanding measurement and metrics to deliver reporting that shows executives the all-important return on investment, or ROI, behind social media. The sessions will run from 9 a.m. until approximately 3:30 p.m. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop computer.

On the agenda and from the IABC descriptions:

Building Your Social Media Plan
Jason Falls, President, Social Media Club Lousiville; author & principal, socialmediaexplorer.com

You’ve heard enough to know that social media could work for your organization. Now what? Jason will show you how other organizations have done it, and help you sort through the next steps of identifying your audience, establishing measurable communication goals, and developing meaningful online content. After this presentation, you’ll be able to write a practical, sell-able social media plan for your organization.

Messages that Matter
Kevin Dugan, Director of Marketing, Empower MediaMarketing, Cincinnati, Ohio; author, PR Strategies Blog & The Bad Pitch Blog

Communications strategies taking a one-message-fits-all approach have never driven real results. And now with social media, taking one message to social and traditional media might even cause companies problems. Kevin Dugan will conduct a practical review of how you can ensure your message translates across traditional and social platforms. Attendees will learn tips for approaching message development, best practices and review examples of companies that pull it off.

Building ROI into your Social Media Plan
K.D. Paine, President, K.D. Paine & Associates and Editor of The PR Measurement Standard

Flummoxed on how to show social media’s results to your management? K.D. Paine will demystify the process for you. She’ll discuss how to build a program that can be easily measured from the start. She’ll show you what the Internet’s free measurement tools can and can’t do, and compare what the best of the subscription based, paid measurement companies offer. She’ll show you what the best results- based reports look like, and how to create them for your own organization. You’ll never be at a loss for the right statistic again!

Sign up now at the IABC Kentucky’s website to reserve your spot at early bird pricing (through Nov. 1). See you there!

Social media’s sudden rise to top of mind thinking for companies, organizations and marketers everywhere, accompanied with the well-documented success of companies like Dell, Comcast and Southwest Airlines has given some people unreasonable expectations for participating in social media. The October gathering of the Social Media Club Louisville, set for Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009, will put those expectations into proper perspective. “Setting (Reasonable) Expectations For Social Media,” will be presented by SMC Louisville Board of Directors member and social media consultant Jay Garmon.

UPDATE: The event will be live streamed here on the SMC Louisville website by Periscope Web Video. We’ll post a live streaming screen on the site that night for those who can’t attend.

The event will be hosted and sponsored by MaximumASP, a Louisville-based website hosting provider and frequent SMC Louisville attendee, at their brand new, “Green” data center at 2441 Nelson Miller Parkway in Louisville. (Click the address for a Google Map of the location.) MaximumASP, a Microsoft Hosting Provider of the Year award winner, will provide light refreshments and tours of the new facility during the networking times surrounding the presentation. This will give interested attendees a look at the physical infrastructure that supports websites and applications where social media happens.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will feature networking time until 7 p.m., Garmon’s presentation and discussion from 7-8 and more networking time from 8-8:30 p..m. Door prizes will be given away as well. The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP your attendance (for food and beverage planning) below.

PLEASE NOTE: The Eventbrite RSVPs are for head count for food and beverage only. You DO NOT NEED TO PRINT A TICKET and bring it to the event. The email you will receive to confirm will ask you to print a ticket. There’s no need to do so. Thank you!

Two heads are better than one. That was the takeaway for me tonight at Social Media Club Louisville. When SMC Louisville partners with another great organization, like our event tonight with the Young Professional Association of Louisville (YPAL), great things happen. We had just under 90 folks in attendance to talk about personal branding in the social media era. Thanks to all who attended.

The slideshow I presented is below, complete with the additional slide showing my computer wallpaper as the last slide as requested by Teresa Good from Louisville’s Choice Realty. The main takeaways will vary from person to person, but my thoughts on what’s important to remember are below the presentation.

The book and blog I reference in the presentation is that of Dan Schawbel. His blog is The Personal Branding Blog. The book can be found at Amazon (disclosure: my affiliate link) and is called Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.

My thoughts on what you should remember include:

• Treat your personal brand/professional path/job search like it’s a product or service and market it as such.
• The more active you are in social media with blogs, social networking profiles, etc., the more you control search engine results for your name.
• Clean up your online profiles. Your employers, enrollment officers and potential employers are Googling you. Make sure you like what they’ll find.
• Be consistent with your name, identity and avatar across social networks. It makes you easier to find.
• Understand that unless you’re independently wealthy, you need your employer as much if not more than they need you. You work for them. Abide by their rules and work with them to help them understand their benefit in your personal brand.

If you have more to add, please do so in the comments.

Thanks to The Catering Company, Cumberland Brews, Louisville Visual Art Association and YPAL for a great evening.

Social media used to be considered for the kids. Now that adults are not only on board, but leveraging social media for both business and personal use, it’s time we reminded ourselves that our children are using social media, too. The Social Media Club Louisville will host a special back-to-school panel discussion for parents and teachers at the Louisville Visual Art Association at the Water Tower on Tuesday, Aug. 18 from 6:30-8:30. The event is free and open to the public.

The discussion will highlight safety, security and monitoring options for parents and teachers, how to teach young people good social media habits and cover ideas of social media tools that can be used to make students more successful in the classroom. Parents, teachers and social media consultants will be on hand to discuss and debate the good and bad of parent-child and teacher-student relationships relative to social media.

The event will feature light hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. Students and children are welcome but should be accompanied by an adult. For catering purposes, interested parties are asked to RSVP using the easy form below.

Tuesday night’s Social Media Club Louisville gathering was again a fantastic event with great friends, food and fun. LinkedIn expert and author of “LinkedWorking,” Lewis Howes gave everyone in attendance a primer on how to become a LinkedIn Rockstar. For those asking, here’s Lewis’s presentation:

Thanks to Lewis’s advice, we now have a LinkedIn Group. Check it out here. And there are some pictures from the event here.

Special thanks to Easto Search and National Safe Place for their sponsorship of last night’s event. And big props to the yummy treats from our friends at Palermo Viejo and the fine libations from The Catering Company.

Stay tuned for news of our July events.

Social media luminary Lewis Howes, one of the foremost experts on leveraging the professional networking website LinkedIn, will be the featured speaker at Social Media Club Louisville’s June Gathering. Howes will present tips and tricks on leveraging LinkedIn for your business and personal success as part of the monthly SMC Louisville event which will take place from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at the Louisville Visual Art Association at the Water Tower, 3005 River Road in Louisville.

The event is sponsored by EastoSearch and the National Safe Place and will feature networking time, light hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. For catering purposes, please RSVP below.

Howes is the co-author of LinkedWorking: Generating Success on the World’s Professional Networking Website, and the author of the online newsletter, Sports Networker, where he draws from his experience, knowledge and contacts as a professional football player.

In addition to this book, he helps professionals and companies achieve greater return on the time they devote to LinkedIn and other social networking through his acclaimed training seminars, one-on-one coaching sessions and corporate consulting programs. He also creates opportunities for online connections to gather face-to-face through his live “LinkedWorking” events around the country.

Howes is a previous two sport collegiate All-American and the NCAA All-Division Record Holder for the most receiving yards in a single football game. He graduated with a Sports Management degree from Principia College, and since his retirement from professional football, continues to stay involved in the sports industry with his work on SportsNetworker.com.

He is also on the board for his local Toastmasters club in Columbus, Ohio. You can find more information about Lewis on his LinkedIn profile.

Image of Lewis by Alexandra Copley

Social Media Club Louisville is proud to welcome social media pioneer and innovator Chris Brogan to Louisville to speak to SMC Louisville in an event that is free and open to the public. Brogan will lead an open discussion on social media marketing for business on Tuesday, May 19 from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. in the Humana Training Center, 500 West Main Street, 25th Floor, in downtown Louisville.

The general topic of the discussion will be, “Now what?” Brogan will begin the event by moving past the social media basics to implementing strategies and tactics both internally and externally to empower and energize businesses small and large. The event is being presented by Humana and Louisville, Possibility City.

Brogan is a ten year veteran of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. He speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at chrisbrogan.com, a blog in the top 10 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati.

“Chris Brogan is one of the top two or three thinkers in the social media space on the planet,” said Jason Falls, president of Social Media Club Louisville. “To have an opportunity to spend a couple hours discussing social media marketing with him — at no charge — is a rare one. We’re honored to have Chris at SMC Louisville and hope the community understands what a rare opportunity it is to learn from one of the social media industry’s zen masters.”

Register here:

Brogan will also lead an all-star lineup in his New Media Labs’s Inbound Marketing Bootcamp during the day. That event, also held at the Humana Training Center, will run from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at a cost of $395.00. Until May 1, however, Social Media Club Louisville members and friends can use the discount code JASONVIP99 and register for just $99. Click here to learn more and register. (NOTE: The bootcamp is separate from the SMC Louisville May gathering. Please RSVP for SMC Louisville and register separately for the Inbound Marketing Bootcamp.)