Conference Buddies

Keynote Panel: Twittering with the Stars
Moderator: Edith Yeung, BizTechDay
Panelist: Kevin Rose, Founder, digg.com, Pounce, We Follow. 1.1 million followers
Panelist: Porter Gale, VP of Marketing, Virgin America Airlines
Panelist: Tim Ferriss, Author, 4-Hour Workweek, Angel Investor to tech startups. 60,000 followers

Edith: How are you using Twitter?

Tim: I use Twitter for chronicling interesting things that are happening, but not suitable for my blog. I post useful links, and get polling for feedback from people.
Porter: We use it to engage with our fans. Nick is our primary Twitter updater. We are the first airline with full-fleet wifi access. Twitter is a good way to connect, address service issues, quick recovery, marketing, PR, and guest services.
Kevin: I was on a Virgin flight, since I noticed the live streaming available, (called U-Stream), I tweeted about it, and got a lot of attention. In 5 minutes, I got 1200 viewers, people who were watching me eat a sandwich. I also use Twitter for announcements. I don’t like the big corporation feel, so use it to humanize your company, tweets about your screw-ups, too.

Edith: How about a not-so-good Twitter story?

Tim: Because it’s instantaneous, deleting a tweet doesn’t make it gone. Re-tweeting preserves it. I had a guy who wrote a scathing tweet, but deleted 10 minutes later. It was too late because it already got re-tweeted a bunch of times. Don’t drunk-tweet. Don’t be a traffic bigot, read Kevin Kelly’s essay: 1000 True Fans. Have a die-hard group of fans instead of just bulk numbers.
Porter: Gear your tweets towards people who will like your product. We offer wifi and outlets in your seat, people love that, we are at the forefront of this. People will re-tweet about how cool it is to be on a plane, livestreaming & tweeting, having people watch you eat that sandwich.
Kevin: One girl on staff sent a sexually-explicit tweet by accident, but we just owned up to it and said, oh well, we eff’ed up. Sometimes you just have to roll with it. We tried to get our entire fan base of our podcast on Twitter, we want to capture everyone who likes our products.
Tim: Try su.pr through StumbleUpon. You can submit links through Twitter and Facebook, track click-thrus, & display your most popular blog posts. I found that the best days for me to post a blog is Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday mornings.

Edith: How do you track performance?

Porter: We are not doing this for ROI, it is more about us engaging with our fans. They find our tweets valuable, like offering free in-flight wifi for the month of November, or polls about what kind of drinks should be offered on your flight.

Edith: How often do you re-tweet?

Kevin: Randomly. Depends on if I find something I like to re-tweet
Porter: I have a story about the re-tweet – a woman who just graduated from medical school was on a Virgin flight and she tweeted about how excited she was about her graduation and how cool it was to be tweeting on a plane. She got re-tweeted, and someone commented that someone on that flight with her should buy her a drink. The tweet came through to someone on the flight, so that person bought her a drink.
Tim: Try Tweet-to-Beat, a non-profit that donors chose to give schools that need supplies. I tweeted that out, and said that for every new follower I get from re-tweeting this, I’ll donate $3 to that school, and raised $20,000.
Porter: We are also working with Virgin Unite to raise money for 100 Smiles, a charity for cleft palates.

Edith: How often do you tweet?

Kevin: Whenever the mood strikes
Porter: Personally, 2-3 times a day. For work, I check on it a lot, but Nick does most of the tweeting
Tim: once every two days. Try getting Firefox’s Auto Paginate. It really helps a lot.

Questions from audience:

1) When you tweet promos, do you check ROI?

Porter: It’s not scientific, we like fan referrals, people who are already flying us.

2) How do you manage multiple personas?

Tim: First, ensure that you don’t feel compelled to check it often. Limit your frequency, schedule your tweets.
Porter: Conversation is happening regardless of your input, don’t try to do everything. Start smart and slow.
Kevin: Increase your followers, find like-minded people

3) If you can only use one social media tool, what would it be?

Tim: blogging
Porter: Twitter
Kevin: Can’t pick just one

4) What is your best call to action?

Kevin: Tweet polls. I did this one time asking people, What is the seven best people in tech? I listed six of them and left the seventh one blank for my followers to fill in. The response was phenomenal.
Porter: Google (?)
Tim: Add a picture. For CTR, it’s very effective. Everyone wants to see the “sexy pic” of something. Also ask questions. Try whichtestone.com for A/B testing.
Kevin: Do livestreams. Have fun with it.
Tim: Spend 80% on content on your blog and 20% on marketing. Having no blog is better than having a mediocre blog.

Edith: What is the one takeaway?

Tim: Have a measurable output or have fun. Otherwise, don’t do it.
Porter: Be authentic, be real.
Kevin: Don’t be corporate. Relax, be human.

How to Sell to Niche Markets Online

How to Market to Baby Boomers:

Panelist: Ali Moiz , COO, Peanut Labs Media, Virtual Currency Specialist

• Virtual currency is a new market, valued at $2 billion
• Baby Boomers are born between 1946 to 1964
• They have the highest income bracket
• Spends more than other age groups, especially in travel
• Fastest growing group of social networks users
• $1.2 billion in custom-sample market in 2008
• Fastest growing section of online gamers
• Only 5% to 15% are monetizing for gamers
• Example: Zombieland movie, finding a good trailer for that movie can generate $2 million more. Tested on baby boomers to find which trailer out of three they liked the best, used that one for the campaign
• Biggest segment of baby boomers make over $50,000 to $125,000 per year
• Commonly played online games for baby boomers: free to play (Yahoo! Games), casual games (Facebook, MySpace), Massively Multiplayer Games (MMO’s), downloadable games, virtual worlds, it’s a $1.5 billion market
• Baby boomer spend on average 7 hours a week playing online games
• Plays eight or more online games at the same time
• Works full time
• 23% are paying for online games
• 24% are buying goods online
• 14% pay for premium content online
• 18% watch ad-supported free streaming (i.e.Hulu)
• CPM’s generated online dollars

How to Market to Teens Online:

Panelist: Daniel Brusilovsky, 16-year-old CEO, Teens & Techs Networks, writes for Tech Crunch, Marketing Manager for Quick (iPhone apps)
Daniel@danielbru.com
www.danielbru.com
Twitter.com/danielbru

• Teens & Techs conference inspires teens to start their own business
• Second Life, a teen community
• Social media advertising: target teens.
• Why teens like Facebook: it’s simple to use, easy to understand, communication with friends (Facebook chat) helps each other with homework.
• Why teens don’t like Twitter: their media content, the open platform creates mistrust
• Why teens don’t like MySpace: too cluttered, but good for bands to upload their audio, too many Ads, it’s old news
• Print advertising is strong in schools because of the school newspaper
• Print Ads work for teens: people will read it, make it interesting
• eCommerce: teens like to buy clothes online, like to use Zappos and Amazon. Use eCommerce to your advantage. Integrate all your social media marketing to eCommerce
• If something doesn’t work, try something new. Teens are used to changes and are open-minded.

Questions from audience:

1) Why isn’t your school’s newsletter online? Daniel: It is, but it sucks
2) What is the return rate from teens buying online? Daniel: Zappos is a great example: easy returns, good customer service
3) What is the next big thing after Facebook? Daniel: It’s too soon to tell, but keep a look out for mobile, especially in social networking.
4) Where else are the baby boomers? Ali: They are also big on eCommerce, they search for news a lot, and they like informational sites
5) How can you sell to teens online when they don’t have credit cards? Daniel: get a link to your parents’ credit card, get PayPal. Ali: try Bill My Parents website
6) What is your favorite fan page on Facebook? Daniel: None, Ali: Just trying to avoid my mom on Facebook
7) Do kids influence their parents’ eCommerce activities? Ali: eCommerce will expand through friends’ recommendation. Daniel: Apple has a great example, influences kids to beg their parents for their products.
8) What’s the market for smartphone apps? Ali: Digital Chocolate, a company that is betting their market on smartphones, gaming is becoming huge on phones. Daniel: a flip phone is uncommon, most devices have internet access now
9) What’s a good online search for baby boomers’ buying trends without paying too much? Ali: check blogs, check Think Equity, a research firm. Compete.com and Quantcast.com
10) If I want to sell SAT study guides, who should I market to? Daniel: to the teens, the teens will want it, event thought the parents are buying it.
11) Are there more stats on baby boomers? Ollie: yes, more women are playing games online than men. (65% to 35%)
12) Is e-mail marketing effective on teens? Daniel: no, teens are not using email anymore.

How to Run Your Business or Nonprofit on the Cheap
Moderator – Barbara Russo, Business Coach, Founder, Barbara Russo Strategies. Concept: CPR, Clarity & Confidence, Persistence, Resilience

Panelist: Kevin Reeth

Founder, outright.com

• Get a paying customer first
• Start off as a side business first, then start buying stuff
• Don’t buy any new equipment, get everything used if possible, go to Craigslist, warehouses, clearance sales
• Get on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, all the social networks, get personal referrals
• Get a web presence
• Get free tools, like Google analytics
• Big mistakes new businesses make: spending too much on details instead of focusing on getting more clients

Panelist: Matt Jordan

Enterprise Development Manager, Skype for Business

• Get used stuff
• Skype: 500 million unique suscribers
• Skype has solutions for business on the cheap
• Use eBay and PayPal
• More Skype promotional talk……..(blah, blah, blah)

Panelist: Jonathan Rochelle

Product Manager, Google Apps, Jrsays.com, @Jrochelle

• E-Mail (G-Mail) to get your own domain, IM’s video chat
• Shared calendars, post calendars and create meeting events
• Collaborative documents, spreadsheets, presentations, create and share documents
• Forms and websites, manage shared data on spreadsheets
• Company video library
• E-Mail security and archival
• Used by 2 million businesses with 20 million users

Panelist: Mark O’Leary

Comcast, Regional VP of Business Services, California

• Metrics: to get money from investors, give your metrics.
• Know the following: conversions, click thrus, customer acquisitions, which customers are profitable, pathways to cash flow, do you understand your finances?, every business should have a scorecard, always know your financial and marketing data, where are you spending your money?, where are you making your money?
• Advisors: bring an advisor into your business, some are free, most are financially successful people who are interested in helping people: Google local financial advisors, some advisors want equity, go to legal zoom.com. Set up a cap table, a contract for services in exchange for equity

Questions from audience:

1) How is Google’s confidentiality? Jonathan: Google employees use Google, too. So, they trust their own privacy policy. They are very strict on how they treat your property, your property belongs to you, and they are regularly audited
2) What is the going market rate for advisors? Mark: It depends on the scope of the engagement. If you can convince your advisor that your expected time period to make x amount of money, give them an hourly rate based on that math. Keep tight records
3) For Skype and Google, what is the best video recording device? Matt: DV cam and consumer grade webcams. Jonathan: Logitech webcam would do.
4) The sexiest metrics to quote for VC’s? Mark: Customer traction, finding adoption in the market, cash flow, Do you understand what’s driving sales?, What are your most effective channels?, Do you know your business well enough to make it successful? What’s you return rate?, Don’t use a selective metric unless you are ready to tell the truth, Don’t cherry pick, really understand your metrics and be prepared to go deep on your metric
5) What are the most unexpected expenses in small businesses? Kevin: Where to set the budget, trying marketing that does not match ROI. Spend a little bit of money at a time, test what works first.
6) How do you define a little bit of money? Kevin: Not 10’s of thousands of dollars, a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand, get data first before spending too much.
7) Do Google’s free accounts give the same level of service as paid accounts? Jonathan: No, paid accounts get more dedicated support. Paid accounts get 24/7 support.
8) Why are there so many Google threads out there unanswered? Jonathan: Google cannot answer everything and has to dedicate more time to paid accounts.
9) Why is Google Voice not discussed? Jonathan: Google Voice is not mature enough to discuss at this point
10) Any federal or state taxes on internet sales/communications happening soon? Mark: They are keeping an eye on that, don’t know yet.
11) Are there any plans for Skype to have video conferencing for multiple party users? Matt: They only have 25 audio users, but not video conferencing, Only A to B conferencing right now. They are working on it.
12) Will Google Wave be used for Google Apps? Jonathan: It’s too early to put apps into it.

How to Build a Business Brand on Yelp, LinkedIn, Facebook, & Google
Moderator: Shawna Causey, Comcast Business Class

Google

Panelist: Ryan Hayward, Product Development & Marketing, Local Business Center, Google

• 80% + are looking for businesses through Google & Google maps
• Business Listing is free
• Helps you get more business
• Can see a daily report of your traffic
• Anatomy of your listing on Google: Business name, business hours, description of business, photos, reviews of that business, location on Google maps and Google street view, photos are provided by the business, Google pulls info from City Search and other websites
• To optimize your business on Google: add photos, keep all info up to date, add a thorough business description, select all appropriate categories and describe specific products sold, give unique details and use specific keywords
• google.com/lbc, add your business, verify that it’s really your business

Yelp

Panelist: Michelle Broderick, Marketing Director, Yelp, Seattle, michelle.yelp.com

• How Yelp can help your business: to connect people to great local businesses
• 20 to 25 million people coming to Yelp monthly
• 5 million local reviews
• 85% of reviews are positive
• Make sure you claim your page
• Connect with your reviewers for free to respond to reviewers
• Flesh out you business page, put in your promos, put a photo, about your business
• Make sure your business is engaging

Facebook

Panelist: Hazel Grace Dircksen, Founder, Socialbees, Silicon Valley, @socialbees, Facebook.com/socialbees

• Helps small businesses develop a social presence on Facebook
• 300 million people on Facebook
• 10 million are connecting with businesses
• Use a Facebook page instead of a Newsletter
• Create a custom tab for ads
• Make it fun, engage and connect with your fans

Questions from the moderator:

1) How do you get started on getting listed on Google? Ryan: Check for your own business on Google, see what’s on there already.
2) How do you set up your business on Yelp? Michelle: Go to yelp.com/business, unlock your business page, join the conversation about once a week, put your URL in, add fun facts about your business, how and why you started your business,
3) How do you set up your business on Facebook? Hazel Grace: Start with a personal profile, then add a fan page (for businesses) by clicking on the advertising button at the bottom or join/start a group.
4) Give an example of a successful viral campaign on Facebook. Hazel Grace: Feel your Boobies, an organization that promotes breast cancer awareness.
5) Give an example of a successful campaign on Yelp. Michelle: A café business blew up a gigantic sign of Yelp and stuck it in her window, people asked her about it, and she explains that she’s well-loved on Yelp. She has all her specials and promos on it.
6) Give an example of a successful campaign on Google. Ryan: A 12-location business was on the verge of bankruptcy. Employee used Google Analytics & enhanced content on Google, business started to flourish. She became the manager of all 12 locations.
7) What kind of data/statistics do you see on Google? Ryan: How many times your business was viewed by people, how many people clicked on your website, from what zip codes people are looking for you, Google alerts you on when your business is mentioned, Google Adwords can promote your business.
8) What stats do you get from Yelp? Michelle: How many people viewed your page, an alert every time you get reviewed, check feedback from all reviews to get data.
9) What stats do you get from Facebook? Hazel Grace: Demographics of fans, how they interact with your business, who’s interacting with your business, compare yourself with other fan pages, see what people are saying about you.
10) What’s next for Google? Ryan: Local Business Center: more enhancements on data collected, more info on how to use your data, more social aspects
11) What’s next for Yelp? Michelle: International focus, launched UK and Canada, mobile
12) What’s next for Facebook? Hazel Grace: Fan pages to replace company newsletters, local business focus, new iPhone update.
13) One thing businesses are doing wrong?
Hazel Grace: Facebook: businesses abandon their fan pages, no new updates or flair, overusing and double posting.
Michelle: Yelp: abandoning their profile, come across too desperate, faking their own reviews.
Ryan: Google: outdated data, not having enough content.

Question from audience via Twitter:

How do you use these channels to connect with B2B? Build a community of people that are looking for your type of business, make sure you are connected because business owners need services/products, too. Not too different from B2C.

Google for Technophobes: How to Secure Your Number One Spot on Google
David Rodnitzky, Founder, PPC Associates

SEM vs. SEO

SEM is not magic, best practices in SEM can improve your business, but cannot cure your business. If you don’t have a competitive business, no amount of SEM will help you.

The seven habits of highly effective SEM:

1) Search engines.

The big 3 are Google (78%), Yahoo (11%), Bing (8%), the 2nd tier, AOL & Ask.

Google search:

Good: easy, reliable, and large.
Bad: competitive, direct-response, quality score

2) Content:

2 types: content & placement.

Google:

Good: easy, less competitive, latent demand, no quality score.
Bad: inconsistent, complex, requires effort

Google makes 1/3 of their revenue from their content network

Yahoo & MSN (Bing):

Advantages: no as much people are using using it, so it is less competitive. Focus on Google first, then use these (if you have time)

3) Keywords

2003: keywords are king. Long live the long tail
2005: Google introduces “quality score”. Non-relevant keyword buys will cost you a lot
2006: Google expands “broad match’ algorithms

4) Ad text:

Call to action:

• Four human emotions (fear, greed, exclusivity, vanity)
• Targeted to specific ad group
• Test, test, test – CTR x conversion rate, CTR cannot be ignored, Google looks at those
• Do not be clever, it does not work. Tell people exactly what you want them to do

Advanced Ad Text:

• Dynamic keyword insertion
• Display URLs & custom 404 pages
• Google Checkout & PayPal
• Tell the user what to do
• Geo-targeting, maps out your location on Google

5) Landing Pages:

• Never use your homepage as a landing page.
• Always create a specific page, down to the keyword level.

Landing page Success factors:

• Avoid scrolling
• Establish credibility
• Important data should be placed above the fold
• Function over form
• Test, test, test
• Quality score: contact us, privacy policies, about us, site map, load time
• Multiple methods of communication
• Highly targeted to your keyword and ad text

Basic Bidding Calculation:

Reverse engineer to actual profit for every click. If 5% conversion, 1% downloads, with revenue of $5000, margin goal is 20% on advertising. 2000 clicks get 100 downloads = $4 CPC

6) Reporting:

The more data you can get from your campaigns, the better

Search Engines

• API’s are available
• Google desktop editor

Log Files

• Time stamp
• Raw search query

Web Analytics:

• Click path
• Click overlay

7) CRM and Sales Team

• Phone calls
• Offline conversions

What metrics matter for SEM?

Search engine metrics

Targeting:

• Excludes certain areas so you can focus on your neighborhood
• Create negative keywords, (words you don’t want) i.e. people who sell night stands should exclude the word “one”
• Demographic targeting
• IP address exclusion, your own salesperson is clicking on your ad, exclude your own company

Consequences on not targeting:

Competitors will get the traffic instead of you

Bonus: SEO Best Practices

Meta Content:

Meta title, Meta description, Meta keywords

• Title= 145 characters, description = two sentences
• Search engines read from left to right
• Each page needs a separate meta-content
• Be reasonable about the word you are trying to rank for

Relevant Content:

• Write unique content relevant to your business
• Consider keyword density
• Avoid duplicate content
• 150 to 250 words minimum per page

Relevant Linking:

• Get relevant websites to link to your site
• Ask them for specific “anchor text”
• Avoid reciprocal links; trading links is not good practice
• Avoid “link farms” or “text link ads”, avoid buying links because they’re too spammy
• Create good internal linking structure

David Rodnitzky

David@ppcassociates.com
Company: www.ppcassociates.com
Conference: www.CRSconference.com
Networking Group: www.onlineleadgen.org

Questions from audience:

1) Any advice on click fraud? Google can find out and exclude them
2) How much should you spend on a campaign? Not a quick answer. Ask yourself: What is my expected conversion rate? Use a statistical significance calculator.
3) Is it true that if you have a blog, you get ranked higher? Yes, if you provide fresh, updated content that’s relevant. Use Google Webmaster Tools to see how often you are spidered
4) How does Google handle keywords on blogs vs. a regular website? You can create custom meta keywords for your blog to rank. WordPress is better for SEO than Blogger.com

Why Blogs are your #1 Search Marketing Tool

Speaker: Chris Baggott, Compendium Blogware
10/15/2009, 11am – 12pm

Notes:

• Blogging is the number one corporate focus. It is the fastest growing corporate initiative
• Blogging is a great way to get out information (to searchers)
• The goal is to get more first time searchers
• comScore: 43% more searches this year than last year
• Search is a way to find a solution to your problems
• Companies that have blogs have 55% more visitors to their website, with 97% more traffic to inbound links
• Blogging is a way to get people to search on your site
• 1st generation blogging: me, me, me. 2nd generation blogging: look at what I know. 3rd generation blogging: getting business through search
• 3rd generation blogging is to target messages around your specific keywords
• Create multiple blogs that target your keyword phrases
• Corporate mistake: content is organized around an individual. Content should be organized around solving the audiences’ problems and what they care about
• Use words that your customers are using, “speak their language”
• Make searchers happy, convert them into customers
• Problems with blogging is that it takes time and effort
• When we look at a page, we are searching for credibility. If they trust you, you will get the click thru
• Similar-situation sale: tell me a story about how you solved a problem like mine, then I’ll trust you to solve my problem, too.
• Bloggers are free, not assigned. People want to blog, tell a story
• Blog content and volume of blog posts directly correlates with traffic
• How do you measure the value of corporate blogging? Compare organic traffic with how much the keyword is worth ($$ wise). That’s one way to measure ROI
• Targeting key words on blogs is comparable to PPC, measure ROI by engagement, conversion. 1.6% conversion on organic searches, 30 to 40% on blogs
• Call to action: fill out a form, click on a button
• Make blogs look like landing pages
• Doesn’t make any difference whether the blog looks like a regular HTML page
• Search Engines are looking for fresh new content, updating the blog regularly will get you crawled more.
• One good blog vs. many different blogs in corporations: established readers vs. first time searchers. Corporations are interested in getting the conversion as opposed to a loyal reader.
• Corporate blogging should be focused with search in mind
• 90% of customers are coming from search
• Have many blogs, all sub-domains, to make it more search engine friendly

What Travel Marketers Look for in Blogs

Speakers: Mike Taylor, PR Manager for Fairmont, Toronto
Tom Martin, Zehinder Communications
Leanne Jakubowski, Disney Parks
Doug Anweiler, Moderator
10/17/2009, 11:30 – 12:30pm

Mike Taylor: B.L.O.G.S.

(B)ring the Basics: give general, pertinent information. Less than two paragraphs, your audience, affiliated publications, metrics, unique visits, ratings

(L)inks/Relationships: find ways to develop relationships, pitch blogs with specific content, reach out to establishments

(O)n Top of the World factor: the bells and whistles that set you apart from others, videos, photos, contests & promotions, fresh new ideas, become an influencer & let people know who you are

(G)oods: be up front, communicate what you can deliver, your focus, set the expectation, doesn’t always have to be editorial in nature, can be book tours, tweetups, present opportunities

(S)end and Share: what is your distribution strategy? E-mail, Twitter, Facebook? Are you independently well known?

Tom Martin:

www.Budurl.com/TomMartinBlogWorld

• make it easy to cut and paste, make yourself easy to work with
• understand that the stakes are higher in the agency world, there is no new marketing budget, a small misstep can get the rep fired
• show that you speak to a tribe, not just an audience
• this is a business, cash matters, free trips and passes are accounted for and tracked for ROI, why is it is good decision to give you this?
• travel is an incestuous business, do not burn a bridge because you will be blacklisted with many agencies

Leann Jakubowski:

www.disneyparks.com/blog

• Blogger outreach to mommy bloggers and travel bloggers
• Likes to work with bloggers that have reach
• Content of blogs are family friendly, organic
• Can submit blogs to theirs

Questions:

1) How would someone starting out without a strong presence get their attention?
Give them a call, create a relationship, set expectations, tell them what you are looking for, write keyword-rich posts so they can be found, use Twitter as a way to reach out, post links, & get re-tweeted, make your blog as visually appealing as possible

2) How can you convey how good you really are in a niche market?
Send them an e-mail of a re-tweet, a video, or a post that really gets their attention

3) What role does content play in a blog as opposed to print and ads?
Content is king

4) Any tips that make initial content engaging?
Analyze who you are trying to reach out to, get the most active name of the brand you want to connect with

5) Is anyone reaching out to baby boomers and seniors?
Fastest growing group in social media are baby boomers, most marketers are between 25 to 42.

6) What role do bloggers play in generating revenue?
Getting a presence is more focused on creating an awareness of their brand, puts a human touch to their brand, their reputation

7) Is there a monetization value to link blogs to a brand (cross linking)?
Too complex to discuss

8) Who to contact without being spammy?
Redbooks.com, a curated database of every ad agency in the world, gives address, phone number, and sometimes e-mail. AdWeek and BrandWeek. Contact the PR person, contact the city’s traveling bureau

9) How do bloggers reach local demographics?
Google search, Twitter search, connect with brand’s PR person to get local contacts

10) What is your opinion of HARO (Help a reporter out)?
People do not subscribe to a reporter, but to an establishment.

11) What is an example of something that stands out from a blogger?
Renee Ross of Cutie Booty Cakes, a lifestyle writer. Hotel Chatter, posts are tongue-in-cheek wittiness, funny, wraps up travel & entertainment, has a great tone.

Travel Blogging 2009 & Beyond

Speakers: Jim Benning, @jimbenning, www.jimbenning.net
Pam Mendel, @nerdseyeview, www.nerdseyeview.com
Stefanie Michaels, @adventuregirl, www.adventuregirl.com
Robert Reid, @reidontravel, www.lonelyplanet.com
Jessica Spiegel, @italylogue, www.italylogue.com, www.bootsnall.com
10/17/2009, 3pm – 4pm

Travel Blogging Tips & Advice

• Write stories about things that are happening, things you see, people you met
• Don’t do it because of money, do it because you love what you’re doing
• Make your travels into interesting stories
• Blog in conjunction with twittering, use bit.ly to put links on there
• Reach out to others
• Check out Travel Tuesday, Aloha Saturday, or any travel sites
• Follow travel tweeters on Twitter
• Always show people what things look like, use videos but keep it short, hold the camera steady, do not zoom in and out too much
• Find videos of other travel bloggers you think are good to get ideas on how to make your’s good
• Blog during your travels but make sure to blog when you get home, too

The Value of Blogs To Hospitals, New Organizations, and Industry

Speakers: Gary Schwitzer, HealthNewsReview.org, http://blog.lib.umn.edu/schwitz/healthnews/
Bob Stern, MedPage Today, http://www.medpagetoday.com/Blogs/
Paul Levy, Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center, http://runningahospitalblogspot.com
Marc Monseau, Johnson & Johnson, http://jnjbtw.com
10/15/2009, 4pm – 5pm

Notes:

• Represent what you and your institution stands for. Why would anyone not do that?
• People like seeing posts of medical institutions, statistics, new medical breakthroughs
• Everyone else is talking about us, why aren’t we? Large Corporations might have legal & regulatory constraints, but they can give out new info, respond to customers, address issues
• Listen, respond, and develop relationships
• People trust others like themselves rather than large institutions and companies
• How do we ensure that medical information available online is accurate? Reach out to the community by blogging about the topic. Use it as a way to deal with product issues. Use twitter to complement the blog posts
• People were proud of the fact that their boss blogged about them.
• Fosters greater confidence in their organization
• “The Terry Schiavo Case” – Blogging about the case gave people the real world insight into what was going on exactly.
• J & J sued the Red Cross for infringement of their logo, became a big news story. People questioned why anyone would want to sue the Red Cross? J & J saw blogging as a way to address the situation. Detailed reasons for doing so, how the trademark laws work, and opened up the screen for people to see what was behind running their organization.
• “Only a fool has to learn from losing, only a bigger fool who doesn’t learn from it”
• Preview comments before they are allowed on the blog, such as discussions about the off-label uses of certain medications, threats, non-topic related comments
• Tap into resources about healthcare on YouTube
• If people come to your blog, it’s because they care about that topic
• ROI on healthcare blogging? Blogging doesn’t cost anything, just time. Can use tools to chart number of visitors, but the value is more important than dollars & cents.
• What is the risk of not being involved? It is more about trustworthiness and source of good information.
• To get around regulatory restrictions and legal issues, blog in baby steps. Start small.
• Blogging about ways to relieve side effects of powerful meds. Although the medical manufacturers refuse to acknowledge the post, at least the information is out there by people who use those meds.

State of the Medical Blogosphere

Speakers: Kerri Morrone Sparling: www.sixuntilme.com
Kevin Pho: www.kevinmd.com
Nicholas Genes: www.medgadget.com, www.blogborygmi.com
Kim McAllister: www.emergiblog.com
10/15/2009, 9:45am – 10:45am

Evolution of the Medical Blogosphere

• 60% of patients use the internet as their first source of information
• Doctors need to get on board to connect with their patients, answer questions about medical news and new medical info
• Patients are blogging about their experiences as a way to find other people like them
• People are leaving the Blogosphere due to privacy and employer issues
• Issues with patient privacy when doctors blog, new parameters as to what doctors can and cannot share emerged
• Social media presence is essential for all doctors stay relevant and credible
• Patient blogging can help other patients with managing their diseases (shared experiences, what to expect, medication reactions doctors didn’t mention but many people experience, how to administer your meds in the least painful way)
• Social and mainstream media will someday merge into one entity
• Very few people read medical blogs, blogging is a way to get into mainstream publications
• FTC is looking at blogging and full disclosure, bloggers must share whether they are being compensated for writing their blog
• If you are only on Facebook or Twitter, you might not be connecting with your audience. Being on different social networks allow you to connect with people who might be interested in you but does not participate in all the social networks
• Being a patient blogger allows you to connect with other people who have the same condition as you do

Questions & Answers

How can medical companies blog without violating FTC and FDA regulations and still get the word out on their products?
Independent bloggers have more freedom to say what they feel without worrying about that. They can link to the medical devices pages, or the companies can get the blogger to link to them