My Time with Dad and Sugi.  Know that sometimes as a caregiver you will have to go get them ice cream simply because it is help you be less irritated with them. 

Found this awesome dude named Dan Petraglia  who is a healthy hard working person committed to excellence and organization.  I found his site clear and concise.  His twitter is @danpetraglia hope you enjoy him.

Fitness and Weight Loss Programs, Facts, and Advice

I lovingly thought of my little dog when I came across a YouTube video advertising Old Spice Hair products. I wanted to grab that man’s hair, put a collar on it and dress it in doll clothes. Just kidding about the doll clothes. I don’t even dress my little dog in dog clothes. I thought about hair adoption and what it would want to be named. Cute little flirtatious Old Spice Guy Hair, can I take you home and feed you some kibble?

Q1

Entertainment through visual stimulation is brain candy for most humans.  We are wired to experience stimulus and access.  Danger or pleasure?  That is why video marketing is beneficial for getting the word out about your mission, your business, your art.  Part of being human and how we are wired is that we need to feel connected to others, even if we don’t actually connect, we want to FEEL connected. Participating in viewing videos that others have viewed (little counter in the right hand corner of YouTube letting me know that 56 other people have a viewed the same video) helps me feel part of something bigger.  Like we are all part of a ‘knowing’ and experience.

Engaging audiences, reach large audiences and showcase goods and services are the benefits of online video marketing.  (Social Media Marketing: A Strategic Approach, Barker, Barker, Bormann and Heher, 2013, P. 144) All the benefits can be met on YouTube, Vimeo, and other online video platforms.

Q2

Old Spice creates videos I want to watch because of the element of surprise, they appeal to women, they are humorous and do not take themselves too seriously, all the while letting me know that there IS an Old Spice product for men’s hair.  Something that I did not know prior to viewing.   Besides writing, producing and posting an entertaining video, the ability for viewer to interact with the Old Spice Guy and his humorous responses, being imitated, guesting on talk shows and being a subject of parody all contributed to the traction and spread of the videos.

Q3

In order for a video to become ‘successful’ meaning being viewed and shared by millions, it must be shared in the holy trinity of sharing: primary, secondary, and tertiary.   Primary sharing happens when I post a video on to my YouTube channel about lowering stress by using breathing and body awareness.  Secondary sharing happens when after letting my Facebook friends, subscribing to my newsletter, attendees of my workshops and family members and they share that video with their friends.  Tertiary (one of my most favorite words in existence to date)  sharing is when online viewers find my decreasing stress video and start sharing it with others because they want to.

Q4

Small business may begin recording informative, instructive, inspiring or entertaining videos about the goods and services they offer.

The nursery business may record and share how to videos on the following topics: plant a container garden, create a compost that doesn’t attract rodents, or how to put together a mini water feature for your deck.  They might showcase specific lawn and garden tools, fertilizers, composts and plants that are ideal for the pacific northwest weather and soil conditions.  The landscape designer might teach the basics to landscape design and them  demonstrate putting together a small landscape using those very elements and criteria.

A life coaching business might create how to design a daily life schedule that honors your creativity and your responsibilities, obligations and commitments.  The life coaching business might teach breathing techniques, basics on nutrition, mindset, healthy boundaries, as well as how to schedule quiet creative time and time to meditate, pray and listen.   The life coaching business might interview other experts and coaches presenting their unique take on a particular aspect of coaching or living your best life. Posting all of these videos on your business’s YouTube channel, sharing them on your FB page and sending out a link in your monthly newsletter are all pieces of the marketing puzzle.  Quality content generation, consistent posting  and high entertainment value must be stressed in all aspects of video creation and sharing.  That is if that business owner wants a large public following.

Q5

Monetize through online videos seems to be easier than ever.  You Tube has a box you can check if you want ads on your channel.  If your channel gets enough views, followers, friends you may earn dollars for those click through ads that appear prior to your video playing or down below horizontally along the bottom of the screen.  Also, affiliate marketing where you endorse another’s product and service and if people go to and buy that product or service through your site/channel you may receive a little piece of the revenue generated.   Businesses have discovered and are utilizing the value of being where the people are and that is in front of YouTube or other video sites and that is where you will find the ads.

An  aside here, Hulu offers a choice in ads before the program starts.  This is genius because it is an instant test market to find out what people want according to the demographic suggested by the programming.  I just LOVE that.  So efficient.  Oh, and last night my husband won an ad free playing of Rake, a new Greg Kinnear show by playing a casino game and winning the hand.  He liked that a lot.  It made more sense after watching the show and finding out that the lawyer also enjoys a  bit of game.   Demographics and aligning with advertising in an entertaining manner.

Q6

Meet Tyler. Found him on YouTube.  He instantly saved me $750.  I just received an email from my current local (PA) website host and website designer (whom I have had to spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to have a site I am less than thrilled with) who said that for $500 upgrade and $250 installation fee he would make my current website responsive. Responsive is the word used to describe how the site is scaled for the mobile devices used (phones and tablets).  Well, while I did my four miles on my treadmill, I just learned how to build my own responsive website on WordPress.  I am not a “techie” I wish I was.  But I am not.  This video is for ANYONE who wants to build a website for less than $25 by watching this video (1:03:29) in about an hour.

He goes over everything from get the host, the domain, picking the theme, adding pages, installing widgets, getting a logo for free, which widgets (visual editor and facebook and youtube) sites to go to.  I kept telling my husband, “I learned so much!  He made it so easy to understand and follow.  I love this!”  Enjoy!

I wanted to post this video that we had made a couple of years ago by an amateur videographer.  The videos are long.  That is something I would change for the future, but I thought I would take the opportunity to share on this forum.

Hello All,

In this post, and perhaps a few others, I will be answering questions from my professor.  Currently, I am in a class to learn about social media marketing.  Although I have a couple of businesses and have started and stalled on any creating, follow up or updating of posts to my word press blog and websites, I am hoping the pressure of this class will build the fire under my ass that I seem to require to get this going.  Thanks for reading, Marie-Claire

What are the marketing benefits of having a blog?
A blog may add value to current and potential customers creating a sense of connection, familiarity and trust by providing quality communication of information/training/benefits to all who read it. 
You may achieve your specific marketing goals and objectives through this modern ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing.  A person or company can share unique, detailed content about different aspects, services and goods that they or the company provides.  Blogs are texts but they can include any manner of sharing information and expanding the readers knowledge of a subject or solutions to a specific problem.  This can include video (my fave) and audio as well as external links for further info. This is great for serving the customer/person who reads the blog. The conversational qualities of social media provide the blogger/business immediate feedback without having to do surveys or expensive marketing research. This can inform necessary revisions to the current and future marketing goals and objectives.  I like the fluidity of this.  The exchange of ideas and experiences to serve the whole, through serving the individual.  

Explain how an individual or company can link a blog to its marketing objectives.
Connection, familiarity, helpful, entertaining.  Blogging  may lead to positive word of mouth marketing.  Happy customers share their happiness with their friends and family, neighbors and coworkers. 
If your marketing objectives can be one or all of the following (taken from pages 32-34 of the textbook, Social Media Marketing: A Strategic Approach by Barker, Barker, Bormann and Neher): Building a brand,  Increasing Brand Awareness, Improving Brand Perception, Positioning a Brand, Expanding Brand Loyalty, Increasing Customer Satisfaction, Driving Word-of-mouth recommendations, Producing New Product Ideas, Generating Leads, Handling Crises Reputation Management, Integrating Social Media Marketing with Public Relations and Advertising and the ol’ SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
What I am learning from the text is that it is key to keep your marketing goals close and clear while creating a social media campaign.  The nuances will change according to what the goal is.  The marketing goal dictates the manner of design and implementation of the SMM.   How I listen and participate in different social media platforms will be determined by whether I am looking to build leads, build a brand or do crises management. 

Identify why content clutter is a problem.
I will use analogies: 500 channels and nothing to watch on TV, needle in a haystack,  conversations in a club, panning for gold.
There is a lot of material/content.  Most of it doesn’t add personal or global value.  Some does. Finding and drawing out the value and high quality material that is all mixed up with the other stuff and then sharing that with others is what I think social media is good for.  It is in a sense, humanitarian.  When you find something (good and helpful content) online that will improve your or another’s quality of life through health, wealth or happiness, it is the compassionate compelling that leads you to share it.  

Explain in own words at least four tips for successful blogging.
Four tips for successful blogging include: consistent and frequent, clarity and focus, unique and sticky titles, engaged conversations and honest.  

1. The consistent and frequent posting allows the readers/followers to experience something new and something to look forward to.  This creates people who will return, stay and support your blog/business. 

2. Clarity and focus honors the value of people’s time and energy.  Keeping the post clear and focused keeps the readers’ attention and hopefully satisfies the reason they came to your site in the first place.   I think of this as the difference between shopping and browsing.  Most of us, when we want information/goods/services want to get in and get out and get on with our day.  Rarely do we have the time or desire to search and sift for what we want or need.

3. Unique and sticky titles catch the readers’ eyes and create curiosity/interest to click and read.  Key here is to actually deliver quality content under that catchy title. I am working on that.

4. Engaged honest conversations honor that we are connecting with and sharing time/space with real people with hearts, souls and lives. This seems to be the point of social media, the social part of it.  We have all talked to or at least had to interact with a smarmy person.  The vibe leaves us feeling like we need a visit to the Korean spa.  So, it is important to keep it honest, two way, friendly and relatively responsive. 

I like the following quote (paraphrased) to help guide me in my posts:  We serve life not because it is broken, but because it is holy. Mother Theresa 

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