Apr 2012

25

Epiphanies Inc., Women Inspiring Women to Offer Facebook Business Booster Workshop

by Lani and Allen

[Hey party people! What follows is the official press release for this workshop, and it's so much fun to be working with the incredible Leslie Sturgeon, president and founder of Women Inspiring Women on this. Early bird registration ends 5/3, space is limited, and light refreshments will be served! Head on over to http://tinyurl.com/FacebookBizBooster to secure your spot.]

Facebook Business Booster from Epiphanies, Inc. and Women Inspiring WomenIf you’re using Facebook to promote your business or organization, keeping up with the changes can be a challenge. However, staying on top of the changes and opportunities is vital, since Facebook is expected to reach one billion users later this year.

As part of their ongoing commitment to help passionate professionals, entrepreneurs, bold brands and mission-driven organizations, Lani and Allen Voivod, co-owners and “Allies in Possibility” at Epiphanies Inc., will co-host with Women Inspiring Women a tightly-focused workshop about optimizing and maximizing Facebook for business.

The workshop, “Facebook Business Booster,” takes place Thursday, May 10, from 10:00am to 1:00pm, at the SERESC Conference Center in Bedford, NH. Space is limited, and light refreshments will be served. Register by Thursday 5/3 for early-bird rates at http://tinyurl.com/FacebookBizBooster.

“This is not an introductory or overview session – current experience with Facebook as a professional marketing platform is recommended,” says Allen Voivod. As for the structure of the workshop, Lani Voivod says, “In addition to networking and collaborative resource sharing, attendees will learn specific tools, tips, and strategies they can use to save time, boost visibility, make powerful connections, and ultimately, increase profits.”

The three sessions within the half-day workshop are:

**The Timeline Tell-All**

Facebook converted all Pages to the Timeline format on March 30th. The switch creates new opportunities for customization, promotion, and interaction. Facebook also has some very specific rules about how you can use Timeline to represent your business or organization. Learn how to make the most of this radical change to the way you interact with your Ideal Audience, including tricks for customizing tabs, optimizing your Wall to convert visitors to Likers, and more.

**Optimizing Your News Feed Visibility**

More than 99% of your Page’s Likers are liking, commenting, and sharing your posts from the Facebook News Feed – and not on your Page itself! What’s more, only a small percentage of your Likers actually see your posts in the News Feed – 7.5% or less. You’ll be guided through the elements of “EdgeRank” – the algorithm Facebook uses to decide which posts show up in people’s News Feeds – and how to optimize your Facebook content so you get seen more often by more people.

**Introduction to Advanced Facebook Topics**

Extend the potential of Facebook! 3rd-party applications let you integrate Facebook with other social media platforms, run contests and sweepstakes, add shopping carts for ecommerce, and much more. The advertising platform is more powerful than ever, and Facebook Insights (the analytics program) has changed as our understanding of the value of social media action, reaction, and interaction evolves. This session introduces the possibilities for your next level of Facebook mastery.

This half-day event is the second of nine workshops for Women Inspiring Women’s 2012 Entrepreneurial Series, sponsored this year by Centrix Bank. Reserve your spot for an enlightening workshop designed to deliver a powerful, practical, even serendipitous boost to your Facebook success.

About Women Inspiring Women
 Women Inspiring Women (WIW) is NH’s largest organization for women’s empowerment, personal development, business resources, networking and a whole lot of fun! WIW President and Founder Leslie Sturgeon is a two-time recipient of citations from NH Governor John Lynch and commendations from the NH Senate for her vision with Women Inspiring Women. She is also the recipient of the NH Small Business Administration’s “Women in Business Champion” award and the “Outstanding Women in Business” award from New Hampshire Business Review. Learn more at http://www.wiwnh.com.

About Epiphanies, Inc.
 Hailed as ”visionary” and ”two of the most creative thinkers in the industry” by the NH Division of Economic Development, Lani and Allen Voivod share powerful social marketing and success strategies through speaking, consulting, events, webinars, workshops, and their own online channels. Their company, Epiphanies, Inc., is in the business of engaging leaders, inspiring entrepreneurs, and redefining what’s possible for bold brands, innovative businesses, and mission-driven organizations in this dynamic, relationship-driven world. “A-Ha Yourself!” and connect at http://www.EpiphaniesInc.com.

Apr 2012

19

Social Media in 400 Seconds

by Lani Voivod

Social Media in 400 Seconds, Starring YOUA funny thing happened to me last month. Allen was one of six NH professionals scheduled to give a PechaKucha presentation on social media for the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. If you’re not familiar with the word “PechaKucha,” it’s a Japanese word that means “chit chat,” and it’s also a hip and stylin’ presentation format that consists of sharing 20 s

lides at the snappy pace of 20 seconds per slide, with automatic advancing so there’s no smudging the fine points.

I was excited to be part of the audience, so I could check out this fun and fascinating event, designed to inform and entertain even the shortest of attention spans.

The day before the event, the phone rang. One of the speakers wasn’t able to make it – was I crazy enough to consider putting something together on 18 hours’ notice and present to an audience of 100+ professionals?

Why YES, yes I am crazy enough to consider doing that.

So I told my brain to start churning while I took care of the rest of the obligations of the day, which included turning in an RFP, picking up our kids, and even hitting my brother’s birthday party. I scribbled some notes in and around the day’s nooks and crannies, turned in 20 slides by 10pm as requested, and then spent a lovely all-nighter alone with my thoughts on how to squish the quite huge subject of social media into a 400-second box.

Here’s what I came up with – both the slideshow synched with the actual audio from the day, as well as the text of the presentation as I had intended to say it, before I knew just how fast 20 seconds per slide flies by when you’re having fun.

What about you? If you had 400 seconds to say something to 100+ of your peers and professionals, what would you share?  Let us know in the comments below!


Lani Voivod presents “Social Media in 400 Seconds”

QUIRKY

We are living in QUIRKY times. Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old. Thanks to Facebook, our 6 degrees of separation has shrunk to 3.74 degrees. In one day we create and share 1.5 billion pieces of content on Facebook, 140 million tweets, and 2 million YouTube videos.

UNIVERSAL

“Abundance Is Our Future!” said Peter Diamandis at TED 2012, as he gave props to “The Rising Billions.” He said that in addition to the 2 billion people who are already online and connected, 3 billion new minds will be joining the global conversation by 2020. Our desires – and ability! – to create, share, connect, innovate, communicate, and collaborate are UNIVERSAL.

ALGORITHMS

Social media, then, is an evolutionary invention. It’s humankind’s attempt to meet and serve these profound, innate, universal desires. Right now, social media depends on immense and elaborate ALGORITHMS to index, decipher, and curate the world’s infinite well of information, interests, networks, and ideas. These math-and-data mashups are getting VERY sophisticated.

NAYSAYERS

With all big shifts come very loud – and often angry – NAYSAYERS. Concerns about PRIVACY abound. In a 2010 piece for the New York Times Magazine called “The Web and the End of Forgetting,” Jeffrey Rosen said we’re “wrestling with the first great existential crisis of the digital age: The impossibility of erasing your posted past, starting over, moving on.”

TIME

And for busy professionals who are already feeling overwhelmed and at wit’s end, the perceived lack of TIME is the thing that’s really driving them NUTS. “How the heck am I supposed to keep track of every post, stream, comment, and social blip when I can’t even get a handle on my email?!”

UGH!

This is the Social Media UGH! Factor. Good news: It’s not our job to see it all, catch it all, know it all. It’s our job to be OPEN to possibilities. Hopefully, this means considering how social tools, channels, and platforms could serve OUR best ideas, OUR personal happiness, and OUR passions and aspirations.

MOBILE

Why? Because ultimately, we are all at the center of our own customized, app-tastic adventure. Many of us here are one of the 1 Billion People who use MOBILE as our primary Internet access point. We literally hold the power of connection, creativity, and possibility in the palms of our hands on a daily basis!

STORYTELLING

And the human art of STORYTELLING is evolving, too. Storify helps users curate stories from the real-time social stream. Pinterest helps us SEE and organize our passions visually, and thus share our stories – our essence — visually. Hardly a frivolous endeavor, since Pinterest now drives more referral traffic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn…COMBINED.

ENERGY

At the heart of every social interaction is an exchange of ENERGY. A like, retweet, share, comment – with these snappy actions we’re adding our vibes to the data-crunching mix. It’s all being cataloged and considered. Our online activity today is determining what comes up in our streams and searches tomorrow!

RELATIONSHIPS

As all this exchanging, capturing, and quantifying of energy evolves, we have to remember that behind every avatar, behind the statistics and engagement reports, we are building and nurturing real RELATIONSHIPS with real people. They might be different than our grandmother’s relationships, but they are REAL, and they DO impact our lives.

EMOTIONS

What’s more, they affect our EMOTIONS. As the saying goes, we buy on emotion, then justify with logic. The emotion a brand, product, or campaign evokes in us often determines its market success, or failure. Social media is systematically retraining and reconfiguring how we see our friends, feel our preferences, and process our emotions.

NIMBLE

To keep our edge and protect our authentic drives and desires, I have four bits of advice. First, we have to be NIMBLE. Keep our ears perked and our minds alert. Trends in business and culture reveal themselves quickly, IF we are paying attention. Cultivate smart, diverse social circles, and the content we need to grow and succeed comes right to us.

DISCOVERY

Second, we should respect the value of DISCOVERY. Maggie Fox, CEO of Social Media Group, said: “One of the most magical things about the Internet is that it’s a whimsical rabbit hole of DISCOVERY — we start somewhere familiar and click our way to a wonderland of curiosity and fascination we never knew existed.”

INSTINCTS

To truly put a premium on DISCOVERY, though, we must learn to do #3, which is to trust our INSTINCTS. This is a skill most of us have to relearn as adults, mostly by UNLEARNING all the habits and hindrances that have kept us thinking small, feeling powerless, and fearing our strongest, smartest, most intuitive selves.

PLAY

The best way to unlearn all that garbage is to do #4: Reconnect to our sense of PLAY. We gotta LIGHTEN UP, don’t you think? You know, get messy, screw up, experiment, laugh, tinker, dawdle, meander, doodle. There are so many fun and “frivolous” sites and apps just waiting to be explored. As Joseph Campbell said, “Follow Your Bliss!”

INFLUENCE

Ultimately, it all comes down to INFLUENCE. You participate, you PLAY, you share and GIVE and listen and engage as a brand, business, OR individual, and YOU are affecting the future by influencing the ideas, innovation, and imagination of today’s friends, followers, leaders, dreamers, and doers.

TECHNOLOGY

The truth is, the world’s best super computer isn’t a computer at all. It’s the collective ingenuity, passion, and curiosity of billions of humans following their own white rabbits and sharing their discoveries with the global community. TECHNOLOGY isn’t the catalyst – it’s the by-product of our deep, primal desire to know more, do better, and connect more deeply.

YOU

YOU hold the answers. YOU have access to the playing field. YOU can decide whether to sit on the sidelines, or add your singular interests, talents, voice, and vision to humanity’s future. It’s all a cosmic dance. You give, you get. You share, you receive. You BELIEVE, you achieve.

QUANTUM SERENDIPITY

Allen and I call it QUANTUM SERENDIPITY. Led by our instincts, fueled by our energy, nudged by our emotions, and catapulted by the ever-optimized algorithms, we meet the right people, find the best resources, attract the perfect opportunities. Part math, part mindset, and part magic, QUANTUM SERENDIPITY is what brought me here today to share this 400-second presentation with YOU.

THANK YOU

And boy, am I grateful to have had this unique and wonderful opportunity.

So, did you learn something new, or think of something in a way you hadn’t before?

If so, pay it forward on one or all of your social media channels. You never know who might be watching, and what kind chain reaction you could be setting off.

Thank You.

Mar 2012

29

3 Tactics for Leveraging Trade Shows and Conferences

by Allen Voivod

Allen Voivod, attending a conference and trade showMany companies are looking to cut expenditures, and with technology reducing the need for business travel in favor of web conferencing, budgets for attending conferences and trade shows are likely targets for the ax.

That said, there’s also a case to be made for the in-person networking opportunities you get at conferences and trade shows, for your business as well as your own professional career.

So if you do find yourself going to a trade show or conference – even (and especially!) if the reason you’re being sent there by your business is because of a reason along the lines of “We always go to this show” – then be sure to make the most of it. Here are three quick tips for making the most of it.

1. Produce photo and video content to be used after the event. It’s the most engaging content for social media channels, and the show/conference creates a one-of-a-kind environment to which neither you or your audience get frequent access.

2. Leverage Twitter. You can’t meet everyone in person, but you can make connections with more people through the microblogging platform. Watch for the event hashtag, start and join conversations, make lists of connections. Follow, be followed, and follow up!

3. Create a ripple effect. Not everyone who wants to go to an event or trade show actually gets to go. Give your audience (and the rest of the watching world) a look inside the event with share-worthy content. Even savvy event organizers will appreciate these actions, and share your content with their own audiences, because it helps promote their own goals of making their event more successful each year.

Know exactly what you want to get out of it, BEFORE you sent foot on the trade show floor or the conference ballroom, and make a plan to get to that result. It’s a big expense, and you want to make it worth your while. (You’d be surprised at how many businesses go to shows like these without a plan for success.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLXSNlwDOzA

 

Mar 2012

28

The Value of Fun in Social Media, With Mari Smith

by Allen Voivod

Social Media Business Fun with Lani Voivod, Mari Smith, and Allen VoivodShe’s a top social media influencer (Forbes), and the Pied Piper of the online world (Fast Company), and though she takes her work seriously, she also knows not to take herself that seriously.

That’s Mari Smith, our mentor and mastermind leader, and the author of The New Relationship Marketing. On the occasion of her leading a blockbuster webinar later today with Guy Kawasaki about the 7 Hottest Social Media Business Trends (it happens at 2pm Eastern – register now, recordings will be available!), here’s Mari lounging with Lani and talking about the value of having fun on your social media channels.

Are you having fun in your business or organization? What good times are leading to great results? Let us know in the comments!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hVon1g1GOE

 

Mar 2012

27

“Marketing for Gold”: Three Ways to Bring More Serendipity Into Your Business

by Allen Voivod

Allen Voivod Talks About the Value of SerendipityHow is it that a post we put up two years ago has led to meetings with foreign delegations visiting from Egypt and Kyrgyzstan in 2012?

One word: Serendipity.

The Internet is like a serendipity engine, with tremendously powerful potential to draw new opportunities into our business and personal lives. And as for the social media side of things, when Facebook debuted the Ticker feature, founder Mark Zuckerberg referred to it as a way of creating serendipity in real time.

Serendipity is a topic we don’t talk about that often, because it’s difficult to measure and quantify. Not everyone is open to the idea of serendipity as a business practice (even though it’s an accepted part of the practice of developing competitive intelligence).

It’s not a top-level strategy you can stake your company’s livelihood on. Or can you?

The fact is, serendipity is probably the biggest secret of our 8+ years of success at Epiphanies Inc., and in 2012, we’re bringing it out into the open. This presentation, for the “Marketing for Gold” event put on by the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, defines serendipity for business and offers three strategies for increasing the potential to welcome serendipitous opportunities into your world:

1. Bursting the filter bubbles of personalization being applied to your search and social worlds.

2. Using keyword optimization/SEO as a means of broadening the topics and searches for which your business can be found.

3. Tap into the passion you have for what you do, especially since Google is now attempting to quantify that passion as part of the ongoing development of its search algorithms.

Here’s the whole presentation, delivered in under 10 minutes. And please let us know in the comments if you’ve tapped into serendipity in your business. What actions worked for you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crlFZpQv2DY

 

Mar 2012

19

Just Announced: “Advanced Facebook Business Accelerator” Workshop Series

by Lani and Allen

[Hey, it's an "Official Press Release" alert! This next-level workshop series for Facebook 2.0 has been in the works for a while, and we're so honored and proud to be working with the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce. Special thanks to Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank for sponsoring this three-week, six-module event!]

Advanced Facebook Business Accelerator

Epiphanies, Inc., in partnership with the Plymouth Regional Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank, will offer a series of next-level Facebook workshops designed for business owners, entrepreneurs, passionate professionals, and mission-driven organizations.

The “Advanced Facebook Business Accelerator” will be held on three consecutive Mondays, April 2nd, 9th, and 16th, from 5:30-7:30pm, at the Pease Public Library in Plymouth, NH. The fee to attend all three workshops is $40.  Seating is limited  to 30 participants. To register, go to http://aha.to/FBPlymouth.

“With 93% of Internet-connected American adults on Facebook – and that number is approximately 73% here in New Hampshire – every for-profit and non-profit organization will find a significant portion of their target audience on Facebook,” says Allen Voivod, co-owner of Epiphanies, Inc.

“Knowing how important it is for professionals to keep current with Facebook, our goal is to make the learning curve as smooth and swift as possible,” Voivod adds.

Six modules will be covered in-depth across the three workshop sessions:

  1. Advertising
  2. Analytics
  3. Promotions
  4. Applications
  5. Integration With Other Social Platforms
  6. Content Strategy

“We wanted to create an in-depth workshop on Facebook in the Plymouth area to really give business owners an understanding and technical experience using the medium,” says Kim Beardwood Smith, Business Development Officer at the Plymouth Chamber. “And thanks to Allen at Epiphanies and a generous sponsorship by Woodsville Guarantee Savings Bank, we’re pleased to offer this series of workshops to the business community.”

Remember, space is limited to a maximum of 30 participants. Go to http://aha.to/FBPlymouth to register, and make the bold decision to ramp up your Facebook learning curve.

About Epiphanies, Inc.

Hailed as ”visionary” and ”two of the most creative thinkers in the industry” by the NH Division of Economic Development, Lani and Allen Voivod share powerful social marketing and success strategies through speaking, events, webinars, workshops, and their own online channels. Their company, Epiphanies, Inc., is in the business of engaging leaders, inspiring entrepreneurs, and redefining what’s possible for bold brands, innovative businesses, and mission-driven organizations in this dynamic, relationship-driven world. To find out how they can help you boost visibility, community, competitive edge, memberships, and profits, connect with them in any or all of the ways that work for you, starting at http://www.EpiphaniesInc.com.

About the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce

The Plymouth Regional Chamber of Commerce serves the business community by promoting the greater Plymouth area as a unique place to live, work and play, recognizing its business, social and economic opportunities. As the leading business organization in the region, we are creating new opportunities, collaborating with many regional and state organizations, and assisting with building a more comprehensive community. For more information, visit www.PlymouthNH.org.

About Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank

Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank is a New Hampshire state-chartered savings bank headquartered in Woodsville, with nine banking offices in the communities of Woodsville, Piermont, Lisbon, Littleton, Lancaster, Plymouth, and Franconia.  For more information, call 1-800-564-2735 or visit www.TheGuarantyBank.com.

Mar 2012

5

Facebook Pages Changes: 2 Important Facts, Plus an 8-Step Checklist

by Allen Voivod

Moses and Facebook

Moses Gets Friended, after Rembrandt van Rijn, by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com (CC BY 2.0)

The long-talked-about changes to Facebook Pages have arrived, and hoooo boy, they’ve got some doozies for us.

Announced at the Facebook Marketing Conference last week, the changes will all go into effect on March 30, unless you choose to enable them first. So you’ve got 25 days from today to get ready! We’ll have a guide and resources for you at the end of this post to help you prepare.

In the meantime, lost amid all the foofaraw about the changes are two very important facts:

1. These changes will have almost NO EFFECT on the way your current Likers interact with you.

2. These changes will significantly impact how you convert NEW Page visitors into Likers.

Let’s explore these two, shall we?

Little or No Effect on Current Facebook Likers

True dish – the overwhelming majority of likes, comments, and shares you get for your Page’s content are given from the Facebook News Feed itself – the first thing you see once you’re logged in at Facebook.com. That means your Likers almost never come back to your page once they’ve Liked you! (See item #1 at the link above for the full scoop.)

So you can see how the cosmetic change to your Pages – the new Cover Photo, the Pinned Post, the Milestones, etc. – won’t really have an impact on your current Liker base.

Also, a recent study showed that your Page’s posts may only be delivered into 1.5%-7% of your Likers’ News Feeds. Eeek! TechCrunch says that number may be as high as 16%, and soon you’ll be able to pay for even more exposure. In the meantime, Facebook’s own internal studies show that photos and photo albums generate twice as much engagement on average than other types of posts. Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm also favors the types of posts (‘or “edges,” in FB-Speak) that generate greater engagement. So start thinking about how you can ramp up your use of images for your Page’s updates.

Converting New Facebook Page Visitors Into Likers

There are three big changes that will affect how you approach your conversion attempts:

1. No more default landing tabs. Sorry, party people! Non-Likers will go straight to the Wall from now on. You can still have custom tabs installed, though – small consolation.

2. No gaming the Cover Photo. Facebook released some very strict rules about the Cover Photo:

Cover photos cannot include:

A. Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website.”

B. Contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section.

C. References to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features.

D. Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”

Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property.

They haven’t said the same about your Profile Picture, though! The tricky part is that your Profile Pic is what gets seen in the News Feed, ads, and Featured Stories, so it would have to be VERY well designed to serve you as a brand identifier out in the FB wilds and also give you a CTA option on your own Page.

The other thing to consider is that, when people click on the Cover Photo, it’ll open up and show you a description field, and Facebook hasn’t laid down any restrictions about what you put in that field.

3. You CAN “pin” a post for seven days. If you’re going to try to replicate what you were doing on your custom default landing tab to encourage people to become Likers, this is likely the best place to do it. Pin an image that tells potential Likers exactly why it’s the best idea since sliced bread to become a Liker of your Page. Or direct them to one of your pre-existing custom tabs for goodies!

Keep in mind that this pinned post, if new, is gonna go into the News Feeds of your Current Likers. So however you implement it, keep that audience in mind, too.

Your Facebook Page Conversion Checklist

Facebook "Like This"

"Facebook's Infection" by Ksayer1 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Here’s exactly what you need to do to get ready for the switchover. Because you may require the services of a graphic designer for some of these, don’t wait until the day before the cutover – get these moves in motion now.

1. Design and upload your Cover Photo. It needs to be 851 x 315 pixels, and follow the rules listed above.

2. Design and upload a new Profile Graphic – maybe. Your previous one – the one that’s 180 x 540 pixels – might not cut it anymore. You need one that’s 180 x 180 pixels, and can scale down to as small as 32 x 32 pixels while still making a brand impact. Make sure your current one works (or doesn’t!) before you pull the trigger on this.

3. Tweak your “About” section. Facebook will only display three lines of text in the new “About” area, so you may need to tighten up what you already have there. (This is a good time to review all your “About” stuff to make sure it’s up to date!)

4. Choose your default views/apps to display. As with your personal profiles, you get to see four views/apps right underneath your Cover Photo by default. The “Photos” app is locked in place by Facebook. You can display three more apps, and display up to 11 in all when you include the drop-down.

5. Tweak the thumbnails of your apps. You can adjust the app image thumbnail – you get 111 x 74 pixels with which to play – and the name of the app, too. Exact character count varies slightly, but only one line of text will be displayed. We’ve gotten 16 characters to fit there.

6. Expand your custom apps display. You can now choose from a narrow (520 pixels) or wide (810 pixels) setting for your Page’s apps. Use the additional real estate!

7. Plan for your pinned post(s). This is highly important territory now. Weekly promotions, themes, calls to action and/or engagement…you name it, you go for it! Do what’s right for your audience, and take advantage of this flexible opportunity space.

8. Schedule time to get acquainted with the new back-end. Ramp up that learning curve – the user interfaces for administration and statistics will be changing, not to mention the new data and capabilities you’ll get to play with.

As you plan for the cutover, here are some more great resources for you:

Introducing New Facebook Pages: Includes examples of brands that have already published their new Page format, plus the most popular help questions.

Pages Overview (PDF): A two-pager from Facebook itself, highlighting the main graphic changes to Pages.

Learn About Facebook Pages: A fabulous video tutorial from Facebook Product Managers about the revamped Facebook Pages.

Facebook Pages Product Guide (PDF): The official and more detailed review of the changes, including administration and Insights.

7 New Facebook Changes Impacting Businesses: by Andrea Vahl, the Community Manager at Social Media Examiner. It’s a great rundown which includes even more awesome little details, too. (Like being able to change your page title!)

Default Landing Tabs Gone and More Changes for Facebook Fan Pages: Written for BusinessInsider.com by Cindy Ratzlaff, who is an all-around awesome social media strategist and brand evangelist.

Mari Smith’s Overview of the Facebook Changes: Notice how she did this by uploading a photo to her Facebook Page and writing a long description field entry that’s essentially a blog post on the subject? Uber-savvy.

Got other resources you like? Share them in the comments!

Mar 2012

1

A World of Abundance and TED2012, in Progress, Right NOW

by Lani Voivod

TED2012: Peter Diamandis, "Abundance Is Our Future"

I’m sitting in a chair in my home in the middle of New Hampshire. On the other side of the country in Long Beach, CA – 3010.21 miles away, according to Mapquest – TED2012 is in progress (February 27 – March 2, 2012, to be exact).

This means the world’s most impassioned speakers, thinkers, dreamers, mavericks, inventors, entrepreneurs, visionaries, creative minds and technology moguls are absorbing new perspectives, gaining insights, and rewiring their neurotransmitters to reconsider, and thus reinvent what’s possible in this quirky and mysterious world of ours.

What’s more, they’re taking all this new information and energy into their systems in 18-minute bursts, bombarding their brains and inspiring their spirits while leaving just enough time to breathe in between epiphanies.

Ohhhh, how I would love to be there live some day!

Until then, though, we can all take advantage of many cool options that take the sting out of not being there in person.

We can check out all the videos on the TED Blog. Eventually, all of the TED 2012 presentations will be posted on their wildly popular and influential TED.com website, where they share “Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world.”

We can check out The Guardian’s Carole Cadwalladr as she liveblogs her butt off during the whole “Geekfest” adventure. “The tech billionaires have arrived (they’re all be here, Sergey, Larry, that baby-faced one who set up Facebook),” Cadwalladr shares…

And it’s almost time for the first session of TED 2012 to get under way. What will be this year’s big idea? Will there be any great tech unveilings? Who knows. It’s all VERY hush hush.

Last year, a scientist “printed” a human kidney live on stage using a desk-top laser printer (and stem cells instead of ink) and Google demonstrated the self-driving car. Will this year’s talks top that? It’s too soon to tell though the theme of this year’s conference is “Full Spectrum”…but of what exactly? Time will tell, people. Time will tell….

We can follow the live Twitter stream at @TEDNEWS, and follow the #TED hashtag for the back channel conversation.

Or we can let quantum serendipity take over, and decide to watch just one video from this amazing multi-day event and see if it ignites a little spark in us to take action. That’s what I did this morning, when I decided to watch Peter Diamandis’ TED Talk, “Abundance Is Our Future.”

Peter Diamandis (@PeterDiamandis on Twitter) is the founder of the X Prize Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is simply “to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.” Diamandis talks about “The Rising Billion,” and explains how THREE BILLION new minds will be joining the global conversation over the next few years via access to the Internet. The rate of connection and collaboration potential is astonishing.

The world’s best super computer is not a computer at all. It’s the collective ingenuity, passion, and curiosity of billions of humans following their own white rabbits and sharing their discoveries with the global community.

“Small teams, driven by their passion with a clearer focus, can do extraordinary things,” says Diamandis. “Things that large corporations and governments could only do in the past.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BltRufe5kkI

 

So, what will YOU do? Watch the video? Pop in on the Twitter stream? Check out Carole Cadwalladr’s liveblog on The Guardian? Or maybe you’ll set a whole week aside to watch all the presentations at once. Wouldn’t that be something? Whatever you do, please share your intentions here in the comments below!

Feb 2012

24

[A-Ha! TV] Pinterest, Vision Boards, and the Laws of Attraction and Action

by Allen Voivod

Pinterest, the Virtual PinboardFirst Lani explained how Pinterest can be used, not just as a fabulously visual business tool for discovery and interests, but also as a kind of vision boarding application. Then I tried it, and The Laws of Attraction and Action kicked in, with powerful results. Powerful enough to knock a scrapbook off a closet shelf and onto the head of his own mother!

Coming at you from El Segundo, CA (where I was in town to meet with clients, vendors, friends, our wizard of a CPA, and my mom), I explain how Pinterest helped me manifest some long-forgotten-and-buried Los Angeles Dodgers memorabilia into my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdBBOenGXc

There’s scientific, elemental, tangible proof in the field of quantum physics that verifies the idea of the old saying, “What you focus on expands.” However, there’s nothing you could take into a court of law to prove it exists and works in our lives. And yet most of us know and believe this old saying to be a fact of life.

Try it on Pinterest in your own way, and see what you can bring into your life. And while you’re there, do connect with us – Lani Voivod on Pinterest, and Allen Voivod on Pinterest. Happy pinning!

Feb 2012

13

Epiphanies, YMCA of Greater Boston to Offer Social Marketing Workshop for Business Leaders, Passionate Professionals

by Lani and Allen

[A little note before you begin: This is the press release for the event, which has just been distributed statewide and online, with all the details about this upcoming workshop. For a direct link to sign up immediately, head over to the payment page hosted at PayPal!]

Epiphanies, Inc. and YMCA of Greater BostonThree out of five adults in New Hampshire are on Facebook, the 800-million-member social networking powerhouse where the average user spends 55 minutes per day. YouTube is the world’s second most popular search engine. Google+ activity is now being used to create personalized search results. Twitter breaks news faster and more widely than any mainstream media outlet.

The options and opportunities for marketing and connectivity are evolving at light speed. Never before has it been so important to understand the power and economic impact of building and nurturing a strong, integrated online presence and social marketing strategy.

Determined to help mission-driven organizations, community leaders, entrepreneurs, and passionate professionals thrive in this ever-changing business climate, Gilford-based Epiphanies, Inc. is partnering with the YMCA of Greater Boston to present a three-hour workshop:

Igniting Your Social Marketing Matrix

How to Set Up, Optimize, and Unleash the Power of Social Media to Amplify Your Brand, Expand Your Audience, and Increase Your Profits

This fun, eye-opening, results-focused workshop takes place February 28th, 2012, from 10:00am to 1:00pm at the YMCA’s Todaro Leadership Center in Mirror Lake, New Hampshire. To learn more and register, go to http://www.epiphaniesinc.com/ignite-your-social-marketing-matrix.

Attendees will learn:

• The 3 essential attributes for any successful online brand presence

• The top social platforms for pumping up reach, SEO, and engagement

• 4 keys to building high-quality, targeted relationships in the social space

• How to rally allies and collaborators to spread your vision farther and wider

• 5 free tools for measuring social media performance

• Why some of the most important social brand-building tactics have nothing to do with your own online channels

• 7 quick and easy tips, tricks, and strategies for leveraging content, boosting visibility, and expanding your network, influence, and revenue-driving opportunities

“Social media marketing isn’t just about using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, or whatever is being buzzed as the hot platform of the day,” says Allen Voivod, co-owner of Epiphanies, Inc. “It’s about creating energy, harnessing passion, and deepening relationships with the serendipitous power of amplifying channels and technologies.”

“As part of the largest non-profit community service organization in America, we’re excited to partner with Lani and Allen of Epiphanies to bring this kind of community-building information to businesses and organizations,” says Kate Lemay, Senior Program Director with the YMCA of Greater Boston. “We’re proud of the Todaro Leadership Center, and feel it’s a fantastic, state-of the-art facility for a wide variety of life events, workshops and educational programs.”

The cost of the workshop is $60. Space is limited, and light refreshments will be served. For more details and to register, click here!

About Epiphanies, Inc.

Hailed as ”visionary” and ”two of the most creative thinkers in the industry” by the NH Division of Economic Development, Lani and Allen Voivod share powerful social marketing and success strategies through speaking, events, webinars, workshops, and their own online channels. Their company, Epiphanies, Inc., is in the business of engaging leaders, inspiring entrepreneurs, and redefining what’s possible for bold brands, innovative businesses, and mission-driven organizations in this dynamic, relationship-driven world. To find out how they can help you boost visibility, community, competitive edge, memberships, and profits, connect with them in any or all of the ways that work for you, starting at http://www.EpiphaniesInc.com.

About the YMCA of Greater Boston

Founded in 1851 as America’s first Y, the YMCA of Greater Boston has strengthened the Greater Boston community through a focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. As the community’s leading nonprofit, we are dedicated to nurturing the potential of every child and teen, improving our community’s health and well-being and providing opportunities to give back and support our neighbors. Each year the YMCA enables more than 100,000 youth, adults, and seniors to be healthy, confident, connected and secure. For more information, visit http://www.ymcaboston.org.

About the Todaro Leadership Center

Built in 2006 and nestled in the woods next to Lake Winnipesaukee in beautiful Mirror Lake, New Hampshire, the Todaro Leadership Center is the YMCA of Greater Boston’s newest and only winterized facility. It is used for many events throughout the year such as: Business and school leadership trainings, weddings, birthdays, retirement and holiday parties, dances, wedding and baby showers, classes and a variety of other functions. To find out more about this state of the art facility and to book your next event, visit www.BostonYCamps.org.

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