Yes, that’s me, wearing the wig while sitting outside a Boloco in Concord, NH and talking about a little-used YouTube secret that can boost you up in their search results. It came from Greg Jarboe, author of YouTube Marketing: An Hour a Day, but it’ll only take you a minute to watch the video inspired by his session at a previous Social Media Success Summit.

If the place where you’re reading this doesn’t pull the video through, don’t fret. Just jump over to our YouTube Channel to check it out. As of this writing, we’ve got 92 videos posted there, chock full of tips, tricks, and strategies for you. If YouTube is a place you like to play, please subscribe to get notified when we post the latest and greatest!

Happy Day of Epiphany to you! To celebrate this powerful day, we thought we’d share a little something different. It’s Jacob Sokol,who started Sensophy as a way to help people live extraordinary lives. In his words:

I used to work for an awesome IT company as a computer network consultant in Times Square NYC. I made a nice living enjoying all the cliché token things a “successful” 26 year old would want: A sweet ass apartment, a cool car, a fast motorcycle, a wardrobe that changed with the seasons, fancy dinners with friends, and some extra spending cash for Friday and Saturday nights.

What I didn’t have was an enthusiastic feeling when my day began. All the new techy toys in the world wouldn’t take away that feeling of “Damn, I gotta’ go through this routine again today!”

Everything changed in 2009 when I took 5 weeks off from work to backpack throughout Europe, alone! I came back to New York City a changed man and slowly started to figure out how I would alter my life accordingly…

Get a taste of his energy and enthusiasm for his new purpose in life with this video, The 12 Habits of Happy People. It’s derived from Sonya Lyubomirsky‘s book The How of Happiness, and as you watch it, please ask yourself:

If I practiced these 12 things, one per month for the next 12 months, how much more awesome would my 2012 be?

In case you’ve got sensitive ears, be warned – the occasional expletive is dropped in here. Don’t let it take you away from the message. And if you’re reading this somewhere where the video didn’t pull through, you can check it out on YouTube, or at Jacob’s site.

Hey there hi there ho there, and Happy Wednesday to you! Have you hit the ground running this year? Or were the first couple days just what you needed to gear up? Drop us a comment and let us know!

Here at Epiphanies, we’re firing on all cylinders so far. We’ve got a couple of cool announcements coming this week, and here’s the first of them. Allen will be part of a Q&A panel (and also presenting for a short bit o’ time) at a PR Bootcamp in Manchester, NH later this month. Thanks to Lisa Landry of Print Savvy and the Savvy Workshop for putting this event together (and for inviting us to be a part of it!). They do monthly in-person workshops on various marketing topics – check ‘em out on Facebook to see what else they’ve got planned for 2012.

But as for the PR Bootcamp in a couple of weeks, here’s the official scoop from the Savvy Workshop headquarters:

Get your PR off the ground with the Savvy PR Pros
Our panel of top notch professionals will get you in top PR form!

• Discover how to create strong and strategical foundational messaging that can be applied across all media to cement your brand identity.
• Learn the basics of how to write and format compelling press releases that will stay on message and get picked up by media outlets.
• Find out how to craft creative story pitches and work with your local media (not against them!)
• Learn how to plan media campaigns and negotiate the best rates for every dollar you invest in paid advertising.
• Hear from Media Relations experts about how they work to earn their clients media coverage through story pitches and expert commentary.
• Leverage social media outlets such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and others new media to get your story noticed…and published!
• Develop a PR strategy that includes event participation and speaking engagements for positioning you and your business as the “go to” experts in your industry.

10AM-2PM  January 20, 2012 Lunch is included. $40.00 Register: http://www.savvypr.eventbrite.com

Meet Our Experts:

Monica Bardier, PingPR Owner/President

Award winning marketing and public relations executive Monica Bardier is Owner & President of PingPR, a public relations driven marketing communications agency that provides fully integrated multidisciplinary services including social media that build awareness and sales for its clients. Prior to starting PingPR, Monica worked as the VP of Communications at a leading advertising agency in New Hampshire, strategizing and implementing marketing and public relations campaigns for more than a dozen of the agency’s top accounts in hospitality, healthcare, finance, education, legislative and more. Monica was Director of Community Relations at Catholic Medical Center, one of the state’s leading acute-care hospitals; there, she was recognized as the top public relations professional among her peers by the New England Society of Healthcare Professionals for her public relations work surrounding the announcement of the hospital’s da Vinci Robotics. Monica has a strong television news producing background based on a 10-year career at WMUR-TV Channel 9, New Hampshire’s largest television station. Under her leadership as Executive News Producer, the station won its first Emmy from the National Television Academy of Arts & Sciences for Breaking News coverage.

Dale Allaire, Bridgeview Marketing/Founder and Managing Partner

Dale is a founding partner of BridgeView Marketing, is responsible for managing marketing communications, lead generation and media relations campaigns for high-technology clients across a wide variety of market sectors. A 20-year sales, public relations, analyst relations, branding and marketing veteran. Dale has developed and coordinated all aspects of direct marketing, channel marketing, public relations, analyst relations, customer relations, internal communications, sales and lead-generation and has worked for such companies as Cabletron Systems, Nortel Networks, SilverBack Technologies and Pannaway Technologies. Bridgeview provides high-tech organizations with the sales, PR and marketing resources traditionally associated with larger corporate agencies—but with the responsive, high-touch customer care and value of a boutique firm. Dale’s experience and knowledge has fueled the creation of a truly unique agency model which combines the core services that any high-tech organization needs to bridge the gap between sales and marketing.

Allen Voivod, Epiphanies, Inc. / Co-Owner

Hailed as “visionary” and “two of the most creative thinkers in the industry” by the NH Division of Economic Development, Allen and his wife/business partner Lani 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, innovation businesses and mission-driven organizations in this dynamic, relationship-driven world.

2012 may be the right time to start putting the power of the crowd to work for you.

But how, you may ask? For what business function, and in what industries? Can it work for any business or organization, anywhere, anytime?

So many questions, and only 19 minutes to answer them. So I took my best shot last month, and the video below is the result. From the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency to a New Hampshire based singer-songwriter, from a real estate development project to a youth retention initiative, and dozens of points in between, here’s a breezy overview of how a wide variety of folks are putting people to work and getting amazing results.

This was originally presented at the 16th Annual New Hampshire Economic Development Summit, and if the video below doesn’t load for you, please hop over to our YouTube channel to give it a listen!

Whether you use social media in your business…

Whether social media IS your business…

Or you’re a passionate professional in any business…

Chris Brogan has some great advice to share about being successful in whatever you do.

At Epiphanies, Inc., we talk about “Margin Mantras” – 2-3 keywords we write in the literal or virtual margins of what ever project we’re working on, to help keep us focused. The three words Chris shares in this 90-second video could serve as a Margin Mantra for you in your own professional efforts.

Chris was kind enough to record this at PodCamp Boston 6 for attendees at the “A-Ha!” NH Social Media Business Summit earlier this year, and now you get to see it here! Or, here, if the place where you’re reading this doesn’t pull the embedded video along with it.

Want more of Chris? He’s posting great stuff at ChrisBrogan.com, and also at his biz, Human Business Works.

Can you possibly meet everyone you want to meet when attending a trade show, conference, or seminar?

Are there people you’ve never heard of, but if you had, you know you’d want to connect with them?

And what about the events you can’t attend personally? Is there a way to connect with other interested professionals, even if you’re stuck somewhere else?

You bet there is!

It’s through the Twitter back channel, and you can access it through the magic of the hashtag. Not hip to it yet? Lani can tell you everything you need to get started using them, and she can do it in less than three minutes flat. Don’t believe me? Here’s the proof, shot outside the Boston Marriott Burlington, after the Awareness/Exploring Social Media Business Summit in October 2011.

And if you can’t see Lani’s smiling face and expressive hand gestures on whatever device or platform you’re using to check this out, here’s the original YouTube link for you – thanks in advance for making the jump!

Can you actually have real relationships with your Facebook Likers – and can you keep it up when your Liker base grows into the tens of thousands?

Paul Boynton, an award-winning human services CEO and author of “Begin With Yes” says – wait for it… – “Yes!” We’ve known Paul for a few years now, and his is a happily practical, action-focused positivity. Consider this: The Begin With Yes Facebook Page‘s “People are talking about this” interaction rate is nearly 3x higher than Dr. Wayne Dyer’s interaction rate, despite Wayne having 577,000 Likers compared to Paul’s 12,000. It seems Paul must be doing something right!

At a recent TEDx event Lani and Paul both attended, Lani asked Paul to share the secret of his Facebook Page growth, which he kindly did in this brief video.

If you’re reading this someplace where you can’t see the embedded video, a hop, skip ‘n click to our YouTube Channel will do the trick!

It’s beginning to look a lot like planning season for businesses! With 2012 just around the corner, now’s a great time to start thinking about what you’ll be doing for your business or organization in the next 12 months, and how you’ll be able to track your performance at the end of next year.

Christopher S. Penn, the Director of Strategy at WhatCounts, knows a little something about that topic. More than a little something, in fact! So we asked him to boil down his best bit of advice and deliver it in less than two minutes. He rose to the challenge with this terrific riff on what he calls “Line of Sight” marketing metrics. This was first shared with attendees at the 3rd Annual “A-Ha!” NH Social Media Business Summit back in October, and now, we’re thrilled to be able to share Chris’ tips with you!

(If you can’t see the embedded video from wherever you’re reading this, just take a quick click trip to our YouTube channel to see it. And heck, why not subscribe while you’re there?)

BTW, this interview was recorded at Podcamp Boston 6 in September 2011, which was a fantastic event. If you’re anywhere near the area, we highly recommend checking it out next year!

Getting seen on Facebook is a fabulous thing, if you’re trying to get a business or an organization OUT THERE to your Ideal Audience. But how do you “get seen,” in a world of 800 million users and billions of pieces of content?

To start, you’ve got to get with the concept of “EdgeRank.” That’s the algorithm Facebook uses to sort through all that content and deliver the best, most relevant items into News Feeds around the globe.

It’s a complicated concept, but we’ve boiled down the essentials to a video that, in less than two minutes, has the power to change the way you’ve been using Facebook Pages for visibility and engagement.

And if for some reason you can’t see the embedded video, please take a quick link trip to our YouTube Channel to check it out at the source.

What are some Facebook content strategies that have worked especially well for you? Start a conversation in the comments and let us know!

What, exactly, did you “Agree” to when you clicked all those “I Agree” checkboxes and buttons just to get access to your favorite websites, apps, and social media platforms?

Sharing, privacy, and information control are one of the biggest areas of discussion in the brave new world of the Social Web, and to get a fresh perspective on it, Lani talked to digital native and online entrepreneur Lane Sutton. Lane, a 14-year-old who serves as a social media consultant for clients including an autism/special needs advocate and speaker, lawyer, realtors, a college counselor, and more, also speaks at events and workshops about a wide range of Internet-related topics, including privacy and online security.

Lani caught up with Lane at one of his recent speaking gigs, a session at Podcamp Boston 6 in September 2011. He shared three of his top tips for managing your own privacy in this video, originally recorded for attendees at the 3rd Annual “A-Ha!” NH Social Media Business Summit. And now, Lane’s here on the “A-Ha!” Blog to share those tips with you, in exactly 95 seconds!

If you can’t see the embedded video, please jump over to our YouTube channel to watch it there.

What are your best tips for maintaining online security and privacy? Leave a comment and let other readers know!