Qittle SMS Message Solutions

Holiday retail sales might have staved off a visit from the Grinch thanks in part to social media.

Nearly half of U.S. retailers polled in a pre-holiday national survey said they intended to increase their use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter during the Christmas shopping season.

“Social media has allowed for a very efficient, low-cost way for retailers to communicate directly with their best customers on exclusive sales and offers,” said Clay McDaniel, co-founder of Seattle-based marketing firm Spring Creek Group.

Although the exact impact of social media on holiday retailing hasn’t been calculated, online outreach is thought to have been a factor in the 3.6 percent increase in November and December spending reported Monday by MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse.

In addition to boosting sales, social media has enabled retailers to reduce or divert spending on traditional advertising in print and broadcast media.

 Andrew BE specializes in Internet Business 
 Development and created Elegant Technologies
 Limited while completing his Masters in 
 Business Administration nearly 10 years ago.
 Combining his training in website design 
 and his education in business, he offers 
 a unique and powerful approach to creating 
 Internet businesses: He begins each project 
 from a business standpoint to develop a 
 refined website and marketing strategy that 
 will serve the specific needs and target 
 market of each individual company. Applying 
 traditional business concepts and the 
 revolutionary features and resources that 
 only the Internet can provide, he continues 
 to exhibit an impressive track-record of 
 helping entrepreneurs succeed online. 

 Click here for ticket info

According to the “Small Business Marketing Forecast 2010” from Ad-ology, lead generation is the biggest benefit of social networking for US small businesses, cited by one-half of respondents. Social networks were also considered a good way to keep up with the industry and monitor online chatter about the business.

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QITTLE ™ SOCIAL/MOBILE MEDIA EVENTS TO GIVE OUT SKI WEEKENDS TO LUCKY WINNERS

Weekend Trips to Aspen/Snowmass to be Given Out to Lucky Attendees of New Media Seminars in Colorado

ASPEN, COLO. – December 22nd, 2009 – Join Qittle and other mobile/social media professionals at one of five Front Range, Colo. “Mobile/Social Media At It’s Best – Live The Dream” seminars for a chance to win a weekend in Aspen/Snowmass, Colo.

Learn how to make ones business successful in the digital age. Learn tools and tactics to promote ones business through social networks, blogs, mobile devices, and how to write and pitch a press release in these changing times. Qittle is hosting five new media seminars in Colorado and is randomly selecting five attendees to enjoy a two-night stay for two, with four Aspen/Snowmass Ski passes valued at over $1,000 per giveaway.

The five social/mobile media seminars are taking place in Greeley, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Denver and Boulder. These are very interactive and engaging seminars. This seminar will begin with a social conversation between some of the top social media experts from surrounding communities, sharing best and worst practices for social media from their experience. There will be a brief networking session, followed by a presentation on PR in a digital age. In this section attendants will learn tools and tactics to create a successful PR/marketing campaign through social networks. The last section will teach attendants how to be at the forefront of mobile marketing and how to begin an effective mobile campaign.

Here is what one attendee of the Glenwood Springs event has to say about these events. “The Qittle conference on social media is chock full of practical, easily applicable tactics to help businesses grow at a time when money is tight and the competition for clients is heated. The presenters were flexible in adjusting their explanations to the knowledge and experience levels of the attendees. I am going to recommend this to all of my clients.” Jerry Pradier, CMT Master Mentor

Qittle has partnered with Aspen/Snowmass hotel partners including Frias Properties, St. Regis, Aspen and the Limelight Lodge in Aspen Colorado. The Aspen Skiing Company is providing lift tickets for the winners.

To learn more about registering for one of these events and for a chance to win a two night stay with four ski passes in Aspen/Snowmass go to http://qittle.eventbrite.com/

Mike O’Neil and Lori Ruff

Mike O’Neil founded the world’s first Social Media and LinkedIn training company, Integrated Alliances. Mike is a true pioneer in the mix of Social Media, LinkedIn, networking and web-based business applications. He was a charter LinkedIn user in early 2004 when it was just getting started. He is recognized by his peers as one of the world’s first and foremost LinkedIn trainers and Social Media speakers.

Lori Ruff is a recognized authority in the arena of Social Media and LinkedIn training. Ruff joined the LinkedIn community in July 2005 when it was just two years old. Lori is now a senior partner, lead Social Media coach, and head of curriculum development at Integrated Alliances. She is a recognized authority in the world of Social Media and LinkedIn training. Her career in training international corporate and conference audiences began in July 1996. In addition to Internet applications, she is a Microsoft Certified Master Instructor and a speaker and facilitator on topics such as customer service, leadership, visioning, personal development, and career transition.

Click here for Tickets to Denver and Boulder

Lori Gama’s 14 years as a Web Strategist has enabled her to help thousands of people connect with their communities. Lori is a website producer and SEO expert who has a 100% top Google listing record for all of her clients.  She’s also a Social Media Trainer, Consultant and Speaker, who has been singled out in the blogosphere, Twitter and Facebook as one of the top people to turn to for Social Media marketing and for Hispanic Social Media Marketing. She has a large, loyal community of followers, friends and associates in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, of both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking people. She is regarded as one of the top “Hispanic-fluentials” in Social Networks around the world. Her consultant work with Fortune 500 companies, entreprenuers and non-profits, typically results in a significant increase in website traffic; referrals and new customers. Lori is an in-demand speaker at Social Media conferences across the country, including the recent Washington, D.C.: Latinos In Social Media conference in December, 2009.

Lori was born and raised in the East Bay in northern California. Lori’s bi-cultural upbringing, technology and communications expertise and Social Marketing expertise have positioned her to be a unique Social Media Consultant who uses the latest technology and Social Marketing methods to achieve a high success rate of revenue growth for her clients.

Conor is CEO of BombBomb.com a Video Email Marketing company he founded at the end of 2006.

He has more than 10 years of experience in sales, marketing and entrepreneurship. Conor started his career as an entrepreneur in the multi-family housing industry, where he grew his business to 60 employees. Conor then went into the local media business, growing annual ad revenues from $175K to $1.1M in just 4 years.

In his spare time he’s an owner in a vineyard development venture in Oregon, as well as a winery project in the Walla Walla, Washington, where he picked his first harvest this year. Conor also advises and advocates for development of small businesses and communities in Kenya, Africa.

Click here to get tickets for Colorado Springs Social Mobile Media event

Click here to watch Live The Dream – Intro to New Media at GrassRootstv.org

Let’s lose the Social Media Director position right now. From now on, the Customer Service director issues the tweets, and the product manager does the product release tweets. They all report into the Brand Manager as far as communications go. And to train all of us for the future of how we get information, grammar school curriculums need to maintain a serious focus on reading and writing to put the orthography debate to bed (who knew social media could save orthography).

Social media is merely a tool and an extension of how we get information, and it should be incorporated into the life of the company brand and marketing strategy, just as the website is today.

Here are five things I can call myself an expert on after having sufficiently screwed up, learned, and proved:

1. If you are a CEO, assign each manager a set of social media editorial objectives for the week at the Monday manager’s meeting.
2. If you are an advertiser aiming to outsource your social media, keep the customer service and product launches in-house and outsource the public relations and brand awareness.
3. Social media does not mean informal. I love the CEO of Zappos, but he’s not my friend, and he’s not going to pick me up at the airport. So spare me the personal details (unless, of course, you will pick me up at the airport).
4. Don’t lose the connection with the spiritual grandfather of social media: the corporate website. Content needs to be tied into it in a serious and prominent way. Redundancy is king.
5. Don’t be afraid to make your own rules and get support for your pioneering initiatives. Your social media strategy may be the inevitable phase of the social media revolution.

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