May 10, 2012

Social Media Thursdays

 So Mother’s Day is on the way and here are a few ways you can pay tribute to your mom in the great big cyber world –

Change your status to a testimonial about your mom “Loving my mom today and everyday! Here’s to you on Mother’s Day!”

Tweet about the places you’ll go (Mom and I at Love That Crepe Restaurant in Brooklyn” or the things you’ll give (Great mom gift from www.UglyDucklingBeads.etsy.com).

Upload a photo montage of mom on Flickr

Stumble some sweet mom blogs or items like www.cafemom.com or EightTreeStreet’s beautiful wreaths at www.EightTreeStreet.etsy.com.

Pin a Mother’s Day Wish List or Virtual Gifts For Mom on Pinterest!

There’s so many more – ring in with your social media mommy testimony ideas. Feel free to pass these ideas on to your children, innocent of any expected action on their part, of course (a-hem).

Monday, April 23, 2012

Fun With Music and Video Monday

I saw this video on Saturday morning and was moved to tears. What an awesome testimony! Proctor and Gamble did a superb job with this ad. I am purposely not saying what the focus of the ad is, because I want you to view it and weigh in with your opinions ^_^! Oh and hey, have a spectacular day!

March 7, 2012

Khalid el-Hakim turned a 500-piece personal collection of artifacts into a 5,000-piece collection that he shares nationwide. / Photos by JARRAD HENDERSON/Detroit Free Press

By Brian McCollum

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

The G.R. N'Namdi Gallery in Detroit features artifacts from el-Hakim's "Drum Majors for Justice" exhibit Saturday. They include slave chains, racist postcards, magazines and other items from the Black History 101 Mobile Museum.

"Some collectors feel a duty to history. Some have an urge to enlighten the public. Detroit's Khalid el-Hakim calls his collecting a spiritual mission. As proprietor of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum, el-Hakim has become an in-demand figure at college campuses and events across the Midwest and, increasingly, nationwide. His single-room exhibits -- featuring artifacts from the slave era through the Obama presidency -- are customized to a variety of themes and often draw several hundred patrons in a single afternoon."
read the entire article here 


So begins a wonderful write up of an awesome young man doing great things in Detroit and around the country. In a time when Detroit doesn't always get a good "rap", there are several folks who are turning it around. Khalid is an ex-Detroit Public School History teacher who is following his dream to success. A newlywed and new dad, he takes his dream on the road to help other school districts and schools teach hands on lessons to the young and the not-so-young. The museum is broken down into "era" rooms of information, giving educators the opportunity to focus in on specific periods of time or genres to help drive a lesson home. el-Hakim continues to add to his collection while pursuing his Master's Degree from Michigan's Western University.


I remember when Khalid was just a troublesome little guy, terrorizing the likes of his older brother and his sister. Even then, he knew how to think outside the box to get what he thought was important done. I won't tell any embarrassing stories or let out any secrets (there really aren't any ^_^), but don't tell him...I've got to have something to hold over his head!


Check out more about the Mobile Museum and Khalid el-Hakim through these links:

http://common-breath.com/?tag=khalid-el-hakim
news.artservemichigan.org/2011/07/one-in-a-million/

February 16, 2012

Social Media Thursday

Social Media Icons

Gotta have em, don't we? I mean there have always been icons for things, the "golden arches", the "swoosh", the "big boy" and so on. But in today's media market, it's unheard of not to have these little symbols lurking around your webpage, blog, shop, etc. I've seen them on CNN, CNBC, ESPN, and of course, ETSY. Soon, we'll have another new language, move over text speak, here comes Icon-talk! Yes, I know you noticed the shameless use of AcronymSpeech, but hey, that's from MY era of shortcuts. According to WebDesignLedger.com contributor, Henry Jones,

 "The ability to easily bookmark or share content on popular social media platforms is now a must have feature for web sites. It’s also important that this feature isn’t over looked by web site visitors. So it’s always a good idea to use icons when linking to social media sites. They get peoples attention and the logos are immediately recognizable."

(Henry has) "taken the time to round up what I believe are the best free social media icons out there."

Set of social icons

Social Media Mini Iconpack

Handycons

Dellifeed: A Free Icon Set

Heart: A Free Social Icon Set

The Leaves Fall: A Social Icon Set For Bloggers

Social Bookmark Iconset

Set of social icons no.2

Social Icons hand drawned

6 Free New Social Icons

This isn't all there is, by no means. This isn't even all the ones, dear Henry gathered up, but I figured you get the picture...I mean, the ICON (bah, dum, dum), by this point. So go on, dress up your sites with pretty little pics (yes, icons) and connect, connect, connect - this word "connect", it's IconSpeak for "talk to via electronic message transmissions". Connect is so much easier, isn't it?

How many little guys trail around your sites or are you feeling a little Icon Envy? No need, just snatch a few freebies and you'll be in Icon Heaven in no time!

Till next we meet

February 13, 2012

Fun with Music and Video Mondays!

Most of you know that I am a dancer by choice, by nature and by God's path. This week's video is a song by Elton John (one of my favorite artists) and features Complexions Dance Company ~ "Answer In The Sky".

Love the song, love the artists involved, love the whole thing.

January 9, 2012

Fun With Music and Video Monday

The latest answer on the web to YouTube is Vimeo.
Simply put, Vimeo is the home for videos you create. According to the site developers, “we offer the best tools and the highest quality video in the Universe”.
When you become a member of Vimeo, you can:
Upload - Vimeo makes it easy for you to upload any kind of video you create. It accepts tons of different file formats. A basic (free) account allows up to 500 MB of storage weekly and they have easy (read “vimeo for dummies) tools to customize your videos, including you savvy HD video people, to embed into any website or blog.
Share – “With a click of a button, Vimeo lets you share a video (or albums of videos) with anyone you want.” There are privacy controls so you can choose exactly who views your videos, and you can even post videos on other sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, or Digg.
Connect - Vimeo is a worldwide community of respectful people. In other words, Vimeo is a social network as well. So, it’s kind of like YouTube meets Twitter/Facebook. Have conversations with other members, take video workshops and more.
Explore – “Check out Categories to explore an ever-changing catalog of Vimeo 's great content and active communities. Interact with other users like you in Vimeo Groups, or subscribe to Channels with the kind of videos you enjoy.”
Learn – “Vimeo Video School is a fun place for anyone to learn how to make better videos. Start by browsing our Vimeo Lessons, or find specific video tutorials created by other members.”

I found this cool little video on Vimeo and I love it! I think I'll load my product video there and see what happens.



Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

I hope you enjoyed this little vignette. Do you Vimeo?

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Social Media Thursday

I found this Social Media Timeline published by SunSentinel.com while helping my nephew with his homework. Thought I'd share it with you gals and guys.

Social media timeline

August 31, 2011|By Chris Tiedje, Sun Sentinel

“

1971 – The first email is sent (between two computers sitting on the same desk).

1979 – Usernets and BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) came online allowing users to exchange data over phone lines.

1980 – Compuserve and Prodigy hit the scene with the first commercial offering of news, weather, shopping, games, and more.

1991 – America Online launches AOL for DOS and quickly rises to one of the most popular online destinations with over 30 million members in its prime. Millions of people used AOL as their first gateway to the World Wide Web.

1994 – Geocities launches as a community where users create their own websites categorized by one of six "cities".

1995 – TheGlobe.com gave users the freedom to post their own content and interact with other users.

1995 – Classmates.com is born allowing users to find and connect with former acquaintances from school life.

1997 – ICQ (Internet Relay Chat) is purchased by America Online and AOL Instant Messenger launches, and a new language is born. OMG, LOL, BRB.

1997 – SixDegrees.com launches allowing users to create profiles and list friends.

2002 – Friendster.com launches and quickly grows to 3 million users in 3 months.

2003 – MySpace.com is frantically coded in 10 days to try and mimic the rapid growth of Friendster. Grows to the most popular social networking site in 2006 with 100 million users. LinkedIn and Photobucket also join the game.

 2004 – Facebook launches originally as a way for college students to connect. The year also saw the birth of Digg and Flickr.

2005 – YouTube launches and gives anyone with a video camera the chance to become an internet sensation.

2006 – Twitter launches and squeezes our communication into 140 character "tweets".

2008 – Facebook overtakes MySpace as the most popular social networking site.

2011 – Google introduces Google+ after two previous failed attempts to break into the social space (Wave and Buzz).

“

Reprinted from http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-08-31/sports/fl-social-media-timeline-0901-20110830_1_users-google-aol-instant-messenger

BTW - I'm putting the finishing touches to yesterdays Treasury Story on today. Click here to read the ending. Thanks to everyone who posted storyline and commentary! See you next Wednesday for a new Treasury and a new story!

January 2, 2012

The first Monday of 2012, I wanted to share this video with you for

Fun With Music and Video

Here's to a year of triumphs and tribulations, smiles and sadness, hellos and goodbyes, joys and sorrows! Cheers!

Thank You, God, for keeping me here to see another year end and a new year begin!!

December 19, 2011

Fun With Music and Videos

About ten years ago, I came across this motivational site while looking for something to help motivate my students to achieve more, to give their 250% all the time. I lost track of the site when I had my computer stolen about 4 years ago. Recently, I was working on my dance ministry blog and was moved to look for this site again...and I found it.

I want to share one of the most beautiful messages given to me.

SimpleTruths.com

How do you make your customers know that you appreciate them?

December 15, 2011

Social Media Thursday

 During the month of November, I participated in a campaign sponsored by American Express called “Small Business Saturday”. It occurred on the Saturday after Black Friday and before Cyber Monday. It was a push to draw the consumer to invest some of their holiday spending in small businesses. Part of the campaign included $100 (one hundred dollars) of Facebook Advertising. For FREE. I applied and my little ad was accepted and then, quite honestly, I forgot about that part of the push. I put up information on my Facebook fan page, business page and my personal page. Tweeted about Small Business Saturday and placed signage about it in my booth during the Christmas Wonderfest in Detroit.

I have had an increase in sales (slight, but still even one new sale is better than no sales, right?), but I still didn’t make any connections to AmEx and their campaign. Yesterday I received the following email (excerpted here) :

We are happy to report that with your $100 in free Facebook advertising, your campaign reached 134,036* potential customers. (*Reach is defined by the number of unique impressions delivered within your geo-targeted area.)

To keep the momentum going, American Express OPEN offers a variety of helpful resources on OPEN Forum^®, including social media tips and tools for businesses like yours. It is all part of our ongoing commitment to the success of small, locally owned businesses.

Wow!!! The ad ran on Facebook for approximately 15 days (I got in on the deal late) which meant I was able to spend more per day than I ever would be able to afford (almost $7 per day)on a regular basis. At the same time, Facebook offered a 50% match of AmEx’s $100.00, again FREE, so that meant I was virtually spending $10.00 per day in Facebook Ads- YOWZA! 

Of course, I am, indeed, a small business and so obviously could not keep those ads running. I cancelled my ads, but I have had an increase in my Facebook fans and more specifically, a request from an international company to possibly market one of my products!!! Double YOWZA!!

Check out the open forum and think about saving some of your advertising dollars for one or two times a year to invest in Facebook Ads. You never know how the results will pay out in the end!

See you tomorrow ^_^