How to secure and manage your privacy settings  on the major social networks.

Special One Day Class

About The Class

We’ve all heard those stories of people’s “private” data and information on social media being shared with the public without their knowledge. This hour and a half class will address the various privacy settings on the major social networks to help students become confident about what they’re sharing and to whom they’re sharing on the Social Web. Students should bring a laptop with WiFi capabilities. This will be a hands-on workshop.

How To Register and Details

The class will be held on Wednesday, August 17^th at the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Conference Room located at 4259 W. Swamp Road, Suite 400 – Doylestown, PA 18902 from 6pm to 7:30pm.

The cost is $20. Seats are Limited to 25 people so ACT FAST!

Register by going to http://gmwd.us/k5 (Skillshare) or scanning the QR Code with your phone.

Class Lead by Seth Goldstein of Goldstein Media LLC – Doylestown’s own Internet & Interactive Agency

For More Information Call Us At (215) 352-5216

Image Credit: flickr/cambodia4kidsorg

As a Philadelphia Social Media Marketing company, Goldstein Media helps companies of all sizes setup a blog. Many of our clients are new to online publishing and blogging is a daunting task.

Here are some of the tips we give our clients to help the get started writing on their blog.

• Schedule a specific time every week when you plan to write. If weekly is to much of a commitment sit down monthly and write a few blog posts and schedule them to be published throughout the month.
• Write about what you know. Write about topics that are relevant to your company.
• Don’t “Fake It.” The worst thing you can do it try and seem like an expert on a topic and make a fool out of yourself. This will cause a loss of credibility not only for your self but for your company as well.
• Look at the FAQs section on your site and those sites of others in your industry. Answer these questions in long form. This can produce compelling content and also help your site rank better in the search engines.
• Look at trends in your industry. Look back a decade and look forward a decade. Talk about the changes that have happened and what you expect for the future of your industry.
• Look to social media and the trending topics being talked about on those networks. Talk about the stories that are relevant to your industry and business.
• The World is constantly changing. Major news events can often be applied in some way to any industry.
• Interview experts in your industry or in your company.
• Use different forms of media. Search engines and people alike enjoy different types of content on your site. Post a video to Youtube and embed it on your site.
• Share interesting data that your company has mined. Create infographics that people can share on their sites (be sure to include your credit line in the graphic).
• Listen and respond to your audience. If people have comments turn your answers, where appropriate, into blog posts.

Hopefully these tips are helpful. If you are interested in learning more about what Goldstein Media can do for your company. Please reach out to us: 215-352-5216 or information[AT]goldsteinmedia[DOT]com.

More companies are embracing sites such as Foursquare, Google Places, Facebook, Twitter, among others to get to reach out to current and potential clients.

Many of these companies are offering deals to those people who engage them on Social Media.

Whether is through a Facebook page or blog contest, a Foursquare check-in give-a-way or any number of different awards, people in Philadelphia, like in most other metropolitan areas are using Social Media to enhance their lives.

What Can My Company Do To Engage These People?

That answer is simpler than it looks — embrace Social Media. Use it to connect, communicate and interact with your client-base.

But I don’t have time to be playing on Twitter and other such services.

There is always time for marketing. It’s about balancing your time effectively.

But how?

This is where Goldstein Media can help. We work without clients to help them interact and connect more effectively with their clients. We show them how to fit Social Media into the day without having it take over your life and take away from something else important.

We use our philosophy of Cross-Pollination to help get our clients’ messages out and help make Social Media more doable.

Give us a call today (215) 352-5216 and we’ll show you how to get the most out of Social Media.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about Social Media and the importance of having a home base which is fully in your control and all your own.

Sites like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Linkedin are all great and have amazing value. They shouldn’t be ignored, but they also shouldn’t be the only place where you cultivate content and audience.

Your Website and blog should be your main spot for posting content and growing a following, a readership and a reputation as a thought leader.

The idea of having a home base is rather simple. You have no control over Social Media sites. They can take your profile and content down when ever they want. They own the platform and have all the control. If you first post on your blog and link to it from your Social Media outposts you remain in control of that content.

Darren Rowse of Problogger has a great video explaining how he uses Social Media. It is very similar to how I use it as well.

So what do you think? Do you have a blog where your putting all of your original content before sending out to the outposts? If not, you might want to think about setting one up. If you would like to learn more about how Goldstein Media can help you with your Social Media plan, including setting up a home base for all your content, give us a call today at (215) 352-5216.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Post them below in the comments.

Thanks to Rose McMenamin, the vice president of business development for 3rd Federal, for inviting me.

Below is a copy of the flyer that was all over the 3rd Federal Branches.

In this article, the author points out some very valuable information that I think is important to keep in mind.

The blurred line between social and mobile may be obvious in the case of mobile social networks like Foursquare and Gowalla, but the line applies to social networks with more reach as well.

Consider the following stats about mobile usage from networks that are likely part of your social budget, but may not have been accounted for in mobile:

• 50% of active users make mobile a regular part of their Twitter experience (Twitter CEO Dick Costolo)
• 200 million of Facebook’s 600 million subscribers access Facebook through their mobile device (Facebook CTO Bret Taylor)
• Mobile is Facebook’s top priority in 2011 (Bret Taylor)
• [Groupon has] seen significant growth in the last six months in terms of percentage of users who redeem from mobile. (Groupon VP/GM of Mobile, Mihir Shah)
• YouTube now exceeds 200 million views a day on mobile, a 3x increase in 2010. (YouTube)
• [Facebook mobile users] are more than twice as active as people who use Facebook just on a desktop computer (Bret Taylor)
• 30% of smartphone owners have accessed social networks via browser (comScore)
• Moms are active in mobile social: in terms of demographics, most mobile social network users are female, with the most active age group being 35-54 (Nielsen)

In other words, if you’re running a social media campaign in Facebook or Twitter, it’s very likely that your target is viewing it on a mobile device.

If your target is a Facebook user, it’s likely they’re engaging with your brand twice as much on a mobile device as they would be on a desktop computer.

If your business is doing a Groupon, it’s also likely that a growing number of your customers will never print out the Groupon, but redeem it at the local business with their smartphone.

If you consider yourself a video SEO or video marketer and are actively engaging your target audience in YouTube, your target audience is likely being engaged on their mobile device.

The author is totally correct. By concentrating on Social Media, you are indeed reaching a mobile market. Now this doesn’t mean that you can neglect getting your Website optimized for mobile, but it should help you decide where to put your money first.

Goldstein Media is a full service Web Design and Internet Marketing agency based in the suburbs of Philadelphia. If you have any questions about how we can help you develop both a mobile marketing strategy and a Social Media plan, please give us a call today at 215-352-5216.

I totally understand that having the time to engage on the many channels of Social Media is tough, but if done right Social Media works. Just like almost any other method of advertising, Social Media takes time and effort to succeed. It’s not something that you can just sit back and let it take hold.

Social Media takes time, I’m going to say that straight away. There is no way around it. You have to put in time to get out results.

If you run a store or a business do you ignore your customers? Yes, I just asked that. When a customer comes into your store or gives you a call do you ignore them?

I hope you’re said NO.

Now apply that to Social Media. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube and even your blog are great places where your clients and customers can connect with your brand. They can learn more about what your company does and what it produces. They have a real honest conversation with the people who create the products and services they love — YOU.

This interaction is PRICELESS and will reward you and your company many times over. But there is one downside… IT TAKES TIME.

As I said before, you take time to answer your phone and help customers in your store, which takes time. This is just another communication channel to allow interaction and foster a sense of worth among your clientele.

Here are some tips for you to get past the time issue in Social Media:

• Allot a specified amount of time a day or week to engage on Social Media.
• Make sure you respond to any messages, DMs, replies etc. that you get, as fast as you can.
• If you’re blogging, which you absolutely should be, blog in advance (if possible) and schedule out your posts to publish at specific times over the course of a month.
• Schedule, Schedule, Schedule. Don’t go into Social Media without a plan of how and when you’re going to use it.
• If all else fails, hire an intern or a recent graduate from college to help you with your Social Media. Please make sure you train them on your policies et al.
• Hire a firm, like Goldstein Media, to help formulate and guide you through your adventures in Social Media

I hope this post has helped you realize that Social Media is a MUST and is completely attainable if done right, even for the busiest executive.

I want to hear what you think. Post your thoughts in the comments below!

Now most people won’t argue that Zuckerberg has been extremely influential in the world of technology and the Internet, but I would argue he’s made much more of an impact this year to everyone.

Facebook, this year, has seen an influx of everyone and their Grandmother signing up on the service to connect with each other. The “Social Network”  has become no just a social networking site but an ecosystem for interaction and, dare I say it, trade.

Yes, trade. Facebook users, all 500+ million of them, have made the service an economic marketplace where advertisers and merchants alike advertising to the users in mass.

Facebook has an amazing pay-per-click system that allows a company to drill down their ads to appear to a specific demographic. This is unlike any other system, due mainly to the sheer number of users who share their vital statistics with Facebook.

When most people think advertisements they cringe. Ads are often the scourge of any area that they’re in. But honestly, I think the ads on Facebook aren’t bad at all. This is because of the advanced targeting that can be done of the 500+ million users on the service. The ads served are much more relevant to the user who is seeing them, making them more acceptable and even useful to the individual user.

If you’re a company that relies on a specific user base for revenue and growth, ignoring this giant is a fatal mistake. Facebook is a great place for not only B2C companies but B2B as well. It doesn’t need to be all that expensive. There are many strategies that can be employed to get the most out of Facebook, without breaking the bank.

If you see the writing on the wall, but are unsure of how to get your company started on Facebook, give us a call, (215) 352-5216, or fill out the form. We can help.

Going Viral to Entice the Unaffiliated Young – Jewish Exponent July 22 2010