If you are a Twitter user in the Rochester, NY area, then you are what I would call a “Roc Peep.”  That being said, there is a monthly lunch that takes place called “Roc Peeps Lunch” or known on Twitter as #RocPeepsLunch.  This was a lunch group that started just over a year ago.

It was a totally random thing. I had been tweeting out to some new Twitter connections in Rochester that I thought it would be fun to meet up for lunch and do some networking. Immediately a hashtag was created (#RocPeepsLunch) and we started tweeting about it.

January 2011 #RocPeepsLunch at Aja Noodle.

The first RocPeepsLunch was more than a year ago at Plum Garden in Pittsford.  We continue to meet monthly, and try to patronize various restaurants all around the Rochester area.  This enables people to come to a lunch on a month where the location is perhaps more convenient for them.  There are a few die-hards, like myself, who try to get to every lunch regardless of the location, but the really cool thing is we get new people each an every month.

Over the past year, the group has evolved, and we’ve added a page on Facebook to promote upcoming lunches, allow people to RSVP (so we can call ahead and let the restaurants know we are coming), and allow folks to post photos and comments about these lunch meetings.

This month’s lunch meeting was scheduled at a Mexican restaurant in Perinton Square Mall.  Being one of the first to arrive, I realized the restaurant was out of business.  Hmmm, issue – what to do?  Another fellow RocPeep was also there, and we quickly chose another location in the same plaza.  Now we had to get the word out…  Simple!  FourSquare Check-Ins shared to Twitter with the hashtag #RocPeepsLunch!

Any of the RocPeeps who got to that Mexican restaurant that was closed, could jump on FourSquare, Twitter or Facebook (via their mobile device) to very quickly see that the lunch had been moved and to where.  We were able to still have our lunch and not miss a beat!  Thank you FourSquare!  (Three cheers for social media!)

If you are a “RocPeep” and have not yet joined us for lunch – we’d love to meet you!  How do you get in the loop? Follow hashtag #RocPeepsLunch on Twitter, or join us on Facebook!  I personally have made some great friends, job recommendations have been made, and I know that some business deals have also come out of these informal lunches on more than one occasion.  (Here’s the lo-down on March’s RocPeepsLunch – come join us!)

This updated of the social revolution captures the impact of social media.  Check it out…  (and thank you to @equalman for providing such a great snapshot)

I recently attended a Social Media seminar hosted by a local Chamber of Commerce.  My goal for this first part in a 3 part series was to make sure I wasn’t missing the mark on any major social media networks I have been using.   By no means do I consider myself to be a ‘guru’ in social media, but what I found interesting was the number of business professionals who were not using what I consider the 3 major social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn).

It was a reminder to me that the small business owners I represent each day in my role as their eyes and ears on the internet is that most of them don’t have a clear understanding of what social media is or, or what it can mean to them.  I have to think of my clients as those of the 50 or so professional folks in that room who were not yet on Twitter and barely have a LinkedIn profile, let alone how those things will help them.

After the meeting I got talking with a few folks, two of which admitted they were on Twitter, but just not ‘tweeting’ yet out of fear of not having anything interesting to say.   Questions immediately started running through my head about how to pull out information from these folks about what was tweet-worthy info, or what their respective communities may be interested.  What would I want to know about if I were in their follower base?  Here were a few questions I had:

• what is your line of work
• who are your first line customers
• what questions are you frequently asked
• what problems or concerns do your customers or audience typically have
• what praises do your customers or audience typically have

So a municipality might tweet about leaf pickup, plowing policy and village or town events.  A manufacturer might tweet about supply and demand, industry news, or product innovations.  A politician might tweet about the issues that are pressing to his/her constituents.  A student might tweet about what’s going on in school or look for input on that thesis they’ve been working on.

As for a social media enthusiast like myself?  Well I just tweet about any and all of it.  I find watching what others are doing to be the most interesting.  I am intrigued by how much people value their relationships in the twitterverse and it’s evident in their tweets that they do.  (which I think is just about the coolest thing).

Twitter has also brought the world together during crisis – look at this past week with the earthquake in Chili and the predicted tsunami.  The waves turned out to be smaller than expected, but if you watched the Twitter stream in the hours prior, everyone was working together to get the word out – in concern for the well-being to those at risk.

Still not sure you have anything interesting to say?  Start spending a few minutes here or there watching your followers – as someone tweets something you find interesting – send a reply – open a dialog.  You might be surprised to see a new relationship unfold with the conversations that follow, and the folks that end up following along as a result.

Good luck and happy tweeting!

Having spent the time today at Cazbah teaching myself how to add an email opt-in form to a Facebook page from Vertical Response – I found myself getting a little frustrated.  Now that I’ve got it figured out – I’m going to save you tons of time in digging for the info (it’s not altogether straight forward for the basic user).

Assuming you have a business page on Facebook – AND – you are using Vertical Response for email marketing and list segmentation, you can create a tab on your Facebook page that will invite your page fans and visitors to sign up for (or opt-in to) emails from your company, group, etc…  My assumption is that other email marketing tools will work too, but I have only tested VR at this point.

So to start out – head on over to Vertical Response and create your new list.  I recommend creating a list that will store only the opt-ins from Facebook.   After all, we want to know what conversions (if any) are coming from our Facebook pages.

To add a new list – follow the steps under Lists and then “Add New List” in your Vertical Response account.  You then need to create an opt-in form just for that list.  Follow the instructions to create your opt-in form and copy and past that form script into a text editor like notepad – we’ll need that when we get our Facebook page tab ready to go.

Note: When creating that new list and opt-in form, I do recommend using a custom thank you page that can be added to your Google Analytics Goals.

Now here’s where I got hung up – you need to add a customizable tab to your Facebook page, so before you can do that, you have to install the Static FBML application to your Facebook Account.  (I am now a fan of this application since I know how to use it

To find Static FBML, click on the “Edit Page” link in your Facebook page and scroll down to Browse More Applications.  Click on the Static FBML link (shown at right here).

This will take you to the application page on Facebook.  You will need to add it to your Facebook page before you proceed.

The nice thing is, if you manage multiple Facebook pages you can add it to all of them at once.  Scroll through the list and select the page(s) you want to add it to and we’ll continue on.

Once you’ve done that, head back to your Facebook page and click on “Edit Page” – don’t worry we are almost done!  Once you are in your Edit screen you should scroll down and see the Static FBML link you’ll want to click on Edit.

Note:  Have your text editor open where you’ve saved your form code so you can copy it to Facebook.

Change your title and then simply copy in your form script and then add any additional content.  Note that FBML does not like <html> <body> and <head> tags, so you can format tables, paragraphs, etc – but avoid those few tags.

UPDATE (2-19-2010): Due to Facebook updates – you’ll need to add a “&” to the end of your FORM METHOD String to enable this feature to work.  I had to go back to the Vertical Response Lounge to get this resolved (which by the way is a great resource).

<form method=”post” action=”http://oi.vresp.com?fid=26230b1027&” target=…..>

In the completed example below I have included a basic table format with some additional content to let users know what they’ll be receiving once they opt-in:

There you go!  You have just learned (much quicker than I did), how to add email opt-in forms to your Facebook pages.   (See the live example of Cazbah customer Turnbull Manufacturing.)  This Static FBML application can do much more than just adding email opt-in forms.  My next experiment will be with promotional content and coupons – but the possibilities are limitless (within the confines of the application) as to how to utilize this application.

What a horrible image! Makes you think doesn't it?

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 I woke up and said to myself, “I don’t feel like smoking anymore!”  It wasn’t something I planned or thought much about in advance.  I have talked about quitting smoking but always told myself that I had other things to fix in my life before I gave up the tobacco.  Here was my list:

• Get my spending/bad money habits under control (working on this!)
• Lose 40-50 lbs (already did that)
• Wait for my significant other to be ready to quit (he’s just not ready)
• New Year’s (or this date or that date – like ‘after my birthday’)
• When I move into my new place (that didn’t happen)

Excuses, excuses – and sometimes the spontaneous things we do in life are the most effective.  So with Tuesday morning’s revelation, I just gave it to God and decided to run with it.  I should note, I’ve been on a spiritual recovery journey these last 2 years anyway, and have overcome a gambling addiction, and have vastly improved my unhealthy relationship with money.  The foundation for my recovery has come from Celebrate Recovery and the work I’m doing there has allowed me to gather up the tools I need to get my life in order.  This time around, the quitting smoking is entirely different for me because I’m viewing it as an act of worship that is pleasing to God.

Some days, this is how I feel.

So what brought this on?  I’m not 100% sure, but I know it’s a God thing.  This past weekend in church a very wise young pastor talked about the importance of community – he shared statistics that stated that a person who is totally healthy and totally lonely will typically not live as long as the person who smokes and drinks but is actively involved in community.  The by-line was something to the effect of – it’s better to eat a twinkie with friends than to eat an apple alone. (Remember this is all a paraphrase, but the message was profound).  So, since I am actively involved in community, I thought it would be even better to get healthy AND be in community – so I can live to be 120!  (I’m sure my kids will love that!)

So in line with that, I am leaning on my community to hold me accountable.  I currently co-lead a women’s 12-step study at my church to help others through their journey to let go of life’s hurts, habits and hang-ups, but I’m also realizing that I need far more than that small group to hold me accountable. That’s where Social Media comes in.

The rough math – in my real “in person” life, I probably have about 20 people who I would look to keep me in check and hold me accountable to not smoke – but knowing myself and my lack of will power I decided to take it to the masses.  If I add up my current online social networks – just including Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn, the numbers amount to about 3,300 connections.  To some that number may seems small in the world of social networking, but for me that’s over 3,000 that can hold me accountable to not smoke.

I hadn’t intended to use my online connections for this purpose, but one Tweet and one Facebook status update (both which fed to my LinkedIn status) amassed many many comments in just mere moments, and the comments and praise continue to come.

The kinds words from all of my Social Media “friends” and “tweeps” and “connections” are truly helping to keep me motivated.  The only one I’m truly accountable to is God, but the “You Go Girl!”, “You can do it!” (and my personal favorite) “Just think about how much money you will save!” are really helping me to stay motivated.  Here are my other 3 reasons for quitting:

So for those that don’t want to hear about it – sorry, but I will continue to tweet and post until I feel I’m free and clear – and to those who are taking the 30 seconds to leave an encouraging word – I AM TRULY GRATEFUL!

If you would like to join my accountability team and watch my progress, please send me a friend request, or catch up on Twitter!  Not only do I already feel better… but I smell better too!  :)

Please Re-Tweet this post! Maybe we can get just one more person the encouragement they need to quit smoking too!  We can do this!

If you are like me and using Facebook for Social Media and work related purposes, you probably don’t want to know who scored 5 million points on Farkl, who’s growing a farm, and who has reached a new level in Mob Wars. I, for one, do not enjoy those types of posts filling up my wall because it covers up the relevent information that others may be posting.

I am not knocking the use of those applications – everyone has their thing – I’m just saying I don’t want all the updates.  Here’s my Facebook Tip of the Day.  You can very simply remove those notifications for various applications from your wall feed.  Here’s how:

On your “Home” screen where the news feeds are…  When you see those application updates from your friends, you can click on the “Hide” button on the right and either block that person’s wall posts and updates altogether, or you can block the application.

It won’t take you long to block the applications as they come through and you will clean out your Facebook News Feed Wall to provide you with the information and updates you really want.

Let me add, I love my Facebook friends, and some of them are personal connections, so I’m not deleting them as friends – I just don’t need to know every time they’ve collected an egg on Hatchlings.

Today I connected with a new friend on Twitter and Facebook Gabe O’Neill.  It did not take me long to realize there was something truly special about this guy.  He and his daughter embarked on a journey together and created a website called Kids Are Heroes.  This site promotes the great things that kids do that make such a difference in our world.  Each child CAN make a difference and this site encourages and celebrates our youth.

In today’s society (and being a parent of 3 myself), there is so much heartache and negativity for our youth, from poverty, to drug use, neglectful parents, peer pressure – and to some extent the expectations we put upon them to be perfect.  As a parent of a beautiful teenager I can say first hand we’ve experienced some heartache – but I believe within the heart of every child is the desire to be the best person they can be.

Kids Are Heroes is a place for kids to go to learn more about things they can do to make a difference in their community and globally.  We must invest in our children so they will in turn invest in their futures and in making this world a better place for us aging folks to live!

The Pitch Video for Kids Are Heroes is now up for vote and has the opportunity to be shown in flight on Virgin Atlantic Airlines, and subsequently online as part of PitchTV.  If you are like me and believe that our kids ARE our future – please take a minute to go and vote – lets get this video pitch in the top 5 and have it shown to thousands of travellers on Virgin Atlantic!  Vote Now!

If you are a parent – encourage your child to visit this site and learn how THEY too can make a difference in some small way that will have a huge impact!

Pay It Forward!  Go Vote!

I am getting old… As confirmed by a friend of mine today. I had the perfect idea for a blog post, and from the time I went to bed last night – I cannot remember what it was about. So I’m left with random thoughts which I will share. Random thoughts on Social Media, Careers and more…

Random Thought #1: 24×7 Connectivity is Cool.

Social Media totally cool because I can connect with people all over the world any time of day or night and be mentally stimulated about all things. I can get feedback about a work project or personal thought in a matter of seconds in real time. That’s pretty powerful. I’m not talking teenagers in a chat room, I’m talking professionals with expertise in all areas all looking to share information and insights. Ten years ago it was finding a “30 something” chat room on AOL and weeding through to find someone of value to talk to…. Not so much like that anymore – much easier to find real and valuable connections.

Random Thought #2: People really do connect!

I have made 100+ new friends because I love artichokes. Now that to me is excellent! I have yet to really get to know many of these folks, and fully intend to do so because through something as simple as a food interest, I have made these connections. I don’t know yet what these people can offer me, or I them, but my guess is there is something for each one. I will spend much time reviewing profiles for all new connections and getting to know everyone.

Random Thought #3: New Month’s Resolutions

I decided yesterday: February 1, 2009 that I would be making new resolutions for the month, though actually, they could be “new week’s resolutions” or even “new day’s resolutions”. January was a challenging month for me and I’ve really managed to learn how to live my life ONE DAY AT A TIME. This applies to my career, my personal life and my relationship with God. Today I am resolved to live only for today and make it the best day possible for me and for every person I come into contact with. Remember – smiles are contageous and actions speak louder than words.

Random Thought #4: What is your Dream Job?

Someone asked me on Friday night if I could do any job in the world, what would it be? My answer was simple – I love what I do, and I cannot imagine having a different career than internet marketing. So in conjunction with Random Thought #3 – I am resolved to make each day the most I can at work and provide the best level of service to my clients. I am resolved to find creative solutions to making their online presence the best it can be. I am also resolved to spread the passion for what I do…