tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258592777985560252024-03-17T20:02:53.082-07:00modlandUSAPonderings in the marketing world with emphasis on Market Research and Social Media. Powered by R.I.M. LLCGerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.comBlogger284125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-8680534047180216782013-08-19T09:56:00.001-07:002013-08-19T09:56:45.136-07:00I Fell Off the Wagon!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2mhSJV6oIWgGl8jNnIamghFlKZoiIX77c5-NjTFsb3fifgaFmcOMJG10NX3hs_i_9Mm6v1SA7xYljPkskoAnwQgyS56MBexTIMCESJvdR97C6MMINhc0F17yhcYYZNyuW7DJHhUvX8DI/s1600/chuck+wagon+ride+Seaside+Asbury+Park+turkey+deer+8+16+13+rebel+591.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2mhSJV6oIWgGl8jNnIamghFlKZoiIX77c5-NjTFsb3fifgaFmcOMJG10NX3hs_i_9Mm6v1SA7xYljPkskoAnwQgyS56MBexTIMCESJvdR97C6MMINhc0F17yhcYYZNyuW7DJHhUvX8DI/s200/chuck+wagon+ride+Seaside+Asbury+Park+turkey+deer+8+16+13+rebel+591.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Which wagon</i>? Oh, the blog writing wagon. I enjoy writing blogs and sharing information with all </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">of you. Sometimes I dig in and write one with just one little idea that suddenly pops into my head. Other times, I struggle with them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One thing that really bogs me down with blogging though is the editing. I spend way too much time “polishing” them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And this past week during my travels, the last thing on my mind was blogging! And perhaps there is some meaning behind all that.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnY_4rRoiqxNEjutzvY4kIxap_UjtgxAjMCV57mp5Uervi6rMUqUjse9X31vCTQ2tOLWVrmaoOTkJ_tzEvYZvKQhbP_9gR6LuR3ee0QNZ8U73PApc7LkK1ePvZJRaoGaP_F5RZb4NNMKc/s1600/stop+exile+10+23+12+rebel+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnY_4rRoiqxNEjutzvY4kIxap_UjtgxAjMCV57mp5Uervi6rMUqUjse9X31vCTQ2tOLWVrmaoOTkJ_tzEvYZvKQhbP_9gR6LuR3ee0QNZ8U73PApc7LkK1ePvZJRaoGaP_F5RZb4NNMKc/s200/stop+exile+10+23+12+rebel+004.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Maybe it’s time to stop blogging.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maybe it’s time to write that <i>book</i> on blogging I've been thinking about crafting for the past two years. Maybe it’s time to concentrate more on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groovyreflections" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections</a> and give it more of my attention. The <a href="http://www.groovyreflectionsradio.com/" target="_blank">radio station</a> and creating my show already takes up a LOT of time besides all the the other tasks related to it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh, and marketing clients get in the way too. Uh, NOT! I enjoy growing my client’s businesses very much!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the past few months I've been thinking of shutting down my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/modlandUSA" target="_blank">MODern Marketing 4 U / ModlandUSA Facebook page</a>. Facebook doesn't share my posts with anyone so what’s the point of having it? On the other hand, the page on <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/116511336728194017890/116511336728194017890/posts" target="_blank">Google+</a> is doing very well!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I continue to find myself drifting more and more towards tasks that utilize my right brain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have I really fallen off the wagon? Or am I at a fork in the road?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6FsQpNNthxCfm_5Da_Ewc_d8LsoZPJV5reMicsENwIEzpHFaMPNQZkRsopYdWrH5wXwezIdgyIYdYjRxwK1QFK1oQMCRx6yDq8wWm8nBx6Gh94-DYl9fDTcGLHh_NHHOCaHAIH-AMFDhv/s1600/Yogi+fork+quote+Centennial+Park+12+10+12+rebel+021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6FsQpNNthxCfm_5Da_Ewc_d8LsoZPJV5reMicsENwIEzpHFaMPNQZkRsopYdWrH5wXwezIdgyIYdYjRxwK1QFK1oQMCRx6yDq8wWm8nBx6Gh94-DYl9fDTcGLHh_NHHOCaHAIH-AMFDhv/s320/Yogi+fork+quote+Centennial+Park+12+10+12+rebel+021.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Would love to hear from some of you when you've had to take a hard look at the all the things that mean most to you and when to shift priorities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perhaps I'll take Yogi Berra's advice.</span><br />
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<br />Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-24064923444129076452013-08-02T13:16:00.002-07:002013-08-02T13:16:32.104-07:00InstaTrain and Friend or Follow Reviewed!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibm-KFCYZabnkx9xz-W9AEMvEuO1S3-H9JKazRoRtALC3E1d-rIsXbfFTsvYTDmolee2xdbxUZLFM__cYZisVvpVdYEpxqMjqViC9qBKGv8TKQb9ftMgSqkMBCnKauZ6BsSMyvTWc8mXs2/s1600/instatrain+and+friend+or+follow.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibm-KFCYZabnkx9xz-W9AEMvEuO1S3-H9JKazRoRtALC3E1d-rIsXbfFTsvYTDmolee2xdbxUZLFM__cYZisVvpVdYEpxqMjqViC9qBKGv8TKQb9ftMgSqkMBCnKauZ6BsSMyvTWc8mXs2/s200/instatrain+and+friend+or+follow.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hadn't really poked around much to see what kind of tools there are out there to assist you with your Instagram account. So I googled away and found the “<a href="http://www.ig-fastboard.net/" target="_blank">InstaTrai</a>n” that promised tons of followers in seconds! Suspecting that this was a setup similar to “Seed” for Twitter (is that even still around?), I investigated: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Board the train! Become a VIP! Do not miss out on our summer discount!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You know the old saying “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is?” Uh huh.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpOvCM_d2gC325EpVPMSlAUaF_F4-svzSnkB_TPCC_xU4CTHSfyQP-tjCPV2e5nwxs28vFSsrPvwa1dWudxFRk-TygRmA2JaDJpllWgB11P-cAg28UFZZCr5BaM3TGUazG5txlmiDOQ6Zr/s1600/instatrain+page.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpOvCM_d2gC325EpVPMSlAUaF_F4-svzSnkB_TPCC_xU4CTHSfyQP-tjCPV2e5nwxs28vFSsrPvwa1dWudxFRk-TygRmA2JaDJpllWgB11P-cAg28UFZZCr5BaM3TGUazG5txlmiDOQ6Zr/s200/instatrain+page.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here’s how it works. You can get on the train for free by tweeting or posting kudos for Instatrain or you can pay to be a VIP and get “hundreds/thousands” of followers after going through a few easy steps. Then, you “board the train”. You may have to wait a couple minutes and the countdown builds up the excitement. Then it happens…All Aboard!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And it’s true! For free, you WILL get “instant” followers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wow, huh?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ah wait a minute; there’s a punchline, right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My feed was immediately filled with: Young girls snapping photos of themselves, phone in hand, messages in Arabic, photos that weren’t exactly high quality, “colorful” language, poor use of English, and need I go on?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also noticed that a majority of my new follower’s handles had a “_” in it @iam_kayy is one example. Then there were a bunch that boasted their intelligence by their names: @wakyweirdo @xogeniuss @butburnasinner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My followers went up rapidly. Now, I only had about 190 followers and suddenly it was 230! Wow! Then, as soon as the followers built up, the number started going down again; deflating by half within minutes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Folks, if you've ever checked out Seed, it works the same way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The question is: Do you really need these people? Big thumbs down here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My suggestion is that you build your followers by finding people who post photos that you enjoy. Simple as that! You can find them through your friends, through hashtags, or as links from other social networks.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOSOZyqrY-EKF1s-G2ekqMDRaUGfVZUcwCgRepC1tmnF5vLrHt_oyN9PIccHr_HUsvNw9hyPszcfIqvAKadvf09B28kSgQxqPjCsysWwGeMX8QMAZvl65Ewow-6YsnFv8LLYVnizyJ2QJ/s1600/friend+or+follow+page+pixeled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOSOZyqrY-EKF1s-G2ekqMDRaUGfVZUcwCgRepC1tmnF5vLrHt_oyN9PIccHr_HUsvNw9hyPszcfIqvAKadvf09B28kSgQxqPjCsysWwGeMX8QMAZvl65Ewow-6YsnFv8LLYVnizyJ2QJ/s200/friend+or+follow+page+pixeled.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, back to the mini-mess I made for myself: Luckily, you can clean up very easily with the <a href="http://insta.friendorfollow.com/" target="_blank">Friend or Follow for Instagram</a>! Didn't know it existed; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">had used the version for Twitter in the past! They give you three views: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Following: The ones you follow that don't follow you back. Was surprised that several of my friends were not following me back (well okay, some appear to not be active on Instagram!).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fans: They follow you and you aren't following back.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Friends: The feeling is mutual.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sigh of relief: Was able to clean up my account in a jiffy! I highly recommend this <a href="http://insta.friendorfollow.com/" target="_blank">tool</a>! Wish they had a version for Pinterest! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the early 90's The Farm sang about a train that we really like; a groovy train! If you need groovy strategy for your business, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">v</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">isit us at our</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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<br />Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-30252885219667814642013-07-29T12:14:00.002-07:002013-07-29T12:14:14.593-07:00The Food of Summer!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvJQv3kXW8aGI0Eior8a7huakVAJ-6e1OKlyvh3YrOko2Jx23IYONxdErjMwLqflq9VkCqg4frwa2z3KHc9QiV1lL8pZoy7A-95WcYF12kJuR06RsNUyL6-cttIZMVsDcntPur9rlRsMv/s1600/ice+cream+twinkies+sign+OC+Fair+7+27+13+rebel+230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvJQv3kXW8aGI0Eior8a7huakVAJ-6e1OKlyvh3YrOko2Jx23IYONxdErjMwLqflq9VkCqg4frwa2z3KHc9QiV1lL8pZoy7A-95WcYF12kJuR06RsNUyL6-cttIZMVsDcntPur9rlRsMv/s200/ice+cream+twinkies+sign+OC+Fair+7+27+13+rebel+230.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes! It's that time of year again when we visit boardwalks, beaches, and county fairs! Along with all that sunny fun, splashing, and dizziness from too many high in the sky rides comes tasty wonders to try; for many of those just once is enough!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrXMOa96HNEH6DhRiqj8jigUNeXu3w0vAWNHa3PoI4KK1Peik28-UPcH2AbEGwzqqgn3dkwajP379d5CCWaQeIzBUuO5WPckWPINtqHgPMnsETwlO2-wPPe6wiFTId16Mjq1Za0jHEr7U/s1600/fried+koolaid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrXMOa96HNEH6DhRiqj8jigUNeXu3w0vAWNHa3PoI4KK1Peik28-UPcH2AbEGwzqqgn3dkwajP379d5CCWaQeIzBUuO5WPckWPINtqHgPMnsETwlO2-wPPe6wiFTId16Mjq1Za0jHEr7U/s200/fried+koolaid.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've already visited my local county fair twice. Couldn't help noticing that deep fried Kool-aid wasn't among the current lineup. Looked for it everywhere. Guess it didn't catch on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chocolate covered bacon is still hanging in there! Read more about that delight, which is served frozen, </span><a href="http://modlandusa.blogspot.com/2012/07/chocolate-on-my-bacon-please.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. The same graphic with the nurse ready to revive you in the unlucky event you go into "cholesterol</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> arrest" is still in use! </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUZmgrVZy7frV8rmnqSFrIyK90_jSx2FzFT8zqNoGK93TjQyOK1QKleE7PaeWAq9xtZH3yhArFuoeptiIF0dV2ke4AJsqZjXEEegkGg1pv-Rnj80ZdACGPfrRb94h7RxuQg_iixYj5gyd-/s1600/bacon+wrapped+pickle+around+the+hood+OC+Fair+and+Joan+Jett+7+25+13+galaxy+110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUZmgrVZy7frV8rmnqSFrIyK90_jSx2FzFT8zqNoGK93TjQyOK1QKleE7PaeWAq9xtZH3yhArFuoeptiIF0dV2ke4AJsqZjXEEegkGg1pv-Rnj80ZdACGPfrRb94h7RxuQg_iixYj5gyd-/s200/bacon+wrapped+pickle+around+the+hood+OC+Fair+and+Joan+Jett+7+25+13+galaxy+110.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And there's a new bacon delight! Courtesy of Chicken Charlie, who has a reputation for introducing new delights.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Note: Bacon Wrapped Pickles are for salt lovers only! It's delicious and will make your mouth pucker just like when you intake too much salted popcorn!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYbsQ6BwgRDhwqXJywvy4f3vHtSzOKz28aNh0ugQWc2oVbwIS0KpdxovqW-GV2C1AtyVDU2JhZW19Ppvywo6f1BfuzomTLqG43r9o8n5kF2FhkOw6__h6hC0GXMHNvdDhnlwnVbv2WUBj/s1600/bacon+wrapped+pickle+around+the+hood+OC+Fair+and+Joan+Jett+7+25+13+galaxy+112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYbsQ6BwgRDhwqXJywvy4f3vHtSzOKz28aNh0ugQWc2oVbwIS0KpdxovqW-GV2C1AtyVDU2JhZW19Ppvywo6f1BfuzomTLqG43r9o8n5kF2FhkOw6__h6hC0GXMHNvdDhnlwnVbv2WUBj/s320/bacon+wrapped+pickle+around+the+hood+OC+Fair+and+Joan+Jett+7+25+13+galaxy+112.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheGsJKNkI6ej3jh0kyGnSeOUWG8HLM16vUNMdliSudl8Y8wzbE5i6cJhBmmaMKi838d-lRPlPHtR-EfE0poHKrH4YqCNYrTHSVqgOgvehDZ_dkgSPWDf4zPOkJp2U53xLsKd22O4m9UIt5/s1600/Frog+legs+final+fair+food+chicken+charlies+OC+Fair+and+Joan+Jett+7+25+13+galaxy+111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheGsJKNkI6ej3jh0kyGnSeOUWG8HLM16vUNMdliSudl8Y8wzbE5i6cJhBmmaMKi838d-lRPlPHtR-EfE0poHKrH4YqCNYrTHSVqgOgvehDZ_dkgSPWDf4zPOkJp2U53xLsKd22O4m9UIt5/s200/Frog+legs+final+fair+food+chicken+charlies+OC+Fair+and+Joan+Jett+7+25+13+galaxy+111.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Had never noticed this dish before at a fair. It's nothing new; however, Frog Legs has a certain "gross factor" for American audiences so I can imagine that the food marketers are hoping that's enough of a draw to get people to try it and say they've had.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Interestingly enough, Frog Legs are served with tartar and lemon though the taste is more along the lines of fried chicken. Are frogs considered to be a seafood delicacy?</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAmnYV1x-kTIEFnLl9PrxglfDfrwuBd2ViRY4NkixrdQoYbfpASUkqylN13Wy7DfURdmOm_5eLoXgueRxx-LFjKq65KryjZEtSoiZMBj4SxFKBuuXcui9QsS8iyYJRZ_8gjRId4XfJR8sb/s1600/krispy+kreme+donut+sloppy+joe+chicken+charlie+OC+Fair+7+25+13+galaxy+107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAmnYV1x-kTIEFnLl9PrxglfDfrwuBd2ViRY4NkixrdQoYbfpASUkqylN13Wy7DfURdmOm_5eLoXgueRxx-LFjKq65KryjZEtSoiZMBj4SxFKBuuXcui9QsS8iyYJRZ_8gjRId4XfJR8sb/s200/krispy+kreme+donut+sloppy+joe+chicken+charlie+OC+Fair+7+25+13+galaxy+107.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now Paula Deen would be thrilled to know that a dish possibly influenced by one of her ideas is still going strong. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And speaking of buns, this sign was spied though the actual food didn't appear to be anywhere in sight. Nutella has become entwined in the American diet over the past few years and isn't a tasty secret limited to Europeans anymore. Can't imagine what 10 pounds of bun with Nutella on it could be like; it may be good to share this one with a dozen or so of your friends! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_o_2zw1LXRZBkc0yLLhgtlr2TOcPKXz95k2NTDG-57Ws_pQ3BGjJX9DZKSvv4PMmxY7Iy0m9VvNtsC5aByBvW0bm3e_oVawfxVtxZa4TND8nEWIa9oBVuJKf7wklP29h_gmp472BeEN5P/s1600/ten+pound+nutella+bun+around+the+hood+OC+Fair+and+Joan+Jett+7+25+13+galaxy+117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_o_2zw1LXRZBkc0yLLhgtlr2TOcPKXz95k2NTDG-57Ws_pQ3BGjJX9DZKSvv4PMmxY7Iy0m9VvNtsC5aByBvW0bm3e_oVawfxVtxZa4TND8nEWIa9oBVuJKf7wklP29h_gmp472BeEN5P/s320/ten+pound+nutella+bun+around+the+hood+OC+Fair+and+Joan+Jett+7+25+13+galaxy+117.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Overall, the new offerings were rather disappointing. In addition to those mentioned above, fried avocado was available at a few stands. Nothing like mixing good and bad fats together at the same time!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyR81IF5jMmZV3y3TsBLes793XJBh5LiVkxVCotw_28yTzj88kbtIP4mpS2_1szV4nsHUeK7DMzTMN9IwXpKd7eYWbFoTWs7yJ15gOOTSr2Y7HAUj_7hu1Ot-vpdqwuMf0M6-ITyzmTOB2/s1600/icee+sign+OC+Fair+7+27+13+rebel+367.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyR81IF5jMmZV3y3TsBLes793XJBh5LiVkxVCotw_28yTzj88kbtIP4mpS2_1szV4nsHUeK7DMzTMN9IwXpKd7eYWbFoTWs7yJ15gOOTSr2Y7HAUj_7hu1Ot-vpdqwuMf0M6-ITyzmTOB2/s200/icee+sign+OC+Fair+7+27+13+rebel+367.jpg" width="113" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, washing it all down was easy with this more traditional beverage. Especially if those Texas sized turkey legs were a bit on the dry side!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Attention food marketers! Are you experimenting in your kitchens right now? Looking forward to some more creative fair fare for 2014!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For more culinary reading, click <a href="http://modlandusa.blogspot.com/2011/07/lets-eat-fair-food-trends.html" target="_blank">here</a> for the 2011 edition of "Fair Food". This is the third year we've been writing about this, not to mention tasting some of the offerings!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For all your delectable marketing needs, v</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">isit us at our</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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<br />Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-88114844536668524272013-07-24T12:46:00.000-07:002013-07-24T12:46:04.730-07:00Downloads Now Come With Extras?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9pf5KK2RK1EHdce3awOkMN4Q7nP6i8pzYSrNR7NU1_Wdm2whbV0oPIn80PVSNESNay_g-OjCoWF808cOmnZhBRXT38q4tsqrmoBmBVsalfz61SDZ0ZsoF1CAjQEWudaLb0Irc5K380J-y/s1600/download+graphic.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9pf5KK2RK1EHdce3awOkMN4Q7nP6i8pzYSrNR7NU1_Wdm2whbV0oPIn80PVSNESNay_g-OjCoWF808cOmnZhBRXT38q4tsqrmoBmBVsalfz61SDZ0ZsoF1CAjQEWudaLb0Irc5K380J-y/s200/download+graphic.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other day I saw an article about “extra items” sneaking into your computer via downloads from CNET. While I have downloaded from them in the past, I've never had any issues like that. Apparently now if you download from them you'll get a "bundle" of other things you didn't want along with what you DO want. Sigh.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They are not the only ones doing this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This morning I received a prompt to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player. Well, okay; I need that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With it came an assault on my computer! The attack was two-fisted:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google searches were hijacked by another search engine</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A new toolbar appeared and took up some valuable real estate</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The toolbar looked like this:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ_SDphm5J_0KpfeuK3OySiGkuy0D-Lb4rUzcxUG08u0wy8a32e_R_aPHdnGOmWEjsbB6tNTqYIuBjcIzgpRv8tho7jnzvC5GvmA5nTpyPeB6hrfTMcIthd-u0M0_ZGPJNBWJeDXUTne1C/s1600/piece+of+crap+toolbar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="15" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ_SDphm5J_0KpfeuK3OySiGkuy0D-Lb4rUzcxUG08u0wy8a32e_R_aPHdnGOmWEjsbB6tNTqYIuBjcIzgpRv8tho7jnzvC5GvmA5nTpyPeB6hrfTMcIthd-u0M0_ZGPJNBWJeDXUTne1C/s400/piece+of+crap+toolbar.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rather crude and elementary looking, isn't it? Love that tacky "Speed Up Your Download" button; that's sure to create even more mess by clicking on it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh, what to do? I appealed to the public on Google+. While receiving an avalanche of responses, none seemed to help. The suggestions presented were mainly the more obvious solutions. One person mentioned to search on the word "toolbar", however, I already knew that the name of the toolbar wouldn't be that obvious. Yes, this has happened to me before!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I thought I was being clever when sorting by date in the uninstall feature in the control panel. There was indeed some “garbage” that had today’s date on it. Unfortunately, none of those three, which were called “Trusted Saver”, “Less Tabs” or “Default Tabs” appeared to be the culprit. Perhaps they were going wreak havoc on my computer on a future date? In any case, they were annihilated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Each time I rebooted I hoped to see that toolbar gone. Nope. During all this confusion I also uninstalled something from a company called Conduit. Wham! Pretty sure they were causing the Google hijack issue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the end, I attributed the toolbar to these two evils:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Internet Helper 3.1</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DVDvideosofttb</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hey, don’t even ask me what they are! I am not a techie. I will tell you that neither of them had a current date on them making them even harder to catch when they land in your computer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lessons learned: Even if it’s a reputable company, other downloads do get attached to legitimate downloads. Just giving you the heads up on this; sadly, this could be a growing trend. No idea how to prevent it from happening!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Beatles never sang about downloads, however they did sing about being down in this early tune of theirs (see below). Marketing got you down? Visit us and move it on up! Stop by our</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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<br />Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-16379328238056314182013-07-18T12:44:00.001-07:002013-07-18T12:44:51.115-07:00Sensationalism Sells: Right, Rolling Stone?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVS044EUQtDwsitbCuNwUgRREcZC_fD7O9xFmRCCHk60Ud2xqLA4k79ZdiKWeyZvVD5PjFOeWtbX6y_w9ggs0xUEvMxaF1x4hgKI9FEHk6qI7y3zqlPEel3bolz2InkdUk4Doc2u7KR2Zg/s1600/boston+strong+sticker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVS044EUQtDwsitbCuNwUgRREcZC_fD7O9xFmRCCHk60Ud2xqLA4k79ZdiKWeyZvVD5PjFOeWtbX6y_w9ggs0xUEvMxaF1x4hgKI9FEHk6qI7y3zqlPEel3bolz2InkdUk4Doc2u7KR2Zg/s200/boston+strong+sticker.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some people are pissed off. And they're making themselves heard. I </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">couldn't help noticing an avalanche of protest posts on Facebook yesterday surrounding the recent cover of the Rolling Stone. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you haven't heard, the man accused of causing the tragedy during the Boston Marathon is being glorified by the magazine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Musical acts <i>long</i> for the chance to make the cover; Dr. Hook <i>sang</i> about the cover. But this guy? He killed and maimed people in a brutal, terrorist act.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is this any way to sell a magazine that is supposed to be about music? Oh, wait a minute; Rolling Stone <i>used</i> to be a magazine about music. Granted, I have read some eye-opening journalism there that was not about music. Well researched and well presented. So I'm sure the article within is well done.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHBlaPjujNQSMrOtVQ6y6g3iyFO9s1fDMRWrJTalPLxBk21ps2o8BM8WrKscDg_Q9Q24349H6fIV0fa4iW6qqSw9aeqGKy_BpCvG9JOfYpSYyYmWcryIQyNLRU2fMP1tAeZLJul_6RfXP8/s1600/boston+strong+3+sports.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHBlaPjujNQSMrOtVQ6y6g3iyFO9s1fDMRWrJTalPLxBk21ps2o8BM8WrKscDg_Q9Q24349H6fIV0fa4iW6qqSw9aeqGKy_BpCvG9JOfYpSYyYmWcryIQyNLRU2fMP1tAeZLJul_6RfXP8/s200/boston+strong+3+sports.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, no matter how good the writing within may be, there’s simply no good reason to put a cruel, pathetic, twisted 19 year old teen’s face on the cover. Rolling Stone replied that their demographic was the same age as this suspected bomber. Are you trying to tell us that 19 year olds would identify with him? Do you think they see him as a hero? Will teenage girls think his curls are cute?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What an insult to the victims. What an insult to the people of Boston. What an insult to all of us.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho3MhZUdBfCscZny7-FtYe1MlF5BATEwKu0cXec712knnBPP98jEEAeW0UC9QQDkZp3_K7XJl287bae0wsfxXOwKttiQbflUD1aUd0eTbqnbQ5NDWYIj-f6th0MpTMcpiShomXFMIx19kx/s1600/boston+strong+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho3MhZUdBfCscZny7-FtYe1MlF5BATEwKu0cXec712knnBPP98jEEAeW0UC9QQDkZp3_K7XJl287bae0wsfxXOwKttiQbflUD1aUd0eTbqnbQ5NDWYIj-f6th0MpTMcpiShomXFMIx19kx/s200/boston+strong+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was intentional. It was meant to shock. It was meant to be discussed and turned into a massive word-of-mouth promotion. Yay, you win Jann Wenner. Since this issue won’t be appearing on the shelves of several mass retailer outlets, thus establishing scarcity, there could be resellers on Ebay making a quick buck. You've created commerce: A chance for some folks who don't care how insulting this all is will prosper from this. What’s next Jann? Discussions with President Obama on how to rebound our crappy economy?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, some of the national chains aren't stooping to their level and they’re pulling the magazine. It’s their right. It’s also Rolling Stone Magazine’s right to publish what they want. That’s our freedom. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Freedom can come at a price though…hello! Whatever happened to common sense? When is it time to voluntarily restrain use of that freedom? We DO have choices. Marketing involves customization; it’s not cookie cutter. Some brain work and educated decisions are involved. One has to question the driving factor for the decision to put a terrorist on the cover of a music magazine. Could it be the greed of selling magazines? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perhaps another irony: This will blow over in mere seconds, unlike the purgatory that Paula Deen is still going through. What’s up with that?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve seen many statements, in articles and posts suggesting that the victims and the good people of Boston should be on the cover. I can’t agree with that more!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Boston, you are strong. You are proud. Here’s yet another crisis for you to get through. And you will stand tall. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Dropkick Murphys from nearby Quincy recorded this Woody Guthrie song that’s popular at Boston sporting events. If you are feeling sporty, kick (or click) that mouse and visit </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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<br />Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-23620442112991221342013-07-15T15:32:00.002-07:002013-07-18T12:39:53.687-07:00Facebook and Google+: Sizing It Up! <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg84VMnWQC5PhpkaUs-oNkY9KWFhHza0nmDN3al_qGyg6wr2ni_lO9W7e-tFlR2odGMXIH6jmT_3uolU3H2OMqzY4i2HTxxEYHsiGuKHKHfLDBLxKGWzaT0aYk9iiY4z7scz0FutoYITCKM/s1600/tape+measures+misc+around+the+house+7+15+13+galaxy+010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg84VMnWQC5PhpkaUs-oNkY9KWFhHza0nmDN3al_qGyg6wr2ni_lO9W7e-tFlR2odGMXIH6jmT_3uolU3H2OMqzY4i2HTxxEYHsiGuKHKHfLDBLxKGWzaT0aYk9iiY4z7scz0FutoYITCKM/s200/tape+measures+misc+around+the+house+7+15+13+galaxy+010.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't expect the good folks at Facebook and Google+ to start communicating, let alone <i>coordinating</i> ANYTHING, anytime soon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They are responsible for every hair on my head that I've pulled out lately, namely for their ability to create “double work” when it comes to artwork for a personal profile, pages, or events.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So many sizes! Google+ sizes are longer than Facebook’s and not quite as tall.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here’s an example from one of the shows on <a href="http://www.groovyreflectionsradio.com/" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections Radio</a>. I created the Facebook event art first (714 X 264): </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihj9-uAeAVTddLtkdiDXKU8ETwAkoKBrdMXy72K1HXVWo50wdw8OrOK_1eMhhCvoUXfe_ewFfyIB3SfZCBdx4A7UZ0kocH97lIKJcMR616afVl3qj2cGxEVMyiLkJElxPz3HZPRvV8oPXu/s1600/my+front+porch+moonshine+desperados+bandits+Collage+GR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihj9-uAeAVTddLtkdiDXKU8ETwAkoKBrdMXy72K1HXVWo50wdw8OrOK_1eMhhCvoUXfe_ewFfyIB3SfZCBdx4A7UZ0kocH97lIKJcMR616afVl3qj2cGxEVMyiLkJElxPz3HZPRvV8oPXu/s400/my+front+porch+moonshine+desperados+bandits+Collage+GR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then I just elongated the artwork by adding some yellow on either side and sliced the bottom off a bit (this took me all of 5 minutes). Not the best solution but it works in a pinch (1200 X 300):</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz7-eDxcIM23BgFHzxr4mfwUFIcJCGx7WMGjNtu43hVTsyMXALOD7HVl1wiQso8y-_bTD-DA0YzxC0GaemIObeUSVHMLnfUxGG0OwL_E-xVBLEzqieF2clusedCirI64l2wa6lTzybX8w2/s1600/GR+my+front+porch+moonshine+google+plus+event+draft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz7-eDxcIM23BgFHzxr4mfwUFIcJCGx7WMGjNtu43hVTsyMXALOD7HVl1wiQso8y-_bTD-DA0YzxC0GaemIObeUSVHMLnfUxGG0OwL_E-xVBLEzqieF2clusedCirI64l2wa6lTzybX8w2/s400/GR+my+front+porch+moonshine+google+plus+event+draft.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And here’s an example where I spent a bit more time trying to make it all fit, first Facebook (again, this is event art):</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBTb1deiVvmOXKNRPcZaSNkFXu6Z8hmkoxtZlPqwt8DkbtFroqyEc5CdDXbhV6vha80iMg9w4kcIv6o1RpMZv42ufcYfE3nDEidfkCR7NkjQ2dqTj49cyAf5KbNvt0B-s0QqVmgv9FvHnL/s1600/GR+ladies+night+my+front+porch+Collage+FB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBTb1deiVvmOXKNRPcZaSNkFXu6Z8hmkoxtZlPqwt8DkbtFroqyEc5CdDXbhV6vha80iMg9w4kcIv6o1RpMZv42ufcYfE3nDEidfkCR7NkjQ2dqTj49cyAf5KbNvt0B-s0QqVmgv9FvHnL/s320/GR+ladies+night+my+front+porch+Collage+FB.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And here is the Google+ version. I find it a challenge to have less height to work with and had to slice some heads (poor Marcia Marcia)! The area for copy was a bit leaner too:</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iLRsVJLj4ew/UeCoOGJQ-CI/AAAAAAAAAAA/eM6qL1EATc4/w940-h235-k/event_theme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="80" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iLRsVJLj4ew/UeCoOGJQ-CI/AAAAAAAAAAA/eM6qL1EATc4/w940-h235-k/event_theme.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Could never remember the sizes I needed to work with I found myself looking up on the internet the correct sizes over and over. Finally wised up and created this handy little chart:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKm0WarrszOc0VLipNVNK0Cv8fsod9uvM4Zwerqxi2WQW1LtUa9mgE5AiWaR6t3KUI09hyphenhyphenj1XE1KdQpY1vx0Ilpk9DfXObKhxb53s1iiIE4OqUuLp5vwMl38_sshTzyAHEDtDnFQCvmLWU/s1600/Cover+art+and+event+art+sizes+GR+Collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKm0WarrszOc0VLipNVNK0Cv8fsod9uvM4Zwerqxi2WQW1LtUa9mgE5AiWaR6t3KUI09hyphenhyphenj1XE1KdQpY1vx0Ilpk9DfXObKhxb53s1iiIE4OqUuLp5vwMl38_sshTzyAHEDtDnFQCvmLWU/s320/Cover+art+and+event+art+sizes+GR+Collage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Feel free to print it the chart above and stick it on your refrigerator (just kidding). How ‘bout your bulletin board or maybe tape it to your desk instead?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hope you find it helpful. I've found myself creating more and more cover arts and event art pieces so having this handy is a big help! It would be even better of course if Facebook and Google+ could choose some universal sizes. Ha! Not going to happen anytime soon (if ever).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ah, yes, shapes of things. The Yardbirds sang about them back in the 60's (see below). Luckily, we're only dealing with rectangles here! If your social media efforts are too square, contact us via</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span> </div>
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-12810917625520705872013-07-09T14:55:00.000-07:002013-07-09T14:55:13.902-07:00How to Make the World More Beautiful.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQ1WkkNgbcMx8i6a33cMW8YFvIIP1fRGQeq6vSMeo3eDp3yC2M5r1reCOFAxZkiEUouThUEq8OyucrsQMlKLkXudrXGZ0JPHYf5UxtgFAnEGJm0RB77qdbbduu1zD5AiMoQ8KoQ39Ofud/s1600/morning+glory+GR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQ1WkkNgbcMx8i6a33cMW8YFvIIP1fRGQeq6vSMeo3eDp3yC2M5r1reCOFAxZkiEUouThUEq8OyucrsQMlKLkXudrXGZ0JPHYf5UxtgFAnEGJm0RB77qdbbduu1zD5AiMoQ8KoQ39Ofud/s200/morning+glory+GR.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subtitle 1: Transportation and the Morning Glory Vigilante.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Subtitle 2: DC’s Metro Transit System Kills Their Brand by Ripping out Plants</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've always said that it’s those small things, those “<i>little slices of life</i>” that make all the difference and make our world a bit more special. Sadly, obstacles get in the way and good and evil are confused. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Case in point:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Call him a plant slinger. Or renegade gardener. Or even a "secret" horticulturist. Call him whatever you like. Has he gone too far? Oh the shock! The horror! Imagine someone planting morning glories in a public place! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is but one of the many <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/metro-rips-out-phantom-planters-flowers-at-dupont-circle-station/2013/07/06/4220cef4-e5ce-11e2-80eb-3145e2994a55_story.html" target="_blank">articles</a> on the subject. In short, a man has been spending his own money and secretly planting flowers in the DC area for the last thirty years. And that’s been okay. Until now.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iT-rINtHrIgl8ohL0lGKvq0FO2iWud32UX3JiydF3gGTCYlkYuh6QICaYZB7A3M4nZo9vPZTJWKzKd94QpBMoSto2Y3t7FbrW9I41Hf9Nx3uUj1iiF4FB20IMTgl-hCqVq6p5omJruPN/s1600/morning+glory+on+the+side+with+bougainvilla++flower+6+7+13+gizmo+rebel+028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iT-rINtHrIgl8ohL0lGKvq0FO2iWud32UX3JiydF3gGTCYlkYuh6QICaYZB7A3M4nZo9vPZTJWKzKd94QpBMoSto2Y3t7FbrW9I41Hf9Nx3uUj1iiF4FB20IMTgl-hCqVq6p5omJruPN/s200/morning+glory+on+the+side+with+bougainvilla++flower+6+7+13+gizmo+rebel+028.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Does this make any sense to you? Law abiding citizen, Henry Docter, wants to make the world a prettier place. He plants flowers that he has paid for in a public place owned by the local transit company. He has been secretly doing these acts of kindness for over thirty years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">End result? The plants were ripped out, making the area ugly and barren once again. Several hard to believe reasons were given for this action. One was that the plants were dying. 1,000 plants! <i>Every single one of them dying at once despite plenty of rain within 48 hours of digging them out?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hello Metro transit! <i>Civil</i> communication with Mr. Docter would have been a plus. At the very least, speak with him without the threat of arrest and cries of “cease and desist”. It’s not too late to do so and turn this mess around! Look what this debacle is doing to your brand reputation as public outcry grows. Not a word about it on your <a href="http://www.wmata.com/" target="_blank">website</a>, either. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgilfqA9hesouKtALHdT3ETTInPQuu3aaBcpDqTeI8BMlqm_j79qydQXa_MnQsnoZsPRRn8QQnzFdCUYBaHmyRzwDkdhv6GVIC538om_fsetG8Wy-3FYdZAx81UgvCCDDAixfDAlq88dl96/s1600/PIN+blue+flower+on+the+side+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgilfqA9hesouKtALHdT3ETTInPQuu3aaBcpDqTeI8BMlqm_j79qydQXa_MnQsnoZsPRRn8QQnzFdCUYBaHmyRzwDkdhv6GVIC538om_fsetG8Wy-3FYdZAx81UgvCCDDAixfDAlq88dl96/s200/PIN+blue+flower+on+the+side+2.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How come it was “okay” for the past thirty years and now it’s suddenly NOT okay? <i>Did you even know that Henry Docter planted tulip bulbs in the same location several months ago?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Would you like to regain your solid reputation and make it shine? Why not strike a partnership with Mr. Docter? Bring him on staff if need be and let him organize volunteers to beautify other areas of the Metro transit system that need this. The public will look up to you in awe. You'll get more riders. It’s called giving back! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2OV7HtWhcACu_li1QRzZkYGXrchOI2qdTCPMTmNXBvpXzxS_1Z0mj93jEISPZp9i6dO8RUmJn1FpWawdQZRUHNutUsFwjJYZbNlnQMTPITtXyhyLdRYAGICEkcj9xX4A9gZ2uBZlM2iSu/s1600/big+pink+morning+glory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2OV7HtWhcACu_li1QRzZkYGXrchOI2qdTCPMTmNXBvpXzxS_1Z0mj93jEISPZp9i6dO8RUmJn1FpWawdQZRUHNutUsFwjJYZbNlnQMTPITtXyhyLdRYAGICEkcj9xX4A9gZ2uBZlM2iSu/s200/big+pink+morning+glory.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have to say that I am most thankful for a trail near my home where train tracks used to be. Private Citizens do some of the upkeep there; once in awhile I see a very fit woman in her 70’s with an aging pickup truck that’s filled with large containers of water and sometimes plants. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She helps keep that trail a beautiful place! No one has stopped her. I've said hello a few times. Next time I see her I'd love to talk to her about the joy she brings to those of us walking the trail there. The morning glory photos here are from that beautiful trail</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB7ZHVUpPjeIbgkZUWeJ0bKgbv_WV5ROcFeD-Q4SmOZffR9mnEj4YLfQpE2cAEAEuoKHEKUsHzcBgxLPksWrorDGbw-FHJiGMJcdlzvq5xIFvn8uyVaCfDvueNEje3k0RKk06QD0phjfH0/s1600/morning+glory+10+8+12+013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB7ZHVUpPjeIbgkZUWeJ0bKgbv_WV5ROcFeD-Q4SmOZffR9mnEj4YLfQpE2cAEAEuoKHEKUsHzcBgxLPksWrorDGbw-FHJiGMJcdlzvq5xIFvn8uyVaCfDvueNEje3k0RKk06QD0phjfH0/s200/morning+glory+10+8+12+013.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, back to our “vigilante”. Let Henry Docter continue to plant flowers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perhaps his gallant efforts will spur on others to beautify other areas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For more on his story in his own words, click <a href="http://www.letmyflowersgrow.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Henry Docter is spot on. His words of wisdom alone make our world a better place:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“<i>The world is not as bad as it is often portrayed in the news. This is an opportunity for all of us to make something beautiful.</i>” – Henry Docter </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So let's do it! And kudos to you sir!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oasis asked the musical question "What's the Story, Morning Glory?" in the mid-nineties (see below) Perhaps Metro transit is asking themselves that same question right now. If you need your marketing garden properly pruned, contact us via </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-3024503402719402892013-07-03T08:12:00.000-07:002013-07-03T08:12:07.648-07:00Journalism Tastes Paula Deen<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74cCor1qyHnU87M9eJpzvzUW52UQbUo4jyihWM8i5rWy5aE6ikTfWf0BZbjluU3kYu2eEEZmkM-ucSxEHbGpnT9Qea_1zpIGpM0rrD7R5f1vE53EAANthEQRwEG0QBMHiM0gbOnzxrk_4/s853/Clue+pieces+IMG_1877+rope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74cCor1qyHnU87M9eJpzvzUW52UQbUo4jyihWM8i5rWy5aE6ikTfWf0BZbjluU3kYu2eEEZmkM-ucSxEHbGpnT9Qea_1zpIGpM0rrD7R5f1vE53EAANthEQRwEG0QBMHiM0gbOnzxrk_4/s200/Clue+pieces+IMG_1877+rope.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Food Network started the rope tightening. A popular chef/celebrity is swiftly shown the door, probably the one at the back where the mudroom is. Don't slam the door on the way out. Wham!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let’s take a step back. I've seen Paula Deen’s plight compared to two other recent events:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A rapper stomping on the American flag.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alec Baldwin mouthing off in regards to the orientation of a journalist while using extremely foul words and phrases.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These actions appear to be acceptable in our society however a woman using the “N” word over twenty years ago is not despite her admittance and pleas for forgiveness.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-VF7nZJ2eWwkY9Smrojl8SAJSmK4zr_pDGVWk5AgjAYCPYifn8XJi5Aw3Ouh46Hd6ZL-4PnDHL6neQv86-vdDDFR7UgD_K4DiyD-6hgBrtPigOElkwAhSgfw3qESpFD5nyBOe5Of3naBT/s320/foodnetwork-logo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-VF7nZJ2eWwkY9Smrojl8SAJSmK4zr_pDGVWk5AgjAYCPYifn8XJi5Aw3Ouh46Hd6ZL-4PnDHL6neQv86-vdDDFR7UgD_K4DiyD-6hgBrtPigOElkwAhSgfw3qESpFD5nyBOe5Of3naBT/s200/foodnetwork-logo1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve witnessed the hanging of Paula Deen on a journalistic level and from opinionated friends. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hung before the jury had a chance to judge and gather all the facts. Food Network didn’t even think twice! Most of the big boxes followed that lead (Lowe’s would be an exception) and tossed ropes around her neck. The true believers remaining with Paula Deen are companies you've likely never heard of; what are their chances of finding another celebrity of her stature?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And what about the lawsuit filed by a former employee who has changed her tale? Oh sure; you couldn’t remember the story correctly when you originally filed the suit? Doesn't matter; you've added another knot to the noose whether you’re telling the truth or not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Paula Deen’s latest book was #1 on Amazon until Ballantine Books pulled it. And the book wasn't scheduled for release until October!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sensationalism sells. Journalism can swiftly make the cookies crumble on an empire. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many remarks made on articles about Paula Deen come to her defense. One commenter, assuming he or she did their homework correctly, cited numerous other notorious celebrities who are currently gainfully employed by Food Network. Their crimes include various lawsuits against them, DUIs, use of profanities, false claims regarding their backgrounds, withholding tips and wages from employees, bankruptcy filings, and premeditated murder! None of these appear to be grounds for firing. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifd1pw3gtukoFQAf0V3-uvqtzeLfBnoBSdlvbdQfr3C_Iaq7rnIZOHgLSuB2bPMOmZfnQcyjOqzyYBNqRgVDP6e80m9jkwbG493UdWMpuka0vLCXCofXffVDVJG-p4KfCkrn9UeyFEi_AG/s374/paula+deen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifd1pw3gtukoFQAf0V3-uvqtzeLfBnoBSdlvbdQfr3C_Iaq7rnIZOHgLSuB2bPMOmZfnQcyjOqzyYBNqRgVDP6e80m9jkwbG493UdWMpuka0vLCXCofXffVDVJG-p4KfCkrn9UeyFEi_AG/s200/paula+deen.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What will ultimately happen? Paula Deen will relax in a glider on her front porch while sipping sweet tea and waiting it out. Food Network has now made the Paula Deen haters happy. Once they simmer down, the network will likely bring Paula Deen back. Then her fans will be pleased and they'll start watching Food Network again. <i>Win win for Food Network.</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNgXTVqoSGQvXaXlQPJ6E9WABfamPYq_zzTRFXB7V6tn6nAcOJZVrARsot6SMsGkQlC-D7C1icPB08Sz6zy_MsDypOpC5eTlVtER05j6sBQUEi-kebqrPaoOOTj7CTupnolpT-0qmLth_/s531/martha+stewart.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNgXTVqoSGQvXaXlQPJ6E9WABfamPYq_zzTRFXB7V6tn6nAcOJZVrARsot6SMsGkQlC-D7C1icPB08Sz6zy_MsDypOpC5eTlVtER05j6sBQUEi-kebqrPaoOOTj7CTupnolpT-0qmLth_/s200/martha+stewart.JPG" width="148" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh, let’s not forget Martha Stewart’s plight for her "crafting" with insider trading. The media hung her too; probably from a grand oak tree at her expansive Bedford, New York home. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So how come it’s okay for the media to hang prominent, well-established, successful women? Is it unladylike to be a “bad boy”? Society says yes. Women are expected to behave in a certain way that is different from men. Heck, women are still fighting for better wages! Where’s the equality here? </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3UCf92bRNcLga0ISTuqlmIXy7Och7u_96sPUtyYlR9DgU-SeUOqKkLKG7edQqGQM7vOCuRbtLvBEFO_C2XlPFZc_mT97mZiIPlVOuRkAHJWvlqidOUvv6FXHUVey3ExyBPDqkx-9PYYy/s230/alec+baldwin+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3UCf92bRNcLga0ISTuqlmIXy7Och7u_96sPUtyYlR9DgU-SeUOqKkLKG7edQqGQM7vOCuRbtLvBEFO_C2XlPFZc_mT97mZiIPlVOuRkAHJWvlqidOUvv6FXHUVey3ExyBPDqkx-9PYYy/s200/alec+baldwin+4.JPG" width="193" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What if it was a man...maybe Alec Baldwin? What if we were to learn HE used the “N” word </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> in the Eighties? Would American Express drop him? He has proven more than once that anger management classes would be helpful to him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Famous ladies, who’s next? Step right up and see the show! Watch a woman get moved to tears! Witness the abandonment! See a brand crushed right before your very eyes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Journalism is power. It is abusive and mean at times. It bites, chews and spits it all out. Forget swallowing! On the other hand, people at large should chew slowly, explore, fact find, and stop chomping down on the first thing they read or see as truth. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lessons to be learned here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Note: I don't know all that much about Paula Deen. Have watched her show twice and own an iron cooking pot with her name on it, purchased at Kohl's. She's not perfect; none of us are. Forgive her and let's move on from this episode.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Paula Deen, here’s a song for you (see below). If you'd like to see your marketing efforts taste mighty fine s</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">top by our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-84395993303900169892013-07-02T08:11:00.000-07:002013-11-02T16:03:53.835-07:00Holding Back Posts? Facebook?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkwGMzdW83JiUJzkg-9wkQf-JX-Jq8Ca4hwRREgZqGSHEU_l_yrbgQP4VMKv0e8HNn_Oo2XELHZh6hZcnPyTKHIrAwiQSJcjmwTUGIf4JafGUg7EUxDxnkrkeQlpNm0nKKlREbSsNI5zJ4/s1600/My+front+porch+Collage+GR+6+3+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkwGMzdW83JiUJzkg-9wkQf-JX-Jq8Ca4hwRREgZqGSHEU_l_yrbgQP4VMKv0e8HNn_Oo2XELHZh6hZcnPyTKHIrAwiQSJcjmwTUGIf4JafGUg7EUxDxnkrkeQlpNm0nKKlREbSsNI5zJ4/s200/My+front+porch+Collage+GR+6+3+13.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have you ever created an event in Facebook? Sure, I've been invited to events hundreds of times, however, this was something new for me and I couldn't wait to finally test out that feature! Case in point:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For my other endeavor, <a href="http://www.groovyreflectionsradio.com/" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections Radio</a> I've been creating events for the first original show rolled out, <a href="http://www.groovyreflectionsradio.com/shows.html" target="_blank">My Front Porch</a>. It's a show about folk music that has lots of humor (and song of course!). Since there are 16,000+ fans on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groovyreflections?fref=ts" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections Facebook page</a>, I thought that having an "event" for the radio program would make sense since there's an instant audience with fans who would be interested in the show!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Boy, was I wrong. While a page can create an event, a page cannot directly <i>invite</i> people to the event! Interesting huh? It has to do with spammers taking advantage of that feature. Well, okay. So I need to "join" and then invite my friends! That feels spammy to me so I try not to invite the same people all the time. The show is broadcast three times a week, thus three events a week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, over the past few weeks of observing the response to the events, I noticed something interesting. Very few people actually SEE the posts made on the page about the event. Facebook is holding out on us; they want us to pay! For the most part, I've been including the URL to the event in those posts to make it easy for people to join the event which could be the trigger for Facebook to "slam on the brakes" as far as sharing the post goes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's a recent invite. The snip is from about one hour after the post. A total of 249 people saw the post (out of 16,500 fans on the page). That's not many eyeballs!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgAyHhq9Z5HMZUBYEALOhqqcKQqm_3KO1ydCYf-0pb6RtIyiWjK2tSrdYMTA1aKanrpmtkFdFxiNlU9sS8qfN6gs-nHQJzD7ePCT-VQXNBdbYVnD4iLe5Gqx5LvVvGzT3DrMxnAiJhyEh/s581/cleaned+event+post+GR+radio+my+front+porch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgAyHhq9Z5HMZUBYEALOhqqcKQqm_3KO1ydCYf-0pb6RtIyiWjK2tSrdYMTA1aKanrpmtkFdFxiNlU9sS8qfN6gs-nHQJzD7ePCT-VQXNBdbYVnD4iLe5Gqx5LvVvGzT3DrMxnAiJhyEh/s400/cleaned+event+post+GR+radio+my+front+porch.jpg" width="380" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">About 45 minutes later I made another post. No URL, no invite. Just copy. In a very short time frame (in this case under a half hour), the post was seen by well over 1,000 people, more than four times as many that saw the previous post!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTstqj0MT5-0X6xeYpoZnadyNBe2_5hT-puiZcR2D2nD6hQ3q338XAqMULdYElhFHVPhUMNDJWDCd4zSdtxscWHnxVW-v9I99f6Yd0puLGybp5XNhNW3s5Xzc2iBcQyVqjnoZfK6VDcVbL/s573/cleaned+event+mention+GR+Radio+my+front+porch+no+link.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTstqj0MT5-0X6xeYpoZnadyNBe2_5hT-puiZcR2D2nD6hQ3q338XAqMULdYElhFHVPhUMNDJWDCd4zSdtxscWHnxVW-v9I99f6Yd0puLGybp5XNhNW3s5Xzc2iBcQyVqjnoZfK6VDcVbL/s400/cleaned+event+mention+GR+Radio+my+front+porch+no+link.jpg" width="380" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What's up with THAT, Facebook?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the record: This little experiment has been conducted several times, all with the same results. And what have we learned?</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DO post about your events without links as well as with them to get the word out. </span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Post about your events several times! Only a small percentage of fans will see the information about your event at any given time; they may be offline when you post and/or Facebook is sharing your post to just a few of your fans via the newsfeed. Post during different times of the day as well.</span></li>
</ul>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't be discouraged if only a handful of people reply. We're all getting bombarded with information nowadays; and you may get tuned out. </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Facebook should not be your only source for announcing events. Utilize other social networks such as Twitter and Google+.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Create eye catching artwork for your event and a great name for your event! In my example above I used the <i>theme</i> of the show rather than the actual name of the show: "Viagra, Bananas, and Knees" sounds more intriguing compared to "<a href="http://www.groovyreflectionsradio.com/shows.html" target="_blank">My Front Porch</a>"!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Speaking of that fine fruit, Harry Belafonte sang about bananas long ago. Peel back those social media layers and create a smooth, tasty strategy! No need to go bananas! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stop by our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-90144737837639750392013-06-28T16:39:00.000-07:002013-06-28T16:39:29.551-07:00Vine-up!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzDXBjcA12QF_RfPsLt4D1eDk7Fpnzi75LCBgAdDV8GJ4kgUCN44IMFLRHril4g3KZhinBBzA5kxXZmGF4qZxD6oqVXHvAelo5nrUSCT7eeeOXnF8VXjga9z3DyjEt2716jHFdXkf03IoU/s322/v_lrg_green.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzDXBjcA12QF_RfPsLt4D1eDk7Fpnzi75LCBgAdDV8GJ4kgUCN44IMFLRHril4g3KZhinBBzA5kxXZmGF4qZxD6oqVXHvAelo5nrUSCT7eeeOXnF8VXjga9z3DyjEt2716jHFdXkf03IoU/s200/v_lrg_green.png" width="175" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Move over Tweet-up; there’s a new IRL meeting in town! And why not? Since Vine opened up the app to android users, they're exploding with fresh activity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thrilled to say I attended what could very well be the first Vine-up in my little corner of the world. Oh, just a handful of us in attendance. Okay by me; this made it easy to converse and exchange ideas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The app is so simple which makes it difficult. I had to ask someone how to begin making a video! After pressing the little movie camera icon, I couldn't find anything to press to get the video started; where IS that button?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6L0QtT5UPv7fC0hckpDvPEP7NHPbnEv1o3acl7q56ZxldZPJlf5ApkQ0cZ2GGhFQ2YRNLdA_nJUqcHqGUQ1RRFnNHcEAXc2EXmUZte0N1ZEgDmgZbOHO62Zeg-efhtDZZ5LVPlfKH3thG/s291/vine_logo_lrg_green.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6L0QtT5UPv7fC0hckpDvPEP7NHPbnEv1o3acl7q56ZxldZPJlf5ApkQ0cZ2GGhFQ2YRNLdA_nJUqcHqGUQ1RRFnNHcEAXc2EXmUZte0N1ZEgDmgZbOHO62Zeg-efhtDZZ5LVPlfKH3thG/s200/vine_logo_lrg_green.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Turns out there <i>isn't</i> one. Put your finger on the pic and Vine takes off! Keep it there for six seconds or try stop motion by lifting your finger up and putting it down again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The hosts for this vine-up were promoting the shopping center where the Vine-up was held. We all made Vine vids about the center and added the shopping center’s hashtag cinematic creations before posting. Towards the end of the meeting we all reviewed each other’s videos and had some really good laughs! What a fun concept, right? There were prizes too. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our hosts also provided beverages (they brought them) and appetizers from one of the local restaurants. Nice!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some of the folks there were already following each other on Twitter so it made the in real life experience all the more special.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A couple of things I've learned. The android app and the IOS app are not exactly the same. Therefore, friends of android, much of what is already written in blogs and articles on how to use Vine may not apply to you. Suggestion to those who have blogged about Vine prior to the android release; go back and make it clear that you are discussing IOS.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Was trying to figure out how to share a Vine post to Twitter after you've already shared the post only to Vine. For IOS, it’s crystal clear; tap on the three dots under the post and there is a share option. For android, that option isn't there! Sigh. Since I deleted my posts to Twitter that I made yesterday during the Vine-up I’m not able to share them here on the blog at the moment! However, in the meantime, here’s some flax blowing in the wind:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe class="vine-embed" frameborder="0" height="500" src="https://vine.co/v/haagLb3Fd1d/embed/simple" width="500"></iframe><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js"></script></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Explore people and have fun with Vine! Lene Lovich sang about new toys in this song over 30 years ago. We don’t play games with your social media strategy! Stop by our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<br />Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-6606489575853061692013-06-26T11:20:00.000-07:002013-06-26T11:20:15.122-07:00Want to Unlike Multiple Pages on Facebook?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7fpBSM742DyGPbsn_Gk4PieGCybyGkRHOo7EVpI0Qo8kRrkmgWcxVnfXA5rdVyv2uC3QT-gmqTbGrfe5Mo0KR-v6cfDpspWuvEHjwFQMtMoDQag9VK_0YeGc8mnUoaNp3gv6zUuYhbrZT/s1600/thumbs+down+graphic.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7fpBSM742DyGPbsn_Gk4PieGCybyGkRHOo7EVpI0Qo8kRrkmgWcxVnfXA5rdVyv2uC3QT-gmqTbGrfe5Mo0KR-v6cfDpspWuvEHjwFQMtMoDQag9VK_0YeGc8mnUoaNp3gv6zUuYhbrZT/s200/thumbs+down+graphic.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There used to be an easier way. You could go to a section of your profile where they were all listed without icons or any additional information and rapid fire zap them away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That option appears to be gone now; possibly because of all of the other changes with the newsfeed and everything else. The developers at Facebook have turned their attention elsewhere for now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh, the times they are a changin’!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What to do? You could go to every single page, one by one, and unlike them that way. Oh, what a pain!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The good news (hey, you knew I had to put a positive spin on this, right?) is that there is a <i>slightly</i> easier way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here we go:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlDbHbjMYhYvqvvNgYMeV3MpY4zNbKszIaheENGUpVnF8Hq3tOkRtc6kT38gsrjFpWlq3dxhuMfokDbuRJczE6CqQVQBGikVU2bcuGhMMt_8OBiIqGwaQv9_g5hbvaAhLkSY80ir9oc3Zu/s1600/how+to+unlike+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="101" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlDbHbjMYhYvqvvNgYMeV3MpY4zNbKszIaheENGUpVnF8Hq3tOkRtc6kT38gsrjFpWlq3dxhuMfokDbuRJczE6CqQVQBGikVU2bcuGhMMt_8OBiIqGwaQv9_g5hbvaAhLkSY80ir9oc3Zu/s200/how+to+unlike+1.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click on activity log on the wall of your personal profile (it's near the bottom of your cover art) Using mine as an example here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click "like" on the left side of the page.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_MF0hikcmn_XImWfiR21q2eDhjye8hI5F2AYcj5sB22MlkFySVWLm4Pj0OvrNUerU8PIeXEHX8mOgklxwJjxBrobgymLxeIOx0S3Fy8N39BXFygjJVZPBIA-vHsZEUGGB4aQ2GFggDrfQ/s1600/how+to+unlike+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_MF0hikcmn_XImWfiR21q2eDhjye8hI5F2AYcj5sB22MlkFySVWLm4Pj0OvrNUerU8PIeXEHX8mOgklxwJjxBrobgymLxeIOx0S3Fy8N39BXFygjJVZPBIA-vHsZEUGGB4aQ2GFggDrfQ/s200/how+to+unlike+3.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then click pages and interests. Directly to the right you'll get a list, starting with the most recent page you liked and going back in time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And you thought I was going to show you all my likes, right? Nope!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you hover over the name on the left side a pop-up appears with the icon and cover art of the page. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-PU_CLYVx3sMkUXB0yXMuR0n_4ovkg0nUrI3HMWXOKIQn97K6IPM0c5kVkOoysCYUv8F4FdlJEwUOELPj1yeeYlG7HaH6y-xhxqlaujYYjC5S35t6rxQXyuUislTPfb_k8QWlqdaM96S/s1600/how+to+unlike+4b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-PU_CLYVx3sMkUXB0yXMuR0n_4ovkg0nUrI3HMWXOKIQn97K6IPM0c5kVkOoysCYUv8F4FdlJEwUOELPj1yeeYlG7HaH6y-xhxqlaujYYjC5S35t6rxQXyuUislTPfb_k8QWlqdaM96S/s400/how+to+unlike+4b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">See near the bottom where it says "liked"? Hovering over that word gives you lots of options: Get Notifications, Show in News Feed, Settings, Add to Interest Lists, and </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unlike</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. This is where you make the big choice!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Note: In this example I'm hovering over the name of my sister page, </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groovyreflections?fref=ts" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections.</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Rest assured that I won't be unliking that page! DO think about the implications of unliking a page: Does it belong to a friend of yours? Was it a "like for like" therefore you risk losing a "fan"? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And yes, this is a time consuming endeavor. If you have hundreds of pages to rummage through, go through a small chunk to unlike or keep per day (maybe choose to show in news feed?). Spend about five to ten minutes so it's not too painful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maybe Facebook will introduce a new way to maintain your liked pages eventually. One can only hope. On a brighter note, The Romantics "liked" you in their big hit tune (see below). Feel free to "like" us and drop by our </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">by </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">o</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ur </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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<br />Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-20171453116936764872013-06-24T12:12:00.000-07:002013-06-24T12:14:19.248-07:00Anybody Listening? Getting the Word Out!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xjc8VsiCVzZBGZur-AoPvKc24MXPlcwpVS_Y39Qt4vfRfuf1PRukixk7aGcEXyShe-VDtgSmfqKF-7w-Ze9OHkRWu-cbO-NSzjAyYWDvqxEarDu_PRM1go172UTbndh6lMn0UNn85YIM/s1600/attention+graphic+GR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xjc8VsiCVzZBGZur-AoPvKc24MXPlcwpVS_Y39Qt4vfRfuf1PRukixk7aGcEXyShe-VDtgSmfqKF-7w-Ze9OHkRWu-cbO-NSzjAyYWDvqxEarDu_PRM1go172UTbndh6lMn0UNn85YIM/s200/attention+graphic+GR.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you sometimes feel that you're over promoting your product or service on various social networks to the point that you're putting your fan base at risk? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've felt that ever since the launch of a new service, an <a href="http://www.groovyreflectionsradio.com/" target="_blank">internet radio station </a>from my other endeavor, <a href="http://www.groovyreflections.com/" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections</a>, since the get go.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I needn’t be worrying though.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh sure, I posted about it on my personal profile on Facebook and Google+ a few times, maybe three times on Facebook and about ten times on Google+. No one unfriended or uncircled me. I even got a few likes on it; perhaps because I included fun artwork with it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, I've been promoting relentlessly (or so I thought) on the Groovy Reflections <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groovyreflections?fref=ts" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/117416907794149631532/117416907794149631532/posts" target="_blank">Google+</a> pages. The radio station launched on May 6. It’s been well over a month since we've been broadcasting already!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Surprisingly, most of the fans aren't aware of the <a href="http://www.groovyreflectionsradio.com/" target="_blank">radio station</a>! Here I am thinking I may be overdoing it, yet comments like in the example below keep coming up:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGoDO2GIQDcxgyVQNIvT94FQBMD5OHXhZfUAsdrSrYA5V_Oimqg87DOdHirwB8nyXDzugZ_g3L1ApWssag8-CaTa6BpTMwHfkIafDYeOzfAYGNRBL5Bb_y_wd9h0jz2xElcXRfSUrkqtsI/s1600/kudos+for+GR+Radio+2+6+22+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGoDO2GIQDcxgyVQNIvT94FQBMD5OHXhZfUAsdrSrYA5V_Oimqg87DOdHirwB8nyXDzugZ_g3L1ApWssag8-CaTa6BpTMwHfkIafDYeOzfAYGNRBL5Bb_y_wd9h0jz2xElcXRfSUrkqtsI/s400/kudos+for+GR+Radio+2+6+22+13.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And this was after the radio station had been around for about five weeks! Have dozens more examples like this one. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lesson learned: Don't be afraid of letting your fans know about your product or service. If it’s too much for them, they'll leave (thus they weren’t true fans in the first place) or they'll complain (hopefully it won't come to that; hasn’t happened to me yet).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As it stands now, promos on the pages go out about three times a day. That feels comfortable to me. On average, the Groovy Reflections page has about thirty-two posts a day on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groovyreflections?fref=ts" target="_blank">Facebook</a> (yes, it is a very busy page!), thus making the promotional posts just under 10%. On <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/117416907794149631532/117416907794149631532/posts" target="_blank">Google+</a>, it’s a little higher since there’s about half the number of posts there compared to Facebook. The audiences on the two social networks differ; the Facebook is U.S. centric, while Google+ is more global. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take that into consideration when posting as well; who do you want to respond to your promotional posts? Where are they physically located and is that relevant to your business?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another element to ponder is the timing of the posts. You do want to catch “the morning crowd”; the ones who are breezing their timeline before running off to work, the lunch crowd taking a peek before or after catching a meal, and the evening crowd. Which raises yet another point; these people are busy! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They are scanning quickly to catch relevant posts, perhaps eating while doing so, and doing other things like watching TV. The likelihood of their catching your promotional posts goes way down when your fans are multi-tasking their lives away! Do use some eye catching artwork that will slow their scanning down!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 1978, The Sports asked the musical question “Who Listens to the Radio?” (See below). Hope you do! If you dig everything 60’s and 70’s, tune in <a href="http://www.groovyreflectionsradio.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. And if your social media efforts need a "tune-up", stop by </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">o</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ur </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-64843757377736998772013-06-21T13:58:00.000-07:002013-06-21T14:10:44.070-07:00Yes, Facebook: More Data Please!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf4nCFFi7rRo5hdpd8-akmVtuLE3uRb5HIBk9MPCJmx9fkI6b9dDDMHZcfhLfguL_7no1AXG8c2rN-YFqoGN_sDZuBtYKKnFp90DdJ1iaATyRM9ng0gLBoSyRYWrricHBE-8Bp4pqjKVsK/s1600/facebook+squares+Collage+GR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf4nCFFi7rRo5hdpd8-akmVtuLE3uRb5HIBk9MPCJmx9fkI6b9dDDMHZcfhLfguL_7no1AXG8c2rN-YFqoGN_sDZuBtYKKnFp90DdJ1iaATyRM9ng0gLBoSyRYWrricHBE-8Bp4pqjKVsK/s200/facebook+squares+Collage+GR.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Facebook has offered the rather limiting Page Insights tool for about three years now. In a recent <a href="http://www.facebook-studio.com/news/item/updating-page-insights" target="_blank">blog</a> Facebook stated that they have been paying attention to what we, the customer, want! The news: They're rolling out a newly revised Page Insight tool to just a few page administrators (more to follow soon?). In a nutshell:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“People talking about this”, or PTAT, data will be further broken down; more data for you! Page Likes, People Engaged (likes, comments and share), Page tags and mentions, check-ins (great if you are a physical location) and “other” (no idea what that may be). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And there’s a new metric, Engagement Rate, based on the already existing Virality measure. Facebook believes that the current metric wasn't a true indicator of positive post engagement in the past and they are now including clicks; does this mean clicking on a link associated with a post but not liking or commenting on the post will now be counted. If so…hurray! I've often wondered about those folks who go “under the radar”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the record, Virality is defined by Facebook as “the percentage of people who have created a story from your page post out of the total number of unique people who have seen it.” Creating a story happens in a number of ways: Likes, Comments, and Shares. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The last paragraph of the blog discusses how Facebook “rewards quality posts with greater reach”. Funny then how every time I create an event invite that it seems to be withheld from the majority of fans from the page (more on this in a separate blog). Perhaps the above is true, however, Facebook would certainly like to see the post promoted (and therefore see me PAY); no? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The very last point discusses “positives” and “negatives” and Facebook says that metrics will now be available on a post by post basis via a score card. Sounds good indeed if Facebook data can be put together in a way so that any user (or rather admin or owner of a page) can understand it easily, quickly summarize it, and take action based on their findings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We all want to increase engagement on our pages without paying for the privilege. So, yes, any free data is welcomed, especially if it’s better than what was available previously. However, we're still looking for the more visual experience that you toted months ago, so based on your past promises, when are we actually going to receive something that we can start working with?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dishwalla was onto something when they were counting blue cars (see video below). Count on us! Visit o</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ur </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-61275958388682919212013-06-20T11:50:00.001-07:002013-06-21T14:10:55.974-07:00Respect Your Potential Clients!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyVT5-bMzsLlLIjjWatcNxV4sG6ZETb6-4yKMqNb8hDAB-4gsrZ3Dcl-pxGsEfk1If4SiWyrlTJqKtfvOvTAhzyM_SxivsmLjKapIlxc-bIp671n5f9QreUUu9Syx5pF3zszKRf96RYXA7/s1600/gr+logo+with+dark+blue+160.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyVT5-bMzsLlLIjjWatcNxV4sG6ZETb6-4yKMqNb8hDAB-4gsrZ3Dcl-pxGsEfk1If4SiWyrlTJqKtfvOvTAhzyM_SxivsmLjKapIlxc-bIp671n5f9QreUUu9Syx5pF3zszKRf96RYXA7/s200/gr+logo+with+dark+blue+160.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you prefer to "learn by example" then here is an example of what not to do when someone wants to hire YOU. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My issue is HTML for my internet/smartphone radio station's website, <a href="http://www.groovyreflectionsradio.com/" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections Radio</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Everything is fine on the website except for one nagging issue: The coding for “recently played” won't work correctly! HTML was provided by Shoutcast; they host the radio station. The song titles show up, however, 95% of the artwork (generally the album cover) shows up as missing. Here’s what it looks like:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPivl2DbGMoOh7iBZn1QnUJou_lsD4RjD_kSsgJqzPp7p3gFqlUolZqbnF0XLyKzwk4pdQIlMfDy0ozSQjFLPS-JXefX7cwyGP4xZv_cNFdT_Hzcbo96O7hmvuka9xYagAdMWQQx7_MsA7/s1600/sample+of+how+what's+recently+played+looks+right+now.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPivl2DbGMoOh7iBZn1QnUJou_lsD4RjD_kSsgJqzPp7p3gFqlUolZqbnF0XLyKzwk4pdQIlMfDy0ozSQjFLPS-JXefX7cwyGP4xZv_cNFdT_Hzcbo96O7hmvuka9xYagAdMWQQx7_MsA7/s320/sample+of+how+what's+recently+played+looks+right+now.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Basically that piece of code needs to be rewritten. Also, it’s supposed to sync with Amazon and it does not. I also thought up an alternative solution: Insert the Groovy Reflections logo (see above) or some other graphics there. I want the listeners to know what songs they are hearing; makes it more fun for them! The current song does show up in the player WITH the LP cover so no issue there, thankfully.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I discovered that someone locally I know not only does SEO work but knows html as well. Know him a couple years, meeting through the vast Orange County network. Have met in person too at a meet-up. We had a nice phone discussion for about 45 minutes almost three weeks ago and I felt comfortable working on this with him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Put all the information together in both text and graphics that recapped what I explained on the phone and sent it to him within 24 hours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He said he would look at it that weekend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A week went by. Sent an email wanting to know if he was still interested in the project and he said he was. Then, silence. No follow through. I contacted again and said that it appeared he wasn't interested and that I would find someone else. He said he had emailed me a few days back. Never received it. Then, he said he would look at it on Wednesday! I figured, well, okay.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are friends on Facebook. On Wednesday I saw him post about all the new clients he has. Great.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last night I was supposed to go to a meet-up, however, taking care of my clients comes first. I stayed home. And wouldn't you know it, guess who did attend? Ah...the webs we weave by posting on Facebook. After seeing that, wrote another email and said:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> “<i>I'm glad you are at that event tonight! I'm working on stuff for a client. My clients always come first. That's how I do business.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>In all honesty, I am tired of getting messages from you that you are going to take on the project yet nothing happens. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>I am sorry. I really have to move on. I was looking forward to seeing the dazzling work you do and recommending it to others however I am on the hunt for someone who will actually do the work now.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Don't mean this to sound cruel or mean. You have to understand how I feel as an ignored client here. I have never done this to any of my clients and I guess my expectations were too high.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Thanks for your efforts.”</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This morning I received an invoice for the work. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Folks, don't treat potential clients like this! What would you do in my situation? It’s now almost three weeks and I still have an issue that needs fixing!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rick Nelson sung about being "strung along" in this song from 1963. I promise never to waste your valuable time and provide the highest quality, professional marketing services to you! Find us on our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-74237540984047928882013-06-13T12:45:00.001-07:002013-06-20T11:45:46.305-07:00Don't Start Your Own Business!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1usyPmYPjofxtuk5Xdj356dfjwu3wPS0VzsEfpkJ78zRipkFoDjhfVWz3yX9bKxYgsNWfrRSqdHUWfJ1p-O3kysFtgpG-BvIX0BQ6PqDwkVSzhvlZOpMepr1VwGjZdDrx1nl0_Gs5bLs4/s1600/IMG_20130610_182547.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1usyPmYPjofxtuk5Xdj356dfjwu3wPS0VzsEfpkJ78zRipkFoDjhfVWz3yX9bKxYgsNWfrRSqdHUWfJ1p-O3kysFtgpG-BvIX0BQ6PqDwkVSzhvlZOpMepr1VwGjZdDrx1nl0_Gs5bLs4/s200/IMG_20130610_182547.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A walk in the park?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“Don't let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.” —</i>Richard L. Evans<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">True. You DO have to start somewhere, right? And; you're going places! Keep up the good work. Now, while I believe in the quote, I’m also focused on reality. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s certainly not my intention to scare you, however, being an entrepreneur isn't a <i>walk in the park</i> and hopefully your attention was captured with the title of this blog. Here’s my gut wrenching top-of-mind list, some (but not all) of it, based on my own experiences.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't start your own business IF…</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You don't have a passion for the product or service you’ll be offering. Your business is an expression of you. It needs to have heart; yours! </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You are not prepared to have a sinking feeling in your stomach from time to time. Slosh down some Mylanta and keep moving.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You are afraid of the word failure. Sometimes a step backwards needs to happen in order to move forward. And, if you think failing is an ending you’re wrong. It's a fresh beginning.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You want to avoid thinking about quitting from time to time. Get over it and don’t quit. No matter what.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You don’t genuinely care about other people. You’ll have clients/buyers, suppliers, and employees to interact with (depending on what your business is perhaps one or two of these). They’ll feel that lack of caring energy and go elsewhere.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You think you’re too “old”. One of my favorite song lines from the progressive rock band Gentle Giant is: “<i>Now is the day, tomorrow comes without an </i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>End…Mark time follow the sun - you're only as old as you're young.</i>” Yep! </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You expect support from everyone. Some of your “friends” will run in the other direction when you even mention your business in conversation. </span></li>
</ul>
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<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You think it is all about making money. You’ll sink faster than the Titantic with that attitude. It's about sharing your passion so that others can enjoy it too.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You are willing to give up making any money, let alone profit, for “a while” (months or years)!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You think that you don’t have to put any dollars into it. One of my favorite expressions is “<i>You have to spend money to make money</i>” because it’s true.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You think that everything will flow smoothly. Does anything in life actually move in a straight line?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You don’t have an ultimate objective. You need to be reaching for something in order to there otherwise you'll come up empty.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You’re going to get uptight about every little thing that goes wrong. Whoopee doo. Let it go.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You’re not willing to learn new things; <i>lots</i> of them. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You are prepared to cry. Boo hoo. Let it out!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Working around the clock isn’t your cup of tea.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You are willing to give up a vacation or two. This doesn’t mean to not take vacations! You may just have to cut back a bit. And, DO take some breaks and clear the mind whether it's five minutes or five hours. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You don’t want to be a bonafied, 100% success. Because you will be if that’s what you truly want.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">WE are the champions. Freddie Mercury sang those words back in 1977 (see below). Since then the song has become an anthem of sorts and it certainly applies here! If you need any assistance "championing" your marketing endeavors, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">you’re welcome to visit </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">. </span></div>
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-34751633934007902072013-06-11T12:22:00.000-07:002013-06-11T12:22:03.784-07:00Multi-accounts, Multi-posting, and You.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU26mSfOlJZ25v6f4WVAZtY5qjomVLKApY4kdppg-vVJ4TIyv2THD2_xCrRvjyvDiwgH_p1M8qJ3a_y9Enl9G-sWPCh_kFXRg32jHwTxTq5p-L6twWtqwDTFS3lkm8rQ5QE-Zubea-drQU/s1600/rupert+takes+a+dive+GR+2+2+25+12+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU26mSfOlJZ25v6f4WVAZtY5qjomVLKApY4kdppg-vVJ4TIyv2THD2_xCrRvjyvDiwgH_p1M8qJ3a_y9Enl9G-sWPCh_kFXRg32jHwTxTq5p-L6twWtqwDTFS3lkm8rQ5QE-Zubea-drQU/s200/rupert+takes+a+dive+GR+2+2+25+12+.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Okay, there are many things that could be classified as a no no when posting or tweeting. If I listed them all in one neat place, maybe you'd spend five seconds looking at the list and perhaps you'd absorb one or two on the list. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Makes more sense to give you just </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ONE</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> instead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, here we go. If you are the proud owner or administrator of multiple accounts, don't do this:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnpCBaIJQNb9AgxQVKne_2ArMo8z3TlBc6lh80SmN9BYOYuEBvpjPbh1QV0JuTVxLpuHtbbzDZX-C2EMdRthEzpjnm-0YI0XTxQAt6TOru2_90Bu_EF3Bq6QaFxTxvLp_wzkBcmAes1Rk/s1600/3+tweets+the+same.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnpCBaIJQNb9AgxQVKne_2ArMo8z3TlBc6lh80SmN9BYOYuEBvpjPbh1QV0JuTVxLpuHtbbzDZX-C2EMdRthEzpjnm-0YI0XTxQAt6TOru2_90Bu_EF3Bq6QaFxTxvLp_wzkBcmAes1Rk/s320/3+tweets+the+same.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, it’s not one, not two, but <i>THREE</i> tweets at the same time. And yes, I heard your question: “Why not?” While I could give you a lengthy boring list, here are just a few items that come to mind:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s spammy.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It looks bad, plain and simple.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You run the risk of being unfollowed because you look bad!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s confusing to your tweeps.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It doesn't demonstrate professionalism thus potentially harming your reputation.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Enough. You get the idea. And for the record, I had no desire to click on the link on these tweets! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you MUST tweet your message out several times using several different accounts (note this surely applies to two accounts and multiple posting on any given social network), <i>DO</i> use a tool such as HootSuite so that you can easily space out the tweets or posts! Ironically, the example above shows an incorrect way to use HootSuite!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtKzykxcHcXy2YcSOdMIDt3l8D9q1PD8WFZDAjcVM0kYVTELdnRDcVvn7nQg9E2s_3GXX1inJ0Lpxsoh03liFkkPcm081MOUvQ9dhq3SQ73bLRrrgFhyphenhyphenXHQljpyFDh9lFAvSl8hSxHMWo/s1600/orange+egg+timer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtKzykxcHcXy2YcSOdMIDt3l8D9q1PD8WFZDAjcVM0kYVTELdnRDcVvn7nQg9E2s_3GXX1inJ0Lpxsoh03liFkkPcm081MOUvQ9dhq3SQ73bLRrrgFhyphenhyphenXHQljpyFDh9lFAvSl8hSxHMWo/s200/orange+egg+timer.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or, use your egg timer to post or tweet “live” at different intervals! Just kidding.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the 70’s Grand Frank Railroad sang about bad timing (see below). Okay, they were singing about romance, however we think you’ll just love our offerings and you’re welcome to visit </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or say hello on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-54379602610550733402013-06-10T16:08:00.001-07:002013-06-10T16:08:44.270-07:00Excuse Me, Your Facebook Friends are Showing!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNEr99m9UD5lOkl5HIVIoXV4OTMqd4BCBfbhPQALEj2DrmDMbSjH5zd0osNVBqbhaUuV4S3B-f9Mx6uILjddvHnvMgpnSAOZzF9obtTU-TU3sYvRdFa45Njwr8-zTpGdzWzQ4pQ54UXGG/s1600/facebook+friend+pilferer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNEr99m9UD5lOkl5HIVIoXV4OTMqd4BCBfbhPQALEj2DrmDMbSjH5zd0osNVBqbhaUuV4S3B-f9Mx6uILjddvHnvMgpnSAOZzF9obtTU-TU3sYvRdFa45Njwr8-zTpGdzWzQ4pQ54UXGG/s200/facebook+friend+pilferer.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A friend posted today on Facebook. He was rather perturbed. Someone, a “friend” of his on Facebook was reaching out and attempting to friend a bunch of his friends!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This happened to me a while back, both on Facebook and also LinkedIn, where a former co-worker thought it was “okay” to start connecting to folks I know at market research companies that I have had a long standing relationship with. One connection contacted me and said “Who IS this guy?”, then I heard from another with a similar inquiry. I put a stop to that right away.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And another funny occurrence. I noticed a Facebook friend, Ellen (not her real name), had broken off with her fiancé. I had never met her X nor was I friends with him. About a week after the breakup I received a friend request and later found that the X was reaching out to many of Ellen’s female friends. He was going through Ellen's friend list! Needless to say, I didn’t friend back. Creepy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once thing is certain; there’s lots of good reasons to hide your friend list from your friends. Facebook’s default is to show all your friends. Perhaps this is an effort in good faith to let people that know each other connect, and hey, that may be perfectly okay for you if your desire is to max out at 5,000 friends as soon as possible! Some of us prefer staying under the radar though.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here’s how you can make that change:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Go to your wall, or profile page, or whatever you want to call it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click on “Friends” just under your cover art, in that row of options in blue.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click the edit button (see pic below)</span></li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzBnc0uJ7-sBsf7ToPmu-SvMFRhIxPg3iQe0qgTJexqTXouG_1VVMGEG0CHMkstZTn38Ga92SyHbSXodoauPJz23pLwPnBxpnh2SuNUWsFaWt40h0j9vIY3mc0N1D-aZ3FXg84JhcLsMl/s1600/friend+requests+edit+privacy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzBnc0uJ7-sBsf7ToPmu-SvMFRhIxPg3iQe0qgTJexqTXouG_1VVMGEG0CHMkstZTn38Ga92SyHbSXodoauPJz23pLwPnBxpnh2SuNUWsFaWt40h0j9vIY3mc0N1D-aZ3FXg84JhcLsMl/s400/friend+requests+edit+privacy.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<ul>
<li> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Select <i>Edit Privacy</i> (we'll get to <i>Edit Sections</i> later). Two options in there.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first section is Friend Lists. Click on the drop down on the right.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJSu7klJJhBypelAtto02dcNjJK5Fz4ZXqDlsAZTTmh90mAiDOPzLdjgZ1_M-q1YisHknq3PeQclLsZuymmNQGiyKJpwogAtVmEnuHJgUmDL9E2gucGZXGQCGx3q9s08Kh46mj_uyQrUUe/s1600/friend+request+edit+privacy+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJSu7klJJhBypelAtto02dcNjJK5Fz4ZXqDlsAZTTmh90mAiDOPzLdjgZ1_M-q1YisHknq3PeQclLsZuymmNQGiyKJpwogAtVmEnuHJgUmDL9E2gucGZXGQCGx3q9s08Kh46mj_uyQrUUe/s400/friend+request+edit+privacy+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now you get to choose an option! <i>Public</i>, <i>Friends</i>, <i>Only Me</i>, <i>Custom</i>, or any lists you’ve created. Setting to <i>Only Me</i> will hide your friend’s list with the exception of the mutual friends you have in common; they’ll still be visible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second section is <i>Following</i>. This is where you control whether or not you want people to see that you are following a particular person (if they are a more “public” person you can follow instead of friend) or any lists that you’re following. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Edit Sections</i> will bring a long list of items; these are the things you can choose to show or not to show on your wall, including Instagram pics, Pinterest pins, and likes in catagories such as books, games, TV show, movies. It may be a great time to hide all those old “notes”, like the 25 songs chosen at random from your ipod or how many states you visited; remember those?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now that your friends are “secret” we know that The Go-Go’s won’t tell a soul (see video below). And our lips are sealed when we conduct custom marketing for your business; being ethical is a given. Stop by our </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or stop by on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<br />Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-39003801164877880742013-06-03T13:36:00.000-07:002013-06-03T13:36:03.603-07:00No More Likes Please!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFUBEZRqwD83JJ55-6t0TmjIbkGnK6HNq6p8kr0eKUlS17uhgQ2UoIh1F3_B8HAG8IkSK_VPYn8-ebX9kPUdAUCd7jbe9YPAzqreTy3dkK9oNHozgBxlWYz-y7wwy-UVSv0tJCCisoVtG/s1600/like+like+like+Collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFUBEZRqwD83JJ55-6t0TmjIbkGnK6HNq6p8kr0eKUlS17uhgQ2UoIh1F3_B8HAG8IkSK_VPYn8-ebX9kPUdAUCd7jbe9YPAzqreTy3dkK9oNHozgBxlWYz-y7wwy-UVSv0tJCCisoVtG/s320/like+like+like+Collage.jpg" width="235" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was recently pulled into a group on Facebook; the primary intention is to get more “likes” for the pages of small business owners.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We'll all “like” each other’s pages and then we'll have lots of fans!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Would you believe that I don't want your “likes”?</i> It’s true. I don't need fans that are never going to pay any attention to what I have to say. What’s the point?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So go ahead and “like” a bunch of pages that you have no interest in and get back a lot of empty “likes” in return. The ratio between “likes” and “talking about this” for your page will deteriorate even further. Is that what you want? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A long time ago I read that the average “talking about this” was around 3% to 4%. That’s pitiful! Facebook doesn't make it easier since they only show your page to a very low percentage of fans. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Who do you <i>really</i> want to “like” your page? Think about it:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People who have a genuine interest in your product or service</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People who will engage with your posts</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People that fit your demographic target</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course you know all that already; it’s in your marketing plan! What? No marketing plan. Okay perhaps it is time to write one!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh and for the record I'll stick with the Facebook group. It was created by a friend. I'm hoping to turn things around in there a bit and have people share their social media issues, frustrations, and questions and have intelligent discussions instead. Sadly, it appears to have turned into a sales bulletin board "buy my cupcakes!" "I make handicrafts" etc. No people, this is not what it's all about about!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dan Fogelberg sang about plans back in the 70’s (see below); how are your plans going? If you need any assistance with your strategic plans and marketing needs, stop by our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or stop by on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> There's no obligation to "like", "follow", or "+1". </span><br />
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<br />Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-36674781886743940612013-05-29T15:26:00.001-07:002013-07-12T06:42:09.832-07:00Did Someone Steal Your Photo? <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNxkEFGGFIeqqRHt4AoeKt-3LYm9BxoFEgEZdoTgMCj4WunWufn2b5rgihTL7vJ02n3G81RKWp8qSBcOzakJazBpTi5Hv4HamK31EXG-AKxjpUcjyFEu-VvfAMOJW3jAlfY1bBR9zHJbs/s1600/robber+stealing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNxkEFGGFIeqqRHt4AoeKt-3LYm9BxoFEgEZdoTgMCj4WunWufn2b5rgihTL7vJ02n3G81RKWp8qSBcOzakJazBpTi5Hv4HamK31EXG-AKxjpUcjyFEu-VvfAMOJW3jAlfY1bBR9zHJbs/s200/robber+stealing.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Recently saw an </span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Are_You_Experienced_-_US_cover-edit.jpg" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">article</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> about DKNY using photos without permission. Perhaps it was an honest mistake; who knows? They offered a street photographer $15,000 for use of 300 photos. The offer was turned down in hopes for more money. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, DKNY had been using the photos internally "for inspiration". A few leaked out and wound up in a display at a store in Bangkok. DKNY made a public statement and pledged $25,000 to the YMCA. A noble gesture. However, if they would have offered the photographer a more reasonable price for the photos in the first place, this never would have happened!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On my Facebook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groovyreflections" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections page</a> some time ago, we posted a picture of teen girls at a high school gym class in the early 1960's. This photo brought a lot of discussion because of the uniforms the girls wore. So much so, that several months later, we decided to post the photo again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We used a viewer, <a href="http://regex.info/exif.cgi" target="_blank">Jeffrey’s Exif</a>, to check the copyright of the photo before using it. There was none. However, this time when the photo was posted we heard from the photographer and he was not happy! He told us that he does put a copyright in the photo information. And yes, it’s possible to strip that information from a photo. We provided our source to him so that he could inform them of the misuse. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJyamv2Za6uoxKVsVgA5TNlvh9B8lxBzhDRnRZP9n5rQyEzYl0ZzYmP_AX7zUP0WLmZeRJfRgM7pZCpS-uPIfeqNhtepSDZrtD8uJ77h0qLyzmIBZCNy2fg_SewYtBGhlBNyGQwBabNyW/s1600/banana+bunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJyamv2Za6uoxKVsVgA5TNlvh9B8lxBzhDRnRZP9n5rQyEzYl0ZzYmP_AX7zUP0WLmZeRJfRgM7pZCpS-uPIfeqNhtepSDZrtD8uJ77h0qLyzmIBZCNy2fg_SewYtBGhlBNyGQwBabNyW/s200/banana+bunch.jpg" width="153" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">About a year ago, I was contacted by Huffington Post; they wanted to use one of my photos showing advertising on a banana that they found in a <a href="http://modlandusa.blogspot.com/2012/01/advertising-on-banana.html" target="_blank">blog</a> I wrote. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They ultimately decided not to use the photo; however, I was happy to grant them permission. I had used that photo for an article about finding advertising in odd places.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the record, I rarely use photos I find on the web and if I do, I credit them if there is any manner of copyright, though it’s unlikely I would use them at all in that case. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My photo library of original material has thousands of photos in it and there’s no issues there. Most of the time, I put a watermark on them; it’s highly unlikely that someone will crop it or remove it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From time to time I take photos of pictures that are in out of print books. A favorite is a Vogue 1960’s coffee table book. Besides my watermark I add the source of the photo; just to play it safe! Likewise with catalogs; I own several vintage Sears catalogs. You know, the "bricks" with hundreds of pages that shows how we lived in the Sixties, what we wore, what our appliance looked like, and the furniture in our homes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Interestingly enough, Sears started following the <a href="http://pinterest.com/groovyreflctns/groovy-sears-fashion/" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections Pinterest board on Sears fashions</a>! If I'm misusing those photos in any way Sears, let me know, okay? I certainly hope you feel that this is a positive extension to your brand!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In closing, take caution when using photos. As you read in my personal example, it’s easy to make a mistake! And to the corporations: Give the photographer what he or she deserves! Photography is an art and capturing that moment in the highest quality and at the best angle involves hard work and talent! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Clash had a successful cover version of a reggae tune back in the late 70's that spoke of authority and those who steal (see below). Don't get robbed by an "expert" marketer; for honest, experienced marketing visit </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or stop by on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-87084297672506561132013-05-23T14:00:00.000-07:002013-05-23T14:00:21.565-07:00Twiddle Those Social Media Thumbs All Day!<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXhyphenhyphenr-TSEkYwn2JokmoDe5Kdot1bffKq6cYNHcNgoS9m5Ue8e9ySTiRQmcDjHPTWUfqotKppBAODGt5TkkIAYx_p6HufvBrrMPq1yFvRQUFOUyDVo2oJV_75w2UkZ6rNgy4jP0JfNKUPm5/s1600/thumbs+up+posterized+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXhyphenhyphenr-TSEkYwn2JokmoDe5Kdot1bffKq6cYNHcNgoS9m5Ue8e9ySTiRQmcDjHPTWUfqotKppBAODGt5TkkIAYx_p6HufvBrrMPq1yFvRQUFOUyDVo2oJV_75w2UkZ6rNgy4jP0JfNKUPm5/s200/thumbs+up+posterized+.jpg" width="187" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ever feel like your social media efforts are weighing you down?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I sure do! So I thought up a way to make some changes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just created a little spreadsheet starting with a list of all the social media accounts that I have, both personal and for business, and the list includes just the ones that are active. The count? Eleven major social networks with 15 business accounts and 7 personal ones. The personal accounts may be related to my businesses to some degree but only slightly (say less than 20%).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s a LOT of accounts to handle! No; wait a minute! It is insanity!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And it explains why my days get bogged down at times. Putting it “in writing” brought things into focus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A big thumbs down! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ah, but a spreadsheet is really useless without data. A list has been created and nothing more. A little birdie tells me that I've been checking these accounts all too often because they’re checked on a whim; kind of like an “ooh ah! I haven’t checked that one in a while!” Need to add some structure!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Time to put in some columns. How ‘bout times of the day? I put them in intervals of 2 hours, starting with 7AM …on second thought, I snuck in 8AM too since I tend to do a lot of “busy” stuff in the morning. And for good measure, 12PM is now there too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Started using the spreadsheet today. A couple weeks from now when there's enough data: Analysis! Will it eventually show patterns and and where there’s too much time being spent, or perhaps not enough? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The good news is that not all social networks need my attention on a daily basis, such as Pinterest. However, it’s there on the sheet as a reminder not to forget it; it is important that I pin my blogs there as well and also see what other people have pinned, however, it just can’t be every day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">See, I'm already prioritizing before even getting started: Mindset! This little “experiment” is going to pan out. While I feel like I'm twiddling my thumbs, I know that’s not actually true and now there will be evidence of how much work is involved with social media upkeep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How ‘bout you? Would you try something like this? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Rolling Stones sang about something we all want to have better control of (see below). If you need better control of your time spent marketing, let us help you with your strategy. Stop by our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or stop by on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-34658903444656269692013-05-21T12:27:00.002-07:002013-05-21T12:27:28.018-07:00“Facebook is Boring” (Part 2)<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKtXXWwjZenEaVzsnSZkzHerq2vwj72Q1gdOqPhm3AVS9Mddn76jbkpCsAwro5EABxaubIaIkuC2IyFSgWfcopfoRIMjanBl3zuklUa-EtB6p5PcRJv-dHgLsgZOguo272IpQaBR4ZXBG/s1600/bored+blue+yellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKtXXWwjZenEaVzsnSZkzHerq2vwj72Q1gdOqPhm3AVS9Mddn76jbkpCsAwro5EABxaubIaIkuC2IyFSgWfcopfoRIMjanBl3zuklUa-EtB6p5PcRJv-dHgLsgZOguo272IpQaBR4ZXBG/s200/bored+blue+yellow.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Note: Click <a href="http://www.modlandusa.blogspot.com/2013/05/facebook-is-boring-part-1.html" target="_blank">here</a> for Part one.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Randy’s still not having a good time on Facebook; he can’t find his friends! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Facebook uses an algorithm called “Edge Rank” where they decide what you will see from your friends. Is it fair? Certainly not. However, there’s ways you can get around it before your friends start thinking you are ignoring them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you want to see a particular friend's posts there's a few ways to do it:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Go to your BFF’s wall and hover over "friends", then select "close friend". They’ve now earned a gold star from you (however they won’t know that). You will receive notifications when they post and they’ll also be part of a group of friends that you can custom post too (like a list).</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hovering over “friends” again you’ll see lots of other options as well:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click on “Get Notifications”. Then you’ll know when that friend posts via a notification. <i>Note: If you don't click on the notifications for a friend for a while, Facebook may send you a message to let you know they're shutting off those notifications!</i></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Who needs the newsfeed, anyway? Well some folks do rely on newsfeed, so here’s how you can make changes to reflect what you want to see from your friends. DO keep in mind that you'll have to go to each friend’s wall to make the changes. If you have a lot of friends, maybe just make changes for a few per day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And if you don’t want to go crazy with notifications; just below “Get Notifications” there’s “Show in Newsfeed”. That can be clicked on or off. More importantly is what’s below it, “Settings”. Click on that and choose the options for what you’d like to see from that friend in your newsfeed; the level of posts you want to see as well as the type of posts you’d like to see.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, emphasizing some people means that Facebook will show you less from your other friends. Choose wisely and don’t forget anyone! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One has to wonder: Why can’t Facebook just let us see ALL the posts from all our friends? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway, Randy’s happier on Facebook now. He put himself in control of his Facebook experience and is now busy engaging with all his friends that he missed!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Conclusion: Facebook does not have to be boring!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Long before Randy lamented about where his friends might have gone, Chicago was searching for something as well in this hit from the 1970’s (see below). Search no more for your marketing needs! Visit us on</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or stop by on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-58379273800867437682013-05-15T15:25:00.002-07:002013-05-15T15:25:57.967-07:00“Facebook is Boring.” (Part 1)<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznDz-ft8VVZ597ji94d-CPjIQExqE5nRR-dY39eVN2Ke350998__E8bgXdLCiFcdUh3LPGbTiYv-iZwygPYtmExYpWscj_Jfct8n7ElVwgurMx4i9yb5oJluNbo-h5tosOksvyIVjKtLN/s1600/bored+final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznDz-ft8VVZ597ji94d-CPjIQExqE5nRR-dY39eVN2Ke350998__E8bgXdLCiFcdUh3LPGbTiYv-iZwygPYtmExYpWscj_Jfct8n7ElVwgurMx4i9yb5oJluNbo-h5tosOksvyIVjKtLN/s200/bored+final.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A friend posted this on Facebook: <i>“It seems that I find myself going to bed earlier each night. It's not from being tired, it is from being bored. Ciao people, be good, play nice.”</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I immediately commented to him: <i>“You are bored?”</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His reply: <i>“…FB at times does get repetitive in so far as it’s the same thing different day.”</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Randy (not his real name) hops on Facebook after work. He sees post after post of cute kittens, music videos, excessive whining, and pretty scenery. The bulk of the photo and video posts are unoriginal and many of his friends don't even include any commentary to personalize it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh! And the pages that Randy is a fan of? What about the posts there? Well, first of all, he only sees a small percentage of posts from pages. Why? Because that’s the way Facebook works; <i>they want businesses to pay to reach people who have liked their page!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You knew that already.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Randy needs to take more control of his Facebook experience. We'll discuss friends in part 2. This go round we'll focus on pages.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If Randy wants to see posts from his favorite pages there are two ways to do so. </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Go to that page and like and comment on a few posts. Facebook will recognize the interest (hopefully) and will start showing posts from that page to him in his newsfeed. As long as he keeps interacting, he’ll see the posts. Of course, it’s unclear as to how much interaction is required to make this happen. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here’s what I found: There’s several pages that show up in my newsfeeds currently. I like posts for any particular page maybe once or twice a day and sometimes add a comment as well. </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second option: Go to that page and click on the little blue down arrow to the right of the cog (which is to the right of the message button in the upper right of the page below the cover art). From there you can create an interest list. </span></li>
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It’s an underutilized tool. In a nutshell, you can create a list of what you'd like to keep tabs on based on an interest (perhaps you are a foodie and dig chocolate desserts?) or you could create a list of your favorite pages! The majority of posts from that page will show up in your newsfeed; easy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Viewing this from another angle, those businesses that are trying to reach you through the wall that Facebook has put up between you and them will truly appreciate your engagement on their page, especially those small businesses that really don't stand a chance with Facebook’s algorithms. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And a note to the small businesses who are trying to find an audience on Facebook. Google+ comes with no shenanigans. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John Mellencamp sang about crumbling walls (see below). One can only hope that Facebook will let those walls come a tumblin’ and a crumblin’! Don't tumble while juggling social media! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">stop by our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or visit us on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-7349291355019002782013-05-14T14:53:00.003-07:002013-11-02T16:12:55.371-07:00Right Brain Fever!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisx0kTDByuBQzRXuNF3AiHLmiXXmhHvHfKoLUEPKYVXG_ENs-v72IjPOHBGzAf7GCSdyV_hnNcC5yLd4Ju-tLRg7C8p06S9FGhWegjIWvUa7jiY6wyHb6QFrHzhxVCWlPFpn2ulSygyVfx/s1600/dads+root+beer+3+12+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisx0kTDByuBQzRXuNF3AiHLmiXXmhHvHfKoLUEPKYVXG_ENs-v72IjPOHBGzAf7GCSdyV_hnNcC5yLd4Ju-tLRg7C8p06S9FGhWegjIWvUa7jiY6wyHb6QFrHzhxVCWlPFpn2ulSygyVfx/s1600/dads+root+beer+3+12+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisx0kTDByuBQzRXuNF3AiHLmiXXmhHvHfKoLUEPKYVXG_ENs-v72IjPOHBGzAf7GCSdyV_hnNcC5yLd4Ju-tLRg7C8p06S9FGhWegjIWvUa7jiY6wyHb6QFrHzhxVCWlPFpn2ulSygyVfx/s400/dads+root+beer+3+12+2.jpg" width="112" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The temperature is climbing; it hit 99 here yesterday and felt like a blast from a furnace. The norm is between 57 and 76 for May. Some ice cold root beer could be refreshing, however, I'll opt for water; lots of it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some good news: As the temperature climbed, so did the level of creativity! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s in all of us; it’s playful, fun and insightful. You gain insight into yourself and reveal your expressive self when you share that creativity with others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For us folks that were mainly utilizing the left brain assets for many years there’s a feeling of guilt that pangs up now and again, along the lines of “<i>this is too much fun so it can't possibly be work.</i>”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bah!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, I've got right brain fever. It started last night when I remembered a photo I had taken a few days ago of a Victorian house; actually just the roofline of the house. I turned the camera so that the photo would be angled in an unusual way. Then I thought of the word spired …kind of like inspired. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here was the result:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpjdj2M7HzPsWnUeoQJt4T4QaASEy-EF1UAOyhkxg3o-Ec8GO7O0_oAVdkUQbpNPh9nEH2lzxkKjx2fjH-0N_rMQO3OfhKMSoEwdFhzCY2XPZEbAF0B06fFTKfk7EBaONYDk-OIqHUQf5w/s1600/get+inspired+quote+Old+Town+Tustin+5+10+13+rebel+017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpjdj2M7HzPsWnUeoQJt4T4QaASEy-EF1UAOyhkxg3o-Ec8GO7O0_oAVdkUQbpNPh9nEH2lzxkKjx2fjH-0N_rMQO3OfhKMSoEwdFhzCY2XPZEbAF0B06fFTKfk7EBaONYDk-OIqHUQf5w/s320/get+inspired+quote+Old+Town+Tustin+5+10+13+rebel+017.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And that was just the warm up. Took a short walk this morning in the warm sunshine just before the temps rose to where you could fry an egg on the concrete! And what did I see? Lots of things: Peaches, gardens, a house being tented for termites, interesting cracks in the sidewalk, and a low wall with flowers growing beneath it. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuXpRYYI-GLOvF9HlAaIy7mvuQfSBI0_tAIvAuvgXQWEAtFg5gP7XaTyZgRXYXS_AJeVCQr1YoKyWoT77SqzJvYCWWdxYiPWNgbqRwXEegGE8RxLqguyEZv96WQTz40YsH195wiTp8IegJ/s1600/x+grass+5+14+13+rebel+036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuXpRYYI-GLOvF9HlAaIy7mvuQfSBI0_tAIvAuvgXQWEAtFg5gP7XaTyZgRXYXS_AJeVCQr1YoKyWoT77SqzJvYCWWdxYiPWNgbqRwXEegGE8RxLqguyEZv96WQTz40YsH195wiTp8IegJ/s320/x+grass+5+14+13+rebel+036.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I even took some photos of grass, freshly wet from sprinklers doing their daily job. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And for nearly every photo taken I thought of a use for it! Many will wind up on Facebook; some will wind up on my personal profile, others on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groovyreflections?fref=ts" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections</a>, and others on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/modlandUSA?fref=ts" target="_blank">ModlandUSA</a>. A portion of them will be on <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/116511336728194017890/116511336728194017890/posts" target="_blank">Google+</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/modlandUSA" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="http://pinterest.com/gerrywendel/marketing-is-groovy/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fever pitch: The possibilities are endless!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is okay to be creative. Incorporate what you see into your everyday work. Share it; it’s a part of you and a part of how people see you both professionally and personally.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No doubt Southside Johnny had a fever when he sang this tune and Bruce Springsteen might have been feverish when he wrote it (see below)! If you need to have your marketing heated up, stop by our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or visit us on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<br />Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-74941918023040849402013-05-09T12:01:00.000-07:002013-05-09T12:01:07.375-07:00I Was Bullied By Facebook Fans.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIWZo-acPtmozY1qksCZwENXXJ9owjCOHjAssNmZ_P_M6qGOHWjs2pjbFbL65MmmNvuJQp-1eIDnBF8hZbr_Krfu_ivlmzFBH_SCg_7uRV0AuHbHWIP15_QmMvfvqGUeNrMZ7SOSBnjmnz/s1600/Tom+Petty+I+Wont+Back+Down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIWZo-acPtmozY1qksCZwENXXJ9owjCOHjAssNmZ_P_M6qGOHWjs2pjbFbL65MmmNvuJQp-1eIDnBF8hZbr_Krfu_ivlmzFBH_SCg_7uRV0AuHbHWIP15_QmMvfvqGUeNrMZ7SOSBnjmnz/s200/Tom+Petty+I+Wont+Back+Down.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, I was. And I let them do it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groovyreflections" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections page</a> (my other biz) posts a lot of music videos in celebration of 60’s/70’s music and pop culture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Among the things we post are birthdays. It was Gary Glitter’s birthday. If you don't know, Mr. Glitter had some major troubles including taking advantage of children (to put it mildly). He was caught (thankfully). He has paid his dues and is still doing so. While I certainly don't endorse his actions, I hope he can live up to his wrongdoing and find peace. Oh yes and he had a big hit with Rock & Roll Part 2 in 1972. My post said: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>“Happy Birthday to Gary Glitter, born in 1944. We celebrate his big hit from 1972. Hey…”</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few likes showed up and then some negative comments including a very irate fan that used very colorful language. That sam fan also sent a message. It read: </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“gary glitter is a convicted kiddie fiddler please remove this”</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now I admit I have a lot of fight in me. However, the comments and the message hit me at a bad time. So I wimped out and removed the post and posted an apology.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of my Groovy Reflections team members woke me up. He messaged to me: “<i>You cannot let them bully you.”</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alas. it was already too late. I deleted the post. Shortly afterwards I posted a question to the fans as to whether or not we should continue posting anything related to Phil Spector, since he is a convicted murderer. No one replied. Hmmm.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That GR team member took the issue a step further and made several posts in celebration of those who are “notorious”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are a few examples:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Jim Morrison exposed himself on stage once but we are posting his 1969 hit anyway.</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>This 1965 smash (and many other "Wall of Sound" hits that we love so much), was produced by convicted murderer Phil Spector, but we are posting it anyway.</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Imagine that a fellow was busted in England for drug possession.....then later, that same fellow was being deported from the USA because of Nixon, the FBI and the CIA. Imagine that after five years of court battles, this criminal got to stay in the USA.....Imagine if we posted his music anyway.</i></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wow! We listen to music by Jim Morrison (The Doors), great tunes produced by Phil Spector, and John Lennon! And they are all bad boys! Imagine that! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And his final post before handing “the wheel” over to the next GR team member (admin):</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>This 1972 hit is played at sporting events all over the world. It was Top 10 in its day and most of us liked or loved it. Unfortunately, Gary Glitter (born Paul Francis Gadd) is not that great of a human being. However, he has paid for his crimes. We are posting his song. If you do not like it, do not listen to it. ALSO, walk out of any sporting or other event IMMEDIATELY when you hear it........as you can see from the past six posts, if we only posted stuff by angels we would be pretty limited.</i></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since I'm not a big sports enthusiast, I had no idea that Gary Glitter’s hit song was played at major events. I can just imagine the crowd screaming out their "hey...eh..hey...eh's" at my local sports arena.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Joe, thank you. You proved your point! To steal a phrase (and title) from a Tom Petty song “<i>I won't back down</i>” in the future. Not sure what happened to my "Jersey"!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, here we go. I’m posting this song. Here. Right now. If you don't like it don't listen to it! I like the song. It reminds me of a certain period in my life. And as I stated above, I hope Paul Francis Gadd (Gary Glitter) finds peace in his life. And as one fan commented “<i>forgive his soul but not his actions</i>”. Well said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the world of social media. Advice for you? </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stick to your convictions. I promise I will stick to mine and I won't let anyone bully me in a social media situation again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This tune was a 1972 #2 in the UK and #7 in the U.S. (see below). And tune into great tunes at the brand new radion station, <a href="http://www.groovyreflectionsradio.com/index.html" target="_blank">Groovy Reflections Radio</a>! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Marketing hat just went back on! You are most welcome to make a tuneful stop by the ModlandUSA </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or visit us on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1025859277798556025.post-91867890239389223022013-05-01T15:59:00.001-07:002013-05-01T15:59:59.316-07:00Social Media Brings May Flowers!<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4KrccW6bcsUNxL72w8qbHBMWJlznEVcnaYXlxUemRgZgEjzQf5xmppHi7YOae6UW9UB9I_5EnpPUh4G-B1gf43HRrt7hT2IWX1Wtznzr4WcfwW2jfyk62r5v3ApWylkenNwLKF8u-Yyzu/s1600/dance+in+the+sun+quote+Old+Town+Tustin+and+Cosmo+Oct+1962+4+30+13+Rebel+019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4KrccW6bcsUNxL72w8qbHBMWJlznEVcnaYXlxUemRgZgEjzQf5xmppHi7YOae6UW9UB9I_5EnpPUh4G-B1gf43HRrt7hT2IWX1Wtznzr4WcfwW2jfyk62r5v3ApWylkenNwLKF8u-Yyzu/s320/dance+in+the+sun+quote+Old+Town+Tustin+and+Cosmo+Oct+1962+4+30+13+Rebel+019.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s May! Bring on the flowers! Or, if you live in the area I live in, bring on the next wave of flowers! Daylight Savings Time brings us out of the cave and now there’s even a better reason to spend more time outdoors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Beauty. Dazzle. Color!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do be prepared for fewer eyeballs on your social media efforts as your merry fans and followers start skipping through the forests and soaking up the rays. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They may be surfing, however, that might consist of wading in the surf.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pay a little extra attention to them now. As they prioritize their summer plans they may also be deciding to prioritize their time spent on social networking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your small business wants to be at the top of their list!</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use more visuals to get your point across. If you're a restaurant, let’s see something that’s going to make our mouth water and then return to your page to see more!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Late Spring / Summer specials for those that are taking a “staycations”. Maybe they'll take short day trips instead or decide to splurge on something special during that time and maybe visit your location!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tie-ins to summer activity. Are there opportunities for your business to co-partner with another business and extend your reach further? Perhaps something that is sports or outside activity related?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its spring …it’s warmer. It’s sunnier. The earth is alive with more colors! Time to think outside of the box! I think I’ll take my notepad and plop down on the chaise lounge out on the patio for a while!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Box Tops sang about colors back in the sixties (see below). For colorful, cheerful assistance for all your marketing needs, stop by our </span><a href="http://www.modlandusa.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or visit us on </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/modlandusa" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">, or </span><a href="http://gplus.to/modlandUSA" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google+</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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Gerry Wendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536057586735422743noreply@blogger.com1