Digital Marketing 101

A big shout out to Bethany Stephens @ Magpie Marketing!  The quality of information shared at our seminar was amazing.  What would have taken me months to understand was clearly explained in a couple hours. 

Starting this journey into better understanding how to harvest the power of social media is exciting.  I will share some of the insights I have learned over the next couple blog entries.  Beth shared valuable data!  If you are in the NWA area, check out some of the Magpie Marketing seminars @ Eventbrite.com.

Check out Canva.com for fun ideas for creating beautiful eyecatching content for your social media!

Go Ahead and Jump! into Digital Marketing?

Go ahead and jump! 

This is how I feel when I think about mashing art and inbound marketing.  Trying to harvest the power of social media is all the buzz!  Like many folks, I feel like I am jumping into a cold dark dingy lake... not knowing what fish are swimming below.... basically trying to keep my head out of the water....

All this time I am spending updating all my social media so I can be in touch with my peeps.



Ok... I was born an artist, but in my second year of college I took a statistics class as an elective and quickly found that I had a gift for analytics too.   I ended up dropping my graphic design classes in favor for the easier track in market research.   Who knew that 20 years after getting my MBA in marketing, I would be trying to launch a business selling my paintings.

So... Here I am with a passion for painting and a need to conquer this social media inbound marketing gig!   Like many of us who discover the power of social media, we begin with a shotgun approach... obsessively open as many social media accounts as possible.  I have Facebook personal page, Facebook fan page, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+,  and Pinterest accounts.  I have Flicker, Buffer, IFTTT, Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Mention, Klout and Pocket.  I have blogs, godaddy accounts, websites, google alerts and analytic updates from pagemodo and more!  I am sure I have miss something....

With all that!..... I still have the same question!  How do I use social media to grow my business?  Where do I need to focus my time so I don't spend every waking hour updating sites so I don't miss an opportunity!?  I have come to the conclusion that the shotgun approach to social media marketing is not the best use of my time.  

Tomorrow morning I am going to a digital marketing seminar from Magpie Marketing.  I am holding my breath!  Ready to jump into the world of inbound marketing!  Wish me luck!

Here is an awesome list of tools for social media management
http://magpiemarketing.org/apps/

April Fools' Day: Say Whadt?

I woke up this morning remembering that it was April Fool's Day, but I can help falling for the all the pranks today!  First prank.... "Look mom!  SNOW!"  My heart drops because I think I can't take one more school day cancellation.  "April Fools!" they yell with glee!

So I think..... who came up with this crazy day?  After a quick google attempt it becomes clear, that the joke is on all of us... How appropriate to find out that the origin of April Fools' Day is uncertain with theories ranging from French history to Roman practices during Constatine's rule to age-old European spring festivals of renewal, in which pranks and camouflaging one's identity are common.

I have vowed not to fall for another prank today! Continuing with my day, as usual, I will spend some time painting, head to the accountant to do our taxes, visit the school for conferences, watch two soccer games, and pick up a child from cheer. Then I will round out the day with finding a quick dinner, finishing up homework with the kids and approving tv time.  

I will NOT be cynical when the accountant says... "Good news, your getting back money from the government" or when the kids say... "Guess what, I have no homework today".  Instead, with not a care in the world, I will just go with the flow!  No one can tell me that I am an April Fool!  JK!

PS.... Below is a list of simple April Fools' pranks to try out on your family

12 Simple April Fools' Pranks (That I wont fall for....)