Coohill’s restaurant is about to open the doors to Lodo’s newest French fare bar and eatery at 1400 Wewatta Street. The chandelier of grape vines from Napa has been installed, holiday parties have already been booked, the slick new site www.coohills.com designed by our sister company, Unleaded Group has launched and all that’s left is to create a buzz by opening day. Blonde Productions Group provides hands-on marketing services to meet each of our clients’ individual needs. Creative services simply cannot be cookie cutter because the status quo efforts won’t catch anyone’s attention. So we came up with this window design to alert the foot traffic of the hot spot to-be. We chose the tag line, “Get your fete on!” (”Fete” meaning “party” en Francais) because Coohill’s offers all the flavor of French-inspired cuisine without any of the stuffy stereotype. The local ingredients and the sustainable style paired with the fun atmosphere keep it very Colorado.  We included a qr code aimed to the Coohill’s Facebook page so passersby could snap a quick photo of it and instantly become a Facebook fan in order to stay updated on Coohill’s news and sneak a peek at the menu. Now that’s marketing at the technology tempo.

See you at the opening on November 9th, 2011!

Contact Nancy Clark at 720-221-7126 x 205 or Nancy@blondeproductionsgroup.com for fresh marketing ideas.

Nothing shared here so far. Try adding more people to your circles.

It’s not disappointing to see I have no new posts or messages; after all, I don’t even have a photo but simply the default silhouette of a large-headed figure at the top of the screen. (Almost ominous looking, don’t you think?) It doesn’t bother me that my Google+ profile shows nothing but four friends and suggestions for how to get started, because despite the new social networking site being invite-only at this point, I’m sticking to my guns that this will not ever become “the new Facebook”.

Honestly, it’s not that I adore Facebook. It definitely has its faults. The problem is I really don’t have enough energy to become addicted to a new social networking site. Porting over all the interests, photos, videos and friends to accurately portray my virtual self is more than I want to deal with, and I’m hoping others are as lazy as me.

Despite my hope that Facebook is here to stay, evidence shows otherwise. We all remember Myspace. I checked my account about a year ago, and the site was a ghost town. The remains of online friendships were decaying on my wall - posts dated from years ago next to more silhouetted photos (as my Myspace friends have all abandoned their profiles as well.) That was a year ago, and I suppose my profile will now forever be frozen in time, as I have since forgotten both my login email address and password.

Aside from the notion that there will always be a better social networking site, (history repeated itself when Friendster lost to Myspace which lost to Facebook), all the proof I don’t want that Google+ will eventually takeover is that our social media expert Danielle Yuthas is adamant it will.

Yuthas strongly believes Facebook will be trumped by Google+. “Being able to control what you broadcast to whom is a niche that social media has needed to fill for a long time,” Yuthas said, and it seems that Google+ has done just that. According to Yuthas, the true beauty is that you have the ability to divide people into groups known as “circles” but they do not know which circle they are in. For example, it is not explicitly disclosed to your mom that she is seeing a different status update from you than your bff receives.

It’s true, privacy may be the most important thing when it comes to essentially bearing it all online for the world to see. As Nancy Clark has said, “What happens in Vegas stays on Facebook.” It’s the same for any social networking site where you publicly post photos and conversations. The “circles” in Google+, however, keep things more controlled. Facebook has a similar feature, limited profiles. However, these privacy settings are much more complicated to figure out and still don’t seem to be very effective in keeping a Vegas trip out of the office. It was a late addition to Facebook and users haven’t gotten into it.

A second feature Google+ has that fills a niche is called “Huddle.” With this, you and a group of friends can combine your separate conversations into one group chat. So now, trying to decide on Friday night plans with ten different people is more efficient.

Google+ also integrates with Google’s photo-sharing platform Picasa so you can share albums with individuals. On Facebook, users tend to choose the best pictures to post for all to see but there isn’t exactly a good way to send individuals particular pictures you don’t want out in public.

So yeah, maybe Yuthas is right. Maybe Google+ will someday dominate. It seems that at least a few of their features are needed in the social networking world, and I’m sure there are people willing to harness enough energy to re-add some friends. For me, though, I’m content with sticking with what works. Even if that means I’ve got a shadowy figure as a profile image on my blank Google+ page, while posting lone statuses into an abandoned Facebook newsfeed. Only time will tell the trends that catch on.

Thus, while we stand proudly behind our American roots and we are loyal to protecting jobs and careers keeping all of our productivity inside the U.S.A., we’re getting global props. And frankly, nothing feels, well, more deserved.

Our only outstanding question: how much is $6.95 in rupees?

For SEO that ranks, contact ryan@unleadedgroup.com.

To purchase “NONSTOP,” go to: http://www.amazon.com/Nonstop-Uncommonly-advice-Internet-ebook/dp/B002RL9KWY%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAJZO3MQ7Q5AC567OA%26tag%3Dsoftishop-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB002RL9KWY

Hello.

If You edited your privacy settings on Facebook before December’s change, you’re cool. In other words, you’ve got what you want.

If you didn’t, and want to change things you share, listen up:

There’s a button beneath the status update field that lets you select who can view any particular update. It says “Everyone.”

Got it?!

To go private, mouse over the settings menu at the top right of your Profile page and you will be guided through a series of processes that will make you private…ahhh, yes, you can go home again.

Remember…what happens in Vegas stays on Facebook. Get it. Got it. Change it.

The joke is on me, apparently. As recently as last week, I promoted Facebook as a business networking tool to clients. At my Boomer age, I’ve even been teased about being a part of Facebook by younger Facebook devotees. I’ve debated the virtues of Facebook with associates who refused to participate on Facebook…otherwise sophisticated Internet operators who resolutely resisted. They said they had their reasons.

Now I am a believer…not in Facebook, but in the damage internet networking can net.

For the record, I did not post explicit photos of myself for anyone to view. In fact, and this may be too much information, I don’t have explicit photos of myself to post in case the aberrant urge possessed me. As explicitly as I can possibly elicit the words: IT AIN’T SO.

Moreover, I don’t have the carbon footprint big enough to warrant anyone hacking into my Facebook account. I just do what I do…below the radar. I’m no Ashton. I’m no Britney. I’m no news.

What, was it only last week that I proclaimed to a willing listener that I felt compassion for a wife married to a golf swinger? The shock of having so much private detail consume Internet bandwidth has to be brutal on her, the unwitting victim in a drama played out on every conceivable medium.

I’ve joked privately that I have no life outside of my work. My friend that alerted me to the false Facebook invitation to link to my explicit photos laughed with me. He and I, he said, are the only two people on earth checking their emails on a Sunday from our office desks during a Broncos game. In truth, it’s not that my dear friend has no life, nor is it true that I have no life. It’s just that it’s my life and nobody else’s business.

So take that, Facebook. You’re off my radar. It may be true that if it happens in Vegas, it stays on Facebook. But if it happens in my life, it won’t be there.

-300 million people are on Facebook and that number is growing daily

- 1.4 million fan pages are currently collecting more than 10 million fans every day

- Businesses can create fan pages and then the business gains publicity each time someone becomes a fan because it is seen by the fan’s friends on minified.

-It is important to establish objectives and strategizing accordingly before setting up anything on Facebook

- Ask your friends to fan your page first so that you have a fan base when you launch

-Personalize your page with photos, videos, updated information and specials

-Do not hard sell. Facebook interaction should be a conversation

-It is a customer service more than a sales tool, but it can generate significant revenue

-Facebook advertising is affordable and highly targeted, you can even target very specific demos like status or location.

-You can also target ads through social claims. Example: if someone sends a message to a friend asking if they’d like to go get a burger sometime, you can market your hamburger stand to the individual directly.

-You can elect to pay per click or per impression

- Advertisers have the ability to schedule the day the ad runs and set a daily
maximum budget

-Facebook provides the number of clicks and impressions so you can experiment with which ads are most effective

-The classic marketing tactic: offer something free works well on Facebook because it brings consumers from cyberspace to your doorstep.

For help with social media, contact Unleaded Group, an affiliate of Unleaded Software at www.unleadedsoftware.com, Blonde Productions Group at www.blondeproductionsgroup.com, Unleaded Productions at www.denvervideo.com, www.tradeshowemporium.com and www.BeanstalkSolarHosting.com.

Or call 720-221-7126 to enroll in our social media classes.

Beginning Dec. 1, bloggers or other word-of-mouth marketers must disclose their material connections to advertisers-material connections meaning payment or free products. Cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement.

Violations can result in a lawsuit or other action.

How the FTC will monitor blogs is yet undefined. Think government bailout: the big banks got money without appropriate restrictions on how to spend it, so ever more egregious actions resulted.

Do you think the FTC will do any better managing the universe of cyberspace than FEMA did Hurricane Katrina?

I’m speechless. And that’s not a paid position.

If you’ve got a message to communicate, contact us at 720-221-7126. Yes, you WILL pay us; yes we will blog our truth; yes, it works.

Behrendt regaled the crowd with his “Truth in vodka” skit which revolved around his throwing back 8 (at least) vodka shooters and then calling his girlfriend who had happened to move to another coast where she was living with another man in a hotel while she and her new love awaited the completion of their new custom home. Deep into his vodka, Behrendt was also in deep denial about the status of his relationship with the woman: the clear beverage, it seems, clouded his vision. He felt compelled to pick up the phone and call her after his night on the town, by then convinced that her moving out of state was not a sign she’d moved out of the relationship.

He dialed the hotel and the front desk receptionist answered. He slurred his words as he requested his true love’s room number. The desk captain asked him to repeat the number several times and then when Behrendt finally pronounced the room number articulately enough to be understood, the desk captain asked, “Sir, are you sure you want me to put this call through?”

Behrendt awoke the next morning with the phone cradled in his chest and no recollection of the call that ensued.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a little man who lived in your phone who would ask you that same question when you’re dialing impaired?” Behrendt asked the audience. Pretty much to a one, the entire audience could sympathize with Behrendt’s prone position, hooting with laughter.

Well, now Google’s gone and done it.

The Internet king has developed Mail Goggles, a system you can set up on your computer to prevent the transmission of regretful messages while under the influence. It works by requiring the user to answer a series of math questions before the email “send” button will activate, effectively allowing the composer time to reconsider.

I’m not seeing a downside to this innovation. Cheers.

Best known as the author of “The Elements of Style,” William Strunk Jr. was famous for urging writers to cut out the excess. He hadn’t met Twitter yet.

Last week, two US Governors, Sarah Palin and Arnold Schwarzenegger, came under fire for shortening their Twitter messages to a point that they were less than clear. And everyone knows how clearly politicians address their constituency, ahem.

Yahoonews.com reported that Palin’s abbreviated Tweet went like this:

Re inaccurate story floating re:ethics violation/Legal Defense Fund;matter is still pending;new info was just requested even;no final report.

Schwarzenegger accompanied his Tweet with a video of him holding a knife big enough to fend off a polar bear (oops, wrong Guv.) Even his press secretary couldn’t explain why.

Tweet limits the writer’s commentary to 140 characters. That leaves little room to elaborate or even explain.

While the brevity might have impressed Strunk at first, it’s certain that the Master of Succinctness would have blanched at the resulting confusion. After all, writing well is a means of communicating, not obfuscating.

Even bloggers at the Christian Science Monitor poked fun at the politicos by compiling examples of political tweets in a post entitled, “Politicians using Twitter: Morons or visionaries?”

At Blonde Productions Group, a member of the Unleaded Group, we urge our clients to Twitter thoughtfully. Too much too often is annoying to followers. Deploy your tweets sparingly and save the planet.

What started out as an indie notion has been widely adopted. Seemingly overnight (Kindle is two years old, but most of the world didn’t begin to recognize it by name until late 2008 and early 2009), clicks are the new currency of reading.

This new form of New Media Gloss is here to stay. Cultivating green reading; sparing forests.
Be sure to read Unleaded Group’s new kindle release “Nonstop-Uncommonly Good Advice About Taking The Internet To New Levels. Only $6.95.