Free Webinar Wednesdays

Conference Planning for 2020 - Join me in San Diego for Social Media Marketing World

Date: Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Social Media Marketing World’s Social Media Marketing World Conference is on the horizon (yes, 2020 will be here before we know it) and this week I am going to give you all of the tips on how to convince your boss that this needs to be in your 2020 budget. March 1-3 of 2020 this event comes to downtown San Diego at the Convention Center. The first time I attended was in 2018, I had no other words to describe it other than I felt like a “kid in a candy store”; that is why I decided to go back in 2019, and already purchased my ticket for 2020!  If you geek out (like me) over anything digital marketing based… this is the event for you. 

The number one reason why I continue to go back every year, other than the amazing content, would be the accessibility to the experts. The workshop instructors, the keynote speakers, and those deemed experts in their field, attend the event just like you and me. They walk through the networking plaza and do not mind if they are shouted out to take a selfie (thanks Mari Smith, Michael Stelzner, Vivika VanRosen, Chewbacca Mom...). For my banking people out there, listen to the recording to hear the advice Mari Smith, an expert in all things Facebook, gave for the community banking industry! 

I urge you to visit the website and look through the different categories in the digital marketing field that the event will touch on. The pillars of the event are mainly the different Social Media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest and all of the strategies to use them. Learn from the experts how to use these platforms effectively to engage and retain consumers. Once you are browsing on the website to gain more information you will come to the ticket information.

Each year I have been, and 2020 will be my third, I purchased the all-access pass. This pass allows me to attend all of the events and workshops, have networking time with the individuals presenting, and also have access to recordings of each workshop or speaker. This opportunity allows you to go back and listen to any speaker you may have missed, or wanted to learn more, after the event itself has ended.

With that said if you are unable to attend the event for any reason, there is an option to purchase a “Virtual Pass”. This pass gives you access to attend each of the workshops/speakers virtually, while also giving you access to the recordings after the conference. Both amazing options for you depending on your availability and interest in the event. I highly recommend the first option, as you can sip cocktails in the lobby with not only myself… however the experts running the event. 

Go to the website and register for your tickets through this link http://bit.ly/sme-events (affiliate link)! I hope to see you there! 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

Another Hashtag to Follow and Facebook Ads Update

Date: Wednesday, October 2, 2019

We are back on schedule! Second show in two weeks, produced and recorded and we are on top of the moon (ok, not really). This week I’m going to dive into what I learned this year at the 2019 Sales and Marketing School at the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Be sure to hop out to your favorite social network and search for the hashtag #GSBSMS19 for a recap of all the great posts from those who attended!

In today’s online world we finally have a way to filter through information or posts online. I share a quote from author Clay Shirky in the episode, “It’s not so much a case of information overload as it’s a case of filter failure”. What is a tool that can be used to do this? Hashtags. This week is all about hashtags and the importance to digital marketers. So, what can a hashtag do for you? Hashtags serve as a label to a conversation, or a keyword that sticks out making it easier to group/locate later.

Hashtags are especially important when you when organizing an event. This gives the event a location/page to view all the participants tweets, in one location, if the user decided to include the tweet. Hashtags on LinkedIn and Instagram can also be “subscribed” to, or “followed” to increase the likelihood that mentions of them will appear in your newsfeed as well. So, if you follow the hashtag #digitalmarketing in your feed you will see all of the posts that have used that hashtag in the past, and any that pop up in the future. This also helps you find new users, information to share, and provide value to your followers.

Last week I mentioned a platform called TweetBinder, which allowed us to track the hashtag analytics from the PCBS Hashtag Battle. If you missed last week’s episode, go check out our last write up to learn more! I talk this week about the different features of TweetBinder not mentioned on the last episode.

For paid users of the platform, TweetBinder allows you to further utilize the data coming out of Twitter. I talk mostly about the section labeled classified. This tab lets you view original tweets along with user demographics of who shared, commented, or liked the post. Original tweets are those that used the hashtag but included their own unique text, or photo.

We conclude this episode with a topic that is very prevalent in the digital marketing industry Facebook advertising (and privacy). Facebook has recently put restrictions on the amount of information you can use when creating advertisements targeted at three main areas. These are ads focused on the extension of credit, employment or housing (whether targeted to homeowners or renters). The demographic information you once used to be able to easily attain, has been restricted by the platform to increase their reputation in privacy settings. This means as marketers we need to remain creative and find different ways to target our audiences! Tune in to find out more and we’ll see you on the next show!

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

4th Annual Hashtag Battle and Getting Things Done

Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Free Webinar Wednesdays has not gone anywhere! But I have… This week’s edition of FWW allows me to fill you in on some of the things I’ve done in my two weeks of absence. I start with my class at the Pacific Coast Banking School, where I’ve taught for four years now. As you all know I like to have a little fun, so my class had to incorporate some kind of competition during my week-long session.

To help appreciate and visualize the power of building relationships and visitability online with social media, both of my classes selected their own unique hashtag for use on Twitter first thing Monday morning. We then used a service called TweetBinder to analyze activity and the 4th annual ‘Hashtag Battle’ was on!. They selected  #PCBSFamily19 and #PCBSRockStars19 and were busy getting their “tweet on”. What hashtag do you think got more engagement? 

Throughout the week we utilized the analytics from TweetBinder to see which hashtag was performing better. We analyzed the advanced stats tab, which showed us the number of Twitter users that were impacted and/or reached. This also showed us that the Twitter users that engaged with the tweet, could be categorized as either unique users and/or contributors. TweetBinder allows you to take a step further in your twitter analytics, by looking at the activity report section. From individualizing Twitter users handles, to segmenting activity by days/time, to overall illustrating the engagement of your tweet. This feature within Twitter calculates the value of your tweet/Twitter profile based on your performance results. Who doesn’t love when technology can do it for us?

In addition to the hashtag learning observations, I also chat about Flipboard--one of my favorite apps of all time. During today’s webinar, I share with you some of my tips and secrets of how to get the most out of the Flipboard platform. Again, thank you all for tuning in! FWW is back, and will be live next week as well! 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

No Show This Week (or Next)

Date: Wednesday, September 11th 2019 

Sorry everyone, while I was fully planning on doing a show, I'm not going to be able to make it this week. :-( 

While I've got you... I also want to send along thoughts and condolences to the families who lost their loved ones on this day 18 years ago. I still remember exactly where I was when I saw the news of "nine-eleven" and ask that you take a moment to do something nice for someone else - even a stranger.

After a couple weeks with no show, I'm sorry to keep pushing off but life calls. Next week I'm off to Wyoming for their Bank Lending Conference, so not sure if I'll be able to swing a show or not, but I've got my fingers crossed (and hope flights are in my favor). Thank you for your understanding, looking forward to the next show! 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

No Show This Week - But Check Out the PCBS #HashgagBattle!

Date: Wednesday, September 4, 2019

No show this week, as I'm in Seattle teaching a full week of classes for the Pacific Coast Banking School. My course is all about Digital Marketing and Social Media and as part of the week, I'm running the fourth annual PCBS #HashtagBattle. Each of my two sessions (8 am and 10 am) select a unique hashtag on Monday, then use it throughout the week to build conversations and engagement via Twitter (and other platforms).

To follow along, hop over to Twitter and search for #PCBSFamily19 (8 am session) and #PCBSRockStars19 (10 am session). You can also follow the PCBS Twitter account directly at @thePCBS - or your's truly at @EricCook. 

We're also measuring activity using a cool tool called TweetBinder and you can check out the live reports for the 8 am and 10 am classes online! 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

Some Things I Love - My Pixelbook and Bamboo Underwear (now that’s a combination!)

Date: Wednesday, August 28, 2019

This week’s show has a bit of a unique feel to it, as I start off talking about some new technology I’m using (loving my Google Pixelbook) and the pros - and some cons - of the Chrome OS. With me using it as my daily driver for the past week+ and being without my Macbook Pro, it’s got me thinking about my fallback process if a primary piece of technology I’m using fails - and you should too. Certainly something to think about before you “have” to think about it (meaning something failed and you don’t have a Plan B to fall back on).

For my next topic of discussion... and this is where the “bamboo underwear” reference in the title comes to play, I share two great, and one not-so-great, personal customer service experiences to get you thinking about what sort of a culture you’re creating in your business or organization. While I’ve talked about my experience at the Fort Wayne International Airport on past shows, I recently had an even better experience with the Cariloha company stepping up and honoring their lifetime guarantee. They produce amazing bamboo products (yes, like underwear) and started wearing their briefs many years ago. Listen in and you’ll hear what makes them so awesome, and why the next time you see me there’s almost a 100% chance I’ll be sporting their bamboo briefs.

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

No Show This Week - Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Sorry y'all, I'm going to be at the Midwest Independent Bank's Community Banking Conference this week and unable to pull off a live show. Plan is to be back next week and see you all then!

~Eric

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

Facebook's "Boost Your Business" Experience and Top Tips for Success

Date: Wednesday, August 14, 2019

This week I am joined by yet another WSI team member, Madison Barner! Madison will share her personal background and how she got involved with WSI these past couple months. As part of the WSI team, Madison has taken on the role of gaining exposure and brand awareness for our agency, primarily through social media tactics. As part of her efforts with the company, she recently attended the Facebook ‘Boost Your Business’ conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. This week she dives into all the new and exciting features she learned, and how they can be applied to your company! 

The Facebook ‘Boost Your Business’ event focused on gaining awareness and exposure for your brand through the many outlets Facebook and Instagram Business provides --sounds like a good match with her role on the team, huh! Madison talks about how to engage your audience through video content creation, as well as how you can track the progress and success of your posts through Facebook’s analytics platform, called Insights. Facebook gives you the ability to track demographics, and Madison shares how you can properly utilize this information to target your intended audience. To wrap things up, she explains the importance of the Facebook Pixel function that can be used to gain insights on your customers as well. 

If you are looking to expand your reach or knowledge on the Facebook Business Profile for your company, tune in this week to hear all the great tips she will share! If you are not able to join live, check back to the website and view the recording of the webinar! 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

No Live Show This Week...

Date: Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Hey all... Sorry to say no live show this week. I'm away at the Graduate School of Banking in Madison, WI this week and unable break free at our normal time. however, next week we are "good to go" and will be introducing you to another awesome member of our team - and talking about a recent Facebook event that she attended. Lots of great ideas for small businesses to be thinking about, so be sure to join us on August 14th! 

~Eric

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

 

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by WSI Digital.

The Power of Video, Social Dashboards and Google Data Studio Reporting

Date: Wednesday, July 31, 2019

First, a bit of an important announcement… From the beginning of Free Webinar Wednesdays way back on April 1, 2009, myself (Eric Cook) and my good friend Jeff Simpkins have been conducting weekly (for the most part) webinars to help educate business owners and professionals on all things digital, strategy, productivity, etc. As you may have noticed, this past year Jeff has been absent from the live shows, as his business demands and other commitments have caused him to put FWW in a back-seat role.

Today it’s bittersweet to announce Jeff’s “retirement” a co-host of the Free Webinar Wednesdays series (but I still consider him as a co-founder, and a super friend)! With that being said, I want to personally thank him for all of his contributions and hope to have him on in the future as a guest!

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This weeks episode I welcome a new guest from the WSI team, Elle Humphries! Elle shares her background and all that she does here with our team at WSI over the past past three years. Recently, she has been working with a video content creation platform called Wave.video to create our “how to” videos, and working closely with clients to build engaging content. I’ve asked her to share how she puts these videos together, the best way to communicate video generation to the client, and how she pushes these videos through to each social media channel using one of our posting platform tools called Cloud Campaign. Elle touches on the different functionalities in Cloud Campaign, everything from content creation to scheduling to analytics.

Finally, the episode wraps up with the discussion of Google Data Studio, a free service from Google that helps the visualization of data to better recognize trends and measure digital performance. Together, we discuss the capability of the platform, how you can link multiple social media channels your business, and track web analytics, making the process of communicating results to a client (or your boss) much easier!

As you can tell, this episode shares a ton of crucial information related to your digital marketing strategy. So if you are looking to increase your visibility online and better track your results, this is a great episode. Also, a big thanks to Elle for being part of the show. It was great to have you on as my guest!

Register Today

If you are not yet registered for the Free Webinar Wednesdays series, click here to register. We look forward to seeing you online!

About Free Webinar Wednesdays

Free Webinar Wednesdays was created as a community building tool to bring professionals together to share pertinent business development information, provide subject matter experts with a platform to open a learning dialog, and inspire small business owners to reach their professional goals.

Free Webinar Wednesdays is sponsored by CBCi and WSI Digital.