Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "marketing"

The Sacramento Press is hiring: Sales, Marketing and Advertising intern

2012-02-06T20:22:44Z

We are seeking a highly motivated Sales, Marketing and Advertising Intern. The successful candidate will assist the Department with various projects and tasks that will give them a well-rounded understanding of business operations.

Your Role:

Distribute marketing materials for Sacramento Press and clients
Coordinate advertising efforts and help design email campaigns for prospective clients
Research thoroughly via the internet for information to create effective marketing plans for clients’ businesses
Compile leads from online and other listings and add them in a database
Assist with client management by making sure our clients receive the highest level of sales and operational customer service
Attend local events to build accounts, including weekend and evening events on occasion
Assist with the creation of persuasive sales presentations using market trends, creative ideas and The Sacramento Press analytics
Assist with the development of cutting edge marketing and advertising campaigns for clients
Perform various administrative tasks for the department as needed

Job Requirements:

Strong interpersonal skills, excellent writing skills, ability to prioritize assignments and multi-task, attention to details, and the ability to work independently. Graphic Design skills a huge bonus (Creative Suite Mac).

Marketing, Communications, Public Relations, Business Administration and other related majors are encouraged to apply.

How to Apply:

Send a cover letter and resume to: dina.neils@sacramentopress.com

The Sacramento Press is hiring: Advertising Coordinator

2012-02-06T20:16:29Z

We are currently seeking a highly motivated Advertising Coordinator to join our growing company. This position will be in the the sales department. This role will ensure that our customers receive the highest level of sales and operational service. The Advertising Coordinator will also be responsible for driving new business revenue.

This fast-paced role is a unique opportunity to be a critical piece of our growth. This position is located in Sacramento, CA.

Your Role:

Generate revenue from a broad range of products including online banner advertising, social media engagement, online advertising bundles and daily deal offers.

Create persuasive sales presentations using market trends, creative ideas and company’s analytics; participate on calls and face-to-face meetings to pitch.

Analyze campaign performance statistics and recommend optimized media solutions.

Foster relationships with with decision makers, salespeople and mavens in the Sacramento market.

Attend regular local events to build accounts, including weekend and evening events on occasion.

Serve as internal contact for clients for all Sacramento Press, SacMix and Deal Ticket products.

Phone coverage and various administrative tasks as needed.

Job Requirements:

- At least 2 years of experience in sales and/or customer service.
- Experience with online and/or interactive advertising and media a plus.
- You are a self-starter who is comfortable working in a start-up environment that changes rapidly, and you have a strong desire to learn.
- BA/BS degree preferred with strong computer skills.
- An amazing personality and the ability to close sales.
- Ability to sell multiple products and juggle tasks efficiently.
- An excellent attention to detail.

Compensation:
This is a full-time position with a base salary
Commissions on all sales
Health, Dental, Vision Benefits, 100% covered in 90 days
Travel & Entertainment Account

How to Apply:

Email resume and cover letter to emily.griggs@sacramentopress.com.

"The Grey" - Part 2: Interview

2012-01-27T09:23:33Z

INTERVIEW: DIRECTOR JOE CARNAHAN AND ACTOR FRANK GRILLO

[NOTE: THE INTERVIEW CONTAINS SOME MILD PLOT SPOILERS FOR “THE GREY”.]

Recently, in San Francisco, I had a chance to chat with co-writer and director Joe Carnahan and actor Frank Grillo about their new release “The Grey” which opens this week. The film, which is reviewed in a separate article, tells the story of a group of oil workers whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness, where they find themselves stalked by a pack of almost mythically large wolves. Joe is a Sacramento native and we’ve known each other for several years through the local film community and the Sacramento Film and Music Festival.

As we were setting up for the interview, Joe happened to make a self-deprecatory joke about his own intelligence, which led to an interesting opening:

Tony: You see I would counter that right away. I watched “The Grey” a few weeks ago - I don’t like to read production notes before seeing a film and I knew virtually nothing going in – but I knew it wasn’t going to be “Alive” meets “Cujo”… [they both agree] … because I don’t think you’re capable of writing a script that’s that one dimensional.

Joe: Right. You may hate it for its other dimensions but it won’t be mono-dimensional.

Frank: [laughs]

Tony: The other things you’ve written – even a film like “Smokin’ Aces” which is a ‘shoot-em-up’ has a very intricate story.

Joe: “Smokin’ Aces” to me, the construct, was Iraq. I based the movie on Iraq. It starts with misinformation, it leads to this kind of heedless violence, a bunch of people who shouldn’t die do, they make a better deal at the end, and it’s over – that’s it.

Tony: Let’s come back to the war topic later. As I said, I watched “The Grey” knowing nothing about it and had to write my comment for the studio, and I said this isn’t a film about men and wolves, this is a film about life and death, and going out on your own terms.

Joe: Yes. 100%.

Tony: So, I was intrigued as to whether when you read the short story if it came out of nowhere and grabbed you or if you were already thinking of this as a subject you wanted to tackle.

Joe: No, you know what Tony, I responded to the short story because I was on “Mission Impossible 3” and I was going to quit before I was fired. I had run my course on that and here I was presented with this very simple, spare, kind of bare bones survival story - versus where I was at that moment which was a big star, big franchise, big studio, with a big budget at 33 years old and feeling I didn’t deserve any of that….

Frank: No, by the way you do.

Joe: …at the same time “The A-Team” represents me finishing that business on “MI3” – doing a big popcorn movie. So it [“The Grey”] appealed to me in every way that it could, because its simplicity was beautiful to me. But then Ian [Ian Mackenzie Jeffers who co-wrote the screenplay and wrote the short story “The Ghost Walker” on which it is based] did a draft of his own short story and I took that, and over the next 4-5 years rewrote it, fashioned it, and fine-tuned it.

[Joe continued by describing how, with the passage of time, topics which might not have developed quite so readily in a more rushed circumstance, including religion and spirituality, evolved as the story became more polished.]

Tony: So, you guys met on “Pride and Glory” [for which Joe co-wrote the screenplay]?

Frank: A little before that.

Tony: [To Frank] When this first came to you, did you see the script first or was it still an idea? How close was it to the final script?

Frank: I think it was fairly close to what we actually shot by the time I saw it.

Joe: Yes, I gave it to you in September and we were shooting in January.

Frank: Yeah. He had seen some of “Warrior” and I had said to him “I want to work with you, just whatever it is, find me something, I’ll do anything – I’m a huge fan” and he sent me this script. He said to me “January we’re shooting this movie and that’s the role!” And he could have had anybody he wanted for the role, obviously, and he said “It might take me some time but you’re doing the movie – January – don’t take a job!” And I said “Joe, I can’t…” He said “January, don’t take a job! Go gain some weight, beef up, this is what we have to do.” And there we were in January.

Tony: Although underneath something like three parkas…

Joe: Yeah – I had three parkas on but Frank didn’t!

Frank: [laughs]

Joe: You said you wanted the role pal!

Tony: It’s such a neat story and neat characters. I was interested in what drew you to it. The Ottway part [Liam Neeson’s character] is interesting – he’s watched somebody who didn’t have the opportunity to go out on her own terms and he respects that opportunity when it arises. There’s a scene in the wreckage where a guy is dying and the others are saying “You’ve got to do something” and he goes over and says [paraphrased] “You’re going to die – but that’s OK” You don’t see that often.

Joe: No. You see a lot of people killed but you don’t see a lot of people die.

Frank: In the original script – and at first I was kind of upset that we took it out – but when he says that to him, my character says “What are you doing?” But there was such a rhythm, there was such a gorgeous poetic rhythm to the connection that these two guys had that if I had interjected, interrupted, and taken it away from that, it would have destroyed the scene. And that’s my favorite scene in the movie.

Tony: It reminds me - and I don’t think this is a comparison you’ll dislike [to Joe] given that you say you don’t see people die very often - it reminds me of Giovanni Ribisi in “Saving Private Ryan.”

Joe: Which is a brilliant death scene.

Tony: It’s the best scene of the movie.

Joe: And he says “Tell me, tell me what’s wrong” and the blood is almost black and he’s asking for his mother.

Tony: And he basically instructs them to overdose him on morphine. He’s a medic….

Joe: Right, he’s a medic, he knows he going to die. But that’s … anytime there’s a Spielberg comparison, I am firmly in your camp.

Frank: I got a chance to work with him and he said when he saw that scene he actually went back and wrote more for Giovanni earlier in the movie, so there would be more of him in the movie.

Joe: Oh, wow!

[The three of us then went off on a tangent for a minute or two about Giovanni Ribisi’s career starting as a child actor in the sitcom “My Two Dads.”]

Tony: In “the Grey” it seems to me that there were at least quadruple threats: There’s the location that they’re in, there’s the lack of any kind of supplies they would need to survive in that location, the climate obviously, and the wolves. But this isn’t about the wolves, the wolves are just part of that.

Joe: Tony, you see that – but you’re literally one of the only people that has ever said that, right there.

Tony: It’s an obstacle, of which part just happens to be the wolves. They could have just been eyes in the distance and mysteriously, every now and then somebody dies and you never know how they die. It’s almost a MacGuffin.

Joe: Right – they’re as close to a MacGuffin as a traditional film like this would have. Because essentially it’s a plotless movie.

Tony: In fact, to some extent, the whole bundle of obstacles: location, supplies, climate, wolves altogether are a MacGuffin.

Joe: Absolutely

Tony: It’s just there to cause these people to think about the meaning of life.

Frank: Exactly. That’s an accurate reading of the script. You asked what attracted me to the film. As a middle-aged man – this is what I think about all day.

Joe: And also that the wolves are just a force of nature – like the cliff, like the blizzard, like the river.

Tony: Have you been following the news – the timing is really interesting.

Joe: Oh – OR7 – the wolf that’s crossed into California. Yeah, I invited him to the premiere. It’s a very elaborate joke, a very elaborate stunt when he shows up and around his neck he’s got a little pass, a VIP pass.

Frank: It’s a great story

Tony: You clearly wanted something more profound than an action film and you succeeded. But do you worry about the apparent dichotomy between what films are and how films are marketed?

Joe: You know what, Tony, I don’t because what I would like, in fairness to an audience, this is something where I’d like them to cast as wide a net as possible – to get people who are even casual genre fans, who are casual Liam Neeson fans into the theater. Because I swear to God it will become the water cooler talk for days to come. I really believe that. What I’ve said about this film, my ultimate goal, is that it plays for you for longer than the two hours it took to watch. That’s what I want – because I think so much of movies today are just disposable experiences.

Tony: I guess my question is that we’re sitting here saying this is a profound movie about life and death and the human experience….

Joe: Right.

Tony: …so do you worry that the people who do in fact want to see a profound movie about life and death and the human experience are not going to come and watch “The Grey” based on the trailer somebody’s cut of the film that makes it look like “Alive” meets “Cujo”?

Joe: No. Unfortunately, if those people you just described were in the majority, we wouldn’t all be about to speak Mandarin in the next ten years. You know what I mean? If we had that level of engagement or that level of high mindedness, without trying to sound snobbish or arrogant about it, if those kinds of people were in the majority then I think it would be a radically different marketing angle.

Tony: If you think of film classics like 1936’s “Modern Times” or 1957’s “12 Angry Men” – those were mainstream films because you didn’t have studios, indies, direct to cable, and all those kinds of things, so those were films people were going to watch. They were deep films – but they were either social satires or social commentaries. We’ve had this conversation before – now you see things like “Lions for Lambs” [written by Joe’s brother Matthew Michael Carnahan] which is a brilliant piece of writing and “In the Valley of Elah,” and films like “The Company Men” about unemployment and layoffs. I’ve heard it said that folks on the left don’t want to go and see these stories and be reminded of what they already know and folks on the right don’t want to go and get lectured by Hollywood.

Joe: Yes.

Tony: So, do you think there’s a political divide – is it that we’re telling the wrong stories or are we telling the right stories but telling them too soon?

Joe: Well listen, you mentioned “Lions for Lambs” and “In the Valley of Elah” – those are movie about hot button issues. My brother had written “The Kingdom” which in a lot of ways to me was a knock on the Saudis and the Saudi royal family. It was meant to be, not a condemnation but he was certainly taking a shot – it wasn’t just this kind of prosaic look at a different culture – he was going after them. But if you don’t mix in gunfights it becomes this almost geopolitical…whatever. I found, and I got this from my benefactor Ridley [Scott] – I loved the filmmaking in “Black Hawk Down” but it became very jingoistic. And the part about the Somalis and what they were dealing with … and I understand why that was jettisoned. I get it, but it was also a case of looking at how much more money that made than a film like “Lions for Lambs” which was more about talking points.

Tony: If you get me on “Black Hawk Down” we’ll be here all day. But “The Kingdom” and “Lions for Lambs” are an interesting comparison because they’re both good scripts and they both have a lot to say politically….

Joe: Yes.

Tony: ...and I don’t remember the box office….

Joe: “The Kingdom” made a lot more money.

Tony: “The Kingdom” has a lot of shooting and action and “Lions for Lambs” is more like a play

Joe: Yeah, it’s a three act play. It’s a play.

Tony: So if you want to have political content and you want to get something out there and you want to hit a mainstream audience….

Joe: Good luck

Tony: …do you have to disguise it as something else?

Frank: I think you do.

Joe: Oh, absolutely.

Frank: You have to, not sneak it in, but you have to….

Joe: It’s everything short of sneaking it in. It’s very difficult to come straight at somebody with that kind of argument being that political, spiritual, whatever it may be that you’re trying to tackle. In this country more so than any other in the world – we love to slap labels on as quickly possible. And if you’re doing that it’s a “specialized” kind of film.

Tony: [To Frank] In the film, you’re the tough guy’s tough guy. It reminded me of this kid I knew at summer camp who was tough and would never let his guard down – and then I saw him break down completely riding a roller coaster.

Frank: That’s a great analogy.

Tony: Did you know those guys growing up or were you that guy?

Frank: I wasn’t that guy – I was on the other end of it. But I did know those guys and I also spent some time visiting some jails around New York because I wanted to talk to some guys on the other side of that reality. And they all seemed to be the same – you’re right – it’s the big bully who goes on the roller coaster and that was my jump off point. It’s such a cool journey that this guy makes and we all know those people. And how did I get to the point where my hands are always up and I’m threatened all the time. When you’re afraid you get angry and Diaz [his character in the film] is angry all the time. Why? Because he’s afraid all the time. And it was a gift to me as an actor to get to explore this character.

Tony: The amazing thing about “The Grey” is that I don’t think there’s a weak link in the film. The problem with an ensemble movie is that there’s often a character that you want to get eaten by a wolf early on in the movie just so that you don’t get to see him for the next hour. And this movie doesn’t have that.

Joe: I think you really do come to fall for those guys and you appreciate those guys and you pull for them. And that’s as it should be.

[At this point we discussed several characters and their unusual paths in the movie, including specific outcomes for some of them.]

Joe: But there’s bravery and heroism that isn’t always obvious and that you don’t see coming from a mile away

Frank: But we can talk about this all day – this guy [his character] finally got a chance to be part of something. That’s the beauty of it.

Joe: Yeah – absolutely man

Tony: What’s next for you Joe?

Joe: If I get any real run off the Grey, if it allows me to do something else, I’d like to put all those chips toward “Killing Pablo.” For me that particular project is like this vastly undernourished orphan and I need to get this kid a meal.

Tony: That’s Pablo Escobar?

Joe: Yes. I’ve been to Colombia three times, I’ve been to Medellin three times and I love it – as attrition goes it getting pretty close. Somebody asked me why do you want to make that project so badly and I was interviewing this 78 year old man who was there at the time it happened, and I asked him if he remembered anything that day, when they got Pablo. And he said “I was sitting in my house and I thought it was an early winter thunder storm” because the level of gunfire was such that the guy couldn’t discern individual shots and I thought “I’m ****ing making this movie!”

Tony: And anything back in Sacramento – are we going to see you back in town?

Joe: Tony if I could just get, and I’ve said this before – what you need is a full time film commissioner and we need to quit dicking around. And in that City which is one of the great untapped shooting locations – in two hours you can be in the snow, you can be on the river….

Tony: And the neighborhoods can be anywhere.

Joe: Dude, the Fabulous 40’s – all you have to do is switch the cars out and you could be in the 1950’s. I would love to do it. I think the City has to get a lot more aggressive about what it wants to do. You know Kevin Johnson kept the Kings – and that would not have happened with Heather Fargo, they would have been gone. So if he can apply that kind of determination to getting movies shot there….

Tony: You know the “For Arts Sake” manager just left, this week.

Joe: Really? Well you know I’m looking for a job!

Disclosure: The author is co-director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival and Joe Carnahan is a former special guest of that event.

Social Media Best Practices for Charities draws crowd

2011-11-15T15:26:09Z

The Urban Hive was filled with nearly 100 representatives from local charities and non-profits at the Sacramento Social Media Club’s “Social Media Best Practices for Charities” last Tuesday.

The event, hosted by Clay Nutting, director of Concepts 4 Charity and account executive for 3Fold Communications, inspired attendees to use social media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to spread their message, raise funds and increase public awareness of their cause in order to promote social change.

Panelist Julie Bornhoeft, director of development and community relations for WEAVE, Inc., advised the audience that beginning to use social media is quite simple – you must have a presence, be genuine and have a goal. Panelist Misty Avila, eAdvocacy coordinator for Aspiration Tech agreed.

“When you’re a person online, you get why you’re online. When you’re an organization online, you have to have a goal,” Avila said. “If you don’t have a goal, it’s not a problem, but how do you know if what you’re doing is working?”

When organizations develop social media goals, often their focus is on their number of followers. Panelist Chris Brune, director of creative services at Macer Media (Sacramento Press), for the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, said focusing on that is a mistake.

“The quantifiable measure is often how many followers you have. I hate that. Dislike,” Brune said. “We’re saying it’s quality not quantity that matters.”

For panelist Kate Towson, Americorps VISTA with Sacramento Steps Forward, said her main priority in social media use is sharing.
After recently learning the beauty of retweeting and sharing the material of others, Towson said she now shares what other people are talking about and they share what she’s discussing.

“When you congratulate your partners on the work they do, it really reflects well on your agency,” Towson said. “It would come back to me, because folks would share what I’m talking about. It’s definitely karma right there.”

Although it may seem intimidating to begin social media, Brune said you just have to jump in.

“You can’t break Twitter – just start your conversation with whoever it is that will listen,” Brune said. “If you have an inkling of faith in social media, I think you should just go for it. It’s really that simple. You just have to start.”

In an effort to help charities begin or improve their social media presence, the Sacramento Social Media club is hosting a social media tune-up workshop tonight at the Urban Hive from 6-to-8 p.m. At the tune up, 20 local charities will be matched with marketing practitioners and agencies for one-on-one reviews.

For more information about tonight’s tune up, email smcsacto@gmail.com. To see more from the Social Media Best Practices for Charities panel, check out the Sacramento Social Media Club’s Ustream page to view the video.

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About the Social Media Club: The Sacramento Social Media Club was founded in March 2009 by local social media activists. Its monthly events bring together journalists, publishers, students, communicators and other interested collaborators to facilitate discussions about the key issues facing our society as technologies transform the way we connect, communicate, collaborate and relate. The Social Media Club’s primary mission is to promote media literacy and standard technologies, encourage ethical behavior and share best practices. To find out more, join their groups on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

About the author: Brittany Wesely is the Associate Community Benefit Health Specialist for Kaiser Permanente, and a member of the all-volunteer leadership team for the Sacramento Social Media Club. Follow her on Twitter @brittanywesely.

Sacramento Social Media Club to host 'Best Practices for Charities'

2011-11-04T15:29:28Z

Through their use of Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and other social media tools, many local charities have spread their message, raised funds and increased public awareness of their cause in order to promote social change. In the hopes of spreading their stories and inspiring other philanthropic organizations to do the same, four local charities will be conducting a panel discussion at the Sacramento Social Media Club’s “Social Media Best Practices for Charities” on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Urban Hive.

Moderated by Clay Nutting, director of Concepts 4 Charity and account executive for 3Fold Communications, the event will include panelists: Kate Towson, Americorps VISTA with Sacramento Steps Foward; Julie Bornhoeft, director of development and community relations for WEAVE, Inc.; Misty Avila, eAdvocacy coordinator for Aspiration Tech; and Chris Brune, director of creative services at Macer Media (Sacramento Press), for the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services.

The event will stream live on Ustream starting at 7 p.m., and can be followed on Twitter by using the hashtag #SMCSAC. The event is free, but donations will be accepted on behalf of the Sacramento Food Bank and the River City Food Bank. Donations up to $500 will be matched by CGI as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility Program.

In addition to panel, the Sacramento Social Media Club will be hosting a social media tune-up workshop on Tuesday, Nov. 15 from 6-to-8 p.m. at the Urban Hive. At the tune up, charities will be matched up with marketing practitioners and agencies for one-on-one reviews of their social media platforms, with specific recommendations on improvements after the consultation. In order to participate, charities must RSVP in advance.

The Urban Hive is located at 1931 H St., Sacramento, 95811. Space is limited for both events. Click here to RSVP for the Social Media Best Practices for Charities panel. To RSVP for the social media tune up, email smcsacto@gmail.com.

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Local businesses 'Like' Advanced Facebook for Business workshop

2011-06-21T07:29:15Z

93% of all American ~~adults~~ adult internet users are now on Facebook. While this is not a surprising statistic for anyone that has fielded a friend request from their mom, aunt or even grandpa, it does make it harder for small businesses to ignore Facebook as a platform to engage their target demographic. The argument that a business targets an older or less tech savvy demo than Facebook users just doesn’t hold water any longer.

Businesses without a Facebook presence are not just passing up a valuable opportunity to engage their customers, provide customer service, and gain new consumers; they're falling behind. But just being on Facebook and setting up a business page isn’t enough. A Facebook presence must be maintained and used strategically to add real value to your brand.

Enter Josh Unfried speaker at The Social Media Club of Sacramento's recent workshop, “Advanced Facebook for Business”. Unfried, the CEO of WindFarm Online Marketing, spent almost two hours teaching SMCSac members, many of whom run or work for local businesses, how to take their Facebook presence to the next level. In addition to the obvious benefits of improving customer connections, staying top of mind, driving sales through promotions and increasing visibility, Unfried asserts that Facebook is now allowing businesses to "transform customer service into marketing".

"Everyone is now able to watch how you handle a complaint, or answer a question," points out Unfried. "For those that give great customer service this is a tremendous opportunity. For those that don't, the consequences can be equally negative."

Once Unfried covered the benefits and FAQs of using Facebook, the advanced tips started to fly. Even those in the room who had seemed relatively smug about their Facebook skills were soon scrawling notes and asking in depth questions. Unfried walked through the steps of setting up a business page, not because most hadn't already done it, but because, he wagered, not all of them had done it as well as they could have. A few lesser known gems:

Facebook Business Account: Facebook generally requires users to have a personal profile in order to create a Facebook Business page. However, if you have no desire to ever have a personal Facebook profile and would like to manage a Facebook Business page only, it IS possible to create a Facebook Business Account, which does not require a personal Facebook profile.
'Tell Your Fans' feature: If you've created a new Facebook business page and are ready to start accruing 'likes' you can make sure all your current and loyal customers know about your page. Simply use the Tell Your Fans feature to upload a .csv file of your email database. From there you can do an email blast to your current contacts making them aware of your Facebook page and asking them to 'Like' your business.
Launch your page with a variety of content: before you 'Tell your fans' or share the page with your friends, make sure they don't see a blank or boring page when they get there. Videos and photos are the most engaging pieces of content a page can have. Make sure before you market the page you've already posted a mix of text, links, videos, and photos to make your page interesting when new users arrive.

Once the page is set up and ready to go, its time for the most important tool your Facebook page offers: engagement with your fans. Unfried spent a fair amount of time reiterating that engagement is key to successful Facebook marketing efforts. Increased engagement with your fans not only endears your brand to those you're engaging with, it keeps your posts higher in their news feed. The 'Top News' feed posts are ranked by which posts users are interacting with most. An engaged discussion with many comments and likes will keep your brand at the top of your 'fans' news feeds for much longer than it might otherwise.

"Does this inform? Does it inspire? Does it entertain? Does it connect?" he asks. "Ask yourself this before you post from your page."

And don't discount the "magic of randomness". Unfried shared an example of a client that is family dentist in Roseville. The most popular post shared on their wall was simply, "What color is your toothbrush?" Something about the question proved to be irresistible to the dentist's fans. The dentist was able to stay top of mind for each of their Facebook fans as they read and debated toothbrush colors. That single post allowed the dentist to remain at the top of the Top News feed for several days.

Tidbits such as these just scratch the surface of the (over) 90 minute presentation. Workshop attendees were so engaged, that as
Unfried noticed his time running low with some great content still to cover, the audience urged him to continue past his allotted time in order to glean more Facebook wisdom. When one member asked how to convert a personal profile to a business page, Unfried directed those interested to his detailed blog post on the subject, as it was more than time allowed.

Other topics covered in the workshop included growing your Facebook presence, Facebook ads, engaging other businesses, connecting Facebook to your website and more. To see Josh Unfried's Advanced Facebook for Business presentation in its entirety watch the archived UStream.

This 80 person event, which included food provided by Ten 22, beverages by Chic-fil-a, and prizes from the Sacramento Business Journal, was open to members of the SMCS and the general public. SMCSac simply requested a $10 donation to help the club continue to organize events and workshops about various social media topics. For more information about upcoming Social Media Club, Sacramento events, follow @SMCSac on Twitter. To attend the July 12th SMCSac event, register for Social Media & Motherhood on Eventbrite.com.

Disclosure: Megan Emmerling is a member of Social Media Club of Sacramento

Twitter, trunk of the tree for #HereWeBuild

2011-06-10T07:12:58Z

What began with an adult beverage and a frustrated Twitter post quickly led to a series of grassroots efforts to keep the Kings in Sacramento.

Radio personality Carmichael Dave, founder of #HereWeBuild, was relaxing in his backyard when he discovered that the Anaheim City Council had voted to pursue efforts to bring the Sacramento Kings to Anaheim.

“I thought this is frustrating and I’m ticked off and I want to let people know,” Carmichael Dave said. “So I tweeted out, ‘Carmichael Dave votes one-to-nothing to issue $200 into a fund to build a new arena. Whose with me?’”

Then the explosion happened which soon resulted in the HereWeBuild, HereWeStay and SacDeflated.com campaigns, and their spinoff campaigns HereWeSit and HereWePurple.

Founders of the movements spoke Thursday evening at the Sacramento Social Media Club #HereWeMeme event at The Citizen Hotel in Sacramento.

“Meme is basically a trend associated with something happening on the internet,” Laura Good, executive director of the club, said. “We wanted this event to focus on just that.”

Approximately 150 social media enthusiasts and Kings fans attended the event where they heard the stories of the major contributors to the campaigns, and learned how to apply similar strategies.

“We were just a bunch of regular people who saw what was happening and wanted to do something,” Carmichael Dave said.

Event panelist and blogger James Ham said the success of their campaigns couldn’t have been accomplished without the efforts of everyone involved.

“No matter what we did, we did it together,” Ham said. “We didn’t model our plan after anything, we just knew something bad was going to happen if we didn’t do something.”

With the help of their efforts leveraging on blogs, digital billboards and Twitter, enough public pressure was built in the community to result in the Kings staying in Sacramento for another year.

Matt Graham, marketing and fleet director for Jiffy Lube, followed the progression of Carmichael Dave’s tweets and the many pledges by the community in the first few hours. Graham quickly knew he had to act, pledging to be a major financial contributor to the HereWeBuild campaign.

“I felt that (pledging) was the only way to continue the voice and the passion of the efforts,” Graham said. “While we acted nimble and quickly, we were not prepared. But sometimes you just need to react, so that’s what we did.”

To watch the video of the event, visit http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/15279047.

###

About the author: Brittany Wesely is a member of the all-volunteer leadership team for the Sacramento Social Media Club. To find out more about her, visit her website or follow her on Twitter @brittanywesely.

What is Social Networking Really Worth?

2011-05-28T00:47:29Z

Mark Bean, the managing director of C7, and Josh Hilliker, the director of social media at Intel-GE Care Innovations, sat on a panel moderated by 3Fold’s Gordon Fowler to discuss whether or not social media’s return on investment (ROI) is measurable. Turns out, it is.

As was revealed over the course of their discussion, there’s a plethora of tools out there for everyone to track just how effective their social media presence is. There are a lot of dated measurements (i.e. number of clicks or time on site), but they don’t quite carry over into social networking very well. Some of the newer tools include Hootsuite and Tweetdeck for the smaller businesses, or Radian 6 and Crimson Hexagon for the bigger brands and enterprises, and everybody who’s anybody uses Google Analytics. Regardless of whether your business is big or small, the fact of the matter is that different people will want to track different metrics based on what their overall goals are.

For example, let’s say you wanted to see if your social media presence was getting you more sales. You would have to track the amount of money and/or time you’re investing in your online networking, and simultaneously track the amount of sales your accruing, then compare the numbers to see if there is an increase in sales or not. If the increase in sales is unsubstantial or nonexistent, then maybe social media isn’t the right marketing tool for you!

If you find yourself in a lost-cause situation, the whole panel agreed that you should own up to your mistakes. Be open, transparent, and completely honest with the people who actually did invest time and effort in your endeavors. If you do that, you have the potential to mend what damage you’ve done, and maybe even come out on top.

But how do you measure whether or not you’ve come out on top? It’s true that not all of the benefits social media offers can be directly linked to financial gain. A lot of the benefits lie in the idea that you’re building a brand while simultaneously building a strong relationship with your customers. The goal in many cases is not necessarily higher sales, but greater interaction between you and your fans. Hilliker explained the 90:9:1 rule: 90% of your followers are just lurking about, 9% will pop in and contribute every now and again, and 1% are super-evangelist-advocates for your cause. Success can be found by moving some lurkers into that top 10%, and getting real conversations going.

Conversations are fantastic for helping out your brand, but at the end of the day marketing is about whether or not a dollar changed hands, says Fowler. Let’s face it; social media is not the end-all-be-all of marketing techniques. It certainly can play an integral role in connecting with your fans and broadening your base, but it should be part of a larger strategy. Just because social media offers a lot of promise doesn’t mean you should completely abandon the pursuit of more traditional techniques; there are probably some pretty good reasons why such successful brands still use them. But as Bean points out, "Twitter is like the new dial tone" - you're expected to be there.

Click here to watch the whole Sacramento Social Media Club panel discussion.

Photos: Wine in the Park

2011-04-25T06:12:36Z

If you didn't get your ticket early, you missed out.

Raley Field was the setting for Infuze Marketing's Wine in the Park wine tasting, featuring a selection of wines from surrounding area wineries, appetizers and a seat to watch the ballgame.

The sold-out event took place in the VIP tented section off the third base line before the Sacramento River Cats and the Tucson Padres started the first of a four-game series at home.

Participating wineries included Sierra Knolls Vineyard & Winery, Abundance Vineyards, Lucchesi Vineyards & Winery, Watts Winery and Mount Aukum Winery.

The event was sponsored by Top Speed Data Communications, Porter | Scott Attorneys and the UC Davis Health System, and a portion of the proceeds will go to St. John's Shelter Program for Women & Children.

The next Wine in the Park event is scheduled for June 11. Visit Infuze Marketing for more details.

Marketing Innovation Guru Transforms Small Business

2010-09-13T18:10:48Z

Nationally recognized marketing innovation expert Elaine Starling announces a provocative recovery strategy for small businesses.

“Marketing is at the core of all successful business,” Starling said. “If your marketing isn’t working for you, it’s working against you – watering the wrong plants grows the wrong crop.”

Starling is offering free marketing training videos to share her award-winning strategies with small businesses everywhere, available at MillionairesMarketingMatrix.com

Starling was motivated by a meeting with the California small business advocate Marty Keller, who shared that the 3.2 million small businesses in California generate 99.2 percent of all new jobs and 70 percent of all taxable revenue. That was enough to hook Starling, who routinely generates marketing ideas with local restaurant owners, consultants and businesses.

“Businesses waste too much time and money with Band-Aid fixes on the wrong problem," she said. "This strategic look at your marketing keeps you focused on what is most important that really gets results.”

How can small business owners and entrepreneurs prosper in today’s economy? According to Starling, they should use the “collaboration economy to connect, contribute and collaborate.”

“Elaine Starling’s marketing ideas are simple, strategic and highly effective,” said Gurumantra Khalsa, publisher of the Nutrition News newsletter. “We implemented these ideas in our business and are seeing startling results – you’ve just got to watch them!”

Starling’s entertaining video series provides concrete examples and ideas every business can use.

Organizations that serve the small business community are taking note. Local business organizations are very concerned about helping their members continue to grow during these tough economic times.

“Free training that gets proven results is always welcome,” Starling said. “Marketing is just so fun and simple to do once you understand the basics. I want to share some of my fundamental formulas so more businesses have a chance to thrive and grow.”

About Millionaire’s Marketing Matrix
Millionaire’s Marketing Matrix is a marketing system for small businesses and entrepreneurs, designed to make marketing simple, strategic and supercharged. More information is available at millionairesmarketingmatrix.com

Creative business promotion-stories can bring customers to your door

2010-05-06T19:20:38Z

The little store in the little town©
By Diana Hartley

Once upon a time there was a business. The business stood on a cute corner of a cute town and for years did cute, if not, substantial business. One thing was for sure, it made the owner the money he needed to pay his bills and stay in the town. The owner knew all of his neighbors and friends who frequented his establishment often, if not every day. The business sold goods that people needed in their daily lives and it was easy and convenient to go to town to get these things.

Then, what seemed like overnight, the town began to change. The news had forecast big changes for the town years before, but no one who had lived there, many for their whole lives, could believe their little town would ever change. How could they? Then the age of computers, jets and televisions began to influence the younger generations who began to think what the TV told them-think bigger, faster, and “move away from your silly little town, go to where the action is!”

The little store in the little town became lonely as less and less people began to frequent it. People were leaving the area, learning to order goods and services over the Internet and when the town youth graduated from high school, they made plans to leave the little town. In fact, they couldn’t wait to get out. All of the safety, comfort and security they had known all of their lives was not glamorous or cool. The town was boring.

The little store seemed to be obsolete and the owner became very sad, as did the town’s people who remained. What would happen to the town? Industry began to leave and the people employed to make those well-crafted items that the town was known were laid off as the goods were now manufactured overseas to save money. Worst of all, the speculators came in and grabbed all of the land to develop massive shopping centers and build condos because the town was located in an area known for excellent weather.

No longer was the town special for its unique shops, but now had chain stores filling its street and restaurants were part of chains, as well.

The little shop held on by a thread. For so many years the owner felt that the town’s people understood its products, but without the glitz and hoopla of the chain store marketing and advertising, it didn’t know how to compete. And its prices were higher because it couldn’t buy in huge quantities like them. What could the owner say about his shop and himself that would bring people back and attract this new generation of shopper?

At first the owner tried the same old words that his competition used like the words best, value, quickest, guaranteed and latest. The only trouble was, they didn’t make sense for this store because it was so much more. What about its history? What about all the generations who grew up coming to the little store, what about all of those folks who stood around bragging about their kids baseball wins, and academic achievements? Didn’t that account for anything? Why there was one wall in the back that served as a growth chart for generations of neighborhood kids. How about that time Kenny Jones tried to steal a licorice rope and had to do two days of floor sweeping to make amends?

Could these stories about the owner and his passion for the town and its people draw new customers? Would they understand how special the little store was when their heard that the owner wanted such great products that he would drive hundreds of miles away in the winter to get them for his customers? Would they care if they found out that the owner of the little store had gone to med school, but had loved the town so much, he decided to stay and develop a community around the store?

Your stories matter

Chain stores and dime-a-dozen shopping outlets are just that-a dime a dozen, but real spirit and real character is still of interest to people, maybe even more than in the past. People appreciate people who have spent their lives perfecting their talents and serving others, and no chain store can do this. Yes, the prices might be higher but a few dollars is worth a lifetime of real trust and relationship.

If I were the owner of the store, I would think about writing a bit of a history of the town and engage other long-term residents to join their stories to his. Could this become a column in the local paper now online? Can the local TV and radio stations be pitched to featuring a prominent hometown local each week in a one-minute segment?

Can our little store owner create his own website of stories about the patrons of his store and have events celebrating one or two of them each month? Could he invite new residents and share the history of the town with them? Could he write little stories about products that he has carried for years and tell interesting funny things about when and why they were purchased?

The possibilities are endless for great promotion that doesn’t have to cost a lot. As a matter of fact, the story itself can lead to the appropriate promotion and patrons who could really appreciate such a store. Maybe Johnnie Ferrari would drive by at 110 miles an hour, but I bet the new family in town might just feels welcomed by its stories and want to become a part of its future.

There are always creative and warm ways to promote yourself. What are yours?

Remember, that stories are powerful communicators that are not only influential, but can point to the right clients, how they should be reached and what fresh idea can be used to engage their interest and patronage.

Don’t forget to find your stories and tell them often!

The Law & Social Media: what you missed at SMCSac's April meeting

2010-04-28T18:30:13Z

The Sacramento Social Media Club (SMCSac) held their April meeting at The Urban Hive featuring a trio of experts discussing social media and the law. Formally titled “The Web of Justice,” some forty plus lawyers, law students and those just interested in the topic gathered to hear individual presentations, followed by a question and answer period. Jeff Marmins, Executive Director of the SMCSac, was the MC for the evening, welcoming the crowd, before introducing the three speakers.

Jonathan G. Steinis a litigator whose law practice handles a variety of cases from personal injury to debt-collection. It is as a blogger, however, that Mr. Stein comes by his social media expertise. He contributes commentary and/blogs for California Debt Blog, California Personal Injury and Insurance Blog, California State Bar and LawGuru.com.

From these blogs come about 95% of his work, Mr. Stein estimates, and he uses them and other social media for both branding and marketing. He explained to the audience how he has carefully crafted and maintained his image so as to appeal to his target audience. In addition to blogging, Mr. Stein is also an active participant on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Avvo, a social media organization of lawyers.

In addition to branding, Mr. Stein uses social media for marketing. “It is,” he says, “a great way to find clients.” And, he adds, an excellent client research tool.

Kate Fitz practiced law for several years before becoming a reference librarian at the Sacramento Public Law Library. She is an active social media user on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Second Life. So well-versed in social media is Ms. Fitz that she has, since 2008, taught a course called “Web 2.0 for Lawyers.” It was from that course that she pulled her talk for SMCSac on Social Media for Research and Investigation. She introduced the audience to several techniques for using Twitter as a search tool as well as Spokeo.com (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spokeo), a social media aggregator that draws information from a number of different sources.

According to Ms. Fitz, anywhere that people gather on-line--YouTube, Flickr, Meetup.com--is a ripe area for doing legal research. More and more, she said, “social media is being used for investigation and discovery in law suits.” However, she warned that the specific requirements that enable a piece of evidence to be admissible must be maintained.

Sharon Lovell, the third speaker of the evening, is a law student who can be found on Twitter, Facebook and her blog, NoReins Girl. Her topic was “Managing Your OnLine Identity,” and she spoke to those who are at the beginning of their legal careers or their social media experience. “The law is a profession with high ethical standards,” she said. “Your online image and social networking usage should conform to those expectations.”

To that end, Ms. Lovell reminded the audience that they must presume anything put online will exist somewhere online forever. Things can be taken out of context and questionable photos or disrespectful comments can haunt a person for a very long time. Coordinating one’s intended image with one’s online persona is paramount in a field such as “the law where presentation counts.”

Finally, Mr. Stein returned to the podium to discuss liability issues. As an active member of a number of organizations including Consumer Attorneys of California, Association Trial Lawyers of America and California Young Lawyers Association, he underscores the need for transparency when posting. For example, he uses a researcher to ghost write some of his blog posts and he attributes them to her. In addition, when he has a guest post, it is clearly marked as such. “You are responsible for anything you post,” he reminded the audience, and that is something he also tells his clients.

Following the question and answer period--and the raffle (always a SMCSac high point!)--the speakers and the audience had conversation and crudites, fresh fruit and cheesecake while talking informally. The evening ended with a heartfelt thank you to the sponsors, The Sacramento Press and The Urban Hive, and a reminder that next month our topic will be Social Media and Employment.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SOCIAL MEDIA SOCIETY LAUNCH PARTY 3-23-2010 AT MIX DOWNTOWN IN SACRAMENTO

2010-03-29T22:47:36Z

The Northern California Social Media Society is a new organization that aims to provide its members “access to a broad ecosystem of support to help you grow your business, enhance your leadership, and expand your impact as a socially responsible business leader.”

Its launch party was held last Tuesday at Mix Downtown’s rooftop location at 16th and L streets. It was a sunny, comfortable setting for the introduction of the media society as well as good conversation among the enthusiastic attendees, who enjoyed light refreshments and raffle prizes donated by the leadership team and fans.

The team includes Nicole France of Buzz Sense Media, Beth Diebels of A Social Media Group, Peri R. Re of Re-Invent Marketing, Joseph Yocca of Capitol Venture LLC, and Bryan Srabian, social media consultant for the San Francisco Giants.

France described the organization as an educational and networking resource that provides practical information to help businesses use social media. The organization plans to serve all of Northern California.

Standard membership is $99.95 per year, with a limited number of discount memberships for those who sign up at http://norcalsocialmediasociety.org and use discount code XBRMKFZJ.

Membership includes unlimited access to the Members Only section of NCSMC’s web site, members-only forum discussions, an online member directory, a members-only edition of the quarterly newsletter, a monthly e-newsletter, a research lab, seminar and conference opportunities, invitations to local gatherings and partner events, educational discounts, teleseminars and webinars. The group also plans an expo and convention.

Monthly meetings will be held at The L Wine Lounge, 1801 L St., sponsor of NCSMC.

Disclosure: The author of this story is a member of the Social Media Society but does not benefit financially from any funds raised.

Focus on Social Media and Your Business Could Miss the Mark

2009-12-14T22:24:18Z

If you have been reading about communication and marketing tools over the past couple of years you are aware of the proliferation of new devices and platforms for marketing to and establishing community with existing and prospective customers. Studies continue to show that growing numbers of people are adopting the use of social networking and micro-blogging platforms for personal use and to “follow” or “fan” their favorite businesses. Social media will continue to grow and offer businesses perhaps the greatest value in time and investment to reach customers and successfully track the results of their efforts. Read this: your business needs a presence in social media.

As growing numbers of consumers and the businesses looking for their attention continue to migrate to online interactions there are some important thing for small businesses to keep in mind.

A significant portion of the population is not participating in social media

Our tendency as small business owners is to play to the crowd, appeal to the masses. Utilizing online tools whether they be social networking, a website, or an e-newsletter provides you with the ability to observe and track the response to your efforts. However, consider these statistics:

The following are those adults that participate in social media with a status update service:

37% of 18 to 24 year olds

31% of 25 to 34 year olds

20% of 35 to 44 year olds

Pew Research on Internet and the American Life August 18 – September 14 2009

While these are certainly some impressive numbers, it is not quite yet a majority of adults. As more businesses vie for the attention of these adults the online marketplace will grow more and more saturated and will require a more astute business owner. Consider the results of 50 percent of small businesses marketing to 40 percent of the adult online consumers (statistics regarding SMBs online from Internet2go and Merchant Circle study HERE).

Here are some tips for business utilizing social media:

Seek interactions that will drive foot traffic

This is likely an obvious tip, but necessary nonetheless. Networking and marketing online can lead to a great deal of interactive business. It is important to consider how through the use of interesting promotions or partnership you can bring people to your site. This could easily be accomplished through the hosting of a community event. Businesses are encouraged to make their space hospitable to community groups for gatherings. Recently I attended a panel discussion hosted by the SacPress at the Urban Hive. The Urban Hive has been a regular host for such events which helps make it a continually convenient location for freelance, creative, and solopreneur types looking for a collegial work environment. I would also point out the wisdom of the Sacramento Press utilizing other communal spaces for their events.

Another local business, Bella Fiore florist in Fair Oaks, recently had an in store contest that resulted in an online drawing. Guests who attended their recent artist showing during 2nd Saturday looked to an online announcement for the winner. A reverse of this would also be advised- have online submissions for an in-person drawing (must be present to win). Businesses would be advised to engage in these types of promotions that endeavor to create real world interactions.

Meet the people that you network with online – offline.

Social networking presents a variety of opportunities to interact with other business owner / managers. These relationships can be valuable as you consider opportunities for partnerships and cross promotion. Look for community events, trade associations, or affinity groups where you have the opportunity to meet these potential partners in person. Later this week I will be looking forward to an event co-hosted by the Sacramento Social Media Club and SacTweetUp. The annual holiday party, the HoliTweetup hosted at the Park Ultra Lounge (props to another small business opening its doors to community groups) will be an opportunity for professionals whose primary connections exist online to network in a personal environment.

Find unique ways to establish community with offline customers.

Remember all of those customers that are not engaged online. Customers who are not engaged online can often feel alienated if they are left out. Activities and promotions aimed at interacting with customers in a more traditional fashion can help your business build loyalty amongst these customers. This can be an important part of engaging customers in the way of their choosing. If you have customers that take business updates online, that is where you should make them available. Similarly, be sure you continue to cater to customers who may be more comfortable with collateral materials and the occasional mailer.

Have any other ideas about how businesses can target non-internet customers? Who do you see doing a great job at mixing their online with real world interactions? Name some names.

Ask the Readers... What do you want from local small businesses on social media?

2009-12-04T22:24:33Z

There have been recent reports online regarding the use of social media by small businesses. As fast as social media has gained in popularity, businesses have expanded their use of it. It appears as though most social media users are okay with this.

Many businesses have given it a try while others have found too difficult a platform. Some local perspective about Sacramento Press readers and thieir expectations on social media would be valuable to the local business community. Please, share your perspective with us.

What do you like from the small businesses you follow?

Who locally is doing a great job using social networking?

What advice do you have for those considering getting into the game?

Perhaps you dislike businesses butting into your social life. Tell us about that too.

Social Media for the Social Good—Non-profits Explore New Methods of Outreach

2009-11-20T04:17:59Z

Three local non-profit organizations were featured in a Sacramento Social Media Club panel on Tuesday evening hosted by the Sacramento State College of Continuing Education. The panel included Celia Cortez, Projects and Event Manager for the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Jordan Blair, Board Member for River City Food Bank; and Jon Benorden, Program Coordinator for the Center for AIDS Research, Education and Service (CARES). Lesley Miller, Media Director for 3Fold Communication, also sat on the panel. Moderator Josh Morgan, principal at Morgan/Dorado and program director for the Sacramento Social Media Club, focused the discussion on how non-profits are using social media to educate, engage, and build lasting relationships with their communities.

Facebook was the unanimous point of entry into social media for all three organizations. Cortez said the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber selected Facebook because it was the most popular platform among their member organizations; Blair choose Facebook for River City Food Bank because it is the platform upon which he spends the most time. “Facebook provides an easy way for people to connect with causes and non-profits thanks to its one-click ‘become a fan’ feature, “commented Morgan. River City Food Bank, where many of their long-term contributors are past retirement age, is finding that Facebook helps them to engage with the next generation of donors. However some of their loyal supporters are stepping out into social media as well; an 85 year old volunteer joined Facebook just so he could “friend” the River city Food Bank. Benorden said that their “old school” supporters are beginning to mesh with the new people they’ve engaged through their group & page on Facebook but that CARES still has a long way to go.

Both the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and CARES are also using Twitter to promote their organizations and causes. Miller said 3Fold encourages their clients to cross post on multiple social media platforms to increase the traffic among all the sites. For example, use Twitter to remind people the organization is on Facebook or create an event on Yelp and ask people to write a review. I frequently use Twitter to drive traffic to SARTA.org’s website or LinkedIn group where more detailed membership and event information is available.

CARES created both a group page and a fan page for its campaign “Are You the Difference” which strives to eliminate new cases of HIV in the Sacramento region by 2015. Benorden plans to expand the campaign to include other platforms like Flickr and YouTube. On YouTube, CARES wants to personalize and promote their campaign by featuring user generated videos about how individuals can be or are the difference in eliminating new cases of HIV.

The biggest challenge for all of the organizations is finding the time to manage and maintain their social media accounts. Cortez shared that she uses cross posting tools to lessen the amount of time she spends managing each platform the Hispanic Chamber employs. Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Seesmic were mentioned as free services for managing multiple accounts and platforms and Radian6 was recommended as a new professional service for this purpose. Benorden prefers to uniquely post to Facebook and Twitter to keep variety in the CARES messages, but he sticks to a common theme. Blair, who in addition to his responsibilities as a board member of the River City Food Bank works a full time job, schedules time on his weekly calendar to tend to his social media chores. When asked if a volunteer could handle the job, the general consensus among the panelists was that most volunteers and interns do not have enough depth or experience with the organization or its causes to determine social media platform content or to respond to questions and remarks received by followers and friends on the sites. For CARES, sensitivity to and experience with HIV/AIDS is a must for anyone representing the organization on its social media platforms.

The panel wrapped up with a discussion on event promotion using Facebook ads and other tools. All of the organizations are considering using Facebook ads and River City Food Bank has budgeted money for this purpose next year. Benorden pointed out that even if no one clicks through an “Are You the Difference” ad, if enough information is included about the campaign, there is value in people seeing the ad multiple times. Miller said 3Fold advises their clients to put nearly as much energy into post event promotion as they do pre event. Blair followed this advice after a recent River City Food Bank fundraiser, uploading event photos long into the night. The post event promotion is a valuable investment in the success of future events and helps those who attend feel more part of the organization—especially if they are featured in a photo!

After the panel ended, participants informally exchanged ideas on how they are using social media and also had a chance to meet the panelists and ask more questions. The event was live tweeted by volunteer Ira Cohen on behalf of @SMCSac using the hashtag #smcsac. The venue provided by Sacramento State College of Continuing Education is well equipped for meetings and seminars and the Senior Program Coordinator, Toni Ramirez shared that the college is considering offering courses on social media in the future.

Social Media Club, an international non-profit organization, brings together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, tool makers, and other interested collaborators. The Sacramento chapter was founded in March of 2009 by local users of social media. Free events are normally held on the third Tuesday of each month, but in December, the group is planning a Holiday Party or “holitweetup” in partnership with SacTweetUp on December 10 at Hot Italian in midtown. In January, the normal schedule of monthly panels will resume. For information about the Sacramento Social Media Club and its events, join their groups on Facebook and LinkedIn and follow them on Twitter.

Photgraphs by Marie Young Photography. For more photos of this event visit her Facebook Page

Sacramento Social Media Club Leadership Team:

Julie Berge, Angela D'Arcy, Laura Good, Suzanne Hopkins, Ronnie Ledesma, Jeff Marmins, Josh Morgan

West Capitol Avenue Streetscape Traffic Advisory

2009-07-29T14:59:07Z

The City of West Sacramento announces a modification underway in the traffic flow parallel to City Hall, 1110 West Capitol Avenue as part of the West Capitol Avenue Streetscape construction project.

All eastbound vehicle and bicycle traffic is shifted to a single south lane on West Capitol Avenue. Westbound vehicles and bicycles will continue using the north side of West Capitol.

All pedestrian access continues on the north side of the street, as West Capitol's south sidewalk remains closed, and the closure of Merkley Avenue from West Capitol Avenue to approximately 600 feet south stays in effect.

The two Yolobus eastbound transfer stations at Merkley Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard have been re-positioned from the median area to the south side of West Capitol Avenue. The westbound transfer stations and bus stops do not change at this time.

This traffic configuration will accommodate the construction within the West Capitol Avenue median areas, a period expected to last approximately four weeks.

All businesses in the vicinity of the construction area remain open and accessible. Please drive cautiously and pay attention to traffic/construction signs in the area.

Observe the construction zone speed limit of 25 MPH for the safety of pedestrians.

West Sacramento Announces Mini-Grant Program for Non-Profit Organizations

2009-07-29T14:38:38Z

The City of West Sacramento has announced their Mimi-Grant Program for community service organizations with a great program idea needing additional funding.

The City's "Community Mini-Grant Program" provides funds annually to help qualifying West Sacramento non-profit organizations with special funding needs.

This year, thirty thousand dollars is available to non-profit organization applicants that can demonstrate a viable need that benefits West Sacramento and its residents.

Applications for the mini-grant program must be submitted by Sept. 25, 2009, to the Parks & Recreation Department, 1110 West Capitol Ave., West Sacramento, CA 95691.

Once all of the applications are in, they will be reviewed by a Parks & Community Services Commission subcommittee, and the chosen recipients will be announced in the spring of 2010. The selected organizations must enter into a signed contract, after which they will receive eighty percent of the funding. The remaining twenty percent will be awarded when all original receipts are submitted and it is determined that the funds were spent as planned.

To apply, visit the City of West Sacramento's website at www.westsacfun.org and look for “Community Mini-Grants” under Department Highlights, or pick up an application at the Parks & Recreation office on the first floor of City Hall.

For more information or questions, please contact West Sacramento Parks & Recreation at (916) 617-4620.

Tony's Fine Foods Expanding "Green" Facilities in West Sacramento

2009-07-20T16:54:51Z

In a combined press release, Tony's Fine Foods and the City of West Sacramento have announced a major expansion of Tony's headquarters and food distribution facilities in West Sacramento. The expansion will accommodate an expanding customer base and new product lines, as well as business acquisitions generating significant growth in market share for the 75-year old, family-owned company.

The company will invest about $15 million to construct a new 77,000 square foot building to house a new freezer and automated distribution warehouse, and renovate existing warehouse and office space. The expansion will increase the West Sacramento company's workforce to 365 fulltime employees, an increase of 75 jobs. The expansion will allow the company to serve the entire California market with an expanded product mix that includes more than 12,000 meats, deli and bakery products, domestic and imported chesses, pastas, catering items, and specialty beverages.

The City's Economic Development and Development Services Divisions are assisting Tony's and BTV Development, the construction project manager, to deliver building permits and other city approvals to achieve Tony's operational goals.
Tony's West Sacramento headquarters, a combination of corporate office suites and a perishable food distribution facility, is one of the most modern and efficient in the region.

The 143,000 square foot facility is located on 25 acres. Their fleet of multi-temperature trucks and trailers are carefully designed for hot, valley temperatures. Twenty-three sealed loading bays allow perishables to be kept in a constant 35-degree Fahrenheit climate, whether in storage, on the dock, or in a truck. Tony's plant accurately tracks all products and ensures freshness by using state-of-the-art software for tasks such as radio frequency computers, real-time inventory, and automatic product rotation, voice-activated multiple order picking, and bar code scanning.

In 2007, Tony's sought an innovative technology to hedge against future energy bills, maintain the quality of its perishable food, and provide a clean energy source. Working closely with PG&E, Tony's invested in a 1-megawatt AC photovoltaic system, and applying $3.5 million in PG&E rebates to create the largest, privately owned solar system in Northern California.

"West Sacramento's business climate has allowed us to focus on serving our customers and growing our business," said Scott Berger, Tony's Chief Financial Officer. "We appreciate the City's partnership with us to achieve a phased construction schedule that meets our operational and financial goals."

West Sacramento’s Mayor, Christopher Cabaldon, said, "The City of West Sacramento is proud to be chosen by Tony's for this major business expansion. Like Tony's, The City of West Sacramento prides itself on standing above the competition in providing superior customer service. Tony's success demonstrates that quality, service and integrity, and sustainable building practices are core principles of today's business leaders."

For more information, readers can visit www.tonysfinefoods.com and www.cityofwestsacramento.org/city/depts/redev/ed/.

Rice Exports Soar At Port Of West Sacramento

2009-07-15T16:34:56Z

In May of 2009, The Cunningham Report stated that while container volumes are plummeting at West Coast ports, the Port of West Sacramento - which does not have container facilities - is enjoying a bumper year for rice exports.

Port Manager Mike Luken said that the port is enjoying its best year for bagged rice exports in 15 years. This year, the port expects to export some 339,000 metric tons of bagged rice, which is about double what the port usually handles during the fall-to-fall rice export season.

The rice is moving primarily to Japan and Korea, where demand increased significantly this season.

Kirk Messick, vice president of Sacramento-based Farmers Rice, says the Korean demand stems from an agreement with the World Trade Organization that requires Korea to increase its imports of U.S. rice each year.

The increased demand from Japan is attributed to several factors- including a lack of rice available from China and Egypt following a perceived shortage of rice in those countries.

Marketing makeover for your career or business

2009-07-14T02:57:10Z

Does your career or business need a marketing makeover? Executive coach Laura Perez (www.epiphanycoaching.net) shares eight of her marketing makeover “treatments” from her career coaching sessions and seminars:

1) Know Your C.O.B.S. Before you market yourself, be clear on what you want - the Career you want, the Opportunities that are available, the kind of Boss you want to work for, and the Salary you are willing to accept.
2) Be a Problem Solver. Clearly understand and communicate how you can solve problems. Laura says: “Today’s companies want problem solvers, money savers and out of the box thinkers”. Make sure your resume conveys that.
3) Conduct Informational Interviews. Interview others that hold positions or work in industries or companies you are interested in. Ask about the job or business requirements, challenges, work culture, and so on. Laura says: “People will be surprised on how helpful others want to be”. People generally enjoy giving informational interviews.
4) Brand Yourself. Branding is not just for a business or company, but for an individual as well. Laura says: “How are you going to stand out? What are your unique qualities?” She adds: “What you perceive you can conceive”, meaning self perception and confidence are essential for portraying a positive brand or image.
5) Prepare and Practice Your Elevator Pitch. Most job seekers or business owners have 2 minutes or less to convey their pitch, which is essentially your brand. It should convey your goal, skills and what you need (click here for a sample elevator pitch).
6) Network Yourself. Force yourself to attend business mixers, network events, conferences and professional association events. Also, create professional or business pages on all the social networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkIn, and Twitter.
7) Provide Useful Handouts. Customize and pass out helpful information and tips at mixers, presentations and network events. Find out what others need and give it to them in a concise, practical manner (click here for a sample marketing handout).
8) Explore Joint Ventures. Think about the needs of your customers or clients that you cannot serve; maybe you can connect with another business or professional that can. This will increase your network and cross referrals.

To learn more, you can watch Laura Perez on “Good Work NOW!” this Sunday, July 19, 7:30 – 8:00 PM on Access Sacramento Channel 17. An abbreviated, 10 minute version of the episode is available at www.goodworknow.com

-------------------

Good Work NOW! Is a weekly, non-commercial public access television show produced at Access Sacramento and is a volunteer effort by all involved. Its mission is to help viewers find a job, develop their career or business or improve morale or productivity. It airs every Sunday evening at 7:30 – 8:00 PM on Channel 17 and streams at www.AccessSacramento.org, with an encore broadcast/streaming on Monday, 11:30 – 12:00 noon. The purpose of this weekly column is to share key points and tips from each week’s episode and invite readers to watch the program if they want more details. If you have any questions or comments or have a story or expertise that will help others find or create good work, please email brianmoffitt@comcast.net.

The Sacramento Press gives away two ipod shuffles this week

2009-06-06T21:38:15Z

The Sacramento Press is giving away two ipod shuffles.

Here are the rules of the game.

1. Read the article on the Crocker Art Museum's new wing by Suzanne Hurt posted here on sacramentopress.com 06/05/09.

2. Join the conversation by posting a comment on the article.

3. Invite your friends who are not yet community contributers to sign up for sacramentopress.com [free]. You can use email, phone calls, twitter, facebook or any other social network to ask people to sign up and to vote for you. The votes can be from any community contributer new or old but recruiting helps. One vote per community contributer.

4. Now ask them post a comment in the same article and use your sacramentopress.com screen name at the end of the comment.
Example: I have taken my kids to the Crocker Art Museum for years and I feel it is an important part of there cultural development. [Matt Kennedy]
Matt Kennedy just got a vote.

5. The person who gets the most votes wins two ipod shuffles. One for you and one for a very happy friend.

6. Contest begins 06/06/09 and ends 06/12/09 @ noon. The winner will be announced on sacramentopress.com

sofa photos from The Sacramento Press and Entreprini Tweetup (part four)

2009-05-31T04:03:53Z

Final batch of photos from The Sacramento Press Tweetup.

sofa photos from The Sacramento Press and Entreprini Tweetup (part three)

2009-05-31T03:53:02Z

Sofa photos from The Sacramento Press and Entreprini Tweetup (part two)

2009-05-29T05:20:44Z

Photos taken at The Sacramento Press and Entreprini Tweetup.

Sofa photos from The Sacramento Press and Entreprini Tweetup (part one)

2009-05-29T05:07:08Z

Photos taken at The Sacramento Press and Entreprini Tweetup.

The man on the streets

2009-04-20T21:56:11Z

We have a position at SacPress called a "shucker" that is part of our marketing department. There seems to be lots of questions about what it is they do so I would like to answer a few questions.

Does the biker ride their own bike? No we customize the bicycle and trailer. We work closely with Signs By Tomorrow building custom wraps and marketing panels for each specific bike.

Do they get paid to ride the bike? Yes, but riding is only part of the job. Shuckers also interact with the public while answering questions and introducing people to SacPress. They also communicate with our editorial staff and report breaking news.

What kind of trailer is that? It is a B.O.B trailer

How many miles does the biker travel in a day? We have been recording this number and currently we average about 25-30 miles a day.

Sacramento Zoo Earth Fest wrap up

2009-04-05T01:42:12Z

Today 2500-3000 people attended Earth Fest at the Sacramento Zoo in perfect Spring weather. " I think its activity creating activity, the animals are a huge draw but when you add all the live music and vendors its great for families" said Marisa Hicks Sacramento Zoo Marketing Coordinator.

We gave out 750 reusable grocery bags, stickers and postcards to the public by spinning are gameshow inspired prize wheel. Our booth was visited by the Zoo's very own mascot, Gus the green tree frog, who with one spin walked away with a SacPress bag. It was great to meet so many enthusiastic kids, parents and visitors so excited about the special events put on at the Sacramento Zoo.

The next first Saturday event will be California Celebration on May 2nd

The Sacramento Zoo holds Earth Fest today

2009-04-04T14:23:29Z

We will be updating this storyline at The Sacramento Zoo during Earth Fest today from 9:00-4:00. Sign up to become a community contributer and recieve a free reusabe SacPress grocery bag.

You can also follow our day on Twitter @sacramentopress

We started with a 5:00 AM wake up call and began staging the materials in the office to be loaded up and sent over to the Zoo. The Zoo is projecting about 5,000 people will attend, should be a great day to ride your bike or bring your family down to be part of this great event.

Second Saturday 03/14/09

2009-03-15T04:49:34Z

This Second Saturday we set up shop at Bike Kitchen for the evening of Mochii yogurt, cold beers, good people and a super fun band, The Poplollys! We did a little meet and greet, gave away our reusable grocery bags, stickers and fantastic Mochii yogurt from our friend Marc Otero!

Its is very interesting to hear people talk about there experience with the site just four months after launch. I met a few community contributers and a couple familiar faces from the local media world. With the weather teasing like its Spring people were out and about this Second Saturday and I hope you stopped by and said hello!

A networking night to remember

2009-03-11T06:53:19Z

The Sterling Hotel on 13th and H Street was filled with enthusiasm, entrepreneurial energy and estrogen, Tuesday, March 10.

A group from the Sacramento Press was fortunate enough to attend the monthly Accelerated Networking Dinner for eWomenNetwork. It was the first networking dinner any of us had attended.

Upon checking in, participants received their name tags and were encouraged to mingle among the other business professionals.

Two ballet dancers from the Sacramento Ballet performed while the attendees were getting set up and mingling.

Ron Cunningham, artistic director of the ballet, gave a speech about the upcoming events the ballet has planned (30 more for the rest of the season) and discussed the organization of the Save Our Ballet group, which hopes to raise $150,000. He also mentioned that the ballet had a new home on 14th and H Streets, where the Center for Performing Arts will house four of Sacramento's major classical arts in one building.

The event officially started at 6 p.m. when Suzi Sherman, executive managing director of the Sacramento eWomenNetwork, read the group's mission statement and introduced the women who had set up booths for the evening.

For a timed 60 seconds, each person sitting at the table gave an infomercial about who she was, what she did and what she was looking for in the next 30 to 60 days. Some women were looking for a new laptop, free publicity for an event they were organizing – it was not confined to just obtaining new clients.

Women from all different walks of life were in the mix, and there was one male member out of the more than 40 women in attendance. There was a DJ, green consultant, one-of-a-kind garment designer, professional display sign vendor, life coach, jewelry designer, and writing services specialist, to name a few.

The goal of the dinner was to make connections, not to pass out as many business cards as possible. Not everyone exchanged cards, only those who felt they could benefit from knowing the new contact.

Before dinner was served, attendees were split up into groups of eight to 10 by a pink deck of cards placed on the table for one more round of speed networking.

As dinner finished, Michelle Gamble-Risley, who has over more than 20 years of experience in communications and is a professional writer, public relations and marketing expert, according to her website, began her speech on being successful even in this economy.

Gamble-Risley was not the original scheduled speaker, but her interactive presentation on creating a vision proved to be very useful for the women and man involved.

The Accelerated Networking Dinner concluded with a raffle, which included a pedicure and wine adventure, two tickets to the Sacramento Ballet's Modern Masters, Abbreviated, an Afternoon Tea gift pack and cookbook and many other prizes.

Many of the women in attendance admitted that they have been to many networking events over the course of their careers, but that the eWomenNetwork dinners were the most enjoyable and the most successful.

To learn more about the Sacramento eWomenNetwork, visit ewomennetwork.com.

Twitter milestone

2009-02-02T05:53:38Z

We have broken a milestone on twitter.com, 1000 people following our every tweet! If you are wondering how that compares to others go to twitter.com and search for "Sacramento". We are the number one tweet and in the second position are the Sacramento Kings with nearly half the followers.

This is not a quick article to boast our accomplishments, I write about how we market this company to the Sacramento community and twitter is a very important tool in our department. We use lots of social networking sites to reach out to our readers but as twitter grows its numbers its becoming a very unique tool. We use it to push content out, begin conversations, recruit readers and writers, hold contests, live blog on breaking news and many other uses.

Follow our tweets here

Look what I saw today

2009-01-21T02:15:07Z

So I was riding my bike down 19th and as I passed the Safeway I noticed a spoke card on the rear wheel of a bike that was locked to a small tree. Seems pretty normal, but in my world its a bit more interesting. We created green stickers a little while back, and a few of the people who work at sacpress have them on their bikes like spoke cards, just for fun. So to see this extend outside of our small staff is so neat!

The interesting part is I have know idea who this bike belonged to, a complete win in my world. As we use the "bicycle" more and more in our marketing its fun to see the cycling community embrace what it is we are doing.

Online marketing tool or distraction? Twitter about it!

2008-12-27T02:10:19Z

Many people have opinions about twitter.com and I am trying to find out if anyone on sacpress.com also uses twitter?

We use it as part of an online marketing campaign and to highlight workshops and events. I was honestly a little hesitant to use this tool but after 239 followers and many many direct messages I am really interested in this medium.

One-bag lady

2008-12-09T00:40:57Z

My first shopping trip to Safeway with a reusable shopping bag of my own proved to be very successful. I finally used my Sacramento Press grocery bag to get a few necessities and was pleasantly surprised by how much I could fit into it.

Exactly how much did I fit into the bag, you ask? Let me count the groceries:

3 boxes of cereal
A half gallon of milk
4 frozen dinners
3 bags of frozen vegetables
9 yogurts
2 packages of cheese
1 loaf of bread
1 package of tortillas
5 cans of soup

The Safeway bagger made it all fit perfectly. While it was heavy I was happy to be only carrying one bag and more importantly knowing that bag was not plastic.

If I had a family of five to feed, this might be more difficult to accomplish, however with multiple bags and a cart – it could be possible.

Have you made the switch to reusable bags? Have you seen other people doing it? Do you think it will catch on? Would you like to make fun of the food I eat?

Please comment below.

A closer look

2008-11-30T06:44:44Z

Last week we received 750 lbs of flyers dropped off by our design firm, needless to say you will find a few around town. I wanted to give everyone a closer look at the beautiful design and read a little more about our mission and vision.

Check out the designers website here createwithfuel.com

They have done so much work for us and are the driving force behind the "look" of The Sacramento Press. They are local here in Sacramento and take a quick moment to check out there work.

If you are interested in our product and would like some flyers to pass out to friends and family email me

Do You Have a Business?

2008-11-29T19:42:26Z

Do you have a business?

As the sales manager of The Sacramento Press, I have been meeting with a lot of small business owners in the area who I would have never heard of if it weren’t for a few good leads. And, it’s pretty likely that a lot of other Sacramentans haven’t heard about these quaint little businesses either. We are talking about businesses that could offer up some great goods and services to you and those you know.

With the economy in a downward spiral, it’s becoming more and more difficult for these businesses to brand themselves and market their offerings. As a result, they aren’t in a position to buy internet advertising like they used to.

So when faced with these oppositions I often find myself telling the client, “I understand your dilemma, and eventually I want to be your online ad manager.” “If you can’t place an ad with us today, then we will follow-up with you in the coming weeks with the hope that things have gotten better.”

We all know times are hard, financially, for everyone; however, businesses must advertise in order to keep sales up. Internet advertising can be a key driver to getting more people in the doors of so many local retail and service shops. More people go online now, than ever before, to find nearby restaurants, specialty shops, doctors, dentists, etc.

So the question is, “Do you have a business?”

If you do, send me and email or give me a call. If you don’t, then chances are you know someone who does and you too can drop me a line. You’ll not only be helping The Sacramento Press, you will be helping our community and those small business owners who are in dire need of patrons.

Thanks again,

Angela Jackson
Sales Manager
The Sacramento Press

Curbside bike

2008-11-27T20:57:43Z

On Friday of last week, Nick and I went out for a tour of Sacramento, trying to discover new forms of advertising and new hot spots for our advertising.

We began at Caesar Chavez Park thinking that there would be a farmers market. There wasn't, but that did not stop us from leaving Sac Press cardboard computers in a couple of random places.

We then headed on down to Centro, on J and 28th for some delicious grub. We had a couple margaritas, and dropped a few buttons out front.

They are sure to be noticed by some bar hoppers on Friday night. The genius with this marketing ploy is, that whomever finds this button may think that it was dropped by mistake, and will therefore be more eager to check out the site.

Soon after we left Centro, Nick and I decided that a couple of beers on the patio of Bistro 33 would be perfect for the weather we were having. Nick set his bike against a light post on the corner. As a precursor to what happens next, this bike has a big Sac Press logo on it.

While we were simply sitting and enjoying some cocktails, that bike got more attention than all the buttons I dropped in the past week. One guy knocked it over, and after promptly picking it up, began a conversation with his buddy about what he thought SacPress.com was.

Another couple in passing on their lunch break began the same conversation and Nick chimed in to tell them a little something about the site. Once the gentleman heard this, he couldn't have been happier. He told us that he had been waiting for a site like this, and that the Local News doesn't get the same coverage anymore.

All these inquiries happened merely over the bike on the curbside with a logo on it. People were curious about the logo, but once they found out what Sac Press was, the company sold itself. It was that simple and all that happened in the course of an hour or so.

I love my job! More adventures to come, from my advertising on wheels.

Bike and product placement

2008-11-24T22:22:02Z

Just a photo update on our new bike and shot or two of tools around town. More to come.

Media kit production

2008-11-04T01:14:27Z

This project was one of the first for sacpress I managed. To show pictures does not do the finished product its justice in my opinion. With that said here are some pictures and a video from the first press check.

video

Pedal pedal click click marketing

2008-11-03T22:25:18Z

So one night a few months back, I was sitting in traffic on J street and noticed a Chevy Suburban towing a billboard advertising for a soft drink product. I was a little pissed that this vehicle was driving around burning gas and clogging traffic, but it spurred another idea. Build a better way of doing this in a little more responsible way. How do you advertise your product and not annoy people or make them feel like you're creating traffic jams? The solution was to buy an existing product and rework it a little with the help of a signage company.

Out of this came a bike trailer and bicycle with custom made "wraps". PLease look at the photographs and notice the complete custom build for the trailer.

This piece will be zig-zagging around town, in bike lanes when possible, and burning zero gas. Pedal Power!

In addition, you can get an introduction flyer from the cyclist if you would like to learn more about The Sacramento Press.

Laptop computers

2008-10-30T19:59:55Z

So this is a more interesting piece. The laptop computers are used in a couple of different ways. The original concept was to use them as a direct mail piece and the idea grew as a gorilla marketing piece as well. The photo of boxes are all full of the computers and are being sent out to the Southside park neighborhood.

As well we have placed them on park benches, coffee shop tables, and tons of other random spots. As they are placed in random locations the idea is to find them in places you wouldn't usually find a laptop. Hanging from a tree branch, inside a free newspaper stand and so on. Be on the look out and maybe you'll find a few.

Lastly if you have any suggestions for creative marketing ideas please comment on the storyline.

Stickers and buttons

2008-10-30T19:43:06Z

Here are few examples of our stickers and buttons. Basic marketing piece but trust me this storyline will get more creative in the next few articles.