Social Geek Radio

Our guest this week is Kelly McNeer, Social/ New Media Specialist/Strategy and Planning Independent Consultant in Chicago, IL. Kelly has seven years of online advertising and social media marketing experience. Kelly will join AK and Deb and discuss what social media tools can be used for job seekers and employers. www.twitter.com/kellykelmc www.linkedin.com/in/kellymcneer

  Our guest Joe Libava is the author of "Become a Franchise Owner!" He informs would-be franchise owners of the joys and perils of purchasing a franchise providing a straightforward, step-by-step tips and advice on how to properly ("and carefully") research and select a franchise business. Joel will share how to locate information about franchises, current industry trends, and hot franchise opportunities.  Joel on Fox News: here

Happy Thanksgiving! Rerun of a popular show! FranCamp Nashville was just the first stop! It followed the PodCamp format with a fast paced aggressive agenda filled with rich content on the use of social media. Dynamic speakers from the industry shared their expertise and each session was streamed LIVE using UStream. What happened? What was shared?   

Our guest this week is Esther Steinfeld Freedman. Esther founded NotAllCEOsAreJerks.com a site dedicated to highlighting C level executives who give back to their communitities and participate in interesting or extraordinary activities. Esther is the Public Releations Manager for Blinds.com, the largest provider of window treatments on the Internet. Esther's love of Interior Design and "Do-It-Yourself," paired with her knowledge of Public Relations and Social Media have led to the successful conversion of many new customers to customers for life! @esthersteinfeld http://www.linkedin.com/in/esthersteinfeld 

Does attening a conference ignite the passion and enthusiasm you have for social media? Do you wonder what the digital space looks like for kids today? Are you amazed by those that consider themselves "social media experts" but lack a social presence? Have you posted your Google+ business page yet? What type of tools should be in your geek toolbox? How important are analytics? Join AK and Deb as they answer the questions above! Call in and share or join them in the chat.

Last week was a record of 7 guests discussing FranCamp! The conversation will continue with Jack Monson who will share upcoming plans for the next FranCamp. Deb and AK will also be joined by BJ Emerson to discuss The #FlatLorri Project,a community case study in customer engagement. A laminated cut-out image of @LorriW travels the world and publicly shares her exciting adventures while interacting with different brands and businesses as she goes. Each fun post is identified by the hashtag #FlatLorri and includes a brand mention intended to provoke a response from those managing the online presence of the company or business. This site will document the responses of the various brands within and potentially across social networks. This is not meant to be a scientific study but a conversation starter and challenge for brands to demonstrate their humanity and passion for customer service. http://theflatlorriproject.posterous.com/

FranCamp Nashville was just the first stop! It followed the PodCamp format with a fast paced aggressive agenda filled with rich content on the use of social media. Dynamic speakers from the industry shared their expertise and each session was streamed LIVE using UStream. What happened? What was shared? What's the new #FlatLorri Project? Join AK and Deb as they speak to a few attendees that either attended personally in Nashville or via UStream. The Tweets: http://tweetchat.com/room/francamp Recording: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/francamp Where is the Next FranCamp? http://jackmonson.com/2011/10/24/where-is-the-next-francamp/

Please note the time for the show this week (6:30 PT/8:30 CT/9:30 ET). This week AK and Deb will host Social Geek Radio from Nashville, TN as they are setting up for FranCamp! If technology is their friend they will also broadcast live via UStream http://www.ustream.tv/channel/francamp Their guest is Ashley Betzendal, Social Web Communications Manager for The Goddard School. Goddard is reported as the nation's No. 1 childcare franchise and was recently honored for the production of it's "Introduction to Goddard" video and "Virtual Tour" video. Ashley is one of the franchisor panel members for FranCamp and will share her insights to the importance of social media and how she monitors and manages social media for Goddard. Twitter: @AshGoesSocial The Goddard School

The most frequently asked question AK Stout receives from Franchisors is whether or not their individual Franchise locations should have their own Facebook Business Page or whether content from the national Facebook Page can suffice for the entire system. Depending upon your role, you may have an immediate, gut feeling about that idea. AK is not only a firm believer that individual Franchise locations can benefit dramatically from having their own Facebook presence, but she has witnessed the success that can be garnered when a Franchise location builds a community on Facebook. AK will present "Facebook Strategies - Local vs National Pages, Facebook Places and Tips to Engage Your Fans" during FranCamp. Join us as she  shares some of her presentation on Social Geek Radio and of course "Geek It Out" at the end of the show! http://fransocialcamp.com/agenda/

In three short weeks FranCamp,  the first social media un-conference for the franchise industry will take place in Nashville, TN. Anyone who works in franchising should attend. Franchisors, CEOs, COOs, VPs of Marketing and VPs of Franchise Development.  We will continue our sneak peak of the sessions as we talk with our guest this week,  Paul Litterer of HubSpot! Paul will moderate a session on converting leads from social media. http://www.hubspot.com/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/paullitterer Twitter: @plitty

Jennifer MacDonald, Online Community Manager for WIN Home Inspection says using video for business should not be frightening! She will share what you need to know in order to get started with online video as part of your marketing strategies. Jennifer is one of the presenters at the first social media unconference for the franchise industry, FranCamp, to be held in Nashville October 22nd. She will give us a sneak peak to her conference presentation providing helpful tips and tricks to using video! Twitter: @jennimacdonald YouTube

Richard Brasser, CEO, The Targeted Group will be our guest this week. Since founding the company in 1999, Richard has helped some of the nation’s leading brands create their social networking strategies and successful interactive media initiatives. Aiding in strategic marketing programs for companies such as Siemens, Citibank Smith Barney, Pepsi and RSM McGladrey, Richard has honed his understanding of how to create real engagement both in person and online. Join us as we discuss strategies to create online communities for business. Twitter: @RichardBrasser LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brasser

Our guest, Gloria Bell is currently the Co-Chair of the SocialMediaPlus conference and Director of Social Media for Human Capital Solutions.  Between her corporate career and joining Human Capital Solutions, Gloria founded Red Stapler Consulting where she worked with businesses and technology startups providing them with business process and operations consulting and social media strategy and implementation. Truly believing in the business benefits of both on and off line communities, Gloria regularly speaks on networking and the use of social media in business. AK and Deb will also share what they learned in Chicago while attending the Networlding Book Writing Seminar!  

  Our guest, Todd Leiser is an experienced Digital Media professional and Franchise Sales/Management leader at Valpak. Valpak is America's Leader in local cooperative Direct Mail for over 40 years and reaches nearly 45 million households in more than 120 markets in North America every month.Todd will share a little history about QR codes and valuable tips on how to use in business today! http://twitter.com/valpaktodd http://www.toddleiser.net/ http://www.valpakfranchising.com

Join us as we talk about the new book Location Based Marketing for Dummies with co-author Aaron Strout.  Learn about how this growing concept and new technologies are making an impact on business and commerce.  Want to learn how you can use location based services to attract and retain customers? Listen in as BJ Emerson joins Deb Evans as AK is away this week.  

Finding it hard to keep up with the social media updates to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and now Google+? AK and Deb will layout the changes and updates that took place this week so you are on top of things as a marketer and/or business owner! Feel free to call in and share what you have learned and how it has applied to you.

It's that time of year when parents are preparing to send their students back to school! What technology should they carry in their pocket? What type of digital cameras, computers, smartphones should be on the shopping list for school, home or business use? To make sense of it all, Ken Colburn, CEO and founder of Data Doctors franchise and radio host will join us as we discuss what every student and business owner should have as part of their tech survival guide!

FranCamp 2011: Franchising Goes Social will be the first social media un-conference for the franchise industry. Social media and social media related topics are the most talked about in franchising and even at huge events like the annual IFA conference, helpful information is sometimes hard to come by. Our guest Thomas Scott, CEO at Brand Journalists will share why he Deb, AK and Jack Monson are part of FranCamp and why anyone in the franchising industry should attend. The event is also open to non-franchise industry leaders and will interest those involved in the consumer side of marketing. For more information: http://fransocialcamp.com/

How do you market to your customers in a world gone mobile? Chuck Martin, author of The Third Screen and New York Times Business Best Seller The Digital Estate will join Deb and AK to share how to harness mobile technology to better serve your customers more effectively. Connect with Chuck Martin: Twitter Google+ LinkedIn

Kirsten Knipp, Director of Product Marketing at HubSpot will walk Deb and AK through strategies of inbound marketing - getting found, converting leads to customers, and analytics the HubSpot way! Check out HubSpot's weekly marketing update videos on HubSpot.TV which is filmed live on Fridays.Kirsten will share a little about HubSpot's very unique culture and you can find their "Living Guidebook for Potential and Current Employees" here http://www.hubspot.com/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstenpetra