Social Geek Radio

AK Stout will be traveling to a speaking engagement on Feb 3rd and not available for Social Geek Radio. She will be missed but Deb welcomes BJ Emerson as co-host! Together they will speak with Ron Stack, Founder/COO of Zavee, an innovative community-based social shopping program that rewards loyal consumers, empowers local businesses and provides support for local civic and charitable organizations. Look for Zavee on the Web at zavee.com, check them out on Facebook and follow on Twitter @zavee. Have your computers fired up and ready as BJ returns as the first Geek of the favorite segment, GeekItOut!

Chris Anderson joins AK Stout and Deb Evans to discuss how independent business owners can attract and convert customers online through their own blogs, websites, and in social media. Chris will discuss how Empowerkit, can meet the needs of business owners with their own personalized websites – without risking harm to the brand, loss of corporate control, or legal compliance liabilities in the process. http://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisanderson215 http://empowerkit.com

Join AK Stout and Deb Evans as they chat with Michelle Rowan, COO of Franchise Business Review. Franchise Business Review (FBR) is a market research company in the franchise space. They specialize in franchisee satisfaction, validation and customer validation. FBR helps franchisors benchmark and strengthen their brands, and help interested franchise buyers identify quality franchises to invest in, and make the process easier to connect with franchisees and find reliable satisfaction information.

This week AK Stout and Deb Evans welcome Justin Brackett as special guest. Who is Justin Brackett you ask. He is: A Social Media Evangelist. Entrepreneur. Blogger. Lover of the RedSox. Champion of Non-Profits. Justin recently attended CES (Consumer Electronic Show) in Las Vegas! As Vice President of Digital Management at Kioky (www.kioky.com) (KEY-oak-E) he says, "The greatest problem plaguing our modern world? Poorly applied iPhone screen protectors, of course. Thankfully, New Jersey-based startup Kioky has a solution--its Screen Care Pro back. The company's "perfect fit technology" ships with the above plastic applicator, which centers the screen guard perfectly on your iPhone. - http://www.gearlog.com Justin will share with us the challenges of being a social media evangelist and entrepreneur introducing a new product at the one of the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshows that featured 2700 exhibitors!

Deb Evans welcomes new co-host AK Stout, founder/owner of Saying It Social, LLC. With a degree in Marketing, AK prides herself in finding ways to utilize her knowledge in conjunction with the ever expanding mix and advantages of online tools to increase a brand's exposure while establishing trust and cultivating meaningful business-consumer relationships. Our guest this week is Jack Monson, Vice President Engage121. Engage121 provides marketing and communications professionals with social media and public relations software solutions. Join us as Jack discusses why monitoring social media will help your business respond to relevant conversations. Learn more about Jack and Engage121 http://engage121.com

We are coming to the end of 2010 and time to plan for 2011. What will you Social Technology Strategic Plan look like? Do you have a social media road map? Are you getting the most out of LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook? Join us and guest AK Stout as we discuss planning strategies for 2011! Follow AK on Twitter @SayingItSocial and visit her Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/sayingitsocial

Our guest this week is Tracey E. Diamond, Esq from Hyland Levin Attorneys At Law. Tracey practices in the areas of employment law, human resources counseling and employment litigation. As franchisors continue to use social media to expand brand presence and maintain consistency across all media, it is important to adopt a comprehensive social media policy to ensure that company employees, franchisees and employees of franchisees are on board - while at the same time avoiding exercising too much control over the franchisee's employment practices to limit vicarious liability claims. Tracey will share her list of best practices that should be addressed in all social media policies. Tracey's contact information is: diamond@hylandlevin.com http://www.hylandlevin.com/

Our first guest for the month of December will be Hollis Thomases. Hollis has built a reputation as online marketing’s “Voice of Reason.” In January 2010, Thomases’s first book, Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day, a 478-page business text on the application of Twitter in marketing, was published by Wiley/SYBEX. Since 2005, Thomases has bi-weekly authored the “Planning the Buy” column for top Internet marketing resource site, ClickZ(.com). Thomases has appeared on television (local ABC, NBC and PBS stations) and on TechTV’s “Working the Web” and in such print publications as the Business Week, Advertising Age, Baltimore Sun, DM News, and The Examiner. She frequently speaks at industry and trade conferences such as the American Marketing Association, Search Engine Strategies, The Newsletter and Electronic Publishers Association, The Kelsey Group, the Laboratory Product Association, The Direct Marketing Association of Washington DC, and the Vocus Worldwide User Forum.

This week BJ and Deb are joined by Jared Degnan, host of the Marketing Diner. Http://marketingdiner.com/blog. We'll be covering return on investment within social media. Don't miss this important discussion with a real brand geek.

Our guest, Jay Steinfeld, Founder of Blinds.com built his company from inception in 1996 to $80 million revenue, including three acquisitions. Ranked #192 of all U.S e-commerce companies, #1 e-commerce company in Houston, and the world's #1 online retailer for blinds, shades, and other window coverings. Jay is also author of "The No Nonsense Boss" http://www.bnet.com/blog/grow-business for BNET. (BNET is a website dedicated to issues of business management. It is owned by CBS Interactive and is marketed alongside TechRepublic and ZDNet as members of the BNET Business Network.) Join us as Jay shares his secrets to on-line business success and leadership!

Robin Raskin will be our guest this week. For nearly 30 years Robin has followed technology. Her company Living in Digital Times creates conferences and exhibitions that showcase products, technologies and ideas about what it means to be digital today! Robin produces a series of conferences and exhibits at CES (Consumer Electronic Show). One of them: Kids@Play is devoted to looking at the digital life of today's kids. Silvers Summit at CES looks at technology through the eyes of the mature adult. Robin's been the editor-in-chief of Family PC Magazine, and columinist for USA Today Online. She's served as a consultant and spokesperson for high tech companies including Nickelodeon, Intel, Microsoft, SONY, Disney Publishing, etc. She has produced her own monthly television tours and has appeared on NBC Early Today, MSNBC, Live with Regis and Kelly, CBS Early Show, and Fox's Good Day New York! Join us as Robin shares what it means raising digital kids today!

How can a solid social media presence dramatically increase a website's search engine ranking? Do you know how to use correct page titles, metadata, alt-tags for images, anchor text, etc? Join Deb and this week co-host Lorri Wyndham (@LorriW) and guest AK Stout from WebConjunction. AK will share how she has helped many small businesses grow their business by enhancing their online presence and manage their reputation via social media channels.

Listen in as BJ interviews special guest Bill Hanifin of Hanifin Loyalty, LLC. They'll be discussing the the latest trends in technology related to loyalty, social applications and how brands are rewarding customers.

Once again BJ Emerson will be in the air and unavailable for Social Geek Radio. We may start a contest, “Where in the World is BJ!” Deb invited COMPUTER EXPLORERS Curriculum and Program Development Director, Cyndee Perkins to be her co-host on Thursday Sept 30th and together they searched for a “Geek of the Week” special guest. They are delighted that Margaret Johnson, founder of Sabi Games, a Seattle-based start-up company, accepted the invitation to help them Geek It Out! On the show you will learn how in a few short years Margaret took her startup company to a successful business. Margaret’s passion is about providing kids and parents an alternative to current video and PC games and her mission is to take children’s computer gaming to a higher level. Her ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo, computer games combine learning to read with an innovative drawing recognition technology called “Living Link.” Kids are motivated to read so they can draw the objects which come to life! Tune in to find out how Margaret went fr

BJ and Deb met and interviewed Jeanne Bliss, author "I Love You More Than My Dog" at the Word of Mouth Supergenius conference (see video www.facebook.com/socialgeekradio). Jeanne started her career at Land's End reporting to founder Gary Comer and the company's executive committee, ensuring that in the formative years of the organization, the company stayed focused on its core principles of customer and employee focus. She was the first leader of Land's End Customer Experience. Jeanne now runs CustomerBliss (www.customerbliss.com), an international consulting business where she coaches executive leadership teams and customer leadership executives on how to put profitablity at the center of their business, by getting past lip service; to operationally relevant to operationally executable plans and processes. Her clients include Johnson & Johnson, TD Ameritrade, St. Jude's Hospital and many more. Her best-selling books are "Chief Customer Officer: Getting Past Lip Service to Passionate Action" and "I Love Y