Do you know what information about you is online? Something as simple as a Google search could stand in between you and your next job, project or relationship. With all this information ‘out there’ people are going to use it to help them make decisions. Take some time (regularly) to search for your name, your company, maybe even your phone number. Whatever is important to you, you should know what information is out there.

Using public websites for private information – Just because the internet is huge, doesn’t mean it is anonymous (ahem Weiner). What you may consider a private message, post, email, check-in – could be seen by someone else as something to share. How many accidental public DMs have you seen on Twitter? A lot, I have even sent a few. It happens. What you decide is private can easily become public online.

Also, last week at Abstract Maine, one of the speakers said that he didn’t have to ask permission to use someone’s photo if they were using it for a ‘news’ story. That made my ears perk up… because what is even considered ‘news’ anymore? Who knows. I have also heard if you are in a public place people can use your photo. Weird!

I don’t really have answers to a lot of these questions but I do have more questions. We had a good talk about this at an event I spoke at last week. Some of the best things you can do to protect yourself is to know what your personal sharing rules are. Think about it, know what you want people to find about you online and what you don’t – then set up your accounts to reflect your goals. You also should have these conversations at work, with your friends and your family.

As I was writing this I just heard about Me on the Web which was released by Google as a way to keep track of your online identity. Although there doesn’t seem to be a lot of new information here it is packaged up quite nicely. They ask you to have a Google account, create a Google Profile, search for yourself online and set up alerts so you get notified if someone posts information about you. Again, nothing totally new but not a bad idea and they have some ideas on how to get rid of content you don’t want about yourself online.

Scared yet? Me too. Bring your tin foil hat and join me at next week’s Social Media Breakfast where we are talking all about Social Media in Highly Regulated Industries and learn about some more information you can use to protect yourself and your business online.

Photo credit: Holster®

This month we get to pick the brains of Barbara Hart of Hire Well and Shawn McGowan from jobsinme.com on what changes they have seen with the recruiting and job searching processes from social media. If you aren’t looking for a job right now or looking to fill a position right now this is still an important breakfast for you. Down the road you will be faced with these decisions so you should try to understand this changing process now.

Need some more food for thought? Have you thought about what people researching you or your company think about what they find? What does your digital image say about you? Are you or your company sending the right message?

I really like this video of business expert and author Tim Sanders and I have shown it at multiple presentations. Is your company Facebook status worthy?

We really hope you can make it to this month’s breakfast. Sign up here. It is going to be a good one!

We invited some of our favorite SEO experts to come and chat with us about how SEO works and how you can use that knowledge to optimize your content and social media profiles and updates.

People are using the internet and their online network to research products, services and companies. The best way to be found when people are searching is to optimize your content. This means targeting keywords, having keyword dense content, being an authority and having relationships with other people in and around your industry online.

Search engines are regularly adding Tweets, LinkedIn profiles and Facebook pages to search engine results. Instead of just ranking for your website you can own your search terms by optimizing more of your online profile – you just need to know how.

We hope you can make it to our upcoming breakfast. If not, stay tuned for the slides and notes on our archive page after the event.

This is a great opportunity for the speakers to get more comfortable and possibly get to know each other better as well. This week I met with Jaica, Chris and Dave to discuss our upcoming breakfast. This particular breakfast is about creating different kinds of content for your audience in customers so these are three pretty creative folks.

When I met with them a few things stood out to me:

• This was the first breakfast where all three speakers knew each other very well
• All three of them were Mac users
• I possibly took away more from the meeting than they did

I consider myself pretty creative. In my “real job”, I am fortunate enough to share a space with other creative (and smart, I must say) people. But in a 45 minute meeting with our next three speakers, my brain opened some different channels.

Because of Chris, I found a better way to do a presentation I am in doing in Colorado next month. Jaica gave me a really cool website for connecting with other “foodies” and got the gears turning on some video ideas I want to do with a client. Dave got me thinking about not depending on words and text so much and trying some new things with images and illustrations.

All this from a short meeting to discuss logistics. Just got me to thinking, there is a lot to be said for stepping outside your workspace, your brain, your co-workers, your network and see how other people do things. This has a lot to with with the tone and goals of these breakfasts. I think we can learn so much from our friends, neighbors and other businesses about how they are using social media.

I hope all of you enjoy the breakfast tomorrow and you are prepared to think about new ways of connecting with your audience and customers!

This month we are going to explore types of content you can create to promote your business. Having a Facebook fan page, a Twitter account and a LinkedIn group won’t get you very far if you have nothing to share with those networks. We have invited some of our favorite local creative types to open our minds up and explore new content possibilities and share with us what has worked for them and what hasn’t.

Chris Cavallari is going to step out from behind the video camera and talk to us about creating video content for social networks and your business. Dave Weinberg is going to share with us his learning experience creating cellphoneSketchpad. Finally, Jaica Kinsman from Guiding Stars will show us the types of content they are producing for their audience and focusing on education over marketing their business.

What: Social Media Breakfast – Making Creative and Educational Content for Your Customers and Audience
When: April 23rd 7:30 – 10:00 AM
Where: MPX map to location

Register and save your spot now!

We have had such a great time and support from the community while putting these breakfasts together. We have met some amazing people and learned from experts and our peers on how businesses can use social media to help them with their marketing and PR.

Register early. This event will sell out!

All Star Cast of Speakers

We have an all star lineup of some of our favorite speakers from the past breakfasts and some new case studies and speakers as well. For past speakers we have invited back Heather Wasklewicz from 32north (the makers of STABILicers ice cleats), Chrystie Corns to talk about personal branding, Calvin Gilbert from Goodwill NNE, Alex Steed for his expertise in working with nonprofits and Brad Lawwill from Pierce Promotions to talk to us again about creating social media policies. For new guests we are excited to have Candace Karu from Cabot Creamery, Keith Luke from the City of Westbrook and Jeff Parsons from Q97.9.

For the full list of presenters and their presentations
check out our upcoming page.

Great Sponsors Help Make a Great Event

We are very lucky to have the support of two great sponsors who understand the vision of this special social media brunch!

The City of Westbrook

The City of Westbrook is changing right before all of our eyes. With some great additions to the business scene in downtown, Westbrook is becoming an even greater town for participating in lots of activities, shopping and dining. Westbrook has been using video to help show and tell local residents more about what they have to offer. We knew we wanted to partner with them for this event and host it in their fine city.

The Maine Marketing Association

The MMA has become a local fixture for events, seminars, Lunch N Learns and support for its members and businesses. The Social Media Breakfasts have always been to educate the community on how to market themselves online. We are fortunate to be able to team up with another local group that has the same values and goals to put on a really unique event.

Social Media is a great way to reach new people online and converse with them like never possible before. For some industries Social Media has shown to be just another extension of their current marketing and business approach. The Travel, Tourism and Recreation Industries have a unique opportunity to connect with people before they make their vacation and travel plans. We are choosing to hone in on the Travel, Tourism and Recreation Industry for this month’s breakfast.

Most vacations and trips start with online research through search engines, blogs and on social media sites. We now have the ability to converse with our online network and get their opinion before we move toward booking our trip. Participating online so that you are found when people are looking for these ideas and service is imperative to your businesses growth.

This month is going to be slightly different with a short presentation on changes the travel, tourism and recreation industries have seen in the last few years and then we will have three local case studies to share with us their online and offline marketing strategy. Norm Forgey from Maine Day Trip, Heather Wasklewicz from 32north the makers of STABILicers and Darcy Liberty and Nick Lambert from Sunday River will be this months speakers.

Register today and we look forward to seeing you all at another great breakfast!

‘Tis the season for giving thanks and I have to start with thanking everyone who has helped make our breakfasts a success: MPX has been so generous to let us use their space, our raffle donations have been great and of course our presenters and attendees. This month’s topic was brought up at a breakfast and also through the contact form on our site. We think we have a good topic for this month.

Personal or Professional on social networks

Social Media has done some great things for local businesses. Some people are themselves and reap benefits by becoming online friends and sharing news about their company. Other are their company logo online and have got lots of chatter going about their company. Some other people have found a way to do both. What is the right thing to do? How do you decide what is best to get your message out?

We are going to try to demystify how to create your social media content personally, professionally and try a few things in between. Emily Brackett, president of Visible Logic, is going to talk to use about making the decision on whether to be your brand or yourself. She will give us some real life examples from different industries so that you can make the right decision. Then we have two local professionals to talk to us about how and why they chose to promote their ‘personal brand’ or their company. Chrystie Corns, President & Chief Strategist for Thirteen Thirty Marketing, will talk about her decision to be a strong personal brand and Chris Brown, VP of Bull Moose will share with us promoting a company brand on social networking sites and the benefits his company has seen from his efforts.

Register today and we look forward to seeing you all at another great breakfast!

We all know now that participating in Social Media can open up new opportunities for you and your business but how do you know if what you are doing is working? Are people hearing what you are saying? Are you connecting with new potential customers? Are you wasting your time?

This month’s Social Media Breakfast Maine we will tackle all those questions and more. We will lay out what goals you and your organization should set up and how to track your progress. We are very excited to have Monica Wright and THE Rich Brooks present for us on setting goals and measuring. We also have a local case study from Calvin Gilbert who oversees the web development and print for Goodwill Industries of Northern New England.

We think this topic will be a popular one so register early. This month’s event will be held again at MPX on outer Congress, here in Portland. MPX has been a generous sponsor and partner for these breakfasts.

We got this topic from a few people who attended the last breakfast and some who filled out the contact form. If you have a topic you would like to see covered please contact us.

If you were not able to attend our last breakfast for Non-profits the recap and presentations are on our archive page.

We’ve invited back Alex Steed to drill down more specifically how he sees social media as a tool for nonprofits. We also invited Brian Clark of Strong Fathers Maine to speak first hand about what he has seen using social media and Kaitlin LaCasse from Idealware to share her experiences with social media as well!

For more information please check out our upcoming breakfast page and register early because this topic is sure to sell out!