Bill Powell

Social: Southern Style

By: Bill Powell > August 20th, 2009

Today I am headed to SocialSouth, a social media conference in Birmingham, AL, and I am excited to learn a thing or two while I’m there:

How can a national brand’s social strategy translate to regional/local businesses?
How can traditional agencies make the transition to the social space?
Is Twitter here for the long-term? What’s their revenue model?
How can an employee of a business keep up with all of the latest in the social space but still be a productive asset. -OR- How can a business outsource their social strategy and implementation while also being authentic?

Follow me on Twitter for updates at the conference and let me know if there are any questions you want me to investigate while gathering with other leaders in social media.

Social in Lexington

Are you in the Central Kentucky area? Join me and Whitney Pannell at the Women Leading Kentucky September luncheon leading a discussion: Internet, Twitter, Facebook & More: A Waste of Time or Useful Business Tool?

Workshop: Intro to Social Media for Business

By: Bill Powell > April 27th, 2009

Twitter and Facebook for business: an introductory workshop

Do you want to know how to use Twitter? Should you use Twitter for business? How can it help you and not overwhelm you? We’ll address these issues in our introductory workshop for users just getting into Twitter and Facebook for business.

This workshop will give a basic overview of Twitter and some great tools to help you leverage its power to keep your finger on the pulse of your industry, and monitor what people may be saying about your company or industry. We will also introduce you to common Twitter etiquette and suggested best practices.

Even if you have a small business you can effectively use Twitter as a personal tool to network with others and engage in meaningful conversations.

Facebook is a great tool for connecting with old friends, but did you know that it can be an effective way to spread word about your business or organization?

At this workshop we will show you how to set up your business most effectively on Facebook, and introduce you to other tools to get the word out about your business to local users on Facebook.

We will also briefly discuss other social tools to assist you in managing multiple accounts, as well as what people are saying about your business on the internet.

Cost to attend is $50 and seating is limited. Register today!

First workshop- 10am-1:00pm on May 12th sold out

Second workshop- 10am-1:00pm on May 27th

Offices of Serif Group and Inbox Orange

207 East Reynolds Road, Suite 210, Lexington, KY 40517

The last hour will be a casual and informal lunch conversation. Lunch will be provided by Corky’s Ribs and BBQ.

Office Space

By: Bill Powell > March 5th, 2009

Advertising & graphic design agency, Serif Group, has office space available. The office is located on the second floor of 207 East Reynolds Road, Suite 210—between Nicholasville Road and Lansdowne Drive.

Amenities include: conference room, contemporary décor, utilities included, convenient location, a spacious, free parking lot, lots of sunlight, kitchen area, and a private office space. See photos on our Facebook page.

It would be an ideal location for an independent professional looking to move out of their home. Rent is affordable and includes utilities. For more information, contact Jackie or call 859-271-0701.

“Eye-catching” spot got us to stop the fast forward

By: Bill Powell > February 23rd, 2009

I’m amazed at how my TV-viewing habits have changed over the years. Our first TiVo box opened up new life for us in a way that was more fulfilling than our current cable provider-issued DVR box, but that’s another story. We can now watch Survivor in 40 minutes instead of 1 hour. The Office in just over 20 minutes instead of 30. That’s a lot of extra minutes gained for housework, reading, or more realistically, surfing the web.

But what does this say about people who are supposed to watch TV for the commercials? We’re advertising agency owners, ferpetesake! However, the other night we spotted a commercial that was actually worth stopping for: the new H&R Block “Second Look” spot. The guy with one eye was too “eye-catching” to pass up.

Upon devoting 30 seconds of our lives to it, Bill and I agreed that it was great. Just what is needed these days to cut through the clutter of TV advertising. It’s not enough to sound intriguing, you must have intriguing visuals to get viewers to stop fast-forwarding.

What do you think about that spot? Disgusted like these folks? Or did it get your attention, too?

What’s next, text spam?

By: Bill Powell > January 15th, 2009 > One comment

I’m not a big text person, so when I received one the other day I was curious to find out who it was. It was AT&T texting me about American Idol Season 8. Funny, I didn’t ever remember signing up to receive text alerts from American Idol or AT&T. With economic pressures mounting look out for companies Spamming via text. Although some would argue that the AT&T message was not Spam because it was free, it did ruffle some feathers.

As an email marketer, I fight the uphill perception battle that Email marketing is Spam. I figured the best way to combat this perception is to learn about SPAM and try to help others understand what they can do to fight it.

What do we do with all of the junk we get? If your Spam filter isn’t catching everything these sites may help: