HUGS 2011: Hubspot User Conference

Before this becomes obsolete, I wanted to write a quick post on my attendance to the Hubspot 2011 Conference this past Friday. The company I am currently employed utilizes Hubspot software for its online marketing initiatives, and I have since become an obsessed user since being introduced to the system about 6 months ago. Hubspot hosted a conference at the Boston Sheraton this past Friday, called HUGS 2011, and it was, for the most part, good.

{Powerful Closing Here} Such delicious Geekiness...

The day had a full agenda of seminars that were broken up into three tracks based on experience of Hubspot users. I felt torn between the Intermediate and Advanced sessions, so I attended a few of both. Some of the presentations were a bit better then others, but for the most part I felt as though I knew most of the material already, or was in a real-life Hubspot webinar. Which has its great moments, but wasn't what I'd expected.

The event itself was okay, you could tell that they still need to tweak things a bit to make flawless. For example, there was a  Q&A lunch session with the CEO and Founder that I really wanted to catch, but I had gotten a late seat at a table waaay in the back with lots of chattering marketers, so I had no prayer of hearing what was going on. One of their big speakers also didn't show up due to illness, which was disappointing

However, I do not regret attending. I got a great spreadsheet that I'm still wrapping my mind around to measure ROI of online marketing efforts. I got further inspired and was yelling "YES! YES!" in my head during a content seminar about blogging and have a slew of new ideas to get my company involved with our blog. Lastly, my favorite presentation was by Jeanne Hopkins, Director of Marketing at Hubspot. The seminar not only gave me great pointers on marketing collaborations, but I was able to snag her for a quick conversation on how to be a strong female leader in the male workplace.

You're on your way, Hubspot, and I like what you're doing. I believe next year will be even better!

If you went to the conference, let me know what you think ;)

How Much "Klout" Do You Have?

My mother, while working at the 6 In the Shipyard shop today, was speaking with a woman who is the Director of Marketing at the Hingham Launch. She said that she LOVES all of my little updates, the weekly blog posts I do, and wanted to know if I needed any help in any way.

It's so funny to me because after being a Marketing Associate for over a year now, I've come to understand how important it is - (at least for SEO purposes, but also because online marketing has a huge "social media" aspect, now) to be engaged and updated with your website.

Nowadays, if you throw up a website and don't touch it or blog ever, users will notice and people will leave. They can tell when you are outdated, which is now being associated with how reputable you are. I've actually helped out a few friends on getting their own websites started, and actually maintain a few of them as a side-side business. (You know, with all that spare time I have?)

Find out your Klout Score at www.klout.com

Anyway, I had checked out this website Klout.com a while back to check out my "Klout Score" and had kind of forgotten about it. Now, with @TheAshTree getting at least a follower or two a day, I was curious to see what my score was.

I'm still in the gray "casual" section - though I don't know why. I feel like I'm tweeting the crap out of my business(es), but whatev. From this section, it looks as though I could be more active with my Twitter: which I agree, I could. I guess the "Listening" section is an accurate description.

So go check out your "klout" and the let me know how you rank!

Follow me on Twitter: @TheAshTree

Bumper Stickers from BuildASign.com!

A few weeks back I received an email from a Marketing Associate that had come across my blog and offered me a link exchange: that is, in exchange for placing a link to my website, they would send me some of their product for free.

Buy Bumper Stickers from BuildASign!

The company is called BuildASign, and I worked with the Marketing professional - who was extremely helpful - to come up with a product that I could give away to my readers, or include with a purchase of my product at 6 In the Shipyard. I decided to go with Bumper Stickers, because they are a fun little way of spreading the word about my business. I also looked at a custom banner, but decided the Bumper Stickers were definitely the way to go! Contact me if you'd like me to shoot you one of these gorgeous Bumper Stickers for free, or swing by 6 In the Shipyard's store location!

I received the Bumper Stickers a few weeks back and am thrilled with how they came out! I encourage all my readers to please check out BuildASign if you have any professional signage needs. I thought it was so cool that my blog received recognition as being a valuable source of crafting information and was considered for this marketing initiative - thanks especially to my readers who made it happen!

Additionally, if you'd like to include a link on my blog or want to speak to about potential sponsor opportunities, please contact me.

View Your Personal Brand with a Wordle!

I went to a RainCamp convention the other day for work, and it was full of useful SEO information.  The speaker also gave some fun websites to visit and play around with that are now available. For example, the following image is a Wordle I created using my blog feed. Visit wordle.net, copy and past a feed URL, your Twitter, or any amount of text content and the website will generate a Wordle. The words that are the biggest, you use the most, and you can organize the text in any color and format that you want!

I thought that this was completely cool. You can save your Wordle to a public gallery under any name, too! Very nerdy, but in a way, it is a great tool to help you figure out how you are being perceived at any point in time, or to understand your personal online marketing brand.

Apparently for me, I say "really" a lot. Don't know what that's all about! Luckily, calligraphy and wedding terms show up a fair amount of times as well.

So click on mine, go make your own wordle and see how awesome it is. And show me!! Comment what you find, or link me to your wordle :)

Featured Etsy Seller: RiceCakeShack!

This week's featured etsy seller is based across the pond in the United Kingdom. (Did you like that little pond-ocean reference? I'm so cute. :)

Speaking of cute, RiceCakeShack has just about the cutest freaking stuff I have ever seen. Her shop has these adorable little necklace sculptures brilliantly photographed on a hot pink background. Her representative shop image is a cloud, above, and she explains "a cloud is unpredictable and you never know what your going to get in life, just like you never know what your going to get with a new cloud: will it turn into rain or just float away so you can see the sunshine?"

Growing up, she liked to draw and was influenced by her favorite artist Alex Pardee. After some difficult life experiences, she found that her work was being influenced by them: in the form of mutants just wanting to be loved (Some of this is more evident closer to Halloween)

As you can see (and as subtly indicated I think by her shop name), she then began to look at Japanese imagery - and her products are purposely portrayed as happy as she feels that "behavior breeds behavior". She believes her greatest strengths are with her weather creations, as she has had much success in and out of her shop. Also, her favorite etsy shop is SparkleNGlitter, as she had a positive customer service experience with her. She loves the jewelry in her shop, and appreciated the personal attention the shopowner gave her after a purchase.

She also has different promotions every month - this month is a free gift with every purchase - and promotes herself through Facebook.

Below is my favorite item, a necklace of a "Star that Shines at Night", $13. I love both the concept and the fine detail work of the star itself, along with its adorable expression. Be sure to stop by RiceCakeShack, and support an international Etsy artist!

Do you know YELP?

I recently checked YELP out because I read a blog post about it. And then looked up a place that treated me SO BADLY that I had to trash it. Yeah, I know - real mature. But it was in all honestly, totally that bad. I remember wanting to call the manager or something that day.

So it is a great website to review business locations, and is very helpful to research places before you go there or participate. For example, I reviewed The Paper Source in Harvard Square, because it has the most awful customer service I have ever experienced. The people who work there, for some reason, are very high-and-mighty: and no one deserves to be treated like that.


I also looked up Boston Sports Clubs, because I was debating joining a gym. The one a few blocks away from my place had really great reviews, so I checked out their website and found that they were having a student special. I was put in contact with someone there, and he was great about answering my questions and helping me sign up. So I'm now a member!

You can find my calligraphy page under Ash Tree Calligraphy, and also all my handmade jewelry is now in a retail location, 6 In the Shipyard.

So it's definitely worth checking out - especially to see if your business is being reviewed. It's also fun to review/read up on restaurants to visit. Sign up and friend me! :D

And don't forget those glamorous reviews of my businesses ;)

Social Media Overload: What it is and how to use it

Online social media applications for mainstream consumer use are becoming more and more popular. Entrepreneurs and small businesses have started to accept and utilize social media to their advantage. But what can social media do for you? What should it be used for? What shouldn’t you do with it?

The ambiguous term “online social media” is an online platform by which individuals communicate. Website tools that fall under the umbrella of this definition are Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and blogs. All these online resources require a large and consistent investment of time, and an increasing number of companies are investing in job positions intended to only manage all of their accounts. But the most appealing attribute of online social media is its low cost, immediate response capabilities, and the equal opportunity of large and small businesses to compete.

The basic concept of social media is that it, like your business, is all about relationships and accessibility. You want to generate and retain relationships online just as you in-person. When it comes to your online profiles, however, it is important to note that these are NOT venues to market your business by publishing content-related information. Content, sales, and promotions should all be reserved for your advertising and website. No one likes a salesman when one is browsing these social sites on their personal time. Think of it this way: if you had a Twitter account, would you follow someone who is constantly promoting themselves, or someone with a sense of humor with their status updates?

The purpose of profiles like Twitter and your blog are to give a face to your company. Social media implies an “interaction” with your customer, or informational “sharing”, not a one-way channel for just slamming them with content. With applications like Facebook, you can go to where your customers already are, and catch their interest with your personality and dedication. People also find value in articles or blog postings that are relevant to your shop or industry, but have a more universal appeal for browsers that may turn into customers. For example, if you have a chain of bakeries, you could post an informative article to your blog “10 Easy and Unique Cookie Recipes”.

As a business owner, you can also gain a more thorough insight into your customers. You can learn from their questions or concerns and what is really important to your customer. The most successful companies are usually identified as those who respond quickest to market changes. Through appropriate use of social media you can always have a finger on the pulse of your customer base.

To conclude, social media shows your customers how much you care. The passion that you have for your company and doing what you love will shine through. This will make you stand out among your competitors.

Some take-away tips:

• Make sure to stay committed to your blog and update it at least 2-3 times a week.
  


• Twitter at different times of the day to catch different customers in multiple locations.
  


• With the rich mix of users now on Facebook, it’s a great time to create a fan page for customers to search, read, and follow you.

And lastly, if you haven’t already, be sure to create a profile on LinkedIn, which is an excellent networking resource for small business owners.