Cshel Chicago SEO, PR and Web Development

How To Reorganize Management For Social Media, Search Marketing and Internet Advertising

Posted on 23. Jul, 2008 by Carolyn Shelby.

Based on the title, you probably thought this was going to be a long and academic blog entry, but HA! you’ve been had. This is actually a shameless plug for a speaking engagement.

Come hear me speak on Wednesday, July 30th at the Gleacher Center, Downtown Chicago

You might be wondering what management has to do with social media, SEM, online advertising, etc. If you’ve ever worked for a not-online-only company, chances are you know *exactly* what manglement has to do with it — or more to the point what role they play in preventing you, and the people like you who know what needs to be done to get it done right, from doing your job.

This talk is aimed at upper management and executives who either think they know about social media, SEM/SEO and internet advertising, or who realize they only know the buzzwords and need a better understanding of the concepts and ideas.

The goal of the session is to give these decision makers with a better grasp of the concepts involved, and help them start thinking about ways they can modify current business procedures to accommodate these new and emerging technologies.

It’s all great to walk into the marketing department and declare, “Let’s get on Digg! Let’s get a million visitors!”, but seriously, is that really what the company NEEDS? How do you even define what is needed? [...]

Popularity: 69% [?]

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Silicon Prairie Social 2 – No Recruiters or Job Seekers Allowed

Posted on 11. Jan, 2008 by Carolyn Shelby.

Silicon Prairie Social 2, the TechCocktail of the burbs, is slated for Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at the same place it was held back in September (Mullen’s in Lisle). While the last social was jam packed, this one should be a little thinner due to the ban on active job seekers, recruiters and staffing agency types.

Initially, when I read that part of the announcement, I thought, “that is a great idea!” mostly because I end up getting talked to by recruiters all night long instead of talking to other people who have job-jobs. Apparently, Ron May said something in one of his copious newsletters about how awful the disenfranchisement of those groups is, but I didn’t really read it so I’m not going to attempt to craft a truly well written response. I’m sure if Ron shows up to this event I’ll end up hearing about it anyway.

My guess is the goal of the ban is to encourage more actual tech discussion, and also to limit the number of people who RSVP because the venue is not huge to begin with, and now that it’s winter and we can’t avail ourselves of the outdoor seating, the space will be even more limited than before. Also, the food ran out rather quickly last time and I’m going to attribute that to hungry job seekers as well.

At any rate, I’m looking forward to attending on the 24th to see how the new rules affect the atmosphere, crowd levels and overall utility of the event.

Popularity: 61% [?]

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PageRank Update, TechCocktail 6, Omaha

Posted on 07. Nov, 2007 by Carolyn Shelby.

I apologize (yet again) for my extended absence from blogging. I’ve been in Omaha for the past two weeks to make the final push to finish an enormously large project and I’ve also been beside myself with grief over my PR losses from the most recent toolbar update. Nothing a lot of little Ketel One couldn’t fix though.

Regarding the PageRank update: No loss in traffic, doesn’t seem to be anything hurt but my pride. I strongly suspect I’ll survive.

Regarding TechCocktail 6: I hear it’s sold out now, so yay that I remembered to r.s.v.p. early this time. It’s scheduled for Thursday, November 15th at John Barleycorn in Wrigleyville (where it was the last time it was in the city… was lots of fun). Sadly, I may not be able to go if I end up being sent back to Omaha (again) next week. If that happens, I’ll be happy to give my “confirmation for 2″ thingy to someone who is able to attend but didn’t sign up in time. If I am going back to Omaha, I’ll post something to the blog to see if anyone is interested in the tickets… please don’t email me about it til then. :)

Regarding Omaha: *sigh* I only wish I could tell you about the festivities, because this project is really the poster child for “What is a tragic comedy?”. On the upside, I’m racking up the frequent flier miles and I’m on a first name basis with the hotel staff, the starbucks drive-up girls, and the car rental people.

On the downside, I think my kids have forgotten what I look like.

With luck (crosses fingers), this insane travel will be done by the end of the year for sure and life will settle back down. Until then I will be more vigilant about posting. My biggest fear has just been that my posts will start to look much like my Twitters (e.g. me whining about the travel and the project and generally venting to prevent insanity).

Popularity: 26% [?]

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