Social Media Experiment – Pet Portraits – Portrait of Ruby

Ruby, was an amazing dog with amazing heart of pure gold. She recently passed away and is dearly missed by her owners and myself. I had the unique opportunity to meet, greet, and spend some time with her last Thanksgiving weekend. She would follow my little Captain Murphy around and treated him like her boyfriend. What a wonderful soul.

- Social Media Marketing and Social Networking can not only dramatically increase the viability of the bottom line to a small business, but also the visibility as well. The potential to reach an enormous customer base and increase the overall ROI of an Internet Marketing budget is there. You just need to think a bit outside the box.

Check out my other Recent Pet Portraits.

Pet Portraits by Andrew David Baron

Tags: drawing, pet portrait, pet portraits, social, Social Media, social media consultant, social media consulting, social media experimient, social media marketing, Social Media Posts
Posted in: Facebook, LinkedIn, Pet Portraits, Social Media Consulting, Social Media Experiments, Social Media Posts, social networking, Twitter |

Comments: 35 Comments

December 2010 Linkedin Poll: Do you plan on using a Social Media Consultant in 2011?

For December 2010, I chose this question for my Linkedin Poll: Do you plan on using a Social Media Consultant in 2011?

Looking ahead to 2011, which isn’t very far away, I’ve been asking small business owners if they have thought about using Social Media more. The answer has been a resounding, “YES!” 100% of the time. I then immediately follow up and ask them if they know either where to start or how they are going to acheive this goal. Take a wild guess what the resounding answer was on that one? (Hint: It’s the opposite of yes.)

The fact is that many business owners have absolutely no idea of what the heck they are getting themselves into with regards to business social integration. Some believe that it’s just like their regular interactions on Facebook with their teenage children or close relatives. A few even think that Social Media will magically save their business from an immanent fiscal doom. I shake my head sometimes when I hear some of the logic behind many of these pre-conceived notions about Social Media and Social Networking. My theory has always been, why waste time and spend hours upon hours a day/week/month trying to figure something out, when the solution has always been right in front of you: hire a professional.

Here is a great parable to envision: When you want to build an addition to your home, what do you do?

[Answer A.] Say, “I got this!”, and then proceed to build the addition yourself?

[Answer B.] Say, “I’ll watch endless episodes of, ‘This ‘Ole House’ to motivate you enough to then do the research on HOW to do, Answer A?

[Answer C.] Say, “You know what? Carpenters & contractors are the professionals in this industry, I’m going to call them and get an estimate on how much it’ll cost, as well as the amount of time involved to get the job done.

I think most of us would like to choose Answer A; then attempt Answer B; only to wind up at Answer C.

My suggestion would be save money and time, by always seeking out a professional, if you know that you have no clue of what you are getting yourself into. The results could be disastrous and counter productive. Granted, Social Media isn’t brain surgery, but important thing to take away from this blog post, is that when considering the life of your business to use your money and time wisely. Talk to a social media professional and get the job done right, the first time because 2011 is right around the corner.

Byte Back!

Tags: business owner, business social integration, social, Social Media, social media consultant, social media consulting, Social Media Posts, social media professional, social networking
Posted in: Facebook, Internet Marketing Consulting, LinkedIn, Social Media Consulting, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Posts, social networking |

Comments: 76 Comments

November 2010 Linkedin Poll: Is MySpace still relevant for a Social Media Marketing campaign for a Business?

For November 2010, I chose this question for my Linkedin Poll: Is MySpace still relevant for a Social Media Marketing campaign for a Business?

Earlier today I read an article on Mashable, written by Adam Ostrow, about Facebook‘s latest integration with MySpace…and that got me thinking. Who still uses MySpace?

Since the dramatic rise and almost omnipotent like reach of Facebook and Twitter, the utter decline of MySpace was all but immanent and clockwork. Looking back on the last few years, one has to wonder if certain Social Networks really were as important or relevant as people say they were.

I, for one, never really liked the overall look and feel of MySpace to begin with. My reasoning has always been quite simple: 1. It was always WAY too much customization available to the end user. There was never any consistency to accounts. So you never really knew what you were getting yourself into when visiting someone’s profile. 2. Along these lines comes, SPAM, Viruses, Malware, and every scam under the sun was readily hidden behind phony images and links. The amount of SPAM that plagued MySpace was epic in scale. 3. Most importantly, it was never really relevant to my life, or lifestyle. I’m not 13-18, where music means everything to me anymore. I love music, but I’m not about to share important images via a Social Media Network like MySpace to express them.

When considering relevance in today’s (SMM) Social Media Marketing landscape, individuals and/or businesses, MySpace really doesn’t have much to offer. (unless you are a musician or work within the Music Industry itself.) I suppose it’s important to have a profile on there for the SEO/SEM purposes, but other than that, it’s really a niche community that is limited in it’s potential growth and usefulness.

The real questions in the near future should be, “How soon will MySpace be bought out? And by whom?”

Byte Back!

Tags: SMM, social marketing strategy, social media consultant, social media marketing, Social Media Posts, social networking
Posted in: Facebook, Internet Marketing Consulting, LinkedIn, SEO / SEM, Social Media Consulting, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Posts, social networking, Twitter |

Comments: 86 Comments

Social Media Experiment 3: Less is More Social.

Like most of us, over the years I have accumulated a lot of STUFF, mostly old tech gadgets, books, CDs and more. I’ve come to a point in my life where enough is enough and the crap needs to go. I used to consider myself a true minimalist. I owned almost nothing, but time, money, & ADHD nets you lots of stuff. Which brings me to my inspiration for this new Social Media Experiment: Cult of Less. It’s a blog written by Kelly Sutton regarding his personal success story with organizing his apartment & life. His goal was to fit everything he owns into 2 bags and 2 boxes. (There is an inherit flaw with this, as he doesn’t specify the ACTUAL size of the bags or boxes as his containers, but that’s just me being Mr. Stickler.)

This is my attempt to organize my life and return to my minimalist mindset. I am titling this experiment: Less is More Social.

So, here I am. It’s time for me to begin my conquest against clutter, but…where do I start? What am I going to do? Do I really want to publicly go through with this and literally air out my laundry via Social Media outlets like: Facebook, Twitter, etc.? So many questions, but at the end of the day my stuff is still here…and it needs to go. I think I found the perfect solution. Enter: Bento 3 for Mac and Bento 3 for iPhone from FileMaker! This is a scaled down and super affordable, customizable solution to all types of content management. I’ve been using Bento for sometime now to manage for my professional contacts, but never really thought of using it in this capacity. It has to be the simplest and most elegant tool of it’s kind. A great aspect about it’s functionality it is that you can customize it to suite your integration needs with Excel, Numbers, and various other programs. Oh and here’s the killer part of it all: I do everything from my iPhone and then sync via WiFi to the main database! Enough said…are you sold yet? heh

I have the tools to complete my epic task, now what? I picked up the first thing I saw and began to catalog it according to my specifications. I’ve decided to catalog based upon the area of the room I will be in. Just so happens I was in my library. Now begins the incredible journey of cataloging my life and sharing the documentation with the World in the process. Once a week, I’ll report on the experiment’s current state of affairs. There will be videos posted onto YouTube of the process. There will be live streaming with Live Chat to Facebook, Twitter, etc. I know it doesn’t seem to be the most riveting thing on the web to watch. But as a NYC Social Media Consultant, I think this would be the perfect opportunity to utilize and demonstrate how the power of Social Media and Social Networking can really make a difference to individual people, as well as businesses.

Contemporary issues call for insightful solutions. Kudos to Kelly!

Byte Back!

[UPDATES:]

Social Media Experiment 3: 11/18/10 – Personal Inventory Catalog Update – 260 Items. #cultofless #LessIsMoreSocial

Social Media Experiment 3: 11/22/10 – Personal Inventory Catalog Update – 302 Items. #cultofless #LessIsMoreSocial #Bento

Tags: Bento, cataloging, Cult of Less, cultofless, FileMaker, iPhone app, Less Is More Social, organization, Social Media, social media consultant, social media experimient, social media marketing, tech, technology
Posted in: CRM Integration, Facebook, iPhone App Reviews, Recent Projects, Social Media Consulting, Social Media Experiments, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Posts, social networking, Twitter |

Comments: 77 Comments

The Baron Bytes Back! Turns 1: Happy Birthday!

It’s truly hard to believe it has been an entire year since The Baron Bytes Back! was started. Over the past 12 months, I set out on a mission to explore the possibilities of writing my own blog and actually making from it. Looking back retrospectively, I would say I have grown as a writer and thinker overall. Putting things in context really helps me cultivate and express my unique point of view on Social Media and Social Media Consulting. I’m grateful that I have finally found my inner voice and recognized the that I’ve done it with the highest of integrity…on my OWN terms!

I want to personally thank all of my friends, readers, and all the comments you all have left for me (the good and the bad. heh!) I am honored to be a part of all your lives in someway or another. I vow to continue on my current path of writing and sharing my perspectives with the World. Keep reading because there will be some amazing things that I will be adding to the site. So Subscribe to my RSS feed or just come back as often as you like.

Thank you for believing in me, I truly appreciate it.

(Note: It’s not actually MY birthday, just the website’s. My birthday is in February…and I’d love either an iPad or iPhone 4. Hey you never know…heh!)

Byte Back!

Tags: andrew david baron, andrewdavidbaron, andrewdavidbaron.com, blog, blogger, blogging, Happy Birthday, Social Media, social media consultant, social media consulting, TBBB!
Posted in: Social Media Consulting, Social Media Posts, Website Updates |