Three years ago, on January 15th, 2013, I announced here that HIPPO Internet Marketing was closing. After ten years, I decided to stop taking clients and focus on my e-commerce sites. Shortly after that, I went to Ephricon as their Director of Client Services for about a year.
Two years ago, after Ephricon became Straight North, I took some Internet marketing clients, but mostly just those that I already had a relationship with already. I never opened up Hippo Internet Marketing in the sense that I started taking clients. But now, after three years of being “closed”…
HIPPO Internet Marketing is Open again!
In fact, I’ve started to redesign our website at www.HippoIM.com!
(I love the fact that my office is the main picture on the home page.)
In just two months, it will be the five-year anniversary of the Charlotte SEO Meetup about Twitter. I remember moderating that event with Roy Morejon, Lisa Hoffman, Jason Keath, and Lyell Petersen. They seemed to be the most active Tweeters in Charlotte at the time. It’s hard to believe that Twitter is now public and has been at the center of this huge thing that the entire world uses now called Social Media.
Like most of you, I’ve had my highs and lows with regard to social media, especially Twitter. I’ve loved it and hated it. I’ve started and stopped many times. Most recently, I have barely used Twitter over the past year. But I’m ready to jump back in with both feet! I’m going to give it another shot, especially as I’ve felt awfully disconnected with the marketing community in Charlotte.
This may seem strange coming from someone who was the “Director of Training” for Social Fresh for two years. I also wrote two posts on the Top 100 and Top 300 Twitter Users in Charlotte. But that was 2008 and 2009. I’ve been gone for a while.
I recently asked my pal, Jason Keath if he could write out the history of Social Fresh. Here’s what he sent me. Enjoy! For those of us in Charlotte, you’ll remember much of what he speaks of…
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Written by Jason Keath – Owner of Social Fresh
In 2005 I decided I wanted to be a creative director for an ad agency.
This was pre-Mad Men mind you. But the fine arts major inside of me saw the creative world of agencies as a pinnacle of sorts.
Needless to say I got sidetracked.
Today, almost 8 years later, I am running a company called Social Fresh, a social media training company. Social Fresh started in 2009 as a social media conference in Charlotte, NC, where I was living and working at the time.
Social Fresh came about out of frustration. Working my way through three very different agencies, where I was lucky enough to be able to pitch social media strategies for clients and potential clients, I recognized that there was a big gap when it came to how people thought about social marketing.
I’m currently on the plane flying home from Social Fresh East held in Tampa on April 18, 19. This is my first conference since being hired on as the Director of Client Services at Ephricon. It’s my first conference I’ve attended as an “agency guy” instead of a “consultant” or “entrepreneur”.
Jason Keath always puts on an incredible conference. I’ve worked with him quite a bit the last few years and it always amazes me how skilled he is as a content curator. (more…)
In the never-ending battle of Google vs Apple vs Amazon vs Facebook/Microsoft, the next wave is coming soon. It’s just a matter of time before Facebook tries to make some sort of major surge toward search.
Why?
It’s not just because Google Plus is jumping into the social media game. (Which no doubt bugs them.) It’s because Facebook’s IPO will demand that they start thinking more and more about money. Search is where money is. Every marketer knows that search referrals convert better than social and therefore, they are willing to pay more money for those clicks.
On Friday, March 16 I launched a new project. It has to do with my new favorite site, Google Plus. In particular, I want to start learning how it affects Search Engine Optimization. So, to get started, I made a new website, named The Google Plus SEO Testing Network.
The response has been incredible. Over 50 people joined in just 24 hours!
Please watch this video and you’ll see how passionate I am about this.
As most of you know, I do some work for Social Fresh. Because of that, I get some great opportunities that I’m happy to pass on to my readers. This is one of those moments.
Just this morning, Jason Keath (president of Social Fresh) and I finally finished a major project. For the first time, we took an entire conference including some awesome speakers and topics and made it available online.
Google just released a “new feature” that has search marketers freaking out. Danny Sullivan explains it on his blog (Search Engine Land) here. But I’ll give you the short story and how we may use it to our benefit, especially for those involved in Social Media.
We’re kicking off Charlotte Social Fresh with one of my favorite online marketers, Christopher Penn. He is the co-founder of PodCamp and he is the co-host of the Marketing Over Coffee podcast.
Everywhere you look today, online marketers seem to be talking about the latest move by Google Plus. They announced yesterday that you’ll soon be able to play Angry Birds, Bejeweled, and other games by Zynga there.
This is something most Google Plus users were dreading. In fact, it is one of the main reasons that Facebook irritates them. They hate seeing gaming comments in their normal Facebook stream.
However, Google Plus promises to keep games in their place by having a button that will show you gaming stuff. Don’t press the button and you won’t see those annoying requests and comments in your feed. Press the button (which really acts like a tab when you think about it) and you’ll only see gaming stuff.
In just two months, it will be the five-year anniversary of 
