Tea Party!!!

Lisa Benson's politcal cartoon today found online at cartoonistgroup.com really cracked me up. It became the anthem for today's Tea Party celebration. I think the only thing I'd change is to make the guy on the bow Obama, the chief pirate.

themostsearched, like many others, was unable to attend a Tea Party today because we are working hard to earn enough money to support our families AND pay our taxes while still giving back to our communities.

themostsearched is outraged at the Democratic-controlled US Congress. They have frivolously spent TRILLIONS left and right. This out of control spending will result in future severe inflation and devaluation of the dollar. Worst yet, many of the politicians who got us into this mess such as Barney Frank through his promoting home loans to those who couldn't afford it shrug off responsibility and accountiblity for their actions. (hey hey ho ho Barney Frank has got to go!!!)

But Congress is not solely culpable. Now that themostsearched as let Obama have some time in office without criticism, it is time to speak loud and clear: Obama your signing these massive spending bills rates you (so far) as the worst president in modern history. But then again I wasn't surprised because you had no executive experience and your ideals come from a far left socialist agenda.

It is at this time that themostsearched gives our support to an alternative plan, a better way:

(1) For the first time in our life, themostsearched gives support to the Fair Tax (see http://www.fairtax.org/). The 16th amendment needs to be repealed and IRS abolished. There is no defense for the status quo when Treasury Secretary "Tax Cheat" Geithner can't even get it right. The Fair Tax will also enhance savings as taxes will be increased on consumption. There should be some control in the Fair Tax to prevent particularly those with higher incomes from spending a bulk of their incomes out of country to avoid tax but this is so much better than what we have. Also we will reap a huge effeciency as we rid ourselves of a parasitical tax collecting sector of our economy and federal bureaucracy.

(2) Establish US Congressional term limits. maybe 3 or 4 terms for senator, 5 or 6 for representatives. The Congress is so concerned about controlling business that they are becoming too powerful. This modest proposal would help provide a check on Congress.

(3) Establish a federal balanced budget. Exceptions would include war approved by Congress and a majority vote by the people (its our money; we should have a say if we're going to suddenly spend more for some reason).

Social Network Marketing Updates for 2009

The concepts of Touch Points and Connections become even more poignant in this new age of Twitter and the recent Facebook updates

There can be little doubt that social network marketing is becoming one of the fastest growing areas in the marketing world today.  Every day, we are inundated with new terms and forced to continue to keep up with the latest in social networking technology, including these new Twitters everyone keeps talking about, and the more recent updates Facebook has launched in order to both stay on top of the growth curve and counter this Twitter phenomenon.

In addition, it is becoming more and more clear that the eyeballs and attention of online users worldwide are continuing to migrate and spend more time in social networking sites than ever before.  Facebook was at 100,000,000 users as of July 2008, and they are now surpassing 200,000,000 today, doubling in the span of just months.  To accommodate this growth, Facebook has made a variety of changes designed to try and anticipate how users can continually manage this greater and greater influx of information in a way that’s still both useful and relevant in their daily lives.  Of course, this accommodation and change is met with greater resistance today as so many people are now personally vested in the functionality of Facebook and don’t want to see key features for staying in touch with friends and business associates become diminished.

That said, Facebook is still the dominant social network for businesses large and small to reach their consumers in ways never thought possible before.  With the new Facebook redesign, a Facebook Business/Fan Page is fast becoming the way to go for companies wishing to have the most impact with online users today.  The new design allows a business to more conveniently present itself similar to how an individual presents himself today, with photos, status updates and even blog feeds imported as Notes.  All of these elements appear in a user’s News Feed, which means that the business has a better chance of staying front and center with their consumer base.  The more popular the elements are (such as a great photo album tagged with multiple people), the more often that element appears in the news feed, as well as appearing on the right-hand column where Facebook now features what it deems the most popular content for a user to view for that day.

Of course, an update for 2009 in the world of social networking would not be complete were it not to discuss Twitter.  This service, which has definitely taken a lead position in terms of what new social network topic people are talking about, allows all of us, individuals and businesses alike, to keep our friends and fans up to date as what we’re up to in business and in life.  The technical term of a Twitter is a microblog, which is simply a small amount of information equal to that which fits into a typical cell phone text message.

One important aspect of Twitter is to have as many people following you as possible... the more that follow you, the more you’re spreading your message out there on the Internet.  So if your company has just posted a new update in its blog, has issued a press release, has an event to announce or simply has something to say, putting it into a Twitter means that you have one new online location from which to get the word out.  And people will hear you and respond almost immediately.

The second power of Twitter is in the non-immediate responses found when using the SEARCH function on Twitter, which was rather hidden by the folks at Twitter until only recently.  You can do a search for key words relevant to your business, such as “gay travel” or “gay business” to find Twitter postings several weeks or months old that are relevant to you and your industry.  Finding these postings allows you to see who is posting what, discovering more about them through their online Twitter bio and link to their website.  It is fast becoming a great way to expand one’s business network to reach individuals not found through some of the more traditional social network sites we’ve been using over the past year including LinkedIn.com and Plaxo.com.

It is this concept of “followers” and “connections” that is fast becoming key in the social networking world.  Without a good number of people relevant to your business staying connected with you and receiving those gentle social network updates you’re sending out by posting status updates, Twitters, photos and link postings online, you would run into the “tree falling in the woods” scenario where if no one was listening, one would question whether the tree actually fell!  The key is to put in the time to develop relevant friends, followers and connections in these and other social networking sites... it is this network of connections that is fast becoming the key differentiator between a successful social networking campaign and one that is just mediocre.  It’s clear that to maintain a consistent network, one must put in the time... thus, as more and more companies are wading into the social network marketing waters and finding initial success, the next logical steps are to increase the time spent (whether that’s hiring an individual to do the work or an outside agency) so that they can continue to maximize the opportunities that are just continuing to expand and grow in this new marketing space.

It is not just Facebook, MySpace and Twitter which have the opportunity to maintain a network of connections.  The selection of which site you choose to upload your business photos and videos is very important as well.  I tend to focus on Flickr.com for photos and YouTube.com for videos.  Flickr.com not only allows for excellent integration of your business photos into a variety of sites online, but it also maintains a strong social network from which you can increase the likelihood that your photos are viewed online.  By uploading your photos onto Flickr and tagging them with key words you want them to be found by, you’ve increased the likelihood of your business photos being put to work for your business.  By putting your web link in with the photo’s description, someone who finds your photos can follow you all the way back to your website.  Lastly, adding your photos to some relevant groups associated with your photos and your business (such as the gay travel group, which currently has over 700 members) will further expand your reach with your photos in ways not possible on other photo uploading sites.

The same applies to YouTube, where your videos can ultimately be set up to drive more and more traffic to your website with the use of tags (key words) when uploading your videos.  These tags allow someone viewing one video to see “similar videos” of which yours would be included.  Thus, if someone is watching a video about “gay Montreal” and your video is also about gay Montreal and tagged as such, your video will probably be one of their automatically selected “similar videos” as well, which online users click on quite frequently as they “channel surf” on YouTube.  By maintaining a strong branding presence on YouTube with the use of these “channels”, your videos will then ultimately bring more eyeballs to your online products and services displayed on your website. 

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Gay and Lesbian Social Networking
Advertising - Marketing - Community

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http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/pdf/PBM_Web20_Travel.pdf

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NOTE: This article is part of the Gay Market Report 2009 and is FREE TO USE as long as byline above, credit, logo and link are included with story. Credit Pink Banana Media,

Gay Business Report - April 2009

In This Issue

Social Network Marketing Updates for 2009
The concepts of Touch Points and Connections becomes even more poignant in this new age of Twitter and the recent Facebook updates
There can be little doubt that social network marketing is becoming one of the fastest growing areas in the marketing world today. Every day, we are inundated with new terms and forced to continue to keep up with the latest in social networking technology, including these new Twitters everyone keeps talking about, and the more recent updates Facebook has launched in order to both stay on top of the growth curve and counter this Twitter phenomenon....

Social Network Marketing in Gay Travel
Content ideas for gay travel and destination marketing are quite varied, and can include:

• Events: you could focus on upcoming GLBT events in your area, including Pride festivals, film festivals and more.
  
• Club and Bar Reviews: you could run a series of blog postings highlighting GLBT clubs and bars in your area
  
• Restaurant Reviews: you could run a series of blog postings highlighting GLBT and GLBT-friendly restaurants in your area
  
• Hotel Reviews: you could run a series of blog postings highlighting GLBT-friendly hotels in your area
  
• Destination Attractions and Highlights: you can feature art exhibitions, museum openings and wide variety of attractions and highlights in your area
  
• Individual interviews: you could have featured interviews done as blog postings of key GLBT business leaders in your area
  

Beta: New Tool for Measuring Social Network Marketing ROI
As social network marketing continues to grow in the marketing mix of companies worldwide, the one area that it continually falls short is in measurement and resulting Return on Investment (ROI) for the companies making their initial investments in this space. As a result, our company has embarked on a new project to create one of the first ROI spreadsheets for social network marketing. It’s not easy, as the variables to measure are considerably different from the tried and true banner advertising and e-mail marketing used today....

Other Highlights

• Promotion of an Event using Inbound Marketing
  
• The Power of a Tiny Picture
  
• Book Recommendation: World Wide Rave
  

 Download PDF

March 2009 Gay Business Report

In This Issue
Webinar and Seminar Schedule Through 2009

Updated presentation adds more detail on “touch points” and the power of influential contacts in your network

Be sure to watch for our freshly updated seminar and webinar series for 2009, covering the world of Social Network and Web 2.0 marketing to the GLBT?community. With almost 50% new material, focusing on new topics such as Power Influencers and how to connect with them, as well as expanding on the best Touch Points your company can have when making outreach in this new frontiers, this seminar/webinar series will show you both how to do it all in-house, as well as help bring some new concepts to your overall online marketing mix....

Access Obama: Making contact with the White House is easier than it used to be
You work for an LGBT media outlet. You're on deadline and need a comment from the White House regarding any one of the Obama administration's civil-rights policies affecting lesbian and gay citizens. How do you go about getting your questions answered? How were gay media relations with the White House in previous administrations? And will they be different under President Obama....

Other Highlights

• 5 Myths About Social Network Marketing
  
• Twitter or Facebook for Status Updates
  
• AllFacebook Interview: Discussion With Pizza Hut
  About Their Facebook Strategy
  
• GayCities Announces First Full-Featured LGBT Travel
  iPhone Application
  

 Download PDF

Pleasant Grove City vs. Summum

This week the Supreme Court unanimously decided in favor of letting the city of Pleasant Grove disallow a monument by the Summum religion in the city's Pioneer Park. themostsearched has been monitoring this case and will continue to do so as it has local interest to us and far-reaching implications both with communities within and without Utah.

First some background. Pioneer Park is what I would call a small city park roughly the size of a half city block located in the downtown area of small-to-midsize bedroom-community town of Pleasant Grove. As a frequent driver in Pleasant Grove, I've driven by it several times but never really paid much attention (good drivers always keep their eyes on the road!) In light of the ruling, yesterday my sons and I paid a visit to the park as the Supreme Court's decision made national headlines this week. Amazingly they hadn't ever been to the park despite their relative proximity to their home (just over a mile). The park is dominated by some authentic pioneer log cabins including the first local school. While the buildings were closed for winter, a number of monuments had been placed in the park including a stone from the Nauvoo Temple. I photographed my sons with a monument located in the back of the park's southern half donated in 1971 by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles and quoting the 10 commandments; this is the monument cited by the Summum religion in their case against the city.

Summum is what I would describe as a religious cult based in Salt Lake City: cult because they are a small, non-mainstream religious organization which among things emphasizes sexual conduct including masterbation and homosexuality using a product they call Merh. Summum is one of a very few wineries in the state of strict-alchohol-regulation Utah and produces "Nectar" it claims to use in religious services within is pyramid-shaped religious edifice. Its leader and founder died last month. They follow a set of 7 Aphorisms unique to their cult (ie "everything vibrates") the way a Christian might follow the 10 commandments. While their is little commonality in themostsearched's values and Summum's I do admire their devotion to the mummification processes as has been documented by the science community including National Geographic. In summary, Summum has about as much to do with the history, culture, or values of Pleasant Grove as might Gnosticism, which is virtually none--for a wide majority of residents descend from Mormon pioneers to the area. To the residents of Pleasant Grove Summum is obscure at least and better said unknown, its followers few if any, and its value system at odds with theirs.


I can imagine the surprise from city leaders when in Summum requested in 2005 request for a monument equal in size to the FOE's Ten Commandments be placed in the park emphasizing their 7 Aphorisms: Summum who??? The city rejected the request and Summum began a court battle which was appealed to the Supreme Court.


In the court's ruling, the court recognized the right to "government speech" which is narrow and limited including restrictions against "offensive or partisan messages". However, it did leave open the question of whether the monument could be a violation of the establishment clause; under these grounds Summum vowed to continue the court battle.


What remains is the question why? Why did Summum choose to place a monument in Pleasant Grove of all places and then decide to back up the rejection of it in a court battle? My opinion is that they have extracted a plethora of funds from their sales of Merh and more importantly mummifications (pet mummifications cost $25K) and used the case as a way of advertising their cult. The decision to pursue the court case shows the mean-spiritedness of the cult and desire for self-aggrandizement which has, as pointed out, nothing to do with Pleasant Grove. Summum has received no grevience from Pleasant Grove: the city hasn't denied an application for religious building permit nor posted any form of anti-Summum communication. Summum has the right to post their Aphorisms in a monument on their own land. Yet Summum picked a fight and I applaud the leaders of Pleasant Grove for not caving in and spending the funds for this legal victory to preserve this small piece of heritage.

Community Marketing's GLBT Travel Marketing Symposium in London

Community Marketing and their team (Tom Roth and David Paisley) held yet another successful all-day series of workshops, panels and seminars, helping to educate companies as to the "how's and why's" of marketing to the GLBT community, in this case specifically for the travel market.

The turnout, despite the recession, was very good and incredibly, almost everyone stayed until the very end where myself, Thomas Boemkes and Serge Gojkovich spoke on GLBT online marketing in terms of more advanced social network marketing.

The presentations during the day came from an incredible roster of speakers, including Martine Ainsworth Wells of Visit London, and Andrew Stokes of Marketing Manchester.  In addition, we got to hear from Andrew Roberts of Amro Worldwide Travel on the success and increased PR achieved through the "So Gay" campaign they did in 2008, together with Ian Johnson of Out Now Consulting.

Attendees included tourism folks from Sweden, London and throughout the UK, as well as Switzerland, Ireland and other destinations from around Europe.

Photos from the event can be seen at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattskal/sets/72157613800412544/

In addition, we're pleased to announce the launch of our new Flickr GLBT Business Photo group, found at:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/glbtbiz/

New Webinar Series for 2009

Updated presentation adds more detail on “touch points” and the power of influential contacts in your network

Our company, Pink Banana Media, is taking our successful seminar series we’ve done in various cities over the past few years and bringing it online throughout 2009.

Our presentation has changed these past few years, focusing on the various aspects of Social Network Marketing and helping to define just what is Web 2.0 and how does it fit in with a company’s overall marketing mix.  There are so many perceived options, including blogs, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and more, and our goal has been to both demistify this environment as well as break it down into what is most important for a company today when trying to promote their product or service in this new online frontiers.

Key concepts have been “speaking with” your customer base rather than “speaking to.”  This is a big one, and underlies the fundamental shift in marketing overall, as the goal is now 

to “enter into our customers conversations” rather than simply “broadcast to.”

Our main seminar points, still included in our presentation today, cover the basics of a blog, a Facebook group and photos, and how to utilize those tools to get the word out in the best way possible.  Topic highlights include photo tagging, a blog’s RSS feed, and the basics of Facebook key word advertising.  

Setting up the blog and the photos in some of the various social network “touch points” including Flickr, Plaxo, LinkedIn and MyBlogLog have been the cornerstones of more modern social network marketing, allowing content to spread virally in some of the key social networks online that have some of the strongest overall traffic.  It is this topic that has been expanded in our updated seminar and webinar series for 2009.  Delving into more detail, we’re able to help companies understand how to take their social network marketing to that next level.  Now that it is becoming more easily understood that the Internet is the new operating system of the future, the concept of placing photos in one location, content in the form of a blog in another location, and allowing that content to spread far and wide through preset social network connections a company has set up exclusively for their needs, is the primary topic that has been further elaborated on in our presentation.

We also touch on the more advanced, and in some ways more labor-intensive aspects of social network marketing, presenting examples which should allow a company to decide if ramping up their social network marketing efforts is right for them.  Working a customized social network using Ning.com, for example, or watching various blogs and other niche social networks from which to both participate, post and comment on ongoing conversations, can work very well in taking a company’s online marketing to that next level.

The power of networking in Facebook Groups, as well as focusing on the key “influencers” in social networking including Facebook group leaders and administrators, power Twitter users, Yelp reviewers and key industry bloggers is expanded upon in a way that should hopefully demistify this level of online marketing taking hold in 2009.

Watch for our upcoming webinar schedule in our next Gay Business Report in March 2009.

http://www.gaybusinessreport.com