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2011-09-292019-09-09

What great minds are growing at SchipulCon next week?

With our SchipulCon 2011 event just around the corner – one more week!! – we love seeing the variety of attendees that are making their way to Houston to grow their brains, bottom lines and connections with us!

But with so much amazing and varied information and sessions, who can benefit from attending SchipulCon? Well, what a great question 🙂

Business Owners get profitable

Business owners, managers, nonprofit executives and entrepreneurs are excited about our Profit track at SchipulCon this year. With a focus on growing your organization, building a stellar sales team, finding online metrics that matter and using Social Media to do competitive due diligence – we want you to walk away with actionable ideas that will make a noticeable difference in your business world.

Nonprofits get their marketing and community building learn on

Nonprofit organizations face big challenges with limited resources. SchipulCon’s focus on world changing technology, best practices for offline meets online community building, tips from seasoned association leaders and exceptionally cool video and photography training can help you make a splash in whatever nonprofit capacity you serve.

Marketers grow their online tactics to-do list

You’ve probably been to a million online marketing conferences that cover the same fluffy content, time and time again. We don’t do that here. Expect to go out of your comfort zone and pick up unexpected skills and tactics to help you rock it out.

Maximize your rich media content strategy by learning how to optimize your ‘stuff’ on the Web, organize and promote buzz-worthy offline events, leverage your audience’s enthusiasm by engaging in PR stunts, learn what ‘mobile strategy’ truly means and SO much more.

Tech geeks revel in open source and tech nerdiness

The Schipul crew are all geeks at heart and part of what makes this SchipulCon event so special this year is our incorporation of some hands on demos you’ll get to enjoy. Learn how to fly an RC helicopter, revel in local robotics groups’ innovation, pick up some basic Processing and Arduino skills, discover how to create a secure Google Chrome browser plugin and leverage open source collaboration tools.

Are you ready for SchipulCon awesomeness?!?

Be sure to grab your tickets while you still can for our October 6th and 7th SchipulCon 2011 event! With keynotes from visionaries like Dries Buytaert, the founder of Drupal, and Steven Gonzalez, Director of Innovation for NASA, and speakers from around the country – you’ll leave with a better understanding of what’s next and an inspiring mix of new technologies, tactics and future collaborators.

Follow the buzz on Twitter (folks will be using the #SchipulCon hashtag before, during and after the fun), check out our fab speakers, peek at some of the folks you’ll be partying with from our kick off event and get those tickets! Our shiny new Day Pass tickets are just the, well, ticket if you can only make one day. Don’t delay!

Can’t wait to see you there!

2011-09-29

Help AMIGOS Win a $2 Million Dollar Grant

Schipul client Amigos de las AmÃ©ricas is in the running to be one of 5 charities to win $2 million in grants for the American Giving Award. And you can help by casting a vote for AMIGOS on facebook: Vote for Amigos on Facebook.

AMIGOS is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing teens and young adults leadership skills and a passion for community service through volunteer opportunities in Latin America.

Earlier this year, AMIGOS became one of 25 charitable organizations awarded a grant from the Chase Community Giving movement. With more than 2700 votes, AMIGOS was one of two Houston-based charities awarded a Round 1 grant, and was chosen to compete for the American Giving Award. This is the next level.

The 25 winning charities have been categorized by their focus areas. If you vote, AMIGOS could be a winner in the Youth Developer category.

Right now, AMIGOS is in 4th place and trailing by a little more than 500 votes. Of the 25 charities, it’s also the only charity representing not only Texas, but our fantastic city!

Click below to cast your vote, then invite your friends to do the same.

Vote for Amigos on Facebook

2011-09-222014-11-02

Better than a spaceship – NASA is coming to SchipulCon

With our focus on exciting technology and cross-industry connections (okay… and laser beams and space ships – we dig those too), we are honored and excited to announce our Day 2 keynote speaker Steven Gonzalez of NASA (and currently an ‘Executive on Loan at the Houston Technology Center‘).

He will be taking us to the stars and back as he discussed the motivations of some of the world’s most innovative technologists in the aerospace world and fills us in on the future of the space industry and the awesome tech that comes with it! How excited are we!?!?

You can check out more of our tremendous speakers and lovely schedule – lots of great minds discussing design, business and tech to help you advance your business and personal development in all the best ways. Join us on October 6th and 7th – use this discount code for $25 off your registration: tothestars

Photo thanks to Flickr user blueforce4116

2011-09-152014-11-02

Twitter Adds New Feature Giving Users a Look at their Data

Working in social media, I have to say that one of the most rewarding things to see is a client’s campaign flourish with ‘likes’ and re-tweets. In our line of work, our client’s goal is our priority and with Facebook insights and other tools, we’ve been allowed to see the demographics of users that interact most with our page and can custom build a campaign to fit a client’s niche. This feature has definitely allowed us to gain a stronger handle on how our campaign is doing; however, Twitter hasn’t given users an inside view into their twitter statistics…until now.

Twitter recently announced that they were implementing a Web analytics dashboard. The dashboard will consist of four tabs:

Traffic: this tab will correlate information between the number of tweets linking to a site against the number of people actually clicking those links. There will also be a graph that measures this information with the following options; one day, the week and the past month.
Tweets: this tab will display all tweets containing links to a site, including any tweets sent from the site’s embedded Tweet button.
Tweet Button: this tab displays interaction and engagement a site gets from its Tweet button.
Content: this tab compiles the site’s top-performing pages.

It will be nice to be able to see how this is being shared in the Twittersphere, the amount of traffic (or Twaffic) being referred and measure the amount of interaction a Web site generates with the Tweet button.

Since we will be waiting a few more weeks before the release of the new dashboard, third-party applications like HootSuite will still be of great use in measuring tweet data and scheduling tweets ahead of time, which is a magical feature that has allowed us to release tweets during certain times of the day that draw in more interaction.

Another cool thing about this announcement is that Twitter is planning to release an API for Web Analytics, allowing users to integrate this data into other analytic applications like Trendly. If you have had a chance to play around with Facebook Insights, there’s the option to download the data into an excel sheet. It will be interesting to see how Twitter will present the data as a deliverable for clients and marketing coordinators, since we all understand the importance of getting a return on investment.

Garrett will be conducting a free Facebook Security and Privacy webinar on Oct. 26th

2011-09-15

Leveraging User Generated Content at IS2011

Great IS Conference 2011 presentation by Michael DeHaven of Bazaarvoice (@stormseo) on ‘Leveraging User Generated Content for SEO and Conversion’.

Top 7 tips for SEO work around User Generated Content:

Don’t forget SEO fundamentals – you have to start with the fundamentals (h1 tags, keyword targeting, great writing)
Search engines get bored – ‘static sites are so 2005’, search engines crave something new (keep it exciting)
The Primanti Principle – Primanti (a restaurant in Pittsburgh, PA) is one of the best places to get a corned beef sandwich. Traditional ingredients with the exact amount of french fry additions. Not too much, just enough to be interesting and dynamic. Web pages are the same – you start out by building with foundational elements but add in the ‘meat’ of the webpage and layer on 8-10 pieces of fresh, User Generated Content (your french fries) to give to Google to devour.
Beware of dilution – be strategic. The average review, user question or answer is about 100 words long. Average product description is 300 words long (fully search optimized, written by professional marketer). Given the amount of text, be sure you don’t dilute your hard work around content optimization by putting in too many user reviews – it will blot out the work you’ve done. Figure out the math.
Unlock the potential of the archive – Tap into your treasure trove of reviews from the past.
Ask for content at relevant times – Timing on requests for UGS is crucial. Software product, solicit requests an acceptable amount of time after using it.
Convert reviewers into advocates – allow your current customers to play a role in other parts of you

What should you expect from UGC?

For many communities, they receive a steep increase in Google traffic (15 – 25%) – with keyword targeting a steady but slower growth. Make sure that your reviews can actually be viewed by search engines (not hidden or in java script).

Googlebot crawled (Bazaarvoice client) Cabela’s site 200% more often when constantly updated product reviews were included on product pages – without them, Googlebot showed less interest.

Review readers act differently – where to buy up 82% / add to cart up 125%. Do people who use Q&A convert more often? 45% converted more often than those who didn’t. When you find an answer – you buy! And also call less, 3 answers on a page resulted in 81% fewer customer service calls.

Offline testing (adding rating in print coupons for newspaper inserts) worked too — Rubbermaid coupons with reviews were redeemed 10% more often.

2011-09-152014-11-02

OMS / IS Conference 2011: Elise Neel of Comscore

We’re having a great morning at the OMS Houston / IS Conference today at the lovely Hotel ZaZa. The HIMA team has partnered with OMS Conferences to bring great online marketing training to the masses.

Watch the Twitter hashtags: #omshou and #isconference for an in-the-moment look at what’s happening.

Check out our lovely IS Conference photos (thanks to Schipulites Brian Potter) on our Facebook album.

Our first speaker of the morning is Elise Neel of Comscore

Brand that hates parents and thinks torturing kids is fun – Crayola. At least according to Amazon review for Craylola Washable Colored Bubbles – some bubbles re-created, may require repeat washings. Social Media is awesome

Total minutes on SM sites increased 38% year over year
73 Billion minutes a year spent on SM sites
Who visits – everybody (even 65+ is 96% penetration)
Almost half of visits on Web are to SM properties

Tumblr is at 210% growth year over year, LinkedIn is at about 100% year over year. Some networks might not have Facebook’s numbers, but are kicking butt in growth.

Google+ wordwide reach is massive and growing significantly – 25 – 34 ages (traditional early adopter profile) are quickest to jump in. Austin, SF-Oakland, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh are top adoptive cities of Google+.

4 reasons Google+ Brand Pages will be better than Facebook:

Better Search opps
More customization
Better analytics
Google can learn from Facebook

Heineken – of 48M impressions in May, 68% were socially enabled. Kraft received about 21% of their campaign from socially enabled platform.

Facebook branding awesomeness

Facebook is hugely powerful – brand pages are the new microsites — nearly 6 out of 10 Facebook users over 18 liked a brand in April 2011. Profiles, newsfeed and other are top time spent. Vast majority of brand exposure happens in the Newsfeed and on Profile pages.

For Starbucks, every one visit to fanpage means 156 impressions (free, awesome and amazing), Southwest Airlines gets 42 and Bing gets 45 impressions per pageview of fanpage.

1.7 Million fans on Facebook = 232 Million Friends of fans for Bing on Facebook – this is AMAZING.

Exposed Starbucks fans tend to spend more at the store and go more — spending per buyer = 8% increase / transaction per buyers = 11% increase

Internet seisometer showed social media buzz around earthquake

Internet traffic that occurred during and after the earthquake on the East coast – the Tweets reached New York from DC before the tremors actually made it (through CNN iReports, Twitter and more – THAT’S social media).

Putting it all into business perspective, Social Media is here to stay, monetized (‘do sh*t for free, it’s FREE money’). Learn more about speaker Elise Neel and follow her on Twitter!

2011-09-142014-11-02

Join the SchipulCon kick off party at Saint Arnold’s Brewery 9/21

Ever feel the need to check out the awesomeness of conference attendees BEFORE you get there? Ever wish you could spend an evening getting to rub elbows and grabbing a pint with speakers, organizers, sponsors and…. robots…. without the official conference pressure?

We hear ya’ – and have set up one heck of a fun soiree for you at the one and only Saint Arnold’s Brewery for those exact purposes!

Join the fun with our SchipulCon Pop Up Party – an evening of beer, bites and fun to help kick off the upcoming SchipulCon event on October 6th – 7th. We’re excited to have great food to nibble on from Radical Eats and some pretty nifty surprises you’ll have to see to believe.

>>> Register here for our FREE SchipulCon kick off party and be in the running for some cool prizes

And speaking of awesome SchipulCon prizes….

The SchipulCon kick off party is not just about the FREE BEER (although we can all agree that’s critical), it’s about WINNING.

Since we just celebrated Schipul’s 14th birthday, we’re giving $100 bucks off to the first 13 people through the door — and the 14th person will attend SchipulCon for FREE.

So get your 14th-person-through-the-door strategy ready, and don’t run over anyone in the brewery. (Didn’t your mother teach you not to drink and run?) Don’t think you can be in the first 14? No one’s going home empty-handed.

Everyone who attends gets $50 off registration until noon on Thursday 9/22. Because sometimes robots like to sleep in after a night at Saint Arnold’s…. just sayin’.

So don’t delay – get your registration on already!

Nothing says a good time like beer, robots and a room full of brainy awesome people – what better way to celebrate a Wednesday than with you! Register for your spot at the SchipulCon kick off party – can’t wait to cheers you.

2011-09-102014-11-02

‘Ask a Geek’ at SchipulCon – where Web dreams come true

With 3 rooms fulls of fantastic speakers from all across the country and some of the finest attendees around (love you guys!), we just can’t wait to get to SchipulCon to grow your brain, network and creative side!!

October 6th and 7th is coming quickly and we’ve got some extra special announcements for you (psssttt… if you’re not signed up for our SchipulCon newsletter, you’re really missing out!).

Liza Kindred schools us on the future of e-commerce

Ever meet one of those people that just.plain.gets.it? Then SchipulCon speaker Liza Kindred should look awfully familiar with her Drupal, e-commerce and start up butt kickin’ ways.

Her presentation on ‘The New E-Commerce‘ is going to blow you away – learn how to combine the social web, innovative business models and awesome emerging technology to help you sell, sell, SELLLLL!!! Don’t miss this one, seriously.

Personalized Ask a Geek tech and marketing sessions

Think of our Ask a Geek sessions like a Web marketing kissing booth, without the chapstick and breathmints. We’ll have some of our Schipulite Web geeks on call to give you 20 minutes worth of their brains and expertise.

Have a specific pressing Facebook marketing question? Want to feel inspired about your latest Drupal site view? Need a little hand holding on your Twitter tactics (hey now, no frisky business). This is the perfect session for you!

Register for your slot by filling out this form here and get ready to connect to some Web marketing and tech magic like never before!

Get those SchipulCon badges – your website can do the robot!

While you might have two left feet, no reason your website or blog shouldn’t get a little funky. Grab our cool robot and brain SchipulCon badges and share your SchipulCon pride like never before.

Email us a link to your SchipulCon badge-laden website and you just might get a super cool surprise 🙂 Can’t wait to get our geek on with you at SchipulCon – tickets are going fast, jump in to join the fun!

Photo thanks to Zitona on Flickr

2011-09-092014-11-02

Help the Central Texas wildfire victims – drop off items at Schipul + donate!

It’s always inspiring to see how the Web can make an impact on real world events and needs. The recent wildfires in Texas have hit very close to home for the (Houston headquartered) Schipul team. Thousands are now homeless with fires still raging across our dry state.

We live in a beautiful state with even more beautiful people – seeing the destruction and pain of our fellow Texans is difficult to say the least. Let’s continue our support to these great communities!

Help support Texas wildfire victims

Watching the wildfire support Tweets and reading about Facebook groups dedicated to helping folks on the fiery ground is only confirmation of what a great connective tool the Web can be.

Drop your wildfire relief items at the Schipul office!

The Schipul office is collecting items (clothing, food, household goods, toys, garbage bags, gloves, toiletries, gift cards) for families affected by the Central Texas wildfire – dropping them off on Wednesday, September 13th to Bastrop. Join event on Facebook.

Are you in the area? Swing by with your items at our office in West Houston on Monday (9/12) and Tuesday (9/13) from 8:30am – 5:30pm (11757 Katy Freeway, Suite 930 Houston, TX 77079).

Can’t make it here? Give us a call: (281) 497.6567 and we may be able to pick up your donation too, depending on where your office is.

Find your favorite charity to donate to!

There are MANY other groups and fabulous people doing the same on a larger scale:

The Statesman ‘Help For Wildfire Victims’ page
Neighbors in Need Wildfire Relief Drive at Austin-area Randall’s stores
Boy Scouts of America
Great list from KVUE news channel
Montgomery County wildfire resources

Or donate money directly to these organizations:

Photo thanks to USDAgov on Flickr

2011-09-012014-11-02

Hear ye, hear ye – welcome SchipulCon sponsor Texas Ren Fest!

While there won’t be any jousts and we are not encouraging attendees to wear chain mail (although that would be hilarious), we are excited to welcome the Texas Renaissance Festival as a SchipulCon sponsor! (Disclosure, they are a Schipul client)

The Ren Fest folks be spreading good cheer (in Olde English, of course) and are providing every SchipulCon attendee with 2 tickets to the festival which, conveniently enough, begins the weekend following SchipulCon.

Grab those SchipulCon tickets now, before the goblins get them!

SchipulCon registrations are going fast, be sure to sign you and your favorite co-workers of the round table to enjoy the brain growing and, mayhaps, mead imbibing experience! Our Labor Day discount code ($25 / ticket off, good until 11:45pm Monday, September 5th) is the perfect accompaniment to your registration: laborday

And who knows? You might even make some new fairy friends! Photos thanks to Ed Schipul