Social Media continues to provide us with the opportunity to meet amazing people.  We recently exhibited at Dance Teacher Summit in New York and it was wonderful to see how many internet friends came up to our booth and introduced themselves.  I commonly heard, “Hi, are you Jose? The person behind the company’s Facebook page?” or “Hi, we’ve connected on Twitter. I just wanted to stop by and introduce myself.”  Social media takes away the awkwardness when meeting people you already know so much about because of a virtual network. Having a presence on social media has facilitated the way we meet each other and connected us with many incredible people.  While at Dance Teacher Summit, I met new people for the first time, but as I mentioned, I also got to meet many individuals I knew from Twitter.  And even though we didn’t plan on having an official tweet-up, our twitter community did end up hanging out together.  Suzanne Blake Gerety, business owner of DanceStudioOwner.com, put it best in her recent note on facebook, “The ripple effect of a tweet can’t be measured.” She’s spot on!  Some of us see the benefit beyond the advertisement of our product or services and trying to gain new business.   Social media continues to function as an everyday tool to establish new connections and grow them.

People who are only pitching their services or products are missing the overall picture.  Social media is a platform to meet and greet people.  It helps us connect and build relationships that in turn can lead to business.  It is important to be accessible and resourceful to as many individuals as we can, regardless of industry. In the end, you don’t need to pitch to anyone; in wanting to return the favor, they gladly become promoters of you and your brand.  Social media definitely enhances our relationships and expands our knowledge all around.

We all get asked from time to time the million dollar question, have you seen a ROI in using social media?  My answer to them has always been the same; yes, we have acquired new business, but not because we are constantly pitching, but because of the relationships we make and the interest we spark in people to see what you do for a living.  I know I put a lot of time into social media, and my time will never be compensated monetarily, but the new friendships it brings me is much more than I can ask for on a personal level.

I’d like to close my post with the following thought:  The most important thing you can do on social media is to be yourself.  Everyone can see through fakeness.  I’ve encountered my share of superficial people only looking out for themselves and I rather not be part of their world.  My solution is to un-friend, un-follow and/or block.  My experience at Dance Teacher Summit was real; online friends turn into long lasting friendships.  I met real people behind their brand and people who I can continue to learn from no matter what industry they find themselves.  I’d like to hear your personal experience whether good or bad with meeting new people you’ve engaged on social media.

A big thank you to the following people for making my time at Dance Teacher Summit that much more memorable:

Marc Kirschner from TenduTV, Suzanne Gerety from Dance Studio Owner, Chad Michael Lawson from Real Deal Dance Marketing (congratulations again on your newborn baby girl Jay Leigh Bella Lawson), Leslea Clark from Uptown Dance, Maria Hanley from Maria’s Movers, Nichelle Strzepek from Dance Advantage, Patty Rose from Dance Meets Fitness, Ashani Mfuko from Kiner Enterprises Inc. and Lori Incardona from Seton Hill Dance Academy.

I define social media as the essence of communication. It provides a playground for creativity and non-conventional methods of self expression. It motivates individuals to reinvent themselves and move past traditional approaches. It is new media without boundaries.

My educational background at UCSD consists of Sociology and Visual Arts with an emphasis on Studio Art. I love to create things that are abstract and sometimes have no reference to anything but my mind. I am bilingual; I can speak and write both in English and Spanish. I am misunderstood for a lot reasons, but my top 3 favorite are: I have an accent, I speak super fast, and sometimes I just don’t make any sense, but it doesn’t stop me from being creative and producing new things. Just as I speak fast, I am thinking twice as fast, which sometimes hinders me from being able to put my thoughts down on paper. By the time I’ve thought of it, I’m already on my next idea.

This is where social media has helped me capture my thoughts a bit more accurately and allowed me to communicate more effectively. I am not limited by social media. On the contrary, I am challenged to be more inventive in putting my point of view out there. For example, twitter allows us to micro blog 140 characters at a time. What’s the point? The point is that we have been given a social network platform to be artistic with the way we communicate. I was once challenged in one of my art classes to create a table from wire referencing my personality. Yes, the medium was wire. The message here is that I was able to show who I am artistically without having to say a single word. My assignment and twitter are similar; we are given 140 characters to express ourselves whether it is a quote, a comment, a re-tweet, or a link referencing something that we think is news worthy.

Social media facilitates communication at all levels and provides new ways to reach your community. How has social media challenged you to communicate more effectively?

(image by frozenchipmunk via Flickr Creative Commons License)

I wrote a similar post almost two years ago called The Power of the Net , It’s amazing how things change. We had just started our journey incorporating social media within our studio. I am happy to say I have learned a lot in these two years. For example; what works and what doesn’t, what to keep your eyes open for (the good, bad, and the ugly), and social media etiquette. I will speak a bit more about those later, but for now lets talk about the benefits of social media for dance. I will list a few examples, but as most of you already know the opportunities with social media are endless.

A Professional Dancer:
With a few simple tools such as Facebook and Twitter, you can promote yourself as a dancer and connect with several other people in your industry. You can post your performances to get a bigger fan base and connect with those who may have information on the latest auditions in your area.

Dance Teachers:
Similar to the above, teachers can promote themselves and connect with people in their industry. They can share ideas, thoughts, and concerns with teachers from around the world. Teachers can also stay connected with their students, but make sure you check with your studios policy on contact with students online. My suggestion is create a separate Fan page or Twitter account, keep your personal life personal and your contact with your students professional.

Studio Owners:
Can do all of the above plus created networks, blogs and of course websites for their business. Please see my networking list in my previous post for examples. What I have done, and what you will do over time, is narrow down the sites you use for networking. If you have experience with social media you know that it can become a bit overwhelming and time consuming, a great example of less is more and quality not quantity.

Find Out What Works Best For You and What Doesn’t.
For me it’s convenience, that’s why I love and stick to my Facebook Fan page, YouTube and Twitter accounts for networking. What’s great about these three is you can sync your accounts, which saves time. Then of course we have the Blog and Ning Network. What I recommend doing is keeping things clean and simple all on one site. I did this on my personal site and plan on doing it for the studio soon. You will notice that I have a blog and network all in one place on one site, that way it eliminates your customers and fans from having to navigate away from your main site and eliminates you having to post in several places. With my dance studio I would no longer have to have a Ning network or a blogger account, it would be all in one place as I said before.

Narrow Down Your Network
For help and support I’ve narrowed down my list to Dancestudioowner.com and Danceadvantage.net. Now especially, there are tons of sites and blogs to lend a helping hand and give advice to the dance industry. Again, find what suites you and makes your experience convenient.

What to Keep Your Eyes Open For
It’s ironic because at the same time I was asked to be a guest blogger, my circle of online dance buds did a Social Smarts Live Chat . This very informative event was hosted by Nichelle of Dance Advantage, Suzanne of Dance Studio Owner, and Marc of Tendu TV. By visiting the Social Smarts link you can get the opinions of some great people who have experience with Social Media and Dance. Social media is open for anyone, and we are all here for different reasons. My advice would be to surround yourself with people of similar interest and common goals… not to far off from how you would conduct yourself in “real life.”

Social Media Etiquette
This is something I would like to give my opinion on for those of you just starting out. I know you are excited and see many benefits and opportunities. Just remember that you will build a reputation online just as you do out in the real world. Be polite and courteous of other peoples time and what you ask of them. A few examples…

1. Do not tweet to often and flood peoples stream with tweets
2. Do respond to relevant questions or posts
3. Do not beg for followers or people to participate in what you are doing
4. Do remain professional at all times

For those of you still hesitant to jump on the social media ban wagon, think of these questions for yourself and ask the opinions of others…

• What do you hear of more often, a person reading the yellow pages or a person googling the information they need?
• What do you see more often, a person reading the newspaper or someone with and ipad, personal reader, or iphone?
• How are the younger generation communicating, through telephone or real life conversations or by Tweeting and Facebooking each other?
• How has our lines of communication changed, do we talk on the phone at all anymore or do we just text?
• How has our society evolved as far as communication and advertising?
• Is Social Media right for you and your business?

I hope this information is useful for those of you just getting started and even those of you who have been here for some time. It never hurts to share ideas, it’s yet one of the other benefits of social media, right? I would also like to say that by creating this post I am by no means categorizing myself as a “social media expert”. I just think it’s nice to hear from others in your field about what works for them.

As I explained before, we will all use Social Media for different reasons. Some are trying to sell a particular product, some simply want to socialize, and some are here just to get themselves out there and known. I happen to like keeping it fun, I’m not pushing my studio or myself in anyway, I just hope people become more aware of my presence and if I happen to get a new student or client this way, then great! Social Media for me is just an addition to the advertising we do already and a fun way to share ideas and meet other great dance industry people.

I shall leave you with two perfect examples of what I’m talking about.

First example, My Ning Network…

“Thank you for your support in my effort to create a positive, motivating, non competitive place for us to interact and share our love for dance. My goal is to be well known as a encouraging support system to our Dance community, and best of all, its Free! Help me in my effort and ask others who love dance in NJ to join too. Get yourself a badge or send them and invite. Questions, comments, suggestions are always welcome. I look forward to hearing from you all. Peace, Love, Dance!”

Second example, Why Dance Matters … a virtual event that rallies the dance community online created by my friend Nichelle of Dance Advantange. This was an amazing event to participate in and witness…the love and appreciation for dance was overwhelming! Below are my contributions to the event…

I hope you find this post and information useful. For me this was just another effort to spread my love and passion for dance. I thank you all for reading and as always…
Peace, Love, Dance!

~ Leslea

(image by Blethery via Flickr Creative Commons License)

Over 2 millions iPad’s have been sold already. No contract is needed with AT&T and the user experience this time will be consistent worldwide with much reduced dependency on a mobile provider such as AT&T or some other international wireless provider.  So think of the global potential of the iPad.  THINK GLOBAL.

People tell me that the iPad is stupid because it’s just a bigger iPhone.  And I agree!  It’s a bigger iPhone; which means more screen space and a faster processor. That means more potential for apps to do a lot more.  Don’t think of the iPad in terms of technology. Think of it in terms of a platform, think of it in terms of potential market penetration and think of it in terms of an apple product. It is going to sell a lot, it is going to have a ton of apps which are only going to get better with time and it is going to create its own consumer market, people that will train themselves to use it just like they did with the iPhone.

I’ve been using my iPad as my primary computer at home. In fact, I have not even gotten on my laptop in over a week now. I can browse (even though I do prefer apps rather than the browser), read my books, watch movies, create presentations and I can reply to all my emails. I am super excited to see all the apps that are coming down the pipeline.  They are only going to get better. So whether you are an early adopter or a late one, I assure that most of you at some point will get one, because the apps are only going to get better and are going to give you a more customized experience, one that is rarely provided through the browser. The iPad has a lot of potential and it will be up to the consumer and app developers to continue to explore the capabilities of this new platform.

Some of my current favorite apps are:  Evernote, Dragon, iWorks, Tweetings, Barnes & Noble eReader, Analytics HD, Netflix, Scrabble and Wired Magazine.

How are you using your iPad? Do you see iPad as a niche product?

In the months to come we will be rolling out new and fun ways to help you take advantage of our ongoing specials including QR Codes that you will be able to scan with your smart phones such as the iPhone and not worry about having a paper coupon, etc.  We embrace technology and we will be broadcasting digitally all of our marketing efforts in addition to the traditional methods.

Keep an eye out as we will be revealing new QR Codes throughout our print ads, trade shows, social networks, sponsorships, etc. that will give you savings digitally!  Welcome to the digital revolution!

Test out the QR Code with your iPhone or any other smart phone using ScanLife App.  This application is free.

ScanLife App is available for Android, Blackberry, Palm OS and Windows operating smart phones.

Are you having an event?  Are you looking for inspiration? Attend BizBash Expo in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday June 9, 2010.  If you’re an event, wedding, corporate planner or meeting professional you will not want to miss this top notch networking event where you will have access to unique services all under one roof.  We hope to see you at the show and please stop by our booths (#603 and #535) for a chance to win a great prize and meet our staff.  You will also have the opportunity to see our backdrops in action (booth #632) and have a fun picture taken by our partner and 2010 L.A. Event Style Awards finalist for “Best New Product,” Open Air Photobooth.

Have you ever hit a stalemate in your business? Maybe you’re in slow season, or maybe things aren’t bad, but they’re not growing either, they’re stale. Well, years ago you might have considered printing and handing out flyers to promote your business, maybe advertising in a newspaper or trade magazine, doing a mass mailing, or, if you had the budget, doing some radio or television advertising. These are all very traditional forms of marketing your business which are effective, however, they will also affect your budget in a significant way. Times have changed, and the world is getting and sharing information in brand new ways, and it’s called, Social Media.

Social Media did not just come onto the scene, it’s been around for many years now. However, there has been a significant growth spurt and demographic transition and expansion for those using social media, and it’s one that you need to pay attention to. Remember, change is good!

Here are the top 3 reasons why some people don’t participate in social media:

1) I don’t understand it.

2) I don’t have the time.

3) I don’t see the point/benefit for my personal brand/business.

And my response:

1) I don’t understand it. – Well, let’s simplify it. All you need to do is 3 things: a) Determine who your target audience is b) Share useful information that is of interest to that audience c) Engage in conversation and offer support to your audience.

2) I don’t have the time. – You don’t necessarily have to spend 10 hrs a day on your social media accounts. And furthermore, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Linked in accounts can all be connected to one another. You can schedule your updates ahead of time on a website like http://socialoomph.com. Or you can start off by simply dedicating 30 min. or 1 hour a day to social networking, and take it from there.

3) I don’t see the point/benefit for my personal brand/business. – First and foremost, when anything hits the masses and is acknowledged by television, radio, and global businesses, that should tell you that it is definitely beneficial for your brand.

I know this from experience. One example of this is, the “America’s Best Dance Studio Contest” that my company, Kiner Enterprises Inc. created. It’s all about showcasing excellence in dance studios across America, in celebration of National Dance Week. All of our contest sponsors were acquired through social media, and the success of the contest is solely based on social media, as we have done no other type of promotion or print advertising for this contest.

When done right, social media can help grow your business, enhance your brand awareness, and ultimately increase your bottom line. The best part, however, is all of the wonderful relationships that you will build with great, passionate, and hard-working people just like yourself. You’ll gain motivation, inspiration, and learn A LOT.

To read parts 1 and 2 of this series, visit the Kiner Enterprises Inc.’ Dancer’s Blog

Folllow Kiner Enterprises Inc. on Twitter

Become a fan of Kiner Enterprises Inc. on Facebook

Become a fan of the America’s Best Dance Studio Contest on Facebook

For CSEME, we decided to showcase our custom paparazzi backdrop to highlight our friends from Croce Consulting beautiful table setting.  They did an amazing job creating a retro Hollywood theme! Three lucky attendees won a free backdrop rental.  However, all attendees that stopped by our booth received our Canada ROGO Show special:  Rent One Backdrop Get One Free.

We found that CSEME is a great opportunity for attendees to learn from event professionals in the business through many educational sessions.  There were many great seminars that offered marketing tips and event design education for all levels.  The seminar speakers consisted of David Merrell, Debbie Meyers, Jaclyn Bernstein, Jared Golberg and many more.

We thank all our friends who stopped by our booth and look forward to working with you on your next event.

As we all know we sometimes get bombarded with sponsorship opportunities at the many trade shows we exhibit.  In an effort to maximize our brand awareness we usually sponsor one of the many available opportunities when our budget allows it.  I think it’s important that we do more to capitalize on our sponsorships.  In fact, it is essential we find creative ways to expand our exposure at these events.   There are things we can do to create an experience rather than just a glimpse of a sign with our logo and/or name that we pay for to be seen throughout the conference/tradeshow.  We have the technology and it is up to us to brainstorm and create an interactive experience for our prospective clients to engage and take something more than just a 5 minute sales pitch and our literature.

For example, let’s discuss the possibility of creating a virtual event within the expo for the sponsors.  Depending on the sponsorship and tradeshow, you can suggest to the show host to set up a foursquare event prior to the tradeshow to allow plenty of time to promote.  The event would consist of the already participating sponsor companies and the expo attendees. Each company would be assigned a virtual booth space by the coordinator setting up a venue on Foursquare to reflect their booth.  If your show host doesn’t have a clue on how to set up a venue, refer them here: Eric Lukazewski from Echelon Design Inc. recently posted “A Practical Guide to Creating foursquare Events.”

To encourage attendees to visit each sponsor, there would have to be incentives at every booth with a chance to be entered into the grand prize raffle upon completing every check-in.  The booth incentive can be a special offer or an extra discount that could be combined with your ongoing promotion for your product or service.  The grand prize could be a trendy gadget such as the iPad that could be purchased in advance by the host at the expense of the participating sponsors.

Procedure for the event:

1. Attendees would need check-in at every booth and include in their shout out an assigned hashtag that would be provided by the tradeshow host to reflect the expo’s name (this would amplify the buzz, not just on foursquare, but also on twitter – given that the attendee also has a twitter account).
2. The participating sponsor would then provide each attendee a unique code that they would also need to post via the “add a tip” function for every virtual booth they visit.

Attendees would need to make sure to stop at every participating booth to be automatically entered into the raffle.  The winner could then be announced at one of the tradeshow events or gala.

If the tradeshow hosting company decides not to participate, you can easily team up with a handful of exhibiting vendors and co-manage the event.

In exchange for a virtual check-in, the attendees receive real incentives and take home a unique experience!  How have you implemented social media to maximize your sponsorship investment?

We exhibited at the 2010 Event Solutions / Catersource Conference & Tradeshow in Las Vegas for the first time.  It was a great experience and will definitely continue to participate in the years to come.  We decided to showcase one of our many Alice in Wonderland themed backdrops and framed it with trussing to display our product in a professional setting.  Our trussing was provided by one of our partners, “Rhythm Entertainment,” based out of Ontario, CA.

As product sponsors for “Anthology Event 2010,” we partnered up with Nick Apap from the Royce Prop Shop and designed a custom backdrop for the event.  Nick’s vision was to create an ambiance of “mad scientists” by incorporating a laboratory backdrop for the demo stage on how to create frozen ice cream.  He also adapted our Fire backdrop into the main stage where performers entertained the guests later that evening.  Nick was one of the finalists for the Spotlight Awards for “Creative Director of the Year.”  In appreciation of our sponsorship for that event, Nick and Royce designed a table setting exclusively for our booth which further accented our beautiful Alice in Wonderland theme.

Our goal was to showcase and educate event professionals how a backdrop can accent any event by thinking outside the box and working together with an event company.  In speaking with many catering businesses and chefs we were able to teach them that their food presentations and/or buffet tables can be accentuated with our product and giving their clients a bit more and gaining more business.  It’s very important to not just pitch your product on what it can do for them but to also show them and have them see the big picture.  At the end, we conquered so much more and are looking forward to working with other event companies in our upcoming shows.

Our raffle at the show was a Nintendo Wii and the Alice in Wonderland Video Game.  Out of the 897 registrations we received, we had one lucky winner:  Legendary Events.  Congratulations Legendary Events!