I asked the audience if anyone had ever heard the phrase, “dancing on a shifting carpet”. Since it’s so integral in my life, I was quite surprised when no one had. Dancing on a shifting carpet speaks to one’s ability to maintain grace and poise, while the ground moves unpredictably. During the most chaotic times, I draw upon Grace Kelly and Fred Astaire.

However, it also fits when developing an online marketing campaign. There can be so many variables, so much research to be compiled and compared, that a clear picture of valuable action may not become clear until the final few hours.

The information to be included in the campaign, will change from company to company, client to client, based on a number of variables. Of course, there are a few basics to be included: recommended placement, placement target audience, ad sizes, etc.

However, when deciding between contextual advertising, behavioral, or retargeting; static or flash; networks or affiliates – the inter-relationships can be complicated. It takes cunning and skill, along with grace and poise, to make sense of it all.

I cover a lot of this in my presentation.  So take a look at the slides below, and give me a call if you’d like to learn more.  Until then, keep dancing!

Maurrean
901-888-5862

Steve, the new guy

Hello!  As the newest member of the LunaWeb family, I want to take a moment to introduce myself.  I joined the team this week as the director of business development.  And while I officially started on Monday, I was able to get an early start last week by giving a marketing presentation at BarCamp Memphis last Saturday which LunaWeb spearheads for LaunchMemphis every fall.  If you aren’t familiar with BarCamp, it’s a un-conference that has an international presence that we’ve been heading-up in Memphis for the past four years.  (All of the presentations/topics are determined by attendees’ votes first thing in the morning – hence an “un-conference”).  BarCamp is focused on the Web, tech, gadgets and how it’s all impacting the community and business. So, it was a great event for learning and networking.

I’m excited to join the LunaWeb team!  Having spent the past few years developing online marketing efforts, I’m happy to join a company whose main goal is to help their clients effectively grow their businesses online.

I’d love to connect with you online.  I’m on LinkedIn and Twitter.  I can also be reached by email: steve [at] lunaweb [dot] com (it’s typed this way to avoid spambots).  Please let me know if I can be of service to you.

I look forward to seeing you online!

Best,
Steve Phipps

P.S.  Below is a copy of my presentation from BarCamp.  Please share your thoughts on any great (or not so great) campaigns that I didn’t cover.

Let’s begin by deciding what BarCamp is not. BarCamp is not like conference you’ve ever been to. You won’t be served cold coffee or cold speakers, and the topics weren’t previously determined with little or no audience input. NOOOO! BarCamp is a knowledge-sharing event wherein people learn from the presentations, and talk to each other to create the value they personally need from the event. BarCamp is a place for you to participate, learn and share. BarCamp is the un-conference.

BarCamp Memphis is interactive and user-generated. Anyone and everyone who comes to BarCamp is invited to come with a topic in hand and prepared to share. Don’t worry if you’re not a legend, neither are most of our presenters. Rather, these are folks from local or regional companies sharing many of the same challenges. Session formats can be a traditional presentation (with or without slides), a Q&A session, a demonstration, a panel discussion or just about any format of your choosing. Just make sure your topic relates to the web, web technologies, geekery, new devices, etc.

At the beginning of the day, everyone votes on the presentations. The result is the most relevant, informative, and interesting conference possible for all its’ attendees. Said simply, BarCamp Memphis becomes what you want it to be.

BarCamp Memphis will also have rooms set aside for open discussion on the topics that matter to you most (i.e. the ones you create), we call these Core Conversations. There will be panel discussions throughout the day on those subjects where two (or more) knowledgeable folks team up to discuss their chosen topic. Even the traditional presentations are more exciting when you get to pick them yourself.

It’s time for bloggers, techies, marketing profs, entrepreneurs, and geeks to unite again at BarCamp Memphis 2010!

We’ve posted their newest episode featuring Church Health Center below. Help support these guys and all the good they are highlighting in our city!

• FedEx has sent more than 350,000 pounds of relief supplies, with plans to send more flights.
• The Haiti Medical Missions of Memphis is currently taking donations at their location on Kirby Pkwy.
• After committing to treat children injured in the quake, LeBonheur Children’s Hospital has now made plans to send a team of physicians directly to the epicenter to help with relief and treatment.
• The Young Avenue Deli is holding a Haiti Benefit Concert on Saturday, Jan. 23. All proceeds will go to Haiti Medical Missions of Memphis and Food For The Poor. Rocking out for a good cause has a storied past — why not do it right in your hometown to help Haiti? Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show starts at 9 p.m. A $10 donation gets you jamming.
• The Children’s Museum of Memphis (@CMOM) will hold a Zumba Fitness class on Sunday, Jan. 24 from 3 to 5 p.m. with proceeds benefiting the relief efforts. It’s pay-what-you-can, but $5 is the minimum and it’s all heading to the Midsouth Chapter of The American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund.
• Ten University of Memphis registered organizations joined together to form the “It’s Not About Us, Love Haiti” relief effort on campus. The relief campaign will take donations through Jan. 29 inside and outside the Tiger Den, Wilder Tower, the campus bookstore and several other businesses in the area near the Poplar and Highland Avenue intersection.
• On Saturday, Jan. 30, the Fred Astaire Dance Studio is holding a benefit Bellydancing performance called Dance From the Heart: Project Haiti. Any donation to the cause gets you in the door.
• Memphis Rotary continues its relationship with Stop Hunger Now with two separate food-packing events in February in conjunction with Haiti relief. The events will be Feb. 18 and Feb. 20, both at the Southern College of Optometry. Follow @MemphisRotary or visit MemphisRotary.org for more information.

Dave Barger and Roundtable Attendees

Dave was able to share his insight into Social Media, not as something that can be broken down into check boxes with “power tips,” but as a philosophy and a conscious decision made by a business organization to provide transparency where there were once barriers. He discussed the tendency by Social snake oil peddlers to oversimplify and invent formulas for something that should never be reduced to mindlessly executed tasks, but should be a sincere attempt to create relationships with your customer base.

He mentioned that businesses must consider the time investment that it takes to do Social Media well, and start small by finding out where their customers are and creating a presence there instead of trying to do everything at once.

It was a great turnout and plenty of excellent questions from the crowd after the presentation. You can look for the full audio and video to be posted on the Society of Entrepreneurs site in the near future.

LaunchMemphis, with Mercury Technology Labs, is hosting the Business Plan Boot Camp, where new entrepreneurs will be given a push towards business success. Experts from several fields will be on hand with hard-earned advice, while attendees can get tailored feedback on their business plans in several break-out sessions.

Covered topics will include:

• Business plan development
• Legal issues for entrepreneurs
• Marketing
• Financial considerations for entrepreneurs
• Gaining funding
• Finding investors

LaunchMemphis’ goal is to foster entrepreneurial growth within the Memphis community. The group is non-profit and the cost for the Boot Camp is $60 for two days filled with insight (lunches included).

The two sessions will take place on August 15th and 22nd from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at the Mercury Launchpad located at:

EmergeMemphis, Suite 133
516 Tennessee Street
Memphis, TN 38103

For more information email Chris@LaunchMemphis.com or call (901) 628-4657.

Don’t forget other important dates coming up:

BarCamp Chattanooga
July 25
Chattanooga, TN

Social South (SoSo)
August 21 and 22
Birmingham, AL

SocialCamp Memphis (Organized by LunaWeb through LaunchMemphis)
September 19
Memphis, TN

WordCamp Birmingham
September 27 and 28
Birmingham, AL

BarCamp Nashville
October 17
Nashville, TN

BarCamp Memphis (Organized by LunaWeb through LaunchMemphis)
November 14
Memphis, TN

While things change and people grow up, there are always a few people who manage to hold on to this mindset as they step into their professional lives. The rules are irrelevant to them and the rest of us get left in the dust. Social Media has been riddled with spammers and even legit companies trying to get ahead by circumventing the rules of the platform.

"Don't cheat" by quinn.anya on Flickr

LunaWeb has fallen victim to one of these social delinquients as of late in the flurry of excitement surrounding Facebook’s new vanity URLs.

When the URLs were first released they were only available to individuals and Public Profiles with more than 1000 fans. While we weren’t huge fans at being left out of the loop (we don’t have 1000 fans but we’d love it if you were one) we bade our time until Facebook allowed the smaller pages to start claiming URLs.

This past Sunday night we logged in at the appointed time to claim our vanity URL at long last, only to discover it had been done several days before by an individual profile from a person suspiciously named LunaWeb Agence. Apparently a French company of the same name created a fake profile for the purpose of snagging the URL before anyone else did.

You can bet we’ll be taking this issue up with Facebook and we’ll keep you posted on what happens. Until then… play fair.