 January 14, 1999, a mentally disturbed woman walked into a gun store in Salt Lake City and legally purchased a gun. There was no waiting period.She then hopped on a bus, walked into my office building, moments after a bunch of us returned from a late lunch at Spaghetti Factory, and "allegedly" opened fire. She tried to shoot her way into NBC affiliate KSL-TV. She injured the building manger and then took off in our building. For roughly 30 minutes no one knew where she was. She made her way to the AT&T office on the 4th floor and shot point blank a new mom in the head. She sadly died a week later. I initially stood at the window and watched what was unfolding below me in horror. Straight from a movie scene. More uniformed and non-uninformed police, cars, vans, dogs I've ever seen. SWAT team in riot gear rushing towards our building. I ran to my office, hid under my desk and frantically called my boyfriend back in Chicago who initially thought I was joking. All the while staring blankly at the awe-inspiring snow peaked mountains of picturesque Utah out my office window. So for me - Friday's tragedy hits a little too close to home. I more than likely view it with a different lens than you....On Friday a Brazilian women's clothing boutique appears to have accidentally capitalized on the tragedy in Colorado by tweeting "#Aurora is trending, clearly about our Kim K inspired #Aurora dress ;)" The brand (whose name I won't mention) apologized for their misunderstanding of the trending hashtag 90 minutes later. While distasteful, it's an honest mistake. The same doesn't seem to be true for this graphic designer. Over the weekend I saw this new logo (!?!?) of the tragedy on a friend's Facebook page posted by a local comic convention and the request we, "Like" this picture to show your support and love for our community." I have major problems with this. How could a tragedy such as this warrant... the creation of a logo? If it were just the ribbon and the heart - maybe. But to take the extra steps to include the outline of the caped man just crosses the line for me. Especially since (key point here) the person who created this doesn't include any information on how to donate to these victims or the community on his Facebook page. He does however make certain his new logo and the Timeline image he created (again ?!?!) are open to public view, and more importantly to share. As of this posting the Timeline image he created was shared 171 times while the logo was shared 2,734 times.As for the branded Facebook page I found this on, I find it incredibly disrespectful to ask people to "like" this post. The end result creates tremendous brand awareness for their Facebook page. As such, this logo was shared from their Facebook status update 6,351 times. While they have provided a ton of wonderful information on how to help, donate, the memorial service, etc - sadly this one post of the logo generated far more interest than actually helping the people of this tragedy as compared with their other posts.What does this say about us? These are people, and even a six year old little girl, who died way too soon. So in memory of these victims - please visit USA Today here to read more about who these beautiful people were. One had a birthday. Others served our country or were mothers. All who are no longer here. Should you wish to donate - please visit Giving First who has a list of local non-profits who are helping these victims.And while one might say just me writing this post is capitalizing on the tragedy - I've been certain to do everything you're not supposed to do in a blog post. Limited key words, names, no alt image tags added, won't be submitting this URL to Google, etc. Again, please consider donating to Giving First to help those who really need it. But more importantly, these victims should be remembered and not a logo and Facebook Timeline image of what happened.
 Unless you're been living under a rock the past few days you had to have head about Chick-fil-A's recent stance on gay-rights. Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy said their company was "guilty as charged" in support of a traditional family unit. "The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender," according to the statement. "Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena," it said. "We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that," Cathy told the Baptist Press, the news agency of the Southern Baptist Convention. Anyone remember the Dixie Chicks boycott in 2003 aft er their comments about President Bush and the was in Iraq? During the introduction to their song " Travelin' Soldier", Natalie Maines, who along with Robison and Maguire was also a native of Texas, said: "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas." READERS: In today's viral age is voicing gay-rights beliefs a wise business decision as Chick-fil-A did?
 About Karen MoranLike her love for adventure travel, Karen Moran's 15 year advertising career has been quite a journey. She launched her ad career at iconic Leo Burnett. From there she went on to BBDO, Publicis & Hal Riney, West Wayne and others.
With an equally diverse client roster, Karen has managed multi-million dollar ad campaigns for Dodge, Toyota, Oldsmobile, Sealy, OfficeMax, Time Warner Cable, Disney Cruise Line, Canyon Ranch, the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau and even worked on post-Hurricane Katrina marketing efforts for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. Karen has since given up big ad agency life to go off on her own. She is now Chief Mischief Maker (aka Head Cheese) at Magnet Social Media When not diligently working to help small brands ignite and foster social dialogue, Karen enjoys her time being out on the water. After all her company is located on a tiny palm-tree laden, stop-light free island called Matlacha off Fort Myers, Florida. Population less than 800. No really, it is. And, if ya every get a chance to speak with Karen, be sure to ask her how she got a Major League Baseball player...to tweet. Magnet Social MediaFort Myers, Florida Phone: (239) 314-4778 Contact Magnet Social Media to turn your brand into a social media magnet.
 10 Easy ways to get website backlinksWhy are website backlinks to important? Basically they tell Google your website is reputable. The more links you have from reputable and trustworthy sites to your website, the more likely you are to appear in Google search. Well combined with a slew of other things but backlinks do play a very important roll. Read below for 10 easy peasy ways to get the coveted backlink to your website. - Forum a Signature Link. Check out how to write a signature links here.
- Create a Hubpage
- Create a Squidoo Lens and write unique content not found elsewhere
- Write a new blog post at least once per week. According to Hubspot, "Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links than those that don't. Creating great content is the key to getting inbound links – there's just no substitute." My blog post on How to add a Pinterest tab to a Facebook page has more backlinks than I thought possible when I wrote it.
- Write and distribute a a well thought out press release. Check out these 20 websites that will distribute your press release for free.
- YouTube is an often overlooked source for backlinks
- Create Podcasts
- Link bait - Write a blog post that spreads like wild fire across the net. A perfect example would be the silly girl who recently blogged only those under 25 should be hired as social media managers. I refuse to link the article cuz she's a nit wit.
- Awards and or newspaper articles - I got nominated for a Shorty Award (I so did not win - but - I gots me a link to my site). Any awards you win or newspaper articles that reference you should link to your website.
- Comment on relevant blogs and forums like this one here :)
READERS: What other recommendations do you have for getting backlinks?
 About Karen MoranLike her love for adventure travel, Karen Moran's 15 year advertising career has been quite a journey. She launched her ad career at iconic Leo Burnett. From there she went on to BBDO, Publicis & Hal Riney, West Wayne and others.
With an equally diverse client roster, Karen has managed multi-million dollar ad campaigns for Dodge, Toyota, Oldsmobile, Sealy, OfficeMax, Time Warner Cable, Disney Cruise Line, Canyon Ranch, the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau and even worked on post-Hurricane Katrina marketing efforts for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. Karen has since given up big ad agency life to go off on her own. She is now Chief Mischief Maker (aka Head Cheese) at Magnet Social Media When not diligently working to help small brands ignite and foster social dialogue, Karen enjoys her time being out on the water. After all her company is located on a tiny palm-tree laden, stop-light free island called Matlacha off Fort Myers, Florida. Population less than 800. No really, it is. And, if ya every get a chance to speak with Karen, be sure to ask her how she got a Major League Baseball player...to tweet. Magnet Social MediaFort Myers, Florida Phone: (239) 314-4778 Contact Magnet Social Media to turn your brand into a social media magnet.
 HOW TO: Legally run a Facebook promotionFor reasons unknown some brands hop on Facebook and merely start executing tactics. Let's run a Facebook promotion today! Yeah, that sounds great! We'll just post one status update with a few words and that's it, right? Uhm...no. Running a Facebook promotion -- as with any offline promotion -- requires not only a well-thought out strategy but also abiding by FTC - yes folks - FTC legal rules and regulations ( Chapter 30 of Title 39 of the U.S. Code) that have been in place for decades. Then each state also has their own specific set of rules and regulations for online or offline promotions and sweepstakes. Why are rules and regulations necessary for promotions or sweepstakes? Basically by following these rules you cover your tush against any sort of liability. Say your brand opted to give away food and the winner got salmonella and then sued you. Then what? Your $10 give-away turned into a huge nightmare! If that isn't enough - Facebook also has their required rules and regs for running a legal promotion or sweepstakes on their site. Facebook rules and regulations (also below) are in place to remove their liability from a promotion gone awry. But don't worry. Check out the third party Facebook promotions app by North Social. North Social is nicely integrated into Facebook. Includes a legal like-gate option. Gives easy step-by-step instructions. And better still North Social offers a free-trial to get you started. Don't want to bother abiding by any of these rules? It's your option. But as noted below...it's also Facebook's option to...."We reserve the right to reject or remove Pages for any reason." When in doubt, please do take this free legal tip from powerhouse law firm Winston & Strawn" Contact your attorney to ensure your fulfillment and ... practices are in compliance with all state laws."READERS: What recommendations do you have for running a smoooth Facebook promotion?Facebook Promotions - Rules & Regulations If you use Facebook to communicate about or administer a promotion (such as a contest or sweepstakes), you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, including the official rules, offer terms and eligibility requirements (e.g., age and residency restrictions), and compliance with regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered in connection with the promotion (e.g., registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals). Please note that compliance with these guidelines does not constitute the lawfulness of a promotion. Promotions are subject to many regulations and if you are not certain that your promotion complies with applicable law, please consult with an expert. i. Promotions on Facebook must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or a Page App. ii. Promotions on Facebook must include the following: a. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant. b. Acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. c. Disclosure that the participant is providing information to [ disclose recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook. iii. You must not condition registration or entry upon the user taking any action using any Facebook features or functionality other than liking a Page, checking in to a Place, or connecting to your app. For example, you must not condition registration or entry upon the user liking a Wall post, or commenting or uploading a photo on a Wall. iv. You must not use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism. For example, the act of liking a Page or checking in to a Place cannot automatically register or enter a promotion participant. v. You must not use Facebook features or functionality, such as the Like button, as a voting mechanism for a promotion. vi. You must not notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles (timelines) or Pages. vii. Definitions: a. By “administration” we mean the operation of any element of the promotion, such as collecting entries, conducting a drawing, judging entries, or notifying winners. b. By “communication” we mean promoting, advertising or referencing a promotion in any way on Facebook, e.g., in ads, on a Page, or in a Wall post. We reserve the right to reject or remove Pages for any reason. These terms are subject to change at any time. Amended Pages Terms for State and Local Governments in the United States.
 About Karen MoranLike her love for adventure travel, Karen Moran's 15 year advertising career has been quite a journey. She launched her ad career at iconic Leo Burnett. From there she went on to BBDO, Publicis & Hal Riney, West Wayne and others.
With an equally diverse client roster, Karen has managed multi-million dollar ad campaigns for Dodge, Toyota, Oldsmobile, Sealy, OfficeMax, Time Warner Cable, Disney Cruise Line, Canyon Ranch, the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau and even worked on post-Hurricane Katrina marketing efforts for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. Karen has since given up big ad agency life to go off on her own. She is now Chief Mischief Maker (aka Head Cheese) at Magnet Social Media When not diligently working to help small brands ignite and foster social dialogue, Karen enjoys her time being out on the water. After all her company is located on a tiny palm-tree laden, stop-light free island called Matlacha off Fort Myers, Florida. Population less than 800. No really, it is. And, if ya every get a chance to speak with Karen, be sure to ask her how she got a Major League Baseball player...to tweet. Magnet Social MediaFort Myers, Florida Phone: (239) 314-4778 Contact Magnet Social Media to turn your brand into a social media magnet.
 HOW TO: Find an advertising job on TwitterLooking for a job in advertising? Tired of scouring Monster? Don't know which recruiter to call? Look no further than Twitter. According to Jobvite's 2012 Social Recruiting Survey, 92 percent of employers use or plan to use social media for recruiting this year. According to Jobvite's survey, candidates who use social media overall are more qualified thus making it quicker to fill a position. While it's been a labor of love - I've found over 125 recruiters using Twitter who basically tweet jobs non-stop.Follow my Twitter list of 125 advertising recruiters.READERS: Have you used or found a job on Twitter?
 About Karen MoranLike her love for adventure travel, Karen Moran's 15 year advertising career has been quite a journey. She launched her ad career at iconic Leo Burnett. From there she went on to BBDO, Publicis & Hal Riney, West Wayne and others.
With an equally diverse client roster, Karen has managed multi-million dollar ad campaigns for Dodge, Toyota, Oldsmobile, Sealy, OfficeMax, Time Warner Cable, Disney Cruise Line, Canyon Ranch, the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau and even worked on post-Hurricane Katrina marketing efforts for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. Karen has since given up big ad agency life to go off on her own. She is now Chief Mischief Maker (aka Head Cheese) at Magnet Social Media When not diligently working to help small brands ignite and foster social dialogue, Karen enjoys her time being out on the water. After all her company is located on a tiny palm-tree laden, stop-light free island called Matlacha off Fort Myers, Florida. Population less than 800. No really, it is. And, if ya every get a chance to speak with Karen, be sure to ask her how she got a Major League Baseball player...to tweet.
Magnet Social MediaFort Myers, Florida Phone: (239) 314-4778 Contact Magnet Social Media to turn your brand into a social media magnet.
 Social Media Mistake: Who you should and shouldn't follow on TwitterSo ya wanna start tweeting, eh? You signed up to Twitter, uploaded a cool Avatar, wrote a pretty snazzy bio, included a link to your website, decided you're going to start tweeting about advertising, or photography, or food or little red balloons and now...who the heck do you follow? Regardless of whether you're tweeting on behalf of a brand or as yourself - the same principles apply. R emember these two very important things and you'll be sure to succeed on Twitter- Focus on engagement and not obtaining a high number of followers
- Align yourself with like-minded tweeters that -- pay attention -- key point -- will help promote you or your business
Engagement vs. Number of FollowersThe number #1 biggest social media mistake people make is thinking they need a high number of followers. Instead of focusing on a high number of followers - focus on high engagement with the followers you already have. Keeping your Twitter ratio in check (number of followers compared to number of people you're following) is important because your ratio will be skewed. Essentially - long-term - you never want to follow significantly more people than are following you.Why not you ask?Twitterville will think you're a spammer if you're following 800 people but only have 100 followers. They'll think your content isn't good enough and if all those folks you're following won't follow you back - well then I shouldn't follow you either. Focus on engaging the community you have. Hop into conversations - but not in a creepy way. RT their tweets if they align with your business model/goal. Share a little bit of yourself/your personality. Tweet fun captivating pictures using Instagram, Diptic or Photoshop Express. Build. Your. Twitter. Community. Sloooow-leee. If after a few weeks of trying to engage a tweeter and not succeeding - it's ok to unfollow them. There's a great free site to check out called Friend or Follow. Friend or Follow will let you know who is and isn't following you back on Twitter. Just be sure to never follow or unfollow mass amounts of people in a short time. Twitter could easily close your account leaving you crying with zero recourse. Aligning Yourself With Tweeters Who Will Help Promote You/Your BusinessSure you may want to follow eNews or get the latest sports scores but the reality is - those folks more than likely will not - Follow back
- Engage in dialogue
- RT your tweets
So why follow them? Why skew your Twitter ratio by following people who won't help you obtain your goals? What benefit do you as a brand receive by following another brand that doesn't engage in conversation with you, doesn't follow back or worse - doesn't and more than likely never will, RT your tweets? That should be your ultimate goal when looking for people -- not brands but actual people -- to follow on Twitter. Other brands won't come into your establishment from your tweets. So why follow them? People on the other hand will - so if you're a brand, you follow people as they are your prospective customers. Think of Twitter like a cocktail party. You walk into a room, scan it and don't make a beeline for unemployed Ben who still lives with his parents and worse never looks you in the eye when you talk. You will however immediately zone in on Jennifer because she has a hip new store you'd like to sell your beaded necklaces in. You connect with Jennifer because you both have the same goal. Twitter is the exact same thing - well - except on steroids. So when you're looking for great content to pass along to your community or because you really want to know how much Katie got in her split from Tom - create a Twitter list for Celebrity Gossip, Sports or whatever you want and add those tweeters to your new Twitter list instead of following them. By adding folks to a Twitter list instead of following them- It does not skew your Twitter ratio of followers to following
- You can easily reference the tweets from your Twitter list regardless of whether you're reading your tweets on a desktop or a mobile devise
- If the list is of Foodies or in my case I have a Twitter list of 120+ advertising and marketing recruiters - promote the hell out of your personalized Twitter list. On Friday's I add the hashtag #FollowFriday and #FF to my ad recruiters Twitter list. There are now more people following my one Twitter list than I have listed. And in this economy my Twitter list of advertising recruiters who are constantly tweeting open jobs - is a pretty valuable commodity.
READERS: What are some of your best Twitter tips?Tweets containing less than 100 characters receive 17% higher engagement than longer Tweets (Source: Buddy Media) Click to tweet.
 About Karen MoranLike her love for adventure travel, Karen Moran's 15 year advertising career has been quite a journey. She launched her ad career at iconic Leo Burnett. From there she went on to BBDO, Publicis & Hal Riney, West Wayne and others.
With an equally diverse client roster, Karen has managed multi-million dollar ad campaigns for Dodge, Toyota, Oldsmobile, Sealy, OfficeMax, Time Warner Cable, Disney Cruise Line, Canyon Ranch, the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau and even worked on post-Hurricane Katrina marketing efforts for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. Karen has since given up big ad agency life to go off on her own. She is now Chief Mischief Maker (aka Head Cheese) at Magnet Social Media When not diligently working to help small brands ignite and foster social dialogue, Karen enjoys her time being out on the water. After all her company is located on a tiny palm-tree laden, stop-light free island called Matlacha off Fort Myers, Florida. Population less than 800. No really, it is. And, if ya every get a chance to speak with Karen, be sure to ask her how she got a Major League Baseball player...to tweet. Magnet Social MediaFort Myers, Florida Phone: (239) 314-4778 Contact Magnet Social Media to turn your brand into a social media magnet.
 While it may look like a lot of complicated instructions - don't freak out. It's really very easy peasy to add a Pinterest tab for your Facebook page. There are two steps below - the first is to add the Pinterest logo to a Facebook Pinterest tab and the other is to add the Facebook Pinterest tab itself. Two parts. Easy peasy. Promise! :) To add Pinterest logo to Pinterest tab You can skip this part if you don’t want to add a logo – which I don’t advise as the logo has recognition and a generic image could easily be over-looked.
- Go to https://developers.facebook.com/apps
- Click Create New App at the top right
- Type Pinterest in App Name box
- Save the Pinterest logo in this blog post onto your desktop to use as the Pinterest button for your new Pinterest Facebook tab
- Click Edit icon
- Scroll down and click on the Page Tab section
- Fill in all 3
- Page Tab Name
- Name tab “Pinterest”
- Page Tab URL
- Change XXXXXX with your page’s App ID number found at the top of the page http://XXXXXX.iframehost.com/tab
- Secure Page Tab URL (Don’t forget the “S”)
- Change XXXXXX with your page’s App ID number found at the top of the page https://XXXXXX.iframehost.com/tab
- Click on App on Facebook section
- Fill in 2 boxes
- Canvas URL
- Change XXXXXX with your page’s App ID number found at the top of the page http://XXXXXX.iframehost.com/
- Secure Page Tab URL (Don’t forget the “S”)
- Change XXXXXX with your page’s App ID number found at the top of the page https://XXXXXX.iframehost.com/
- Copy and paste this URL http://www.facebook.com/add.php?api_key=YOURAPPID&pages into browser making sure to change YOURAPPID with App numbers used above
- Select the page you want to add the Pinterest button to and click Add Pinterest Button
- Copy your App Secret ID found at top of page under App ID number
- Go to your pages wall – Click on the new Pinterest icon
- Be patient as it may take a few minutes for this next part to populate
- Type your App Secret ID
YEAH! You just set up your new Pinterest tab to have a Pinterest logo. Now...ya need to set up the Pinterest tab itself to populate your Pinterest pins. Is all this making your head hurt yet? To populate Pinterest pins into your new Pinterest Facebook tab - Go to https://apps.facebook.com/iframehost/
- Click Install Page Tab
- Choose the page you want to add the iframe app to
- Click Add Static iFrame Tab
- Click Welcome
- Click Authorize the Tab application
- Click Allow
- Select URL and enter the mobile URL for your Pinterest account (“http://m.pinterest.com/xxxx”). If you don’t use your mobile URL the content on the page is too large. While there’s a scroll bar it just doesn’t look clean and as such is best to use the mobile version.
- Note: If you only want to link to a specific board, locate the board on your Pinterest account and copy that link instead
- Change the name in the "Tab Name" field to Pinterest
- Save settings
- Authorize app and you’re good to go!
See I told ya it was easy peasy!! Follow my pins on Pinterest here. Read Why brands that market to women should be on Pinterest and request a Pinterest invite here.  About Karen MoranLike her love for adventure travel, Karen Moran's 15 year advertising career has been quite a journey. She launched her ad career at iconic Leo Burnett. From there she went on to BBDO, Publicis & Hal Riney, West Wayne and others.
With an equally diverse client roster, Karen has managed multi-million dollar ad campaigns for Dodge, Toyota, Oldsmobile, Sealy, OfficeMax, Time Warner Cable, Disney Cruise Line, Canyon Ranch, the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau and even worked on post-Hurricane Katrina marketing efforts for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. Karen has since given up big ad agency life to go off on her own. She is now Chief Mischief Maker (aka Head Cheese) at Magnet Social Media When not diligently working to help small brands ignite and foster social dialogue, Karen enjoys her time being out on the water. After all her company is located on a tiny palm-tree laden, stop-light free island called Matlacha off Fort Myers, Florida. Population less than 800. No really, it is. And, if ya every get a chance to speak with Karen, be sure to ask her how she got a Major League Baseball player...to tweet. Magnet Social MediaFort Myers, Florida Phone: (239) 314-4778 Contact Magnet Social Media to turn your brand into a social media magnet.
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