The Buyer Group PR + SEO News

I’m on a social media high and wanted to share the excitement with you! A lot is happening in my social media/PR/SEO world that matters to both of us. So here are some quick updates to keep you in the circle.

Happy to get published by ClickZ
Thanks to the inspiring words from Mark Jackson at SES Chicago back in December, I decided to play the other side of journalism and write a piece for a leading industry publication. Check out my article Better PR, Search Results, and Happiness Using Social Media.

Are you there God? It’s me Lisa…
My social media prayers were answered when Navah Kirstein joined my team full-time! A warm welcome to @navahk. She is The Buyer Group’s “Chief of Everything Social Media” and is doing a fabulous job keeping all the social media balls in the air.

Tiger Tails in PR
I want to congratulate resident blogger, tweeter and sports junkie @mattinnes for getting accepted to law school at the University of Florida, Go Gators! His latest blog post, Tiger Woods: No Comment. No Questions PR strategy, is a must read.

In a NY Minute: I’ll be at SES
I love this time of year! It’s SES NY and I’m happy to share the panels with incredible talent including Greg Jarboe, who, by the way, wrote the book on YouTube and Video Marketing. SEO expert Joe Laratro will also be in New York presenting on the Bringing SEO In-House: The Pros and Cons panel. I’ll be tweeting throughout the conference, speaking on News Search Optimization and the Social Media Butterfly. If you want to catch up in the Big Apple March 22-25, DM me @lisabuyer Next stop: PubCon Dallas!

Client Coolness
Oppenheim Law was recently nominated for the Sun-Sentinel Best of Blog awards. Eco-good meets eco-save with ShopToEarth’s new branding, new video, new friends and followers! Taigan guided fans through fashion week via Facebook and Twitter: the next best thing to being there.

Karma-lizing
These are a few of my favorite things. Sarah Evans Commentz and Vanity Fair coverage. Helping Haiti via social media. P90X mixed with Herbaleane. The Happiness Project book by Gretchen Rubin. La Gondola pizza. Oppenheim Law’s Homeowner Bailout Workshops. Being your word. Hosting ShopToEarth Social Media Webinars with Stacy Kinney. Joe’s Stone Crab. SFIMA meeting. The SEO diet.

The press release is now the tweet, the post, and the status update, according to Lisa Buyer, President and CEO of The Buyer Group.

Social Media is changing the way public relations, search and marketing are being executed whether you’re releasing a soon-to-be New York Times Best Seller or launching an innovative new product.

Buyer was recently published on ClickZ.com as she described how social media has added to the public relations and marketing mix for Gretchen Rubin’s best selling book “The Happiness Project” and Piper Aircrafts latest entry-level airplane.

Check out the full article for Buyer’s analysis of these cases or hear her speak at SES NEW York, March 22-26, at the Hilton New York.

Rock the vote! Voting is underway for The Sun-Sentinel’s Best of Blogs Awards and Oppenheim Law’s South Florida Law Blog received a nomination in the Business Blog Category.

The South Florida Law Blog is committed to bringing timely news and advice to it’s readers as they work together to survive this treacherous real estate market.

You can vote once a day for your favorite blog (Hopefully The South Florida Law Blog!) after registering for a free Sun-Sentinel account here. Voting ends March 1^st.

Oppenheim Law and The Buyer Group appreciate your continued support, feedback and comments and look forward to bringing you the latest and greatest in Florida foreclosure defense and real estate trends.

Feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments section, or join the conversation online with @thebuyergroup or @oplaw.

Lisa Buyer delivers online PR insight + shares how businesses can leverage the powerful reach of social media to increase sales, generate leads and improve customer service at the industry’s top seminars, webinars and conferences

The Buyer Group is more than interactive when it comes to industry conferences and dedicated to leading the pack with social media, online public relations and search engine marketing trends. During the past year, the communications industry witnessed unprecedented growth in social media, with social networking sites accounting for more than 11 percent of total time spent online.

Lisa Buyer, president and CEO of The Buyer Group, helps clients and public relations professionals stay ahead of the social media curve.

“One of our goals at The Buyer Group is to define the current digital marketing and PR landscape,” Buyer said. “Speaking at a variety of conferences, workshops and seminars affords our agency the opportunity to share cutting-edge social media and public relations practices with clients, CEOs and communications professionals.”

Below is a list of 2010 social media, PR and SEO events The Buyer Group is scheduled to participate in.

ShopToEarth’s The Next Step

The Buyer Group is the official online PR and social media agency for ShopToEarth, an online shopping portal. The Buyer Group launched the eco-friendly e-commerce business venture’s new social media channels and unveiled ShopToEarth’s 2010 Mission Video in January.

ShopToEarth Monthly Social Media for Business Training

Designing monthly social media training webinars focused on using networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, The Buyer Group’s Lisa Buyer hosts the network’s monthly social media training webinar on the second Thursday of each month.

Search Engine Strategies: New York

Lisa Buyer will join approximately 5,000 marketers and search engine optimization professionals attending SES New York each year to network and learn about topics such as PPC management, keyword research, SEO, social media, local, mobile, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, video optimization, site optimization, usability and more.

SES New York will be packed with 70+ sessions, multiple keynotes, 100+ exhibitors, networking events and parties.

News Search Optimization + Search, PR and the Social Butterfly

Moderating two panels in two days is just the beginning of The Buyer Group’s 2010 conference schedule. Join Lisa Buyer as she shares how to take social media to the boardroom and use press releases to tap into the power of news search.

Event Details: Wednesday, March 24^th – 2:15 p.m. and Thursday, March 25^th – 4 p.m. at the Hilton New York. Full agenda and registration information here.

PubCon Dallas: Social Media, PR + Search

Starting where other conferences leave off, The Buyer Group will be presenting on the intersection on public relations and search through social media at PubCon Dallas 2010.

Event Details: April 13 – 15, 2010 Dallas Texas Full agenda and registration information here.

Also on The Buyer Group’s conference list for 2010:

SES San Francisco – August 16-20, 2010 The Moscone Center

PubCon Las Vegas – November 8 – 11, 2010 Las Vegas Convention Center

SES Chicago – Fall 2010, dates to be scheduled.

The Buyer Group is available for custom client webinars or live presentations designed to teach your in-house team how to be social media savvy and maximize the direct and indirect benefits of social media.

Websites, blogs, texting and social media are serving as a viral PR and marketing platform for the recent Haiti disaster relief efforts.

The Red Cross texting campaign went viral through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and donations for Haiti alone have already doubled the $4 million that was donated to all charities by mobile texts in all of 2009.

Think about how you can use your own website, blog or social media network to spread the word and make it easy for people to access ways to donate. If you haven’t already done so, think of these possibilities for your business to help Haiti.

• Create a banner add on your website linking to your favorite organization that is helping Haiti. Here’s one. http://www.redcross.org/psa/bannerorder/all/singular.asp
• Add Tweets to your Twitter broadcasts linking to an organization such as the Red Cross
• Post info on your Facebook
• Add a link to your  email signature
• Donate some time to helping locally

For example help a local Red Cross chapter. My sister’s restaurant La Gondola donated food to the Chicago Red Cross on Friday via @PrSarahEvans Tweet media push. Evans spent the day on location with the Red Cross Tweeting and pitching in to help spread the social good. You can too.

The Buyer Group will continue to donate time and a portion of sales to the Clinton Bush Haiti Relief Fund as well as ShopToEarth’s partner Charity Water.

What can you do? Get creative! Below is a list of some ways the media and social media are spreading the word:

1. The Huffington Post has an ongoing list of relief efforts and how you can get involved that it is going to continue updating. Check it out here.

2. CNN has compiled a list of organizations that will be providing support to the estimated 3 million people that have been affected by the earthquake.

3. Many people are engaging the Twitter community to raise awareness, as well as funds. Search “Haiti” and see what the latest updates are.

Within moments of stepping into the Zappos headquarters in Las Vegas, it was easy to see the buzz CEO Tony Hsieh is generating by his company’s unique corporate culture is no fluke.

Employees ring cowbells and blow horns to greet guests, conference rooms are extravagantly themed, and Hsieh, one of the youngest and most successful CEOs out there, works from a cubicle that looks like it came straight out of a frat house. Sounds fun doesn’t it?

Check out my Behind the Scenes Zappos Album on Facebook

But the beauty of this zany atmosphere is there is so much more to this strategic culture than fun. It works. Period. See for yourself how Zappos turns happiness into powerful results.

Hsieh has proven that allowing employees to express themselves and in turn, truly connect with customers, fosters the perfect environment for relationships to develop.

As a public relations CEO for The Buyer Group, I look for ways to initiate and advance relationships on a day-to-day basis, and there is certainly a lesson to be learned from the way Zappos does business. Zappos and Hsieh proved to be my inspiration for 2010. I hope these pictures help bring a little fun to your New Year as well.

As 2009 comes to a close, Jeff Zbar of The South Florida Business Journal caught up with several marketing executives in the Sunshine State to see what they are wishing for in the New Year.

Lisa Buyer, President and CEO of The Buyer Group is hoping for some Google grace for her public relations clients and even more success bringing together the domains of social media and search engines.

Keep reading to see Lisa’s thoughts on client trust as well as which executive is wishing to land Tiger Woods as a client.

Happy New Year from The Buyer Group!

Marketing executives hope for success in the new year
South Florida Business Journal – by Jeff Zbar

“What I want for the holidays is … to have more successful clients,” admitted Gary Schweikhart of PR-BS, in Boca Raton. “The better they do financially, the less likely it is that PR will get the budget ax in a tight economy.”

The grace of Google to find her clients’ releases, and greater acceptance and understanding of that place where social media and PR converge were Lisa Buyer’s wishes. The more they get it, the greater the chance for return on investment from a social media PR campaign.

While they’re at it, a little hands-off trust would be nice, too.

“Let go,” said Buyer, principal with The Buyer Group, a Deerfield Beach-based interactive PR and branding firm. “I would like the control freaks and micromanaging type of clients to consider letting go and trusting who they hire.”

You can check out the entire SFBJ article here.

It was 4:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving eve and Florida Real Estate Attorney Roy Oppenheim was in his office regrouping for a long weekend. Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal reporter James Bob Hagarty was working on a story about homeowners who are creating their own bailouts, the coined name “strategic defaults.”

Hagarty searched the various Internet sites and came across some of Oppenheim’s past media coverage. The real estate reporter called Oppenheim and interviewed him about what a homeowner should know before they stop paying the mortgage: a tough decision and one that Oppenheim helps his clients make each day.

It’s a fact: 91% of journalists use standard search to fulfill a component of their job whether researching a story or locating a subject matter expert. Traditional PR efforts combined with savvy optimization will increase your on-line visibility.

Read the full story Debtor’s Dilemma: Pay the Mortgage or Walk Away on the Oppenheim Law News Room or in today’s Wall Street Journal on page A22.

Follow @JamesRHagarty on Twitter for more excellent reporting from The Wall Street Journal

http://twitter.com/JamesRHagerty

Tweeting doctors boost exposure and uncover their market
South Florida Business Journal – by Jeff Zbar

Paul Wigoda tweets a few times a week. It may be about breast augmentation, statistics on pectoral implants or the difference between “smart” and traditional liposuction.

To date, some 122 Twitter users are “following” the doctor. He hopes he’s reaching a new audience with every tweet.

“This is just one more way to speak to patients and potential patients,” said Wigoda, who practices plastic surgery in Fort Lauderdale. “It’s a quick way to interact with them.”

As a physician whose practice is 10 years old, Wigoda isn’t alone – or even a pioneer – in using Twitter to promote his business. In February, surgeons in Detroit tweeted live from the operating room during a cancer procedure. Across the social media landscape, more physicians – and other professionals, like attorneys and accountants – are using Twitter to reach their target market and establish their expertise.

The “Twitter-verse” is the new social and commerce marketplace, even for professional service providers like physicians, said Marvin Dejean, CEO of Markcom Industries, a Coral Springs interactive marketing agency. While some physicians, attorneys or accountants historically have shied from marketing and advertising, social media outreach for many no longer can be ignored, he said.

“This universe is becoming larger and larger. It’s becoming the marketplace touching every commerce and consumer point you can think of,” he said. “Online is the next marketplace, and social media plays a tremendous role in that.”

Wigoda works with a local interactive marketing firm to write three or four tweets each week, which the firm then posts to his site. Tweeting a few months now, Wigoda often will write a blog post – maybe on a procedure or a special offer – then tweet about it, he said. Whether Twitter is driving new business or new leads are coming from his Web site or blog, Wigoda cannot say. But, he believes he cannot ignore that marketplace.

To read the full article visit the South Florida Business Journal.

More than just a press release, online PR and branding agency programs offer investor relations, social media, search engine strategies, journalism, and digital media talent

Delray Beach, FL - July 31, 2009 – What assets should a business look for when hiring an online PR agency? Talent, credentials, resources and results, says Lisa Buyer, PR agency owner, blogger and SES speaker. The Buyer Group announces the addition of a diverse team of industry experts for clients looking for more than just a press release.

In addition to its in-house PR and social media talent, The Buyer Group pools together a virtual team of business consultants as part of the agency business model including: investment relations specialist Kelly McCarthy, SEO/SEM expert Joe Laratro, senior journalist and new media expert Jennifer LeClaire, award-winning brand guru Carah Von Funk, and search-savvy web agency owner Stephen Rosen.

“These additions to our team underline additional depth, breadth, and value of the online PR services from The Buyer Group,” said Lisa Buyer. “The future of the online public relations agency system is fluid, virtual, adaptable, and diverse,” said Buyer.  “Our ability to tap into the diversity of industry expert minds when building a PR campaigns is priceless to clients.”

Industry Experts Joining The Buyer Group Team

• Kelly McCarthy @kelly_mccarthy, president and CEO of Infusion Capital, an investor relations agency.
• Joe Laratro @jlaratro, president and CEO of Tandem Interactive, an online marketing agency that specializes in search engine marketing and SEO strategies, education and training
• Jennifer LeClaire @jleclaire, a new media entrepreneur offering expert journalism content and reporting.
• Carah von Funk @vonfunk, brand champion at CvF, Inc with previous experience as senior management with Crispin Porter + Bogusky
• Stephen Rosen @sitemind, owner of Sitemind, a search-savvy web site design and development studio.

The Buyer Group is an interactive public relations and branding agency that leverages 20 years of award-winning PR services and social media experience. Always dynamic and cutting-edge, The Buyer Group bolsters its personalized and boutique approach to public relations, offering skills and knowledge that larger PR agencies are not positioned to supply without sending clients to multiple sources.

About The Buyer Group @thebuyergroup
The Buyer Group is a member of the South Florida Interactive Marketing Association and is recognized as a Google Advertising Professional Company. Lisa Buyer is a regular speaker at Internet Marketing conferences including PubCon and Search Engine Strategies talking on the topics of online PR, News search SEO and the influences of social media. For more information about The Buyer Group and its interactive public relations, social media and online branding services visit http://www.thebuyergroup.com or follow Lisa Buyer on Twitter @lisabuyer.