The Buyer Group PR + SEO News

In between friends and follows, I hope your summer is tweeting you well with a good mix of business and pleasure. We wanted to share with you The Buyer Group’s latest interactive line-up.

Friends: More than just titles, yes, we’ve got talent. Proven, measured, referenced and real! I’ve put together a trusted team of industry experts adding to The Buyer Group’s PR mix including investor relations, search pros, senior editors, social media elites, digital die-hards, and WOM (word of mouth) brand junkies.

Growth: Looks like I’m in the right industry. This week’s NYT said the PR industry will continue to grow at a steady pace. “Little growth is forecast to come from shrinking traditional media, instead, it will be drawn from areas like public relations.” Social media spending is expected to balloon to over $3.1 billion between now and 2014, while the trusted PR industry is predicted to lead all media growth according to this week’s New York Times article.

Speaking of social media, Interactive Producer Sarah Van Elzen and I host monthly social media webinars for clients like ShopToEarth @shoptoearth, a 80,000+ eco-friendly business network, as well as boating industry leaders Monterey Boats @monterey_boats.

Milestones: I welcome the latest addition to the client roster, RSource, a business services company specializing in revenue cycle management. In other words, they help collect debt and keep the cash flowing so you can focus on running your business. Healthcare, credit card companies and business leasing are the sweet spots for RSource. Follow them @RSourceNews.

Follows: I’m hitting the road next week to share all things search and social at @SESSanJose in California during August 10-14. I’ll be speaking on two panels: Using Search for Missing Persons and Using Twitter as a PR Tool. Stay tuned for an email from me with my full line up of sessions I’ll be attending. And, if you are in the mood for search, follow me through the conference @lisabuyer on Twitter.

Sidebar: TBG client Roy Oppenehiem @oplaw is hosting a free seminar tomorrow: “Should you Walk? Real Estate Workshop” if you or anyone you know needs advice on buying, selling or saving a home. Roy can help.

Hope you’re having a fabulous summer.

Lisa
P.S. Last but not least special thanks to our University of Florida summer intern Matt Innes @mattinnes who is now, all things social. We will be continuing to work with him virtually in the Fall as he returns to Gainesville for his last semester as a Gator.

Also, if you’re on Facebook, become a fan of The Buyer Group for current event schedules and blog posts.

Lisa Buyer has been invited back to speak at Search Engine Strategies San Jose from August 10-14, 2009.  This time, Buyer will be speaking on search and find.  Literally.  The Buyer Group has been working on the Tiffany Sessions Project, a social media campaign to find a clients daughter who went missing 20 years ago.  Buyer will discuss the social media and SEO tactics used to find leads in the Tiffany Sessions case.  Read on for more information about the SES session.

Search & Community Track
SEO for the Greater Good: Using Search to Find Missing Persons

Most people searching for missing adults, children and runaways have limited funds and limited knowledge of search and the available strategies. In this ground-breaking session you will hear from Bob Rahn, a private investigator, who is working on the cold case of a missing adult – pro bono. His private investigation firm approached traditional media as a resource to help spread the word, since he did not know the various avenues available in search or how to implement them. The use of search has been limited due to a lack of funds and not understanding the available search strategies. Missing persons and runaway children cases are some of the most difficult cases to solve and in each case, time is of the essence.

According to Rahn, “Unfortunately with traditional media, we get limited exposure to the case. If we are lucky we get one article or news film clip and that’s it. We believe that by using the unlimited resources of the Internet we would be able to keep the case out in the public eye for an unlimited amount of time.”

Rahn will be joined by Kathleen Fealy, SEO Strategist, who is working with Rahn to optimize web pages and various digital assets in the cold case of missing person Vernon Kent Jones and by Lisa Buyer, PR/SEO, who for many years has been helping Patrick Sessions with a social media campaign to generate leads in the missing persons case of his daughter, Tiffany Sessions.

Current Missing Persons Search Engine Statistics:

• In Google a search for press release + missing persons returns 5,430,000 results. 16,100,000 results for families + missing persons
• Twitter has various alert systems such as http://twitter.com/missingchildren
• Facebook has over 500 fan pages, most posted by families, law enforcement, cities and countries.

Speakers:

• Kathleen Fealy, President, KF Multimedia & Web, Inc.
• Lisa Buyer, President & CEO, The Buyer Group
• Lt. Robert H. Rahn, (Retired), CEO & Director of Investigations, Mgmt Resources Ltd of NY