In this episode of dropthedigibomb TV I’ll show you a simple formula to help you calculate social media ROI – yes there is a social media ROI!

Members, should be, a dedicated group of like minded individuals who actively participate in a community setting, like a forum, focused around your brand, product, etc. These are individuals who you have already enticed to join in the discussion, they are your brand ambassadors, your customers or clients. This is your community – regardless of the numbers!

I’ve been a community builder and manager for a very long time and I have worked on and with many different kinds of communities and unfortunately many of these communities do not stand the test of time. It is easy to set up a community and get lot’s of followers, but how do you retain these members and keep them engaged? This is the question we all want to answer. Believe it or not it is easier answer than you think, it just takes time and patience, which most communities owners unfortunately don’t have.

Here are some key points discussed in my presentation:

• Charge for Membership
• Advertising and Affiliate Sales
• Online Focus Groups
• Offline Events
• Job Boards
• Online Training
• Member Areas and Exclusive Content
• Merchandise
• Profitable Niches

This talk will be a bit different. I’ll be discussing how to “Build a Community Around your Brand” and best practices to support your customers/members and how to effectively sell your products. This presentation is not about how to monetize your community, it’s not advertising! That’s invasive and usually clogs activity.We’re going to discuss how develop products and services that your audience really wants to buy.

For more information on the meetup check out the official post here.

The Details:

Location:  Opus Hotel (KoKo’s Bar and Lounge)
Date: Tuesday April 24, 2012
Time: 18h00 until whenever you are done (feel free to stay for drinks, I know I will…)
Register: http://www.meetup.com/Affiliate-Summit-Montreal-Meetup/

Many modern marketeers (I think you can call them that) believe that this is just a bunch of BS and just because marketing advice is repeated often … doesn’t make it true.

WoW! Amazing story! A testament to a kids imagine and the power of social media.

I’m a  huge fan of sharing media on the go, especially pics, in fact I’m somewhat of a media hound and recently posted about one of my new favorite apps for this, Pixable.

I’ve been a fan and dedicated user of Instagram for a while now, I even designed a WordPress theme around it called InstaPress.

I wonder, like most Instagram users, what the future holds for this app. I don’t believe the situation is dire at the moment, so many people talking about deleting their accounts, but Facebook owning and controlling all that data  I have entered in Instagram does concern me somewhat.

My biggest fear is that Facebook will essentially swallow Instagram into its core and kill the app, or add it as tab or something on their, in my opinion, already bloated and buggy iPhone app.

I’m also not keen on the fact that Facebook will have acquired all of that location-tagged photo data from myself and other users and use it to target ads at us.

I’m hoping that Facebook will come up with a clever way to incorporate Instagram by adding deeper integration of photo sharing on my timeline, group, or page via the app. This way the app still remains significant and intact.

A bigger question may be which app is next? If Facebook kills Instagram where will Instagram users turn to share their photos? What is the future of social media sharing apps?

On a side note if you are planning to delete your Instagram account or just preparing for the end you should check out Instaport, a very cool web app that exports you Instagram library to you local machine.

I don’t usually get involved in Movember, at least not in terms of growing, I will never shave my beard! However, I always give what I can to the cause. This is year is no exception and I’m lucky enough to be working with an AWESOME group of people to help pull it off!

As most of you know by now MEGA Bloks is my new home. I’ve had the opportunity to get involved in and organize a ton of great events, contests, etc, and this is no exception. I’m super stoked that MEGA Bloks and Twist Image have joined forces to do something really cool for Movember to help raise awareness. Check out the official post over on the Mega Bloks blog to find out what crazy mo-ness we’ve been up to over the past few days and what you can expect top still see and get involved in.

Yes, I know, I’ve said very little in this post, you’ll just have to keep reading on ;{)