Visually Impaired 2011 from Indo Jax Surf Charities on Vimeo.

This summer, I started taking photos for Indo Jax Surf Charities on a volunteer basis. Jack Viorel & his surf school have been a client for several years and, in the abstract, I always thought his business model was cool; hold surf camps in the summer and use the money to support free camps for medically fragile & otherwise disadvantaged kids.

However, as I was out there on the beach watching the ear to ear grins of these kids doing something most people never get a chance at, cool took on a whole new meaning. At least, for a bit, the hurdles that they have to overcome vanish. When they leave they take with them a sense of accomplishment & confidence that, if they can surf, they can take on anything.

This year, I’m participating in Pennies4Pins to help raise money to continue these free camps. I can’t take all of you out there to see these kids being awesome, but the video above will give you a pretty good taste of what it is like for them. So, check out the video and if you can help out, click on the link below to make a donation.

It’s awesome. Trust me.

Pennies4Pins – Make a Donation

Billionaire, humanitarian, and adventurer Sir Richard Branson was interviewed by Mashable on how he uses social media.

The takeaway quote?

“Be authentic and organic. It can’t be forced or it won’t work. And most importantly, have fun.”

Read More over at Mashable: Why Richard Branson Always Makes Time for Social Media.

Came across this via Darren Rowse on G+. Evidence seems to show that posting to Facebook via a 3rd party app decreases the weight they assign to it and thus lessens the probablilty that followers/fans will see it.

Does Using a 3rd Party API Decrease Your Engagement Per Post? | EdgeRank Checker.

Google+ has been up for a few weeks now and it’s all the rage. Will it fly or will it flop? Honestly, I don’t know. But, I’m doing this imaginary Q&A to show that I’m relevant and on top of the new stuff.

Q: What is Google+?

A: Google+ is the Big G’s latest attempt at creating a social media platform. After the abysmal failure of Wave & the less abysmal failure of Buzz, they’re giving it another shot. To oversimplify it; this is Google’s version of Facebook.

Q: What makes it different?

A: The big big difference between Facebook & Google+ is the concept of grouping people you follow into circles. You can choose which circles you share a post with and in doing so, not annoy your business friends with a constant stream of lol catz videos. Think of it as being able to target your posts. (altho, at this point, most people are sharing everything with everybody which is kind of a fail if you ask me).

Q: Can I promote my business there?

A: For right now, they only have personal accounts, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t promote yourself. Business profiles are coming at some point in the near future.

Q: Should I even waste my time with this?

A: Only you can really answer that. There are currently no tools like Hootsuite to cross post to Google+, so you’ll have to post manually. Those things will arrive soon, but for now you’ve got to do it the old fashioned way unless you want to resort to some hacks that aren’t for the entry level geek, if you know what I mean.

Q: How do I sign up?

A: As of right now, you need a invite. Which means that you need to beg.  If you want one and I know you, send me your email address and if I’ve got any, I’ll shoot one your way.

If you want to take the jump, Mashable has a nice cheat sheet to get you started. And, you know, add me to a circle. You can find my profile here: https://plus.google.com/117859567275558223886/about

Beautiful web site
Nothing of value to say
Visitor bounces

I follow Jim Cantore on Twitter just so I can know when it’s time to panic.

YouTube – Scared of Jim Cantore.

Eli Pariser makes some good points about filters, gatekeepers, and the personalized internet. His concern is that as the web serves us the information that we want, it also deprives us of the information that we should have. In the realm of information & opposing ideas, this is something to be worried about.

However, I’m looking at this as a low-brow marketing type.

• Google uses 57 criteria to filter your search results and that’s if you’re not logged in to your Google account. What you see when you’re searching for restaurants is not going to be what I see.
• Facebook filters out friends from your feed based on whose links you click on.

Here are two big areas of internet marketing that are being personally filtered: Search Results & Social Media. There are two ways you can look at this; panic that your message isn’t reaching as far as it can or be happy that your business or product is being targeted to people that are actually more likely to sample your services & design your marketing with that in mind.

YouTube – Eli Pariser: Beware online “filter bubbles”. via Lifehacker

Someone is a GENIUS!
YouTube – Woolite: Torture via Neatorama

Bridging The Gap In Social Media Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC] via @spikejones

I saw this on TechCrunch yesterday and after all the bad Groupon nightmares I’ve mentioned on Twitter, I thought I should post this to balance things out.

Here are a few things that stood out to me as I read the article and looked into the restaurant.

• Mr. Friedman is a tracking fiend. He tracks what the Groupon customers spend, how much they tip and whether or not they came back again after the deal was over. He’s got solid numbers to back up his opinion.
• He ran the numbers and made the deal reasonable. If you check out his menu (http://grandpaeddiesbbq.com/menu.htm) you’ll see that two people are easily going to exceed the amount of the deal.
• This isn’t the only marketing he does. He’s got Twitter going, Facebook, a email list as well as text coupons. I’ll bet money that he regularly does tv, radio, print, and direct mail too.

Finally, and this is the most important thing, he’s got a great product that he believes in. He’s not begging people to come back. He knows that once he gets them in the door, they’re gonna come back. Awesome food at great prices. How can you beat that?

The Rib Man’s Response To Groupon Bashing.