This week I had the opportunity to have Justin Bryant sit in as a guest blogger. Watch the video as Justin discusses the importance of branding yourself in 2009. Check out Justin’s blog.
The Importance of Branding Yourself in 2009
December 31, 2008
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Blogging, branding | Tagged: Blogging, brand yourself, facebook, how to brand yourself, importance of branding, justin bryant, linked in, microblogging, twitter | 
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Posted by derekmcclain
Customize Your Facebook Experience with Greasemonkey
December 31, 2008
Facebook is a great social tool for staying in contact with your friends, family and even business associates. I don’t need to tell you how successful Facebook has been or how many people are using it- you already know. And if you are a frequent user I am sure you enjoy the overall Facebook experience. There a few things, however, that could be improved to customized the Facebook experience and fortunately Greasemonkey has created some scripts that can help.
Below is a segment of a blog post taken from Mashable with links to several of these applications:
Auto-Colorizer – An interesting script that analyzes the default image for any profile you visit and adjusts the color scheme of the page to match it. Also works on photos, events & group pages.
Autopoke – Allows you to automatically poke those users that have poked you.
Customize Word “Friend” – While probably not a burning problem for most people, this script will allow you to change every instance of the word “friend” to whatever your heart desires.
Facebook: Cleaner – Unlike other ad removal scripts that remove everything, Facebook: Cleaner will let you pick and choose areas you want left untouched.
Facebook App Faviconizer – If you open your apps in separate tabs, this will replace the Facebook favicon with the one used by each application so you can more quickly identify what is in each window.
Facebook Colour Changer – Not only can you set the Facebook colors to anything you desire, but you may also change the logo image in the top left corner to whatever you want.
Facebook Fixer – Instead of loading several scripts, you can load Facebook Fixer and get larger profile images, video download links, Google Calendar integration and several other features.
Facebook Highlight Birthdays – With all of the info on your homepage, it can be easy to overlook the birthday notices. This script will highlight them for easier spotting.
Facebook Image Download Helper – This script will allow you to use a Firefox extension like DownThemAll! to download all of the images on a page in Facebook.
Facebook News Feed Sanitiser – Cleans up your news feed by removing application stories, sponsored stories, sponsored polls, and social ads.
Facebook Refresh 2 – Still in Alpha, Facebook Refresh 2 will automatically reload your news feed, home sidebar status updates and number of messages in the navigation bar every 30 seconds. Eventually it will also do this for wall posts and messages.
Facebook to Google Calendar – Allows you to add Facebook events to whatever Google Calendar you happen to be logged into at the time.
Facebook Remaker – Allows you to do things such as remove ads, take out the “People You May Know” section, remove the “Home” link, add a “Reload” link, and several other tweaks.
Facebook Video – This script will not only give you the ability to download videos hosted on Facebook and convert them, but it will also provide you with the option of embedding the videos on other sites. It is also available as a stand-alone Firefox extension.
Facebook View All Photos – Since the redesign of the Facebook profiles, it seems the only function left for this script is viewing photos from private profiles.
Facebook View Photo in Album – A powerful script that allows you to view the photo albums of people you aren’t friends with, and it also gives you the ability to see a person’s pictures no matter who took them.
Friend Quick Remove – Streamlines the usual three steps to remove a friend down to just one easy step.
inYOf4ceBook – Tired of squinting at thumbnail images of people in search, thinking they kinda look like the person you meant to find? inYOf4ceBook will let you place your mouse over the image and see a large view of it so you can actually tell who you are looking at.
MobWars Helper – The popular game of MobWars gets some help in the form of a script that will automate tasks such as depositing money in the bank, healing you at the hospital, giving you investment advice and more.
New Facebook Layout Adjuster – Allows you to remove ads, sidebar and more to make a smoother looking version of the new Facebook.
Remove All Facebook Ads – As the name implies, this script removes all of the various ads that show up around Facebook such as banner ads, sponsored news items and so on.
2 Comments | facebook | Tagged: customize facebook, facebook, google calendar facebook, greasemonkey, remove facebook ads | Permalink
Posted by derekmcclain
MyTweetSpace: Twitter Background Design Made Easy
December 28, 2008
I have been on a Twitter kick lately and tonight I found a cool post on Mashable about MyTweetSpace.com. MyTweetSpace.com allows you to quickly update the design of your Twitter background without Photoshop knowledge. 
Check out MyTweetSpace.com and follow the simple instructions and soon you will have a customized Twitter background design. You can create your Twitter profile badge by providing as much or as little information as you like including URLs to your other online profiles such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
MyTweetSpace.com launched on Christmas Eve and is sure to be a great design tool for delivering quality background designs for Twitter users on all experience levels.
Leave a Comment » | facebook, twitter | Tagged: customize twitter design, mytweetspace, twitter, twitter background | Permalink
Posted by derekmcclain
Twitter: Gift Wrap Your Tweet for Christmas
December 24, 2008
I was checking out the Mashable Web site this evening and ran across this article on gift wrapping tweets. Being in the holiday spirit, I decided to check out the @tweetwrappr feature. It’s pretty simple- just send any tweet that you would like wrapped to @tweetwrapper and soon you will have a direct message back with a URL for your tweet. It can take a minute or so depending on the number of tweets before yours waiting to be wrapped.
Another cool thing I found out is that apparently this site was designed, built and launched all in one day. Anyone in the industry can appreciate how amazing a feat like that can be. If you don’t believe it, Precious-Forever has a cool Vimeo video that has a time lapse view on the making of @tweetwrappr.
This is a creative idea that definitely adds a little holiday spirit to any “normal” tweet. Enjoy!
2 Comments | twitter | Tagged: christmas, mashable, tweet, tweet wrap, twitter, vimeo video twitter, wrap tweet | Permalink
Posted by derekmcclain
Americal Idol Marketing Succes: Key Factors
December 21, 2008
American Idol is back in January of 2009 for its 8th season. Easily one of the most successful shows of all time, American Idol looks to continue its dominance among the ratings.
So, what makes Americal Idol so successful year after year? Great marketing. Specifically 5 factors that we can all 
learn from and implement in our own marketing strategies in 2009.
1. Americal Idol was first.
2. American Idol is simple and consistent.
3. American Idol is interactive.
4. American Idol is entertaining and appeals to a wide variety of audiences.
5. American Idol tells a story.
Leave a Comment » | internet marketing | Tagged: amercian idol, derek mcclain, interactive marketing, internet marketing, marketing strategies, marketing strategies 2009, television shows | Permalink
Posted by derekmcclain
Discovering New Customer Touch Points with Comments
December 18, 2008
One of the key success factors to a blog is having “guest” bloggers help in producing content. This week I was fortunate enought to have Chip McComb, Director of Internet Marketing at Fusework Studios stop by the set and share some of his thoughts on customer touchpoints. Look for plenty more guest appearences from Chip on my blog. Thanks for tuning in!
With everyone talking about internet marketing these days, don’t get overwhelmed by all of the cool new toys and forget to actually interact with your clients. With Twitter, Facebook, blogs, email marketing, and tons of other social media touchpoints, the lonely little “comment” button is easily forgotten as companies try to market online. Don’t make this mistake!
Comments, @ replies, and status updates are easily the best way to begin having a relevant and profitable discussion with a new or already existing client. Why? Because it allows for you to engage… Watch the video and see what I mean.
1 Comment | Blogging, facebook, twitter | Tagged: blogs, email marketing, facebook, fusework studios, social media, touchpoints, twitter | Permalink
Posted by derekmcclain
Blogging- Just Go For It!
December 17, 2008A co-worker of mine recommended this HubSpot blog article. I believe there is a lot of value to this particular blog post.
When I first started my blog, I was very worried about making everything perfect. What was I going to discuss? How often was I going to post? Was my video quality the best it could be with the equipment I was using? All of these questions only did one thing- provided me with excuses to delay getting started. The point of a blog is to share your thoughts and provide relevant content that helps your readers obtain a higher level of education on a specific topic. It doesnt have to be perfect as long as it is informative. As Seth Godin said in his recent blog posts, “You are not going to win a Pulitzer Prize for your blog.”
So what are you waiting for, dig in and get going. Everyone has something to blog about. You don’t have to use the best camera on the market for your videos or write like Shakespeare. Just think about the audience you want reading your blog and start delivering relevant content. Give it 90 days, I think you will be surprised by the results.
For more articles on blogging and how to get started below are some links to additional HubSpot Blog articles:
3 Comments | Blogging, Seth Godin | Tagged: Blogging, Blogging tips, Hubspot, Seth Godin | Permalink
Posted by derekmcclain
