Maui Social Media To Interactive Media Strategist

WAILEA, MAUI – Wailea Realty Corp., a Maui-based real estate company, recently announced it has expanded its marketing services with the addition of Liza Pierce, an interactive media strategist. Pierce brings an extensive background in online marketing, social media management, blogging and digital marketing strategy. She also has experience in project management, having helped a range of clients increase their operational efficiency.

In her role as interactive media strategist, Pierce will oversee the development and coordination of Wailea Realty’s digital efforts, while maintaining the company’s digital presence. She will also train agents in the efficient and proactive use of social media, as well as how to leverage new technologies.

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Social Media on Maui 2012

This morning I googled the words Maui Social Media and found that this blog is still on top of the list. I have not been updating this blog, but recently I am feeling the need to do that. There are many businesses on Maui who are jumping in the social media bandwagon and I feel the need to have a central place for reliable information on social media that the Maui Business Owners and Entrepreneurs can use.

I am plan this to be more of an aggregate blog. Stay tuned ...

Promoting And Growing Your Blog

I. Basics:


A. Know your goal in blogging

1. Personal Satisfaction - Expression of Creativity; Sharing Your Hobby or Passion; want to meet new friends, etc.
2.  To Promote My Business - should still be passion related
3.  Be A Professional Blogger - gain income through blogging                                                                   *For 2 and 3 - your blogging standard would be higher: own URL; correct grammar and spelling;  disclosures; site references, need a good web design.

 B. Establish A Benchmark And Set A Growth Goal - where is your blog at in the beginning (or at this time

1. Where are you at:. Find out from:   http://www.websitegrader.com/ / http://www.blograder.com/ / http://www.woorank.com/
2. What is your Page Rank with Google? Alexa Ranking?
3. Establish a short term goal. ex. increase daily visits by 3
4. Establish a long term goal.  ex. 10,000 page views a month

C. Install An Analytic Tool in the Blog to help monitor growth

1. SiteMeter - easier to use but limited
2. Stat Counter -
3. Google Analytics  (most used by professionals)
4. Blog Rankings - Page Rank; TopBlogsites, etc.

II. Promotion and Growth

1. Know Basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Why? because Google will bring visitors to your blog.

1. The blog name you choose is important  (ex. A Maui Blog)
2. How you Title your post  is important (use Key Words - ex. Where to Eat On Maui)
3. Pictures / photos has tro be labeled and or tagged. (google images)
4. Tag Your Posts (For Google Searches)
5. Use key words - don't get carried away but don't neglect either
6. ... and many more

2. Content is the King

1. Write interesting content (interesting to you and your reader; things you are passionate about).  Be human. Sure key words are important but don't overdo it.  Write with passion. Write with humor if you can (and it'd appropriate).  Be technical only if it's a technical blog.
2. Write well  - for blogs, it does not have to be too formal - it can be talk strory kind but following basic rules of punctuation, grammar and spelling is important. (my case...)
3. Length Matters.  A 250 word post is good.  If less, maybe add photos; if more decide into several posts. If not too long but long enough, chunk it, ot break up.  Make lists.  Highlight (bold) impt. words.
4. Words are good but adding photos, videos or slideshows greatly enhance the content and make the lay-out nice. Don't overdo.

3. Participate Actively in Social Media

1. Blogging Community
1. Find blogs related to your blog.  (Technorati.com; AllTop; Google)
2. Read them and comment on it. Add them in your Blogroll.  Subscribe in their feeds or e-mail newsletter.  
3. Be friends with the other bloggers.  Make an effort to get noticed by influential bloggers - be friends with them. LINKS are important. 
4. Participate in Blog Carnival and Memes: Aloha Friday, Wordless Wednesday, Photo Hunt Saturday, Sunday Scribblings, Thankful Thursday, Weekly Winners (Photos) Capture It (photos)
5. Create some loyal commenters by replying on their comments.
6. Be a guest blogger (especially on blogs with high PR) (A Maui Blog; MauiInformationGuide - PR 4 - Maui.net PR5 (Local blogs for free)
2. Facebook -
1. Know Facebook Pages relevant to your blog.  Engage there.  If the administrator allows others to post on their wall, post relevant links to your blog.  Do not overdo.  Do this only when you already have established relationship with the owner of the page.  ex.  there are many existing MAUI pages on FB.
1. Hawaii * (Community) - 938,251 fans
2. Hawaii (Travel/Leisure) - 116-514 (HTA)
3. Hawaii (Tours/Sightseeing) - 111,883
4. Maui, Hawaii - 14,762
5. Id' Rather Be On Maui - 72,192
6. MyOwnMaui.com - 36,462
7. VisitMaui - 6,504
8. A Maui Blog - 747
2. Make sure you have "LIKE (share) BUTTON" on your post.  You'll be amazed how that would help promote your blog.
3. Twitter -
1. Tweet a link to your blog post.  If you get a lot of RT's, you'd hit a jackpot! :) Make sure you have the Tweet button.
2. Follow famous bloggers and social media "true experts" and learn from them.  They will usually tweet out helpful links.
4. Other Social Networking and Social Marking Tools - YouTube; LinkedIn; Diggs;
5. Forums and Discussions
6. Attend Meet-ups
7. List blog in blog directories

4. Promote in Other Media (esp. on Maui) - newspaper (MauiTime; Maui Family Magazine, Edible Hawaiian Islands; radio, etc.; E-mail newsletter.

ReThink Hawaii - Hello Maui!

Re-Think: Hawaii. That was an experience. A catalyst.

I flew from Maui to Honolulu with great expectations. I was not let down. I had fun. I learned a lot. I was inspired.

Now it’s time to apply what I learned. Time to share the knowledge. Time to put a “do it” to it.

Initially, I was thinking of a “Re-Think(x): Maui” . A mini conference or workshop to echo Re-Think Hawaii. But as I think along, the concept of Re-Think Hawaii is not exactly what Maui needs at this time. We have to start with basics here. In my opinion, Maui’s participation with the Social Media is still on the infant stage. We need a Basic 101 course, an introduction. And so an idea is conceived. Perhaps a movement. And I am going to call it “Hello Maui”.

What exactly is Hello Maui? What I envision Hello Maui to be is a one day conference and workshops of basic courses that would enable Maui’s leaders and entrepreneurs to understand what Social Media is about and how to best participate in it. We will learn how to listen and how to engage. We will form networks, we will develop friendships.

And then we will see once again that which Christine Lu has said: "when good people get together, great things happen ".

More thoughts to come ...

From "Beating Economic Crisis" to "Maui Social Media"

Today I switched this blog's title and URL from "Beating Economic Crisis" to "Maui Social Media". A lot has happened since my last post on Beating the Economic Crisis which paved the way for me to be more involved in Maui Social Media. More explanation and sharing to come. I just thought I need to this transition announcement post for now :)