The new Ashe County Chamber of Commerce website is built on a Joomla platform and has tons of goodies built into the site. Overall the design will reflect the season at hand and rotate throughout the year. Click here to visit the Ashe Chamber of Commerce.  Some of the major highlights of the site include:

• Ashe County Business Directory
• Calendar of Events
• Digital Visitor Guide
• Social Media
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Blog Updates – RSS
  • Embedded YoutTube Channel
• Visitor Info
• Relocation Guide
• Area Weather
• Chamber Information

The beautiful weather is back in Asheville so I thought it might be time to take a break from all the website and internet related blog posts. I finally found a few hours of down time to get caught up on some well needed motorcycle repairs. The bike is a 1976 R75/6 BMW. I bought this Airhead about 4 years ago from a shop in Greensboro and I’ve been in love ever since.

So a few days ago I rode up to Acme Motorcycle in Fairview and had someone look over the bike with me to pin point any problematic areas. Overall it’s just in need of a good tune up other than a few oil leaks and squishy forks.

This will be a 3, maybe 4 part posting as I find time to finish the project. The complete bike breakdown and rebuild can be seen on the R75/6 page.

Click here to see the whole bike breakdown up to this point.

Pinnix, Scott Dickson of Dickson Interactive in Winston-Salem, Doug Uzelac of Broyhill Inn, and web designer Boomer Sassman of Big Boom Design in Asheville will guide business people through intensive, hands-on coaching sessions using Blogs, Facebook and Twitter to build your business and boost revenue.  Talk of the Town Workshop was created to give participants a private consulting experience at a fraction of the cost of a private consultant.

The April 13th Workshop will focus on creating a “home base” for your social media footprint, focusing on the power of Blogs/RSS feeds.  Interested individuals can find more information and register at www.talkofhtetownworkshop.com, or email sarah@highcountrymomsquad.com.

The first round was a success and consisted of 6 sessions where local area businesses could come to the workshop and learn how to effectively use social media to promote their products and services.

Doug Uzelac, General Manager of The Broyhill Inn & Conference Center and host of the workshop series states, “Social Media Marketing is such a fast growing segment and it is the Broyhill Inn’s pleasure to be to be able to host these very informative sessions. I would greatly recommend folks that have an interest in increasing their social media knowledge to attend.”

Vicki Stevens, Marketing Manager for the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System adds, “The Talk of the Town series provided phenomenal insight to the world of social media and assisted our organization in establishing a new presence with our audience. I highly recommend the series!”

Julie Hayes from the NC Christmas Tree Association also adds, “The Talk of the Town workshops showed us what Social Media is, gave helpful hints, and provided resources to get us started.”

Mast General Store also comments, “The Talk of the Town Series helped us understand the power of social media and how we might use it to start a conversation with our customers. We found the interaction with Sarah, Boomer, and Scott to be informative and refreshing and also enjoyed brainstorming ideas with our fellow classmates. Our Facebook page has grown by leaps and bounds – surpassing all of our expectations, and it is a ready resource to convey timely happenings.”

These workshops cover such hot-button topics as Website Design & Development, Search Engines, Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Analytics and much more. Success stories abound as attendee, Mast General Store has nearly 5,500 Facebook fans as we write this. The NC Christmas Tree Association is experiencing online traffic growth on their site and the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System is setting up multiple Facebook pages, writing social media policies and growing followers on Twitter.

For more information, please visit: http://talkofthetownworkshop.com

Please contact Scott Dickson at 336.331.2185 or email sdickson@dicksoninteractive.com

to arrange interviews and to inquire further.

I also mentioned Hubspot who has a a great online tool called a website grader.

Over the next few weeks I’ll add to this list of after thoughts about todays AWI meeting.

Location:
Inn on Biltmore Estate
1 Antler Hill Rd.
Asheville, NC 28803 US

When:
Friday, February 26, 9:00AM
Phone: 336-887-0700

Our Speaker:
Boomer Sassmann

Social Media . . . could you? should you? would you?

Social Media platforms build buzz, boost business and serve small businesses as low-cost/no-cost marketing tools. Small business owners need to understand how these tools strategically serve and support small business first so they best implement social media strategies to sell products and/or services.

Hand-outs for the day:

Social Media Terminology = http://bigboomdesign.com/AWI/SocialMediaTermsfromWikipedia.pdf

Website Terminology = http://bigboomdesign.com/AWI/WebsiteTerminology.pdf

Social Media Map = http://bigboomdesign.com/AWI/social-media-map.pdf

Woodworker Social Media Links:

Woodworkers on Twitter = http://www.twibes.com/woodworking/twitter-list

Top 49 Woodworking Blogs = http://www.networkedblogs.com/topic/woodworking/

Sawdust Soup = http://www.sawdustsoup.com/group/socialmediaforwoodworkers

Other relevant links about social media:

http://mashable.com/2010/02/08/ted-talks-social-meida/

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/5_simple_twitter_listening_tips_every_marketer.php

http://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/free-resources/social-media-marketing-links/

http://socialmediatoday.com/SMC/165191

http://www.redalkemi.com/articles/benefits-link-popularity.php#

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/143935

http://www.seofool.com/twitter-as-an-seo-tool

http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/01/27/10-things-all-businesses-should-do-to-market-more-effectively-on-facebook/

http://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/10/30/optimizing-an-existing-website-checklist/

Because the world should have NO boundaries, because Beauty makes NO distinction.

Our inspiration…

Love for world, culture, art and design.

Our Concept…

To offer a global approach to fashion and lifestyle, while following classic and sometimes primitive designs.

Our Commitment…

To be part of one active community while being part of one world.

With a very distinctive fashion culture in the community, we at Terra Nostra Decor decided to offer something new: A clothing line that could reflect the metaphoric spirit of Asheville, both urban and cosmopolitan, but with no attachment to one place. Global, adventurous, warm and sexy, simple and comfortable.

Below is an illustration that a friend of mine sent to me that attaches some statistics to all this tweeting and messaging that we take for granted every morning when we boot up our computers. If all these stats are correct then this article makes 900,001 blog posting today.

According to a new study conducted by CPH Research on behalf of Continuum Crew, Baby Boomer-aged respondents’ anxiety has shifted from the collapse of the economy to the cost of health care. Most significant is the shift in the media consumption of this age group, as the only media activity to rise dramatically was time spent on the Internet.

This is one of several insights on the emergence of the new ‘social media maven’ among Baby Boomers, and indicates that social media has significantly carved out time generally reserved for traditional media.

Baby Boomers/Boomers are defined as the generation born between 1946 and 1964, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Generation Jones, coined by television director Jonathan Pontell, is commonly considered to be those born between 1954 and 1964, representing the younger segment of Boomers. Generation Ike (Ikes) are those born between 1934 and 1945.

Top Findings on anxiety and life events of Boomers are:

• Anxiety about the economy has decreased in the past year (46% indicated it as the issue they were ‘very nervous’ about in 2008); now the issue of most concern is cost of healthcare, as indicated by 49% in 2009.
• For older parents more adult children are moving back home than are leaving it. This is a previously unprecedented finding within this research series, and markedly shows that Boomers’ lives are in transition.
• Boomers are now re-framing the notion of frugal living into the idea of simplicity. Children moving back in with parents, or delaying leaving their parent’s home, is likely having an effect on the family dynamic and household, which may mean an inclination to the return of the extended family structure of the World War II era.

Top findings on media consumption are:

• Ikes and Boomers still use traditional media more than those of Generation Jones or Generation X, but not all Boomers consume media in the same way, the biggest gap being between older and younger Boomers. This is most striking within traditional print media, with high consumption by older Boomers of newspapers and magazines.
• Among all media services listed, Boomers were least willing to give up the Internet, versus the top response of the 2008 survey,their cell phone. The survey shows they now spend more time than ever online (a rapid increase in one year from 38% to 62% stating they now spend more time online).
• The majority of Ikes and Boomers have joined popular social networking site Facebook© within the last 6 months.
• Boomers are becoming more aware that national and local news, magazines, and to some extent television and movies, are available to them via the Internet, indicating an increasing preference to access content this way. These responses illustrate a seismic shift among older adults, says the report, experimenting in the social media arena.

In the course of the study, says the report, a significant segment emerged within the Boomer group, dubbed the new “Social Media Maven.” The profile of this group is one that is heavily connected, exploring and expanding their networks.

These Social Media Mavens have more frequent contact with individuals across all types of groups within their social network, not just family or neighbors, but issue-oriented groups and co-workers as well:

• 73% responded ‘People often come to me for advice’
• Not merely amassing ‘friends’ or ‘connections’ they are communicating regularly.
• They also have more face-to-face contact and use smart phones more than other Boomers or Generation Jones respondents (78% responded ‘New technology plays an important role in my life’)
• They are equally likely to be male as female, which defies the stereotypical female profile of the voracious social media consumer
• Of this Social Media Maven group the majority are still working, more likely than the other segments to own their own business, most likely to engage in volunteer activity and to have the highest household income
• Social Media Mavens are more likely to try new products, technologies and seek new experiences. They are recommenders who embrace the role of technology in their connected lives

Lori Bitter, President, Continuum Crew, concludes that  “With more time being spent online, and the emergence of the new Social Media Mavens among Boomers… for companies targeting the mature consumer… online media should be at the core of an integrated marketing campaign… ”

And, supporting the findings that Boomers lives are in transition, a recent survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 13% of parents with grown children say one of their adult sons or daughters has moved back home in the past year. Social scientists call them “boomerangers” — young adults who move in with parents after living away from home. This recession has produced a bumper crop.

One-in-ten adults ages 18 to 34 (10%) say the poor economy has forced them to move back in with Mom and Dad. An additional 12% say they acquired a roommate. Hard times are leading young adults to put their lives on hold in other ways as well. For example, some 15% of adults younger than 35 say they have postponed getting married because of the recession; an additional 14% say they have delayed having a baby.

According to the survey, nearly half of all adults (46%) have children ages 18 or older. Among these parents of adult children, some 13% say at least one of their grown sons or daughters had returned home in the past year for any reason. The proportion of “boomeranged parents” increases to 19% among those ages 45 to 54 and declines sharply in later age groups.