Visual Alliance Media is on the move again! This time, we’re looking for an Assistant Social Media Marketing Manager to join our team. The ideal candidate will have a bachelor’s degree and at least one year of experience using the leading social media channels for business purposes.

This person will help to create and implement social media marketing strategies for clients.

Facebook? Yes. Twitter? Yes. Foursquare? Yes. Pinterest? Yes. Blogging? Yes. Etc. Etc. Etc. Get the picture?

We work hard but have fun. Fridays are #PajamaDay (meaning we work at home) … and we connect up during our weekly Google+ Hangout dubbed “The 10-3-0″.

If you’re interested in applying, please send your resume and cover letter to hr at visualalliancemedia dot com.

Yesterday afternoon, Joseph Imbrogno presented a new iPad to Theresa Novak, the winner of the IncrediBull iPad Giveaway, a sweepstakes that was sponsored and administered by Tampa social media agency, Visual Alliance Media, on the University of South Florida’s InformaBull Facebook Page.

The page, also managed by Visual Alliance Media, is the Office of Student Success’ social customer service solution for students on the Tampa campus. The giveaway helped to raise awareness of the platform in a way that is fun, useful and engaging to students.

Pictured below with Theresa are Renee Svec, Director of Communications and Marketing, Division of Student Affairs and Joe. Congrats, Theresa!

As you may have heard, Michael Novati of Facebook recently announced Groups for Schools after months of testing – the latest social media opportunity in higher education. Groups for Schools is a subset of Facebooks Groups that requires users to have an active .edu email address in order to join.

Individuals with current .edu email addresses can visit the main Groups for Schools page to search for their school, enter their .edu email address (which then associates that email address with their Facebook profile, requiring email validation of that address), and allows the individual to join their school’s Groups page. As you can see in the screen shot of the Groups page for The University of Pennsylvania, my alma mater, the interface is pretty similar to any other Facebook group you might join.

So what makes Facebook Groups for Schools different? Here are the main points:

1. As noted above, you must have an active .edu email address in order to join. Note: some schools provide their alumni with a lifelong email address on their .edu domain!

2. Existing Facebook groups cannot be converted to Groups for Schools. So any sports, majors, dorms, sororities, fraternities, classes or other academic organizations are going to have to start over with a new group in Groups for Schools!

3. Groups for Schools offers three privacy options: open, closed and secret. Here are the descriptions of each, according to the Facebook Help Center:

Open: Anyone can see an open group, and who’s in it. Members of the school community can also see or post updates, photos, files and events shared within the group.

Closed: Anyone can see a closed group, and who’s in it. Only members of a closed group can see or post updates, photos, events and files.

Secret: Only members of a secret group can see the group, who’s in it and what members post and share.

4. Group members can share files up to 25 MB right in the Newsfeed! But beware – Facebook will be policing these uploads to prevent piracy of copyrighted materials, so sharing music is off limits!

5. Any Facebook Groups for Schools confirmed user can message any other user at their school even if they are not “friends”.

6. Facebook provides a few “starter groups” for newly established Groups for Schools that include Jobs & Internships, Textbook Exchange, etc. Since these groups will not yet have admins, individuals can volunteer to fill the role!

For more detail on the above as well as how to start a group, visit the Groups for Schools Help Page in the Facebook Help Center.

Are you the group administrator for any groups at your school? If so, are you considering migrating them to the new Facebook Groups for Schools platform?

If you’re a student looking for internships in Tampa FL for the Fall 2012 Semester, then
Visual Alliance Media wants to talk with you!

Join our team as a social media marketing intern and get hands-on experience that could land you a social media job some day … and have fun in the process!

Jayden (that’s him to the right), the most productive member of our team, attends all team meetings, including our weekly 10-3-0 – a Google Hangout we hold every Friday (which is otherwise known as #PajamaDay … because everyone gets to work from home … in their pajamas if they choose)!

For details and how to apply, check out the Tampa social media marketing internship description.

It seems that infographics are all the rage these days … visually slicing and dicing data in ways that are fun, engaging and informative! And there is no shortage of them when it comes to higher education! Social media marketing for colleges? Check. Digital technologies at colleges and universities? Check. The evolution of higher education from 3500 BC to today? Check (seriously!).

Here’s a list of ten recent infographics related to higher education that our team found to be interesting and informative (including one of ours on social media in higher ed … which we definitely found to be interesting and informative, as you’d expect)!

Do you have any to add to the list? Add a comment with the title and link!

How Higher Education Uses Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

Are iPads A Better Value Than Textbooks? #highered #infographic

The Social Media Opportunity in Higher Education [INFOGRAPHIC]

The Higher Education Bubble – Part 1

The Higher Education Bubble – Part 2

How Higher Education Is Going Digital [INFOGRAPHIC]

The Evolution of Higher Education Infographic

Is America’s Education Worth The Money? #highered #infographic

The Unprepared Nation Infographic

Infographic: Teaching in Higher Education

Frustrated but not outraged, I sent out a simple Tweet last night about my Bright House cable box not working properly.

I really wasn’t too bummed (luckily, my boyfriend wasn’t home) but wasn’t too excited that my box was out either. I just logged on to Netflix and called it a night. And then to my surprise, something happened… I had a Tweet from Bright House.

Now, working in social media I know that I’ve personally spent hours searching for people talking about different restaurants or businesses that I manage, and making sure that everything being said about the brand is addressed – but never have I been on the receiving end! I was amazed that (without even @ mentioning Bright House) I got a response – and one that seemed to be genuine!

I followed Ian’s instructions and direct messaged @BrightHouseCare. In a matter of minutes, Ian was looking up my box and checking if there were any issues. In the meantime, we were making small talk – proving to me that he indeed was a human who cared! Brownie points. Ian found the problem and is sending someone over to take a look at my box.

Yes folks, this all happened via Twitter.

As a customer, I was impressed and felt like Bright House TRULY cared. As a community manager, my brain started churning… Buzz word alert ROI: How can you prove social media brings in business? Dare I say… forget about bringing in business for a minute. Think about the impact that social media has on customer satisfaction.

As a current customer, the customer service I received today sold me. Bright House has my business as long as I live here because of Ian, his attentiveness and the fact that I felt like he truly wanted to help me. I was so impressed, I tweeted about it, I am blogging about it, I called my Boss and bragged about it… I am promoting Bright House and it’s because I WANT to.

So I guess what I am trying to say here is… forget about ROI right now. I’ll tell you why with an example…

If someone is displeased with his or her meal at a restaurant, what does the manager usually do? He personally visits the table and comps it. Why? Because he wants to do everything he can to make sure that the customer leaves with the possibility of coming back. They didn’t make any money off that customer RIGHT THEN, but if the customer comes back, it will all be worth it. Focus on who you already have in the door and give them the best customer service they could ever imagine.

As a customer and as a community manager, I’m begging you… take a tip from Bright House and don’t lose sight of what really matters – your customers. Whether it’s reputation management or a smile when they walk in the door… make it known that you care and you should see the benefits.

And on that note… Bright House, give yourselves a pat on the back. You’ve made one customer very happy and I don’t plan on shutting up.

It’s all about your target audience: With whom are you trying to connect? Where are they? What is your message?

When it comes to higher ed institutions, there are multiple student audiences: prospective students, current students and alumni. And any social media marketing for colleges & universities should reflect these various contingents with their unique characteristics, requirements and focus.

The infographic below reflects the opportunities for higher education institutions to use social media to engage with each of these student segments and includes some interesting facts and figures along the way. Do you have any to add? Please feel free to leave a comment!

As we speed toward the 35th annual Gasparilla Race Weekend in Tampa, the Visual Alliance Media team is ramping up efforts to promote the Publix Super Markets Gasparilla Distance Classic 15K & 5K and the Tampa Bay Gasparilla Half Marathon & 5+3K, presented by Sports Authority, as the exclusive social media marketing partner for the Gasparilla Distance Classic Association.

Visit the press release for complete details: Tampa Interactive Marketing Agency Promotes Gasparilla Distance Classic Association’s Race Weekend.

We’re really excited about Race Weekend and we hope to see you at the starting line!

I’ve censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet–a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit: http://americancensorship.org/posts/38066/uncensor

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It’s a new year and for many of us, the new year brings with it resolutions to change.  Whether you’ve made any resolutions or not, improving the effectiveness of your marketing efforts for your restaurant is probably a top priority.  Here are a few tricks of the trade that will definitely help you to improve your marketing effectiveness:

Be social when using social media.  If you’re using social media as a part of your marketing plan, it’s critical to remember the social component.  Think about when you’re at that networking event and you get cornered by that person who drones on and on about one subject – them.  There’s no back and forth, no discussion, no discovery, just a long dissertation about them.  What’s your gut reaction?  RUN!!!  Being social generally works better when all parties involved have the opportunity to share.  If your content is only the sharing of your specials, it won’t be long before the masses tune you out.  Try sharing content at times that evokes a response – content that engages your audience.  And when your audience attempts to engage with you, respond.

Be proactive with feedback – good or bad.  The real reason that some restaurants avoid using social media to its full capacity is because they’re afraid of the almighty bad review.  Unfortunately, there will always be unhappy guests and they will find a place and a platform to share their unhappiness.  Denial gets you nowhere, but addressing feedback good or bad, gives you additional opportunities.  Whether that is a loyal customer or redemption from a bad experience, being proactive about your digital reputation will greatly improve your social media marketing effectiveness.  Which leads me to my last tip:

Monitor your online presence.  You can’t be proactive about your digital reputation if you don’t know what people are saying about you.  The internet affords all kinds of places for people to share their thoughts about whatever subject they’d like to discuss, including your restaurant.  There are lots of tools out there to help you monitor your digital reputation from free to expensive.  A good place to start is to set up some free Google alerts for your restaurant.  Set one up that is specifically the name of your restaurant.  Other alerts could be your name, your chef’s name and other nicknames that may be out there for your restaurant.  You’ll find that it’s a lot easier to stay on top of feedback if you know about it when it happens.  Warning: shameless plug alert…and of course there are professional companies that provide these types of services if you don’t want to do it yourself, or don’t have the time or staff.

These are just three restaurant marketing with social media “tricks of the trade” that we employ on a daily basis to help our clients achieve their marketing objectives and we hope they’ll help you too.

Look for my upcoming post about some of the other reputation monitoring tools that are great for restaurants. Class dismissed!