Doctors, Miami Marlins, Storage Wars and SMO!

Do The Write Thing!

Can I be honest with you? I would not be as effective, interesting, or grammatically correct without the tireless assistance of Rachel Nall. Rachel is a former colleague of mine from True North Custom Media.

Amplification, Inc., Writer Rachel Nall

Bottom Line: Rachel Rocks! She makes my clients happy. She seemingly is always smiling, at least when we talk on the phone. Awesome demeanor.

She is efficient, self-governing, effective, timely, professional, and an-all around fabulous person. She doesn’t know how often I speak fondly of her (whilst mocking her Tennessee optimism). I didn’t think Daniel K. Brantley could be easily replaced, but “Rach” is quickly making D-Brizzle a distant memory and becoming a social media legend.

Need a freelance writer? Reach out to Rach, she is Amplification, Inc.-approved. She also writes for LiveStrong, NationalGeographic.com, The Arizona Republic and EverydayHealth. Follow her on Twitter at @RachelNall.

Decisions, Decisions!

I am not an SEO guy. There are many (many) things I need to learn about social media marketing (SMM), social media optimization (SMO), and search engine optimization. When asked whether a business (with presumably limited resources) should spend money on SEO or SMM the short answer is always “Yes.”

Just ask Lloyd Golburgh or Kyle Brown. They do two divergently different things for a living. One is stud attorney, and the other is a stud general contractor. Both have sterling reputations and are local gents who have outstanding credibility of growing up and conducting business locally.

Both also have invested a ton of time, resources, effort and money to ensure that their business are “top ranked” when someone searches for their respective services…Try Google-ing either “Fort Lauderdale DUI Attorney” or “General Contractor Coral Gables.”

But, alas, the phone isn’t ringing… It could be the economy…

Steve Cabeza with Amplification, Inc. Social Media Marketing Company thinks differently. “It is as simple as the difference between your message being passive (waiting for someone to search for you) or dynamic.” Cabeza says a social media effort helps to wake your message up and help it get out there and be heard and therefore more likely to be encountered. 

First Name, Miami. Last Name, Marlins.

Shout out to Alex Buznego, Manager of Digital and Social Media at the Miami Marlins, and the entire Miami Marlins organization for the VIP tour and red carpet treatment extended for their inaugural social media night in the swank “social media lounge” at the new Miami Marlins Ballpark, on the site formerly known as the Orange Bowl.

The food, the company, the way we were treated was all “Excelsior!”

“The idea behind the event was to bridge the gap between the digital and real-life worlds,” Alex says. “Every day our loyal fans promote us on Twitter, Tumblr and more — we want to repay the favor by bringing them into the Marlins experience.”

Speaking of, the Marlins’ have got social media on lockdown. They’ve got an awesome mobileapp, Facebook page, Twitter and Pinterest page.

The social media event was one of the hopefully many the Marlins will host throughout the season, Alex tells us. Head to this link to apply to be a part of the next Social Media Lounge.

Mobile Med

Focusing on vital issues in the medical community.

Have you seen my scintillating video opinion pieces for MD News? Click here to view some fiery healthcare opinion for the site’s “Critical Condition” issues.

Jason Skinner of TNCM, one of my all time favorite former colleagues from my 9-5 days says the new mobile version has launched. Are you an MD or healthcare worker? If so, you need this link.

MD News recently released an iPad edition of MD News — it’s fascinating and user-friendly, redesigned exclusively for tablet users and available for download in the iTunes app store, offers readers:

• iPad-exclusive content

• sleek, easy-to-navigate design

• dual-viewing format

• video and audio footage

• additional statistics and interactive graphics

• slideshows

• links to featured practices and businesses

• regional content roundups

• and much more!

“Physicians and other healthcare professionals are among the nation’s leading adopters of the iPad, and now MD News is available at their fingertips — in the office, at home and on the go,” says Jason Skinner, CMO of True North Custom Media, which publishes MD News.


“This new, interactive format gives our readers more ways to read, watch, search, and share the most salient business and practice management news and perspective.”

MD News? Yep, there’s an app for that. Download it here.

Love Storage Wars? Not When It’s Your Stuff

If we say Jarrod and Brandi, Darrell Sheets, Barry Weiss and Dave Hester, and you say Storage Wars, you’re likely a fan of the A&E hit that pits treasure seekers against each other to win storage lockers and sell the goods inside.

More than 5 million viewers tune in to new episodes of Storage Wars each week. But while it’s fun to watch the fights and finishes, what wouldn’t be so fun is if your personal belongings and collections were on the other side. [ Click here to see a recent interview on YouTube ] 

Sadly, that’s what can happen if you were to pass away and the storage locker or even safe deposit box remains unpaid or undiscovered by your family. That’s why the team at FindYourPolicy.com offers safety deposit and storage locker registry along with the opportunity to register your life insurance policy.

In an earlier feature, we shared the story of Michael Hartmann, the Find Your Policy co-founder whose father passed away and had to search for information regarding his father’s life insurance policy. Armed with his knowledge of the life insurance industry, Michael and his brother Edmund started FindYourPolicy.com, the nation’s only life insurance registry.

Registration on the site is free — you are asked to fill in the company name that holds your life insurance and the last four digits of your Government Issued Personal Identification number, which is your Social Security number in the United States. Through registering on the site, your loved ones have one, central location to turn to that won’t change addresses. In turn, you also can search the FindYourPolicy.com database to find someone’s life insurance policy.

The company where your storage locker and safe deposit boxes are located likely won’t contact your loved ones regarding your valuables. Don’t wait for the folks at Storage Wars to find it—register it on FindYourPolicy.com.

“The entire process takes no more than two minutes to register on a database that never goes away,” Hartmann says. “It’s a great safety net, and it’s free.” 

Ready to protect your loved ones? Visit FindYourPolicy.com and register your policy for free or e-mail info@findyourpolicy.com  with any questions. To link up on social media sites, visit www.findyourpolicy.blogspot.com, on Delicious by clicking here or follow on Twitter: @FindUrPolicy.

Dynamic DO!

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

A Message From Steve Cabeza, Social Media Idea Man at Amplification, Inc.

Dynamic DO!

I get asked, often, as to my opinion on whether a business should spend more time, money, and effort on social media marketing (SMM) and search engine optimization (SEO). The answer is as easy as asking someone if they would like to make more profits: Yes. Both are important.

In the absence of the resources to do both, however, my default position is ALWAYS to proceed with SMM. Why? It is simply the difference between making your message become dynamic versus being passive. [ Find Your Way ]

If you are waiting for someone to search out your message/website/brand/product, then you are being passive. Even if you pay to have your website be top-ranked in “search” engines, you still are waiting for someone to search for your product or service.

Why not make your message dynamic and start generating activity, engagement, and interaction on social media? This way your message, piggybacked on what you do, eat, and see on a daily basis, becomes dynamic and you become proactive in your promotional and messaging efforts.

Barter Much?

Amplification, Inc. is always looking for new and exciting ways to proactively generate content on behalf of our clients and ourselves. Have you a product or service that you would like to barter or trade for social media marketing service/assistance?

Contact Marnie Goldberg or myself to schedule a brief WebEx presentation about Amplification, Inc.’s reach, approach, and capabilities. This is the first step in determining the best way to Amplify your message. [ Free to Register ]

Let us pitch the strategies and tactics to make your brand come alive on our social networks. Consider that 78 percent of people trust a peer recommendation versus 14 percent who trust advertising. Tap into our extensive, social media peer-network.

One Good Intern Deserves Another

Help us welcome Eric Seidmon to the Amplification, Inc. Team! He is an attorney and partner with the The SYM Law Group, LLC. His firm recently joined the Davie-Cooper City Chamber of Commerce. While at one of the Chamber’s recent networking events, he met Marnie Goldberg (Social Medium at Amplification, Inc.). One thing led to the next, and, well let Eric tell it in his own words:

“Starting a business, especially in this economy, is challenging and learning best how to leverage social media to support our efforts is paramount to our success, so I really was fortunate that Amplification, Inc. is so dynamic. I’ve learned a ton and I’m just getting started.”

Don’t worry, Eric, we plan to keep you busy AND help your business prosper. Eric’s firm can help you with contract law, consumer protection, and real estate law (http://www.symplelaw.com/). Follow them on Twitter at @SympleLaw.

Interested in helping out Amplification, Inc. as they help Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and all of South Florida make sense of social media marketing? Do you just want to learn new and novel ways to help your business grow with social media? E-mail Marnie at Marnie@AmplificationInc.com for details. Amplification, Inc. is South Florida’s fastest growing social media marketing company. We have Business Development opportunities open, too.

'Tis the Season For Weddings, Jobs and Social Media Annoyances

The new "Timeline" is not popular. 

Gasp! Like Humans, Social Media Isn’t Perfect

Does the new Facebook Timeline bug you? Do you skip Words With Friends turns because your app takes forever to load? You’re not alone. Social media is like the freeway—you have to travel on it to get anything done, but you can reserve the right to get frustrated when there’s too much traffic, slowdowns or detours due to new construction.

What’s frustrating you in social media right now? In “Was This Broken, Why Did You Fix It?” news, the new Facebook Timeline is “Liked” by only 8 percent of Facebook users, according to The Daily Mail.

That’s a pretty low number, Zuckerberg. What’s often more concerning is that the timeline has been called a “Stalker’s Paradise,” that allows everyone to know what you’ve eaten, written, photographed and liked for however long you’ve been on Facebook, all wrapped up with a super-large, sometimes-scary “Cover Photo.”

While we’re on the subject of annoying social media, the results from the “Who Gives a Tweet” study from Carnegie Mellon, MIT, and Georgia Tech have recently launched. Time magazine reported that some, but not all, of the top Twitter annoyances were:

• Too Many Hashtags: When you have more hashtags than characters, you have too many hashtags. Give it a rest, already.

• Too Many @Mentions: See above about hashtags, but replace with @Mentions

• Talking About Old News or “Pedestrian Tweets”: If you’re only Tweet contributions are what you had for lunch or the last Presidential election, you aren’t using Twitter effectively.

If you’re afraid you’re turning into a Twitter offender, check out “Why Your Business Can’t Afford Not to Tweet” for some quality advice from the Amplification, Inc. experts about how to effectively use Twitter.

April from The D-Tales

The D-Tales: Making Grandma (and You) Happy 

April Dorsey, Founder of The D-Tales event planning and production, has dedicated her career to making weddings memorable and unique. But she says that when it comes to wedding planning, the most difficult obstacle isn’t the budget or even the amount of time to plan. Instead, the biggest obstacle has to do with balancing what the bride, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother all want from the wedding.

“The first advice I give brides is to realize that it’s not your mother’s wedding, and that throwing out the rules can equal a special, personal wedding,” April says. “The second piece of advice is to realize there’s a fine balance between traditions that are important to you and those that are not.”

Once you have these ground rules set, April says the next steps are a matter of give-and-take. Think about what you and your fiancé have to have to achieve the wedding you’ve always dreamed of. The rest of the details can come together and be achieved through compromise should your mother-in-law insist on a particular seating arrangement, having your cousin Mitzi circulate the guest book, etc.

“The key is to find a way to put little touches of your own that still respect traditions you hold most dear,” April says.

Need April’s touch for your upcoming wedding? Visit www.thedtales.com and click on “Contact Us” for more information or e-mail April@TheDTales.com.

Calling All Future Social Media Mavens

Position: Intern with the Social Media Experts at Amplification, Inc.

Description: If you love all things social media, including Twitter, Facebook, blogging and video production, come and join us at Amplification, Inc. to learn and contribute in a fast-paced, ever-growing social media company.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Assisting in social media efforts for clients, including updating Facebook and Twitter profiles and helping to develop and implement social media strategies for clients.

• Contributing to growing video production efforts, including help with filming and conceptualizing video ideas.

“We’re really looking for an intern who loves social media and the digital environment—this is the opportunity to learn how something you love can turn into a potential career,” says Marnie Goldberg, Social Medium and Twitter Goddess at Amplification, Inc. “Our intern will be very involved with all of our projects, so prepare to get your hands dirty.”

If you’re ready to add “Amplification, Inc. Intern” to your resume, e-mail Marnie at Marnie@AmplificationInc.com, including your resume and cover letter about why you would be a great fit for the position. We are located in Broward County, Florida (Ft. Lauderdale area) so only local applicants need apply.

YOU Could Break Records

Our friends at Florida Community Support (get some more info on them by clicking here) have a fantastic event coming up. Here’s more information from our guest poster, Matthew Johnson, Florida Community Support Intern:

My name is Matthew Johnson and I am a student at Everest University in Pompano Beach, Fla. I am in my last semester and am doing my internship with Florida Community Support. While interning, I am one of the project managers for the forthcoming world record attempt of the “Largest Simon Says Game." Mark your calendars for August 27, 2012, to help us break the records and celebrate the anniversary of the Guinness World Records first publication in 1955. 


The August 27 event will take place throughout Broward County at Homeowner's Association meeting rooms and local community rooms. If you are interested in participating, you need only bring a plate of food from your culture or that celebrates your heritage that can feed at least five people.


The inspiration for the event is the same drive behind Florida Community Support's mission: The unfortunate reality that on any given day you can walk up to someone and ask them if they know their neighbors, and there is a really good chance that a majority will say no. This is why Florida Community Support is dedicated to “Building Communities One Neighbor at a Time.” We hope this event will bring each community closer together by allowing you to meet your neighbors from down the street or right next door. 


Don't miss out on the fun and your chance to be a part of the record books as we try to break the previous record that was set back on June 14, 2007, in Cedar City, Utah, at the Utah Summer Games Opening Ceremony and involved 12,215 participants. We anticipate the event will be fun for the whole family.

For more information on this event, stay tuned to the Florida Community Support website at FloridaCommunitySupport.org and like them on Facebook by clicking here.

Need help making sense of social media marketing? Turn to Amplification, Inc. Think you may be the beneficiary of a life insurance policy but aren't sure? Visit FindYourPolicy.com and thank us later.