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. 

All Things Social #Florida #Amplify

by Steve Cabeza / Amplification, Inc. 

There has been a recent explosion of businesses establishing “person” pages as their business page on Facebook. Per the Almighty Facebook TOS (Terms Of Service), this is not a good idea. Personally, I see the allure, as you can proactively add friends more easily with a “person” page than with a business fan page, which forces you to grow your fan base naturally and organically.

With that in mind, put down your guard and peer into Cabeza’s crystal ball for a view into the future.

You’re going about your daily routine, when ding! You receive a notice from Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. Anxious to know what the Zuck has to say, you waste no time reading the memo, which reads, “Dear Friends: Your non-human ‘people’ pages are set to archive and go buh-bye in 24 hours. Too bad, so sad. Toodles!”

Don’t think it could happen? You’ve not been keeping up. Seriously, do everything you can to convert, churn, change, transition, and evolve your non-human people pages over to a fan page. And don’t do it tomorrow. Start the process now!

“Personal pages are for people, and people do business with people they know, like, and trust,” says Sharon Gadbois, #1 Bully of Social Media Bullies. “How are people supposed to get to know you as a person if you're busy shoving ‘buy my products’ in your friends’ faces all day long?”

Obviously, your Facebook friends won’t know you at all if you’re shoving unwanted ads down their throats and they may hide you from their Facebook news feed. Facebook made pages specifically for businesses. People who actually like your page can get your business updates whenever they want, plus it's SEO (search-engine optimization) driven.

Afraid of losing folks when you go from a personal page to a fan page? Facebook makes it easy for you to download your information and keep a backup copy before you make the transition from the personal page to fan page.

“Facebook fan pages are an extension of your website that offer a free and interactive form of communication with your customers,” says Marnie Goldberg, Social Medium with Amplification, Inc. 

Running ads in a newspaper or elsewhere? Gadbois recommends asking yourself the following questions:

• How much does it cost?

• What is the expected and real return on investment?

• Am I getting any leads?

• Are those leads enough to fuel my business and to pay the cost of expenses every month?

“If you don’t like the answers to these questions, social media is a great solution,” Goldberg says. “Because despite what you may think, social media isn’t a fad. It’s an effective channel through which you open the lines of communication to reach your intended audience in a cost-effective way that is relatively low maintenance. Stripped to its essence, social media is a conversation, a way to stay in touch with the very people who pay your light bill and mortgage. So why not spend a few hours a day doing it the right way?”

Timely Media

I read a great article recently (The Science of Social Timing) that broke down the best times for interacting on social media. Good stuff to keep in mind if you’re doing your best to get your marketing message to break through in the most effective manner.

• Best time to tweet: 5 p.m. ET

• Ideal tweet frequency: 1 to 4 per hour

• Best days to tweet: midweek and weekends

• Best day to share on Facebook: Saturday

• Best time to share on Facebook: noon ET

Wish you had someone on your team who could keep up with your social media presence? Amplification, Inc. would love to discuss how we can take care of this for you. And we can deliver an established audience, which we have painstakingly built over the past few years, of almost 40,000 people!

foursquare X 10 Million

Congrats are in order for foursquare surpassing the 10,000,000-users mark! If you don’t have a foursquare account (or haven’t heard of foursquare) but would love to have more consumer traffic through your door, please read my recent article on location-based marketing (using Facebook Places and foursquare "check-ins") and then call Amplification, Inc. We can help you with strategies and tactics that translate to immediate, new business within 60 days or less!

New Amplifications

We recently started assisting Courtney Refkin to drive traffic and interest to her blog, Kiki's Corner. Using a little of our social media magic, we were able to…well, Courtney says it best.

“Marnie and Steve boosted web traffic to my blog by over 200% in less than 30 days! It was amazing!” says Courtney.

Told you she said it best.

Davie Style

We love being members of the Davie-Cooper City Chamber of Commerce. Sophisticated yet sincere, close but transported, capitalistic yet altruistic, business-oriented yet neighbor-centric, the chamber is a great group of business pros. We are helping the chamber with two upcoming events, one centered on restaurants and dining, the other a golf outing. In the process, we’ll be asking for help, raffle prizes, and sponsors, and we’re prepared to incentivize participants and donors with access to our social media network, currently pushing 40,000 people. Interested? Let’s talk.

The Thrive Network recently joined the Amplification, Inc. family. Fran Asaro, founder and CEO of the successful Fort Lauderdale-based Thrive Any Way coaching network, recently relocated to Asheville, North Carolina. But don’t let her location fool you. She can help you no matter where in the world you find yourself. Fran works with businesses and individuals across the US, helping them create balance in their personal and professional lives. As a proponent of natural/alternative wellness, balance, and harmony, Fran’s network of Thrive programs include Thrive Any Way, Thrive Raw, and Thrive Any Weight. To schedule an appointment for a free consultation, call Thrive Any Way at 954-370-8001 or send email to Fran@thriveanyway.com. Visit Fran online at www.thriveanyway.com.

Equally exciting is the addition of Gulf Coast Tankless Water Heaters to the Amplification, Inc. roster. Do yourself a favor and toss your old hot water tank for a Gulf Coast Tankless Water Heater, and you’ll save water, money, space, and the planet, while having an unlimited supply of hot water in your home. Join their fan page on Facebook or follow along on Twitter (twitter.com/GCTanklessWater).

The List Goes On!

More interesting people, causes, and businesses being Amplified include:

• Endlessly Organic

• South Florida Hotspotz

• Fitwize 4 Kids Fitness Center

• The Grizzly—Mixed Martial Arts Fighter

• Calvin Johnson Home Inspection

Need help blogging, tweeting, linking, YouTubing (it’s a word—trust us!), and Facebooking but don’t know where to start? Marnie Goldberg, Social Medium at Amplification, Inc. wants to answer your questions. Email her! Need help wording your message just right? Email Daniel Brantley, our resident copywriter and editor and the only person who thinks Mark Zuckerberg would say “toodles,” at daniel@danielkbrantley.com or hunt him down at his website (www.danielkbrantley.com) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/danielkbrantley).

Bring Your Marketing Home #LBM #Amplify #Florida

Behold the power of location-based marketing!

With your marketing dollars having to do more than ever, you need to stretch your dollars a little bit further. And you may be surprised to find out that the best way to do that is to keep them closer to home.

“The old ways of marketing are going the way of the dinosaur,” says Steve Cabeza, Marketing Ninja at Amplification, Inc. [www.AmplificationInc.com / Facebook / Twitter] “Businesses used to have to spray their messages to the masses and hope to get some sort of return, but that’s antiquated and has been replaced with more effective and efficient methods. One of the most exciting is location-based marketing.”

The Case for Local 

Use direct mail to grow your business? Wish it was working a little better? You and everyone else. That’s because direct mail coupons, which cost money to print (and are not eco-friendly) and more money to ship, have a single-digit redemption rate. That’s right. Spend all the time you want on them, and you’ll still get less than a 10% return on your investment.

On the other hand, location-based SMS (short message service) coupons consistently generate double-digit redemption rates if used properly. How do they work? Through the power of social media and smart phones. Via platforms such as Foursquare and Facebook Places / Deals, social media-savvy customers (which is a much higher percentage of folks than you may realize) can instantly see what deals are being run by businesses in their vicinity. There’s no coupon to lose, no need to cut anything out of a magazine. Instead, the customer shows their phone to the cashier and gets a discount. And it’s happening all the time and all around you.

“I was unsure about location-based marketing until Amplification, Inc. convinced me to run a Facebook Deal,” says Scott Goldberg, chiropractor with 212 Chiropractic [www.212Chiropractic.com / Facebook / Twitter ] in Sunrise, Florida. “Since starting to use Facebook Deals, I’ve had an incredible number of people check in when they come for treatment. And every time someone does, all their friends know where they are. So while my clients are getting a discount, I’m getting free social media exposure which equates to free advertising.” 


A great example of a business doing location-based marketing the right way is the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, click here to visit their fan page. With one Facebook check-in for every three people who “like” their Facebook page (132,590 fans at the time this was written) and near constant interaction with fans, the Bellagio promotes their sophisticated message of the good life, while their clients are voluntarily interacting, providing unparalleled marketing that enlivens the Bellagio brand and keeps the conversation alive—even amongst those who are thousands of miles away. And it’s all courtesy of location-based marketing.

Bigger than a Single Platform

But Facebook Deals isn’t the only way to encourage and enliven this win-win situation. Foursquare, Gowalla, and other platforms do the same thing. The trick is figuring out which your clientele use and calibrating your efforts accordingly. Since some folks would much rather be part of the Foursquare community as-well-as or versus Facebook, and some others would use another platform altogether, representing your business in as many as possible ensures the greatest likelihood of success. The first step to increased sales is increasing the awareness of your brand.

Sully Dawson, owner of Eco-Friendly Auto Center [www.EcoFriendlyAutoCenter.com / Facebook ] in Oakland Park, Florida, has his hands in a few location-based marketing pots. Each takes effort to maintain, but the dividends are well worth it.

“I’ve found that my customer base is very plugged into social media, so location-based marketing is an essential,” Sully says. “It’s a fun way to engage customers, and it’s the best way to interact with them in a way they appreciate and relate to.”

More SMS coupons are being created and redeemed each day, and as more people are turning to social media, the numbers will only increase. Pile onto this the fact that consumers are approximately five times more likely to trust their friends’ recommendations than advertising, and it becomes clear that if you haven't 'claimed' your burgeoning social media presence and started promoting your goods and services via location-based marketing, you’re missing a big chunk of business.

“By adding relevancy and context to your customer social media engagement, the result is enhanced customer service, stronger loyalty, and increased credibility,” says Marnie Goldberg, Social Medium at Amplification, Inc. “In an economy that is markedly more competitive and relies on constant, honest communication, the business that does this best is the business that wins and retains new customers.”

Want to find out how to make location-based marketing work for you? Need to out-communicate your competition? Forget about your next direct mail piece or print ad and e-mail Amplification, the window decals (thanks to Davie SIGNARAMA!) are included!

Thanks to our freelance writing resource, Daniel K. Brantley [www.DanielKBrantley.com ] for another fabulous article. Contact Daniel via email, or follow his chicken-loving life on Twitter. 

Another Marnie Minute

Welcome back to another week in the life of yours truly. What has been going on with me? Thanks for asking! 


Chamber Love 

Amplification, Inc. (www.AmplificationInc.com) recently joined the Davie-Cooper City Chamber of Commerce (http://www.davie-coopercity.org/) and our newly established membership has already paid dividends for us (join their fan page, please, by clicking here and follow along on Twitter, too!). We attended their free Business & Community Expo and loved the seminars provided by BrowardSCORE. Apparently we weren’t the only ones to reap the benefits. 

“The expo was a hit!” says Gina Leggiere, who represented her business, Davie SIGNARAMA (http://www.daviesignarama.com/), at the expo. “I got a solid six contacts that I am confident will lead to new business soon.” Follow Davie SIGNARAMA on Twitter and Facebook.

John with Chase Roofing & Contracting (www.chasefl.com), who was adamant about only getting his picture taken with his business associate by his side, got two sizeable clients from the expo. “It was a homerun for me,” he says. “Great event!”

Really? Two sizable clients from a FREE event? How could you go wrong? Right on, Davie-Cooper City Chamber!

Another fellow Chamber member of note is Kathy Blanton, owner of Ameribiz.net. Check her company out if you need website hosting, design, or promotion thereof. We look forward to freshening up our website after we get our video-sharing division up and running later this month. Yes, this is big news, and yes, you should stay tuned to learn how this will positively impact your bottom dollar!

Security Concerns

I recently learned that approximately 96% of new security system purchasers buy because their house was recently broken into. This nugget came courtesy of fellow Shenandoah Business Group member, Richard Reid with GoToMyControls.com. Seems to make a lot more sense to buy a security system before you get robbed! Please welcome Richard to our area. He is here adding to our economy as a recent transplant from Canada. Email him if you have questions or need info on how you can better secure your home today.

Location, Location, Location

Have a brick-and-mortar place of business? Want to attract and retain new consumer-customers? Then you’ve got to understand and embrace location-based marketing. Why? Because people are constantly using their GPS-enabled smartphones to “check-in” and “like” your place of business via social media platforms like Facebook Places and Foursquare.

“People are interacting with your brand using social media, and if you don’t own your presence and take control of the messaging and leverage it to your benefit with photos, specials, incentives, and other important information, you’re missing a huge opportunity to connect with people who are demonstrated and enthusiastic customers!” my partner Steve Cabeza (Idea Man at Amplification, Inc.) likes to say all the time.

What’s all the fuss about? Consider this:

78% of people trust a peer recommendation (one of your friends checking in on Facebook Places for example), whereas a measly 14% trust traditional advertising methods, such as newspaper ads.

So, spend money on social media (that is what Amplification, Inc. does and we want to help you!) or spend money on advertising? We think that’s one of the easiest choices you could ever have to make!

To see someone who does location-based marketing right, check out McSorley’s Beach Pub’s Facebook presence (http://www.facebook.com/McSorleysFTL ), courtesy of Amplification, Inc., and please “like” their page while you’re there. They are a great and fun bunch! And check out their rooftop and beachfront sundeck if you like tasty cocktails and rooftop beach vistas like I do! Oh, and almost forgot, I love the beautiful scenery, too. Wink, wink.

Boys, Girls, and Labradors

In case you don’t know, the Boys and Girls Club of Broward County knows how to throw an enjoyable happy hour. Their recent event at the Riverside Hotel (love that place) on Las Olas was made even more enjoyable because the usual suspects: Anja (VP of Business Development at Dauerflora USA Inc.), Jonathan (attorney with Rosenberg & Pinsky), and Sharon (#1 Bully with Social Media Bullies) were there to keep things fun and interesting!

I’d also like to give a shout-out to Steve’s friend, Heidi, for giving Club Cabeza some love on her blog page. Thank you, Heidi, we are getting traffic to our blog from your blog! I guess I need to send you a friend request! LOL! Friends, please check out Heidi’s blog (http://themindthatneverstops.blogspot.com/). You may find something interesting there, like the photos of her gorgeous Labrador retriever!

We finished up the week by hitting a GBLX networking event hosted by King’s Cup. They are a coffee (and so much more!!) delivery service, and they really know how to put on a great event. Thanks go to Shawn, and Will, and the entire crew. The food, bar, prizes, networking, and entire event was fabulous. And thanks to Eco-Friendly Auto Center (check out the news coverage) for bringing us into this great group.

Help & Health

Friend of the Club Gary Hough asked us to throw some love his way. I’m here to oblige! Gary is taking part in The Make-A-Wish Dream Date Auction event on July 29 at the Opium nightclub. The website is www.dreamdateauction.net. He is part of the board and is tasked to help find sponsors. It is great exposure for a truly worthwhile cause. If you are interested and willing to be a sponsor, connect with Gary on Facebook by clicking here! Gary is a bo-hunk firefighter (must be all that delicious MonaVie he drinks!) and all-around super guy. If that isn’t enough to convince you to be a sponsor for the event, how about this? Gary spends a lot of time in the gym and will be flexing his abs in the upcoming firefighter calendar. Gotcha now, didn’t I? He also gladly takes part in fundraising date auctions, and is a loyal supporter of Club Cabeza (www.ClubCabeza.com).

If you are interested in MonaVie and the fabulous health benefits purportedly contained in each bottle of the delicious juice and weight loss product, attend a meeting and see if it’s for you. The next one is set for Tuesday, June 28, 2011, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Renaissance Hotel & Resort, 1230 South Pine Island Road, Plantation, Florida 33324. Cost is $5 per distributor, and guests are free. Speakers are Brian & Jackie Thayer.

This blog post was written by Marnie Goldberg, Amplification, Inc.’s Social Medium. Thank you for reading. Please subscribe to this blog, connect with Amplification, Inc. on Facebook or Twitter, and email me if Steve and I can help you AMPLIFY your message and increase your billing. Daniel K. Brantley is the freelance-writer/magician who keeps our grammar in line and makes our posts SHINE! Visit danielkbrantley.com or connect with Daniel on Twitter.

Are you active on Facebook and Twitter and interested in working part-time for Amplification, Inc.? Email me and tell me why I should consider hiring you, and we can take it from there.

Starting at Ground Zero: Using social media to win challenges and help others.

She’s 12 years old, never had a Facebook or Twitter account until a few weeks ago, wound up with more than 3,500 Facebook friends in a single week, and is now using social media to help Japan recover from the recent earthquake. How’d she do it? Behold the power of social media! 

The Challenge

It all started when the nonprofit organization Starlent decided to have a contest to be filmed as a reality television show. Though the organization focuses on training talented youths to be entertainment triple threats—singing, dancing, and acting—organization leaders also recognize the need for another skill: self-promotion. When 12-year-old Katie Cohen auditioned and was chosen to participate, she didn’t know the first challenge would involve growing a social media presence.

As her mother, Susan, felt 12 was a bit young for Facebook, Katie was never allowed to have a Facebook page. But that changed when the first challenge of the competition was issued. The challenge? Have more social media connections than any of the other 40 or so participants. 

The Connections 

Katie and her mom instantly went to work, creating Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts. They contacted friends and family, asking them to spread the word. Slowly, the list of followers and friends began to grow. And then Susan, a professional tutor, mentioned the challenge to the mother of one of her students. The mother happened to be Marnie S. Goldberg, Social Medium at Amplification, Incorporated.

“As she explained the challenge to me, I got increasingly excited,” Marnie says. “This was another chance for us to show off our chops, because growing meaningful social media connections is what we do.”

Determined to help Katie win the challenge, the Amplification team sent out a call to arms to their massive social network. And the call was answered many times over. By the end of the week, Katie had racked up thousands of Facebook friends from every continent but Antarctica, hundreds of Twitter followers, and more than 20,000 YouTube views.

The Result 

At the end of the week, Katie’s numbers were enough to give her victory in the challenge. For a reward, she got to meet the celebrity panel and ask them questions that will help in future challenges and her career. While the folks at Amplification are hesitant to quantify exactly how much they boosted Katie’s social media presence, Susan and Katie aren’t so shy.

“Thanks Marnie and Steve!” Katie posted on her Facebook page. “I won my challenge thanks to you guys!”

Since realizing the power of social media, Katie and her cousin Carla Corsetti decided to lend a helping hand in Japan. Until March 31, 2011, they are donating two cents to the American Red Cross’s Japan Relief Fund for every view of their video, “I’ll Be There.”

Show your support for Katie by becoming her friend on Facebook (click here), following her on Twitter (click here), and encouraging your friends to do the same. Also, don’t forget to help Katie and Carla raise money to help Japan by watching their video of  “I’ll Be There” (click here) as many times as possible.

Wondering who makes up the celebrity panel? You’ll have to wait until the reality show airs. At this time, not even the Cohens know the name of the show, but they do know that a major network picked it up.

And if you’re tired of running yourself ragged on social media without getting any results, drop Amplification, Inc. a line via e-mail (click here) and find them on Facebook by clicking here.

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This article was written by Daniel Brantley exclusively for Club Cabeza, please follow along on Twitter and Facebook. Daniel Brantley is a freelance writer, find him online at danielkbrantley.com or go to twitter.com/danielkbrantley to follow along.

Turn up the volume on your message with www.AmplificationInc.com and gain access to their ever-growing and ever-expanding social media network. 

Seen the latest Critical Condition? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4kZFlnZkis

The Silver Bullet Splinters! #Amplify #Florida #Facebook

When speaking to groups, clients, prospective clients, and others, I am often asked about what the "best" mix of advertising, marketing, social media, and public relations tools are and the simple answer is that there is no "Silver Bullet" or magic wand out there and the "right" mix is different based on many factors. 


Each marketing / promotion / sales challenge is unique in its own right based on the multitude of variables involved. Much in the same way that any home improvement or construction project is uniquely individual and has different challenges inherent, and in that context it is important to employ the right tools for the job at the right time. The project doesn't always call for the use of a hammer or saw, and so forth.

[ Desk Job = Damaged Back! ]


Consider that back in the 1970's you could reach over 75% of buying-females by advertising on the daytime Soap Operas owned by Proctor & Gamble (and others). That is no longer the case these days. The average person today is bombarded by upwards of 6,500 marketing impressions PER DAY!

[ Sowing Social Karma! ]

Step one: Approach your marketing challenge in a logical manner. Think it through, chart out what it is your are trying to accomplish and then put it to paper and approach it via a natural progression. Facebook, TV commercials, a Website, enewsletters, radio spots, press coverage, a custom publication, the right content strategy, a new logo, co-opt or collaborative marketing, and any and all of the other tools at your disposal don't always apply or may not be the best use of your (limited!) resources all the time.

Think through your budget and the amount of time you have to dedicate to your messaging-agenda and start to imagine what the milestones for success would look like. Then you can plot a course, based on the available resources, that will deliver what you want to accomplish.

[ Your Coming Sandwich-Gen Battle! ]

Identify what your prime or most-desired customer / demographic looks like (age, ethnicity, gender, and such), and then think of creative ways to motivate or encourage that person(s) to act in a way that is to your benefit. There are lots of exciting, new and emerging channels at there on social where local content can be created by the local community and leveraged to your benefit.

Contact Amplification, Inc. if you need assistance or more persuasion. We help our clients with strategies to leverage blogging (http://clubcabeza.blogspot.com/), Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other channels. And we deliver a vibrant, existing, thriving, and growing social media network so you don't have to put the time in to create it like we did! 

[ NOW is the Time to Refinance! ]