Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 40th annual gala entertainment highlights

Entertainment highlights from the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 40th Annual Gala held on March 2, 2012, at the Sacramento Continue reading

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More evidence about the importance of using social media

Some more web and social media stats that are hard to ignor from Hispanic Business Magazine’s December 2011 edition:

  • 33.3 Million visits made to the top 10 websites for U.S. Hispanics
  • 13.5 million Hispanics are on FaceBook
  • 8.1 million Hispanics are on Twitter
  • $31.1 million advertising dollars spent by the top 50 advertisers on media that reaches out to Hispanics.
  • $1.8 million spent in the leading Hispanic designated marketing areas.

As marketers absorb key Census data — including 43% growth in the Hispanic population over the past decade to 16.3% of this country’s population — it’s increasingly clear that Hispanics are the future of America. And post-recession, the Hispanic market has resumed its usual pattern of growing faster than the general market, with Hispanic media spending up 8.4% to $6.8 billion in 2010, compared to 6.5% for all U.S. media, according to Kantar Media.

Watch for stats on Hispanic Market rankings coming soon!  Have a great one!  Subscribe to Mike’s Blog  TODAY!

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Welcome to Mike’s Blog!

After many mailing list subscriber’s, social media follower’s and event attendee’s requests for auto- subscription, here it is!  You have been auto-subscribed to my blog.

In order to complete your subscription, please access your subscriber record and complete the USER DETAILS section using the USER NAME AND PASSWORD BELOW.  A picture would be really great in helping add faces to our blogging family.  Completing the form will help me to provide information that’s meaningful to you.

I only post information valuable to my subscribers in areas we have discussed or which they expressed an interest in the past.  Generally, blogging activity averages a post or two a week.

The login URL (website browser address) is: http://mikealvarez.com/wp-login.php

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I look forward to maintaining a high level of value in my posts.  I also invite your comments, suggestions and questions.

Have a wonderful day!

Best Regards,
Mike Alvarez

(You have been auto-subscribed to Mike’s Blog due to your previous subscription to my mailing list, opting-in from my website or meeting me at an event and giving me your business card.  If you do not wish to be subscribed to my blog, you may reply to the personalized e-mail message you received with “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the subject or body of the e-mail.)
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MAC E-mail – Why is a list locked?

A list is locked when it is included in a scheduled e-mail blast.  Once the blast is sent it is no longer locked!

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Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce 2012 Installation Awards Banquet Highlights

Highlights from SACC 2012 Installation and Awards Banquet at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento. With appearances by Senator Ted Gaines. Direct Continue reading

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Recipe for growth: Social Media can be the best ingredient for Small Businesses

I was reading December’s Hispanic Business magazine issue while waiting to meet with Alice Perez at the SHCC office yesterday and wanted to pass along some powerful comments from Rebecca Villaneda’s article which more Hispanic Small businesses may want to be aware of.

“Facebook pages and Twitter accounts are no longer optional.  Actions such as “like,” “hashtag,” “follow” and “check-in” are golden tickets to a business owner.”

“Social media provides businesses with an opportunity to increase brand awareness and sales, improve consumer perception and customer service and to spot trends that may prompt new products or service offerings,” said Elianne Ramos, vice chairwoman of communications at Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) and CEO of Speak Hispanic LLC. “We see that the most successful businesses in this arena are the ones that maintain a more transparent, two–way conversation. The key is to use it not just as a simple ‘shouting platform’ for your organization, but as a tool to build goodwill and enhance relationships with existing and prospective customers.”

“Advancements in technology means that your customers can find you at a moment’s notice, and usually at their fingertips,” said Leonardo Basterra, executive director of digital at Lopez Negrete Communications. “There are new generations of future customers who will only know you through social media. While it’s important that you be in the game, you’ll need to be an active player to win in this medium.”

“Give the people what they want the way the want it” – Mike Alvarez

While at lunch with an Attorney friend and client he asked me “do you think I need to worry about mobile?  The most tech savvy collegue’s firm in Sacramento didn’t have a mobile optimized site so his thought was, if they don’t have it, why do I need it?”  Check out these comments from the same article:

In August 2011, 72.2 million Americans accessed social media networking sites or blogs on their mobile devices — an increase of 37 percent in the past year, according to comScore. Of the top 10 types of apps used by smartphone owners, social networking landed at the No. 3 spot, behind games and weather, according to Nielsen. In fact, 40 percent of social media users access their services from their mobile phones, according to Nielsen.

“With the introduction of smartphones and 4G connectivity, reviews, thoughts and comments are shared at speeds never before seen,” Mr. Gouverneur said. “Businesses need to sync up and stay on top of their brand reputation.”

“Remember it’s not a choice weather we use social media and mobile marketing, but how well we use them”. – Mike Alvarez  Don’t be left in your competitors dust.  Attend one of 2 FREE lunch and learns sponsored by MainStreet Chamber of Northern California later this month.  Information you need from the source you can trust.  Have a fun and profitable day!

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3.3.1 Update – Backup Creator Error

For those of you who are using Backup Creator (highly recommended), when using the automatic update feature of the WordPress to upgrade from 3.3 to 3.3.1, be sure to DEACTIVATE the Backup Creator plugin version 1.07d before executing the update.  This avoids a site error that will make your site dashboard unreachable and require server level access to deactivate the plugin.

Subscribe to my blog for helpful tips like this.  Have a great day!

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MAC Realtor SMS Text Marketing Demo

The video summarizes how the basic SMS Text Marketing System works. The systems e-mail communication can be extended to include Continue reading

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Why video instead of written post or e-mail?

Some reasons to consider Video posting vs. written posting or e-mail.

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Mobile post to my WordPress blog

Posting from my Android phone to my WordPress blog is fast and easy!

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