Pink Banana Media

CMI’s 5th Annual LGBT Community Survey

2011-08-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATERELEASECOMMUNITYMARKETING, INC.

Contact: David Paisley; david@CommunityMarketingInc.com;
+1 415-437-3800

CMI’s 5^th Annual LGBT Community Survey™

Over 30,000 respondents from 100 countries.
First-ever mobile option yielded 12,000 survey respondents.
Key comparisons to ‘General Population’ sample.
Provides marketing and communications insights, while tracking motivations and trends.

(San Francisco, CA, September 1, 2011)

The Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI) 5th Annual LGBT Community Survey™ reportwas released today, featuring data from 100+ countries on over 30,000 LGBTconsumers (including for the first time, 12,000 respondents to amobile-optimized survey). Rivendell Media assisted in attracting theparticipation of over 150 LGBT websites, print publications, organizations andevents. The survey was sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank and ABSOLUT® Vodka.

The report includes an appendix comparison to several “General Population”data points, derived from a parallel study of a demographically representativeU.S. sample, as well as insightful commentary by community leaders ontransgender, lesbian, Latino and African American respondents.
A pdf copy of CMI’s 5th Annual LGBT Community Survey report is available atno charge by using this link. (18mb)
Following are a few of the key findings from this year’s surveyamong United States gay men and lesbians.

Social is the future. Gay consumers – especially younger gay men – are leading the charge toward the intersection of social networking and brand interaction. In the past week, 36% of gay men ‘checked in’ with FourSquare or other geo-location app at a venue. And, especially among younger gay men, emerging mobile ad platforms such as ‘QR codes/tags’ (21%) and mobile app banner ads (19%) are gaining traction for click-throughs.
Resilient buying power. Despite the continuing economic downturn, LGBT consumers represent a powerful buying community that marketers cannot afford to ignore. A significant number across all age groups made major purchases last year, and even more are planning to buy big ticket items in the next 12 months. For example, LGBTs are more likely to have purchased smart phones, major vacations, furniture, tablet computers and home theaters than their general population counterparts.
LGBT media matters. LGBT media is clearly approaching ‘mainstream’ levels among gay consumers. LGBT-focused websites are nearly as popular (61%) as mainstream sites (69%) among younger gay men. Regional gay print publications also impact a sizable audience. 33% of younger gay men and 48% of older gay men have read a local LGBT publication in the past week.

Respondent highlights include:
LGBT Outreach & Communications

When asked what approaches have the “biggest impact” on purchasing decisions, 43% of lesbians indicated “equality in the workplace, 43% indicated “support of LBGT charities” and 42% indicated support of LGBT political causes as the top influencers.
Mainstream ads that demonstrate LGBT-inclusiveness are gaining traction (37% for lesbians and 39% for gay men).
A trend we are observing in focus groups: Companies integrating LGBT imagery into mainstream ads, such as Orbitz, Kaiser Permanente and J Crew, are being noticed, and increasingly impressing LGBT consumers.

Smartphone Ownership

Nearly 70% of gay men own a smartphone – just slightly higher than lesbians.
About 50% of gay smartphone owners own iPhones.
Lesbians use their smart phones for texting (87%) and Internet search (83%) followed by news, navigation and updating their social networks.

Technology & Social Interaction

Gay men and lesbians are heavy users of technology for socializing with their networks. In the past week, 36% of gay men ‘checked in’ with FourSquare or other geo-location app at a venue.
Younger gay men send nearly twice as many texts (26 per day) as age 30+ and about a third spend at least an hour per day on Facebook.
Facebook isn’t just for young people. 85% of older gay men, and 88% of older lesbians are connecting with friends via Facebook. (These numbers are even higher among younger gay men and lesbians.)

Planned Purchases

A “major vacation” is a the top ticket purchase being planned by many gay men (39%) and lesbians (37%) in the coming year
Other popular major purchases being planned by gay men include cars (18%) and tablet computers (16%)

Media Consumption

Interestingly, LGBT-focused websites are nearly as popular (58%) as mainstream sites (63%) among older gay men
Don’t neglect the “traditional” print LGBT media, a resource that LGBTs still very much depend on. 33% of younger gay men and 48% of older gay men have read a local LGBT publication in the past week.
Focus group insight: LGBT consumers have special appreciation for – and loyalty to – advertisers that support community media with ads. They know that without ad support, the publications they depend on for LGBT news and perspectives would not survive.

Interaction with Advertising

Facebook advertising is rivaling traditional website banner ads among all LGBT consumer groups. 31% of both younger gay men and older gay men clicked on a Facebook ad in the past week, compared to 35% who clicked on a website banner ad.
And, especially among younger gay men, emerging ad platforms such as ‘QR codes/tags’ (21%) and mobile app banner ads (19%) are gaining traction for click-throughs.

Diversity within LGBT
Differences by ethnic segments: A few highlights

Gay Asian men tend to be the most ‘tech-forward’ audience – they are much more likely to be smartphone users (84% vs. 68% average) and over 1 in 4 have already purchased a tablet computer
They are also the most likely to use their smartphones for activities such as navigation (74%) and playing games (66%)
While the purchase habits of all LGBT consumers are clearly affected by a company’s LGBT best practices, Latinos/Latinas tend to be particularly influenced by equality in hiring, while Asians focus more on political and charitable causes
When it comes to media consumption, readership of regional/local LGBT print publications tends to be slightly higher among African American gay men and lesbians, while Asian gay men and women are somewhat more likely to read LGBT blogs
Appendix commentary by LGBT community leaders provides deeper insight to the transgender, lesbian, African American and Latino LGBT market segments

A few LGBT vs. Mainstream Comparisons

Gay and lesbian consumers are about 50% more likely to own a smart phone than the general population. (68% gay men vs. 49% straight men; 60% lesbians vs. 40% straight women)
Gay and lesbian consumers are also about 50% more likely than the general population to have made purchases with their smart phones, and equally more likely to receive “deal” notices from Groupon, Living Social, etc. on their smart phones.
Lesbians are twice as likely to have “checked in” at a venue in the past week than their straight female counterparts (25% vs. 11%).
Twice as many younger gay men clicked on a website banner ad than younger straight men (31% vs. 16%) in the past week.
LGBTs are more likely to have purchased smart phones, major vacations, furniture, tablet computers and home theaters than their general population counterparts.

Notes:
A pdf copy of CMI’s 5th Annual LGBT Community Survey report is available at nocharge by using this link.
CMI’s other annual study, the 16th Annual LGBT Travel Survey, will be produced in October. Resultswill be presented at the International Conference on Gay & Lesbian Tourism, PalmSprings, November 2-4, 2011.
LGBT Research: There is a difference. Learn about CMI’s research methodologies.
To receive research announcements and updates, please be sure to sign up for our newsletter.
About Community Marketing, Inc. [www.communitymarketinginc.com]
Founded in 1992, CMI is the global leader in gay and lesbian marketresearch, strategies and communications. CMI initiated the annual practice ofcollecting and analyzing data on gay and lesbian consumers in 1994 throughonline surveys, focus groups, field, telephone and customer satisfactionstudies, as well as advisory boards. Business leaders from a variety ofindustries turn to CMI’s research to better understand LGBT consumers andbusiness decision-makers.
CMI research is trusted by — and frequently quoted in — the NewYork Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, USA Today, WallStreet Journal, Ad Week, Associated Press, UPI, CNN, CBS News and manyothers around the world.
Media interested in specific topics are welcome to contact CMI forfurther information.
Note to editors: Above is just a sample of the information available. Press inquires should be directed to David Paisley, Senior Research Director,Community Marketing, Inc., 415/437-3800 ext. 102, or email david@communitymarketingnc.com.

Technology and the LGBT Business Community Come Together Like Never Before

2011-06-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

It has long been reported on how the LGBT community tends to be early adopters of technology, starting years ago with our embrace of dial-in modem chat rooms (we can be very creative when it comes to meeting online) to where we’re at today with smart phone technology and some of the cool LGBT apps that make the gay & lesbian world just a bit more accessible as well as closer together. But it is the trend in technology and the LGBT business community that has really come together over the last few years, with one of the highlights of 2011 being the presence of Google at the recent IGLTA Convention in Fort Lauderdale this past week. With over 500 travel business professionals (gay and gay-friendly) in the audience, Google held everyone’s attention for almost a full hour as they presented on stage a well-crafted presentation on how Google is doing more and more each day to make outreach to and better understand the LGBT community. With topics ranging from search engine optimization (their forte) to their most recent commercial shown recently during an episode of Glee that presents Google’s embrace of diversity and the LGBT community, their presentation was not only well received but allowed for further conversations to continue during the course of the convention which only solidified the sentiment that the LGBT business community is truly reflective of the early-adopter LGBT community at large and embracing and adopting technology in their business environment.

In fact, the entire educational track of this year’s IGLTA Convention was focused on technology and social media and how companies can leverage both to their competitive advantage. Was this just a one-time event or is this a trend that will continue to grow in the LGBT business community at large? I believe the facts speak for themselves. At the recent LGBT Marketing Conference held by Community Marketing and Pink Banana Media, technology played an even stronger role in the presentations and workshops than ever before. The strongest post-conference feedback pointed to the research analysis of Community Marketing, the social media presentation by Pink Banana Media and the mobile technology presentation by GayCities.com as the top three presentations attendees felt provided them the best value for their time attending this conference.

It appears the future only looks brighter for this trend… with technology growing in mobile, location-aware devices, the direction is going towards technology companies identifying who their top user base is and the LGBT community is coming out on the top of that list. In Google’s IGLTA presentation, they pointed out some very specific trends in this area, including the growing use of mobile devices as the primary way people are receiving information in today’s world, to the detriment of the more traditional world of laptop and desktop computers. In this new mobile world, short-form content is becoming more relevant (status updates and Tweets) and images captured and uploaded from mobile devices into social media are becoming the predominant way photos and video are being taken and shared today. Using mobile apps such as Grindr to meet other gay men in a local area, or GayCities for checking in to a physical location that is gay or gay-friendly, the LGBT community has had an excellent opportunity to not only prove that certain technologies are viable for the mainstream market, but that they’re also now more versed in the technology that has trained an entire generation of new LGBT users on how the these concepts work, making them more and more ubiquitous in their everyday lives.

Our NYC Gay Market Conference for 2011 Was An Incredible Success

2011-05-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

Our LGBT Marketing Conference held at Kimpton's Eventi Hotel in New York City was an incredible success, thanks to the support of our key partners and incredible speakers.

Key presenters included not only Matt Skallerud (Pink Banana Media) and Tom Roth (Community Marketing) but also Merryn Johns of Curve Magazine, Scott Gatz of GayCities.com, Richard Oceguera of the NGLCC-NY, Jerime Black of Barefoot Winery reviewing their successes over the years in LGBT marketing and several others. Links to some of our presenters can be found here:

http://lgbtnewmedia.blogspot.com/2011/04/lgbt-marketing-conference-nyc-spotlight_19.html

http://lgbtnewmedia.blogspot.com/2011/04/lgbt-marketing-conference-nyc-spotlight_14.html

http://lgbtnewmedia.blogspot.com/2011/04/lgbt-marketing-conference-nyc-spotlight_11.html

http://lgbtnewmedia.blogspot.com/2011/04/lgbt-marketing-conference-nyc-spotlight_07.html

http://lgbtnewmedia.blogspot.com/2011/04/lgbt-marketing-conference-nyc-spotlight.html

http://lgbtnewmedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/lgbt-marketing-conference-nyc-spotlight_30.html

http://lgbtnewmedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/lgbt-marketing-conference-nyc-spotlight_25.html

http://lgbtnewmedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/lgbt-marketing-conference-nyc-spotlight.html

Attendees ranged from the German National Tourist Office to Johnson & Johnson, Starcom Mediavest, NYC & Company and Metlife. TLA Video was there in force, as well as strong representation by Online Buddies... all looking to continue to expand their base of knowledge and remain competitive in reaching the LGBT marketplace as 2011 continues to be a strong year, business-wise.

LINKS:

http://www.lgbtmarketingconference.com/

http://www.pinkbananamedia.com

http://www.communitymarketinginc.com

A Ripening Economy, A Booming Industry: How the men’s underwear industry is the pulse of a livening economy

2011-05-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

A Ripening Economy, A Booming Industry:
How the men’s underwear industry is the pulse of a livening economy
by Stephen J. Lucin

As a result of the slow upswing in various economies across the globe, there has never been a more opportune time for companies to market themselves to niche communities. These smaller market sectors have been known to help brands rebuild identities, cross lines of market demographics, and ultimately increase sales.

In one market sector in particular, the men’s underwear industry, companies have been following this strategy for some time now. And the results of these companies’ successes are reported to determine the health of the economy in its current state. More recently, these results of successful men’s underwear brands have given economists a positive outlook in regard to the US economy’s future.

According to a well-researched opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal entitled “From Bubble to Depression?” which was co-authored by 2002 Nobel Laureate in Economics Vernon L. Smith,1 the effects of various “market bubbles” held either immediate or prolonged effects for the US economy. The opinion piece analyzed economic data from The Great Depression to the more current US market collapse, which according to the article, was cited as the arbiter of the greater global financial disaster that had its roots in 2006. But once the “bubble” burst, the effects were immediate and devastating - causing ripple effects in markets across the world and ultimately bankrupting States and governments.

Conversely, yet because of the recent upswing, companies have been looking to increase brand exposure largely and solely within the United States; giving the impression that the very country responsible for the events leading to the ultimate bankrupting of governments and corporations is now the same country being held responsible for the creation of new opportunities.

Reuters reported on April 4th that Latin American countries have been looking abroad for acquisitions by other, much larger corporations that mostly include those within the United States. Retailers and lenders alike developed multi-year plans to prepare for opportunities to come in from across the border. 2

But this is not only true for larger companies or multi-million dollar corporations. The men’s underwear market has been no exception to this strategy, with international underwear brands aiming to first reach their local markets, whether they be located in Pretoria, Santiago or any other city that may be local to a particular brand, before aiming to reach the largest market - the United States.

The market for men’s underwear in the US has witnessed a saturation of new brands in the first quarter of 2011; and a subsequent demand for product. It is one market segment that may seem quite obtuse in its role as an example, but a market segment that has, for the last two years, been the pulse of a livening economy.

Melissa Bristow, Managing Editor of Kiplinger, was quoted in various articles as saying that men’s underwear sales have been a great indicator of a stable return of the US economy. In a March 20th article published by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Bristow was quoted as saying:

“Essentially the theory is the rate at which men replace underwear is very stable. Indeed, they dropped by about 2.5 percent in 2009. They’ve leveled off now, but they have not really started to come back up. The fact that they’ve started to level off indicates that people are no longer worried as much.” 3

Of course, Ms. Bristow’s comments positively echo former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s theory that was once told to National Public Radio reporter Robert Krulwich. Greenspan was quoted as saying, “If you look at sales of male underpants it's just pretty much a flat line, it hardly ever changes. But on those few occasions where it dips that means that men are so pinched that they are deciding not to replace underpants.” He then went on to refer to the dip in underwear sales as “a prescient, forward impression that here comes trouble.”

But that trouble has long since passed with current US sales of men’s underwear completely stabilized. The economy now seems headed towards a recovery and many economists have been feeling confident to speculate on a positive and steady growth for the US, which should ultimately help foreign markets as well.

An article published in The Atlantic on March 25th justifies this claim of US market growth, as it revealed a cautionary 3.1% growth rate of US Gross Domestic Product for the fourth quarter of 2010. Timelines show a slow increase in the Nation’s GDP since 2009, and if the trend continues it could signal greater signs of an economic recovery. 5

However, since this stabilization of sales within the men’s underwear industry, businesses catering to this market have seen greater volumes of sales - and consumers have seen an increase in the selection of designer men’s underwear brands both online and on retailers’ shelves. The end result of this stabilization has been the creation of a fertile environment for much newer brands to vie for a piece of the same market. And by closely analyzing the men’s underwear industry itself, it can be concluded that success has been felt by newer brands and existing brands alike.

According to Alex Hernandez, Vice President of LA-based GO Softwear, an underwear brand that is designed and made in the US, and which has seen success since its introduction to the market in 1996, this saturation of newer brands “is both good and bad.”

Hernandez argues that the benefit of having more brands on the market “gives consumers more options.” However, the downside is that with more options comes more potential for some newer brands to look closer at turning a profit rather than looking at how to provide customers with a quality product.

“The bad thing is that the market is flooded with companies getting into the men's underwear business with little or no experience for the sole purpose of making a quick buck,” Hernandez said, illustrating his point.

“But,” he concludes, “The future of the industry seems to be moving towards producing men's undergarments in basic styles with innovation and quality.”

With brands such as GO Softwear, it’s easy to understand the growing concern of maintaining quality products on the market and getting them into the hands of consumers. Brands such as these have been around for well over a decade because they have provided their customers with quality designer products at affordable prices.

Over the last six months, however, countless underwear brands have surfaced in the US and have been made available for the American male consumer. The Internet has been greatly responsible for this over-saturation, as it allows underwear brands from all across the world to become available almost immediately. Currently, there are well near 200 (see Appendix 1) men’s underwear brands available online and in retail shops across the US.

That’s not to say that anyone can simply create a men’s underwear line. As with any business venture, a certain amount of capital must be made available to create and purchase product, shipment must be cost-effective and on-time, there must be a desire to provide quality products in order to maintain brand longevity, and Earned Media campaigns must be put into place to earn visibility and credibility from consumers.

Sara Blakely, the creator of Spanx, was recently featured in a March issue of The New Yorker where she explained that her predominantl female-oriented underwear company, which she started in October, 2000 with only $5,000, would soon be entering the US men’s underwear market with a new line of men’s undershirts and briefs aimed at reaching the mainstream male consumer. 6

According to the article, Blakely hopes to enter the market with something new - shapewear; even though shape-enhancing men’s underwear have been around for years, mastered by some brands such as Chile-based Ergowear and LA-based Andrew Christian. But this entrance by Spanx into the men’s underwear market adds but one more name to the list.

To clear through this over-saturation, however, many brands have turned to effectively communicating their unique messages via Earned Media and Public Relations campaigns, and through Advertising and Marketing techniques - the strategies in these fields play a role in the speed at which a brand is introduced, and result in the likelihood of their longevity.

Earned Media is arguably the most effective marketing tool, as it is market exposure that has ‘earned’ credibility (i.e. a feature story in a magazine); that is, opposed to ‘paid’ media (i.e. a billboard) which is bought by a brand to forcefully gain visibility within a market. Earning media means earning the credibility of various media outlets through endorsements. A feature story in a magazine for example, such as Alexandra Jacobs’ feature of Sara Blakely and Spanx in The New Yorker, added more credibility to the brand than if Spanx had purchased an advertisement in the same publication. By featuring Spanx in an article, Ms. Jacobs endorsed Mrs. Blakely’s brand over its competitors, ultimately lending the credibility of The New Yorker to Spanx.

Similarly, some existing brands are re-entering the US men’s underwear market just as quickly and just as forcefully as some of their newer competitors through Earned Media efforts. As mentioned earlier, some brands have seen success in their home countries and are now looking to expand to a broader demographic where demand seems greater; in particular the US men’s market.

Unlike US brands that already have a domestic territorial lead on their international counterparts, these foreign underwear companies that have already seen success in their home countries often tend to additionally expand into the US market. By either hiring Earned Media firms local to the US, or by infiltrating the market through social and online media outlets and platforms, they capture new customers.

Bone Wear, an underwear brand from Pretoria, South Africa, utilizes online Earned Media techniques, and is consistently reviewed on men’s underwear blog sites that reach key demographics in terms of age, sexual orientation and geographic location. Bone Wear additionally maintains its online visibility within the US by engaging subscribers of its email newsletter to learn of new products while also offering special promotions.

Its website boasts, “Bone Wear is proud to be South Africa’s first and only international underwear label and strives to offer men a unique range of well designed and high quality underwear, gym wear and swim wear made from the best fabrics.”

Through these Earned Media strategies and by describing itself as a pioneer in its home country, Bone Wear is positioning itself in its domestic market while gaining visibility in the US, which could lead to greater success among one of the world’s largest markets.

Another example is Ergowear, an underwear and swimwear brand that is based out of Santiago, Chile. The unique qualities of Ergowear are that it is ergonomically designed “for an excellent fit to the male body,” according to its website. It is also the only ergonomically-designed underwear brand to offer the InCopper line, which includes a copper-based anti-microbial fabric available in some of its best-selling designs.

Ergowear has been on the market since 2003, offering men a variety of ranges in underwear and swimwear. It is distributed to various countries across the globe, predominantly the US where it is launching an aggressive media campaign in mid-2011. Its website is filled with information about products, and even offers customers the option of reading the site in one of six different languages.

“Ergowear has been very selective when it comes to establishing resellers in the US,” explains Ergowear Owner, Rodrigo Herzberg. “This has given us more of an exclusive profile, and therefore many guys don’t know about us yet. It’s like a well-kept secret that’s coming out now.”

In all of these efforts, a focus on reaching niche demographics is key. It’s also important to understand the power of smaller markets within a broader segment while simultaneously focusing on the overall goals of an Earned Media campaign.

Within the US men’s underwear industry, there is a huge market - nearly half of the existing adult US population (which includes men who are 18 years of age or older). Within that segment, there are smaller, niche markets that also deserve attention and which require unique marketing strategies in order to cater to their own sensibilities.

For example, the men’s underwear market can be split up into various segments (some examples include Latin-American, LGBT (gay), or African-American). The question of how a brand markets itself to the overall male demographic in addition to focusing on the needs of these individual niche markets is one that bears a single answer: it does so by staying on-message while including elements uniquely associated with these markets.

If an underwear brand wishes to reach the mainstream male market while also reaching a Latin-American base, it will have to create some additional market-specific materials such as photographs or brand descriptions that relate to the Latin-American community, while maintaining the overall message of the brand.

An April article in The Miami Herald illustrated this ideology by quoting Patricia Madueño, the Vice President for branding communications and licensing for Jarden Consumer Solutions International, which, according to its website, is “a leading global consumer products company.”

Madueño was quoted as saying, “The power of the brand is more important than in the developed world. . . and Latin Americans tend to have more of an emotional connection to brands.”

She goes on to say that “Jarden has found that once Latin Americans come to the United States they become ‘acculturated very fast’ and often gravitate toward products they couldn’t get in their homelands. . . They buy more expensive cars, are more likely to drink premium liquor brands and purchase more expensive clothes.” 7

In understanding such examples of particularities about the Latin-American niche market, companies, particularly underwear brands, will be able to create more effective Earned Media campaigns as part of their overall marketing strategies.

But then there is the new all-American-made, all-American-designed and all-American-inspired underwear brand that makes its debut domestically, and which witnesses a quick interest from both consumers and reviewers in the quality and style it provides because it has taken its time to develop a worthwhile marketing strategy to reach many niche demographics, along with the mainstream market, simultaneously.

One such brand is Jake Joseph. It’s a brand that was introduced to the market in the fourth quarter of 2010, and which has seen Earned Media placements and reviews in countless online media outlets and feature stories in magazines like Men’s Fitness and 944 Magazine. One of the brand’s first Earned Media placements described Jake Joseph as a luxury item equal to the reputation of a luxury automaker that has been in existence for well over a century.

“Taking the same approach to underwear that Mercedes has come to be known for in the automobile industry, Jake Joseph prides itself on being a quality-focused upscale underwear line,” writer Aimee Sherman wrote in her April 18, 2011 article, which was published in 944 Magazine. 8

In a recent interview, brand founder, 31-year old clothing designer Jake Joseph, was humbled at such early press. But he explained that he had taken two and a half years to research various men’s underwear brands so that he could create his own line of men’s underwear that was considered both quality and classic.

“I wanted to make a pair of underwear that’s awesome, and that can last,” he explained.

But what makes Jake Joseph unique among his competitors is that he is not afraid to reach niche communities. He embraces each Earned Media opportunity as one that will help his brand reach a greater number of loyal customers.

Recently, the Jake Joseph brand was featured in a daily newsletter for Gay List Daily, a popular blog among the ever-increasingly popular niche market - the LGBT (gay) community.

“We want to be known as the ‘everyone’ brand,” he said.

No matter what his demographic for underwear sales, Jake Joseph hopes to see an increase in loyal customers. He understands that this particular market consists of “dedicated users. And because men are very loyal to underwear brands, it’s important to make a quality product.”

Perhaps then, reporters such as Mark Landler who wrote in an April 13, 2008 New York Times article that the “collapse of the housing bubble in the United States is mutating into a global phenomenon. . .” 9 might agree with Mr. Greenspan that the stabilization of the men’s underwear market is signaling a market recovery, and, separately, that it too is mutating into a global phenomenon worthy of further study.

Providing a quality product has proven to ensure longevity and loyalty from consumers who may have found it easier to decipher whether an underwear brand has entered the market to quickly cash-in on a booming industry, or if it is in it for the long haul; the evidence is visible in the look, fit, comfort and style.

All in all, Alex Hernandez of GO Softwear and Jake Joseph of Jake Joseph Underwear may both see the men’s underwear market similarly, even though their brands share a difference in longevity within this market. And that similarity lies in providing customers with quality products. Though the recent market collapse created a meltdown of global economic proportions, the strengthening of the men’s underwear market is yet again showing signs of a slow but steady recovery. From this, other market sectors may begin to focus specifically on the quality of their product that so many men’s underwear brands strive for in creating loyalty among their consumer bases, which span the globe and spread across a wide range of niche demographics.

1 The Wall Street Journal, “From Bubble to Depression?”
April 6, 2009, by Steven Gjerstad and Vernon L. Smith
(http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB123897612802791281-lMyQjAxMTIxMzA4NzkwNzc2Wj.html)
2 Reuters, “Analysis: Latin America Companies Look Abroad for Buyouts” April 4, 2011, by Tomas Sarmiento
(http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/04/us-latam-finance-idUSTRE7337FE20110404)
3 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Freaky Forecasts: You Might Be Surprised By Indicators Used in Predictions”
March 20, 2011, by William Loeffler
(http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_728075.html)
4 The Huffington Post, “Men’s Underwear Sales Greenspan’s Economic Metric, Reveal Crisis”
April 8, 2009, by Sam Stein
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/08/mens-underwear-sales-gree_n_184863.html)
5 The Atlantic, “4th Quarter U.S. GDP Revised Up to 3.1% Growth”
March 25, 2011, by Daniel Indiviglio
(http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/03/4th-quarter-us-gdp-revised-up-to-31-growth/73017/)
6 The New Yorker, “Annals of Retail: Smooth Moves, How Sarah Blakely Rehabilitated the Girdle”
March 28, 2011, by Alexandra Jacobs
7 The Miami Herald, “Reaching the Changing Latin American Market”
April 29, 2011, by Mimi Whitefield
(http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/29/2193044/reaching-the-changing-latin-american.html)
8 944 Magazine, “Modern Approach to Classic Garments”
April 18, 2011, by Aimee Sherman
(http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:nwLvs9UP4GwJ:www.944.com/articles/modern-approach-to-classic-garments/+944+magazine+sherman+jake+joseph&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari&source=www.google.com)

9 The New York Times, “U.S. Housing Collapse Spreads Overseas”
April 13, 2008, by Mark Landler
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/business/worldbusiness/13iht-housing.1.11931770.html?emc=eta1)

APPENDIX 1 - List of Underwear Brands

2EROS
2wink
2(X)ist
3G Actualwear
Addicted
Adrian Bartol
Andrew Christian
Armani
Armani Exchange
AussieBum
Aware Soho
Baskit
Boys and Their Hardwear
Big Boys
Bike
Bikkembergs
Bjorn Borg
Bon Bon
Bone Wear
Bozack
BR4SS
Brief Underneath
Bruno Banani
Bum Chums
BumGear
BunnG
BVD
C-IN2
California Muscle
Candyman
Ceceba
Champion
Clever
Cocksox
Craig Port
Croota
D&G
Danial Webster Design
Dick and Jane
Diesel
Dietz
Dirty Fukker
Dockers
Doreanse
DKNY
Ed Hardy
Elite
Emporio Armani
English Laundry
EQUMEN
Ergowear
ES Collection
Ex Officio
Expose
Extreme Collection
Fagioni
Falke
Frank Dandy
Frankie Morello
Freemen
Freshpair
Fruit of the Loom
G Storm
Gia
Gigo
Ginch Gonch
Giulio
GO Softwear
Gold Toe
Good Boy Gone Bad
Good Devil
Gregg Homme
Grigioperla
Hanes
Hanro of Switzerland
HOM
Hugo Boss
Humor
Iceman
Impetus
Intimo
Intymen
Jake Joseph
James Tudor
JM Underwear
Jockey
Jocko Underwear
Joe Snyder
John Falocco
Junk Underjeans
K’MANDO
L’Homme Invisible
Lazy Bum
LOBBO
Lodoli
Magic Silk
Male Basics
Male Power
Mansilk
MANstore
Man Zone
Marcuse
McKillop U/W
Mensuas
Minee
Munsingwear
N2N Bodywear
Naked
Narciso
Nautica
NDS Wear
Neptio
New Balance
Olaf Benz
Ovbiously Underwear
PACT
Papi
parke & ronen
Patagonia
Perfectly Flawed
Perofil
PIADO
Pikante
PIPE
Piss & Vinegar
Pistol Pete
Players
Polo Ralph Lauren
PPU
Priape Wear
Private Structure
Pull-In Underwear
Pulse
Puma
Punto Blanco
Red Torpedo
Ristefsky Macheda
Rufskin
Sauvage
Saxx
Schiesser
Score Underwear
Sculptees
Sloggi
Sly Underwear
Solar Tan Thru
Spanx for Men
Stonemen
STUD Underwear
Superstein
Sven-O
Sweat Under Gear
Tarra’o
Timoteo
Todd and Terry
Toot
Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy John
Tribe Underwear
Tulio
Under Armour
Undergear
Undertoys
Unico
Vizeau
Vuthy
WildmanT
XLX
XTG
XZYTES
Zakk Underwear
Zimmerli

Gay & Lesbian Marketing Conference, New York (NYC) Just One Week Away

2011-04-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

Are you registered yet? Community Marketing and Pink Banana Media’s 4th Annual Gay & Lesbian Marketing Conference will be held on April 29, 2011 at the Kimpton Eventi Hotel, New York City. Offering a "Productive Day of Education and Networking", topics covered will include Research, Insights, Strategies & Case Studies.

The agenda for the day includes:
John Lake, Director of Corporate Development, Human Rights Campaign

The special significance of business/community relationships in LGBT connections and communications.
Leveraging your HRC Corporate Equality Index ranking

David Paisley, Senior Research Director, Community Marketing, Inc.
Thomas Roth, President, Community Marketing, Inc.

There is no “LGBT Market:” Segmentation findings and interpretations from the latest research can lead your company to diverse new business opportunities

The Business of LGBT Business
Darren Spedale, Founder, StartOut and Richard Oceguera, President, NGLCC-NY
Thomas Roth, President, Community Marketing, Inc.

Leveraging Diversity to Your Advantage
NGLCC Certification and Supplier Diversity
The Newest Niche: Breakthrough research is uncovering a significant new LGBT B2B market segment. We call it the “Multiplier Marketing” effect, and corporations can leverage it to maximize LGBT ROI

Matt Skallerud, President, Pink Banana Media

Case Studies and Best Practices: How small and large businesses alike are leveraging social media to earn LGBT brand loyalty and market share

Keynote Luncheon, Sponsored by Advocate.com
Thomas Mathes, General Manager, Eventi, A Kimpton Hotel

The Kimpton Case Study: How Kimpton incorporated LGBT into a culture of Diversity, Fun and Care to create a brand that goes well beyond just “gay-friendly.

Leveraging Pride, Community Events and Promotions
Jerime Black, LGBTQ Sales & Marketing Manager, Barefoot Wine

The Lovemarks of this century will be the brands and businesses that create genuine emotional connections with the communities and networks they live in.

Tom Legan, President, Legan Promotions, Inc.

How to Promote Your Business to the LGBT Community Through Consumer Event Marketing

Lesbian Marketing Panel
Merryn Johns, Editor in Chief, Curve Magazine
Jessica Rothschild, Senior Entertainment Editor, Autostraddle

Lesbian consumers are often depicted as marginal, reluctant or elusive, when in fact the opposite is true. You just need to know how to find them. How to effectively reach the lesbian community via print media, the Internet, events and sponsorships

Mobile Communications
Scott Gatz, Founder and CEO, GayCities

Getting found & standing out: Mobile Phones, Location Based Services, where do you fit in? This session will get you up to speed on the trends in Mobile and Location Based Services and what all this means for your planning process.
LGBT Search Engine Optimization

Public Relations and Media
Stephen Lucin, Intercontinental Style
Cathy Renna, Renna Communications

This presentation will explore creative approaches to reach LGBT consumers, by earning media attention.

Making the Most of your Budget, Large or Small, and Tracking Results
Serge Gojkovich, President, Gay Consultants, Inc.
David Paisley, Community Marketing, Inc.

Synthesizing the Day’s Information Overload: Strategies to get the most out of a media or sponsorship purchase, no matter what the budget. Plus: How to measure that elusive Return on Investment.

Capping off this full day will be a Networking Reception with Out Professionals, held at the Bar Basque, Hotel Eventi

LINKS: www.LGBTMarketingConference.com

Newly Relaunched LBCBN.com - Long Beach Gay Chamber Website Merging Social Media with Membership

2011-04-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

We are proud to announce the newly relaunched LBCBN.com, the website of The Long Beach Community Business Network, offering New Features, Greater Access, Expanded Directory Listings and Links To Social Networks

The Long Beach Community Business Network's new website is LIVE and now a more productive tool in the marketing of one's business. Members can now take advantage and link with the social networks Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Flicker, Linkedin, YouTube, easily through the new LBCBN website.

The primary goal of this website design is for the LBCBN to become THE HUB for LGBT business information in the Long Beach area. Integrating their member's social media activities with activities posted by the Chamber allow for a single location from which a person can be quickly kept up-to-date as to what is happening in the Long Beach LGBT business community, both from the Chamber's perspective and the perspective of individual business members of the LBCBN.

In addition, the website allows members to connect with one another as "colleagues", as well as allows members to enhance their listing with logos, pictures, profiles, blogs and discount information. It also allows for online payments and invoice tracking for events, membership dues and more.

LBCBN is the premier business networking organization for greater Long Beach. They are moving to improve the services provided and this new website is the beginning of the process.

The Integration of Social Media in LGBT Travel Websites

2011-04-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

Upon hearing the recent news of Fab.com throwing in the towel on the LGBT market, it immediately got me thinking about what actually did seem to work with the Fab.com website. As one of the very first consumer websites, LGBT or otherwise, to integrate user-generated content in the form of social media, it truly was cutting edge in terms of what it had accomplished, what it showed can work and even more importantly, what it foretold about the future direction and success in consumer-oriented websites in general.

What Fab.com showed the world was that the integration of social media into a newly-formed community-based website can work. Websites for consumers seem to have followed a basic pattern, starting in the mid-90s as informational resources and then slowly, over time, graduating to the level of building true community, with tools for a website’s members to interact with each other, comment collectively on articles they had read together, meet each other and more. The power of Internet chat rooms, message boards and even the basics of membership profiles that were searchable by other members of a community website cannot be overstated. They commanded some of the highest valuations during the dot.com boom and survived intact and even stronger after the dot.com bust. In the LGBT space, sites including Gay.com, PlanetOut.com, GayWired.com, 365Gay.com and others prevailed and dominated the online LGBT online world for over a decade. They were featured in the Wall Street Journal as taking the LGBT community to entirely new levels heretofore unseen prior to the advent of the Internet and its early adoption by the LGBT community worldwide.

What we are seeing today is what can possibly be described as that 3rd wave of online technology forming entirely new communities online. Consumers have flocked to social media to the order of 600 million on Facebook alone. They are uploading photos, sharing videos, posting links to some of their favorite articles and news stories, and so much more. Just this past New Year’s Eve, a record 750 million photos were uploaded on Facebook, making this site one of the largest photo repositories in the world. From this ocean of content, those cutting-edge, community-based websites that can integrate with social media are poised to tap into this flood of information, harnessing and distributing it to newly-formed audiences drawn together for a wide variety of motivations and reasons, including in the case of Fab.com, to connect with other gay men of similar interests.

On Fab.com, a person’s events they selected to attend on Facebook were ported over to the Fab.com website. All of a sudden we had gay event crowd sourcing, where we could go to one website to try and figure out what events were hot and which ones were not. Better yet, any other Fab.com members attending the very same event were highlighted and displayed with that event’s information, very similar to what Facebook was already doing, but in Fab.com’s case, connecting people who were not already connected as Facebook friends.

Fab.com also ported over the various check-ins from Facebook Places (Facebook’s answer to FourSquare.com), allowing other members to see where other gay men were going in various cities around the world. All of this was completely opt-in only, meaning this information was only shared by those who wished to share it. What this technology did, however, was allow our Facebook activities in the LGBT world to be amplified and to find new audiences outside of the walled garden of Facebook where this information was being shared only with our friends.

Simultaneously, GayCities.com began offering very similar features, and with their strength already established in the world of gay travel, integrated the vast world of FourSquare.com check-ins as well. Thus, LGBT people from around the world were able to share in real-time what was hot and what was not, whether that was an upcoming event or a neighborhood bar.

One might ask what the significance of all of this really is. I believe the answer lies in that ocean of social activity that is coming from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr. People don’t have the time nor the patience to join a variety of social networks where they would have to duplicate their photo and video uploads every time. Sites that tap into a person’s social media activity and share it with those select communities a person wishes to join are becoming that 3rd wave of online community-based websites, serving the infinite number of niche-oriented communities we all gravitate to on a personal level.

The travel community has always been ahead of the curve in the gay & lesbian marketplace, and this 3rd wave is already playing itself out in this community, with Fab.com and GayCities.com in the consumer travel world and sites such as IGLTA.org in the business-to-business travel world. When a destination, as an IGLTA member, creates a new YouTube video to highlight their region, or posts a new blog entry about some upcoming event, or uploads new photos on their Facebook or Flickr photo page, these activities are immediately shared with other IGLTA members, as well as gay travelers, allowing a destination, a tour operator, a hotel and more the opportunity to amplify their marketing voice and reach a much wider audience with no extra effort on their part. New sites are coming online more and more frequently, with recent website launches serving LGBT travel communities in Las Vegas, Philadelphia and other cities around the world, integrating social media with their travel community websites along the way.

In years past, a travel magazine hired writers to travel the world and write incredible articles along the way. In recent times, Yelp, TripAdvisor and FourSquare showed us the power of user-generated tips and reviews and how strong their influence was when it came to people making their travel decisions. In the LGBT space, GayCities.com took the lead in serving this specific need. In today’s world, what Facebook has shown us is that everyone who travels and posts their activities online is a travel writer, so to speak… an individual travel journalist with a unique story to tell, perhaps with an audience of just a small handful of friends, or perhaps with an audience in the thousands, following their exploits and adventures on a daily basis. These people exist today, and their expanded reach in this new network of socially-connected, community-based websites… this 3rd wave of online community, has just begun.

Links: www.EchelonMagazine.com | http://digital.turn-page.com/issue/28623/5 | www.PinkBananaMedia.com

Pink Banana Media - New Look for 2011 - Brochure

2011-03-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

Starting with our newly released brochure for 2011, Pink Banana Media is coming out with a whole new look for this year! Focusing on the key areas of online media, especially social, and combining that with real world marketing, leveraging smartphone technology, Pink Banana Media is poised for continued success in this new media landscape.

Our new tagline is "Reach the Gay & Lesbian Community - Leverage the Power of Social Relationships".

From our first page, it reads:
Virtual Online Marketing

Integrate the power and reach of social media marketing with traditional online strategies including banner ads and e-mail campaigns.

Real World, Experiential Marketing

Reach gays & lesbians in their daily lives, at restaurants, hotels, gyms, shops, bars or events using smartphone technology. Integrate it with social media to create a true, 360-degree marketing strategy leveraging authentic social relationships.

Download in PDF format:

www.PinkBananaMedia.com/PDF/brochure2011_v1.pdf

Pink Banana Media Updates for February 2011

2011-02-15T08:44:00.000-08:00

:: Mobile Marketing - Web App Development ::

We have begun creating some of our first Web Apps over the past few months for a variety of clients. One of our most recent can be viewed here:
www.CaliforniaGayChamber.com/mobile/.

We've gone this direction because more and more web traffic is going mobile and being driven by the increased technologies in cell phone bandwidth (3G and 4G), as well as the increased adoption of smartphones, including the iPhone, Android-based phones and Blackberries. Optimizing a website for the smaller screen size while also taking into consideration the concept of a touch-based navigation of a website versus the original mouse-based navigation demands taking an entirely new approach to a website's mobile design. Bigger fonts and large, clickable screen areas merged with an aesthetic interface are the name of the game now.

Our mobile websites automatically sense whether the user is viewing the site from a PC, a Mac, a smartphone or a tablet and take the user to that optimized web page. Since the tablet experience (including iPad) is more similar to a smartphone than a laptop, with simply a larger screen, the same touch-based navigation was maintained while being optimized with larger images and more detailed information being made to flow across the screen.

Click here for more information

:: Gay & Lesbian Marketing Conference - NEW YORK ::

A Productive Day of Education and Networking: Research, Insights, Strategies and Case Studies

April 29, 2011

Don’t miss this comprehensive research, advertising, marketing, and communications forum, helping you better understand and serve gay and lesbian consumers.

Audience: Perfect for marketing, advertising and PR executives of all industries who want to successfully reach gay and lesbian communities, and initiate or update effective strategies.

Dedicated: Conference attendance is limited, in order to facilitate the best learning and networking environment.
Click Here For More Information

:: Upcoming LGBT Business and Marketing Events ::

March 3, 2011 - Anaheim, CA
Orange County Inaugural Reception
March 8-9, 2011 - Toronto, ON
Online Revealed
March 12-13, 2011 - New York, NY
GLBT Expo @ Jacob Javits Center
May 10-15, 2011 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
IGLTA Convention

A Note About the IGLTA Convention: This convention is set to be like no other... the theme of the 2011 IGLTA Convention is Unleashed 2.0 and has an entire series of educational programs focused on the world of Social Media Marketing in the Travel Industry. Presenting companies include Air Canada, GayCities.com, GayTravel.com, TopGuest.com, as well as some major players in the social media space including TripAdvisor.com and Google.com.

:: Peer Group Websites as Next Social Media Marketing Wave ::

Check out our latest article for Echelon Magazine... laying out some concepts as to where all of this social media stuff might be headed.
A story made its way through the blog world and mainstream media world recently which is incredible in that it shows that a number of social media marketers worldwide are beginning to see the future phases of social media marketing and where this is all going in the next five years. The articles and blog postings themselves were about Paul Adams and his presentation he did at Voices That Matter Web Design Conference in San Francisco in 2010...
Click here for article

Gay & Lesbian Marketing Conference, New York (NYC)

2011-02-12T08:12:00.000-08:00

Community Marketing and Pink Banana Media’s 4th Annual Gay & Lesbian Marketing Conference will be held on April 29, 2011 at the Kimpton Eventi Hotel, New York City.

Don’t miss this comprehensive research, advertising, marketing, and communications forum, helping you better understand and serve gay and lesbian consumers.

Audience: Marketing, advertising and PR executives of all industries who want to successfully reach gay and lesbian communities, and initiate or update effective strategies. Perfect for newbies and veterans alike!

Dedicated: Conference attendance is limited, in order to facilitate the best learning and networking environment.

http://www.communitymarketinginc.com/education-and-conferences/new-york-lgbt-marketing-conference/

Peer Group Websites as Next Social Media Marketing Wave

2011-02-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

A story made its way through the blog world and mainstream media world recently which is incredible in that it shows that a number of social media marketers worldwide are beginning to see the future phases of social media marketing and where this is all going in the next five years.

The articles and blog postings themselves were about Paul Adams and his presentation he did at Voices That Matter Web Design Conference in San Francisco in 2010 (http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-social-network-v2). His presentation was exciting in that he put forth for the first time where social media is going, told from a perspective of where social media has been (with us since the dawn of civilization) to where it’s headed in terms of expanding past the current social media platform of Facebook and into a vast, new frontier, of which there is no doubt that Facebook will continue to play a lead role in.

His concept was that Facebook has done an incredible job of connecting us as friends, but now where do we go from here. We have friends from a wide variety of contexts, from family to high school friends to work friends to weekend friends. Facebook’s initial success has been in its simplicity in bringing all of these friends together, and yet the dominant force holding many people back today is that they don’t want to get too involved with Facebook for fear that their various friends groups might mix, see photos they shouldn’t, or in the LGBT community’s case, expose to the wrong people that they are gay (or if they’re out, expose just how “gay” they truly are). Again, Facebook is an incredible success, but for those people who aren’t quite as open and transparent with all aspects of their life compared to others, Facebook’s ubiquitous success is also one of the areas holding it back.

Facebook has responded with the concept of “friend groups and lists,” whereby a user can put their friends in these groups or lists and then control what the various groups and lists see. This works for some, but it can be a bit overwhelming to go through and adjust privacy settings for each of these groups, especially considering that one mistake in these settings can potentially cost a person a job (interviewers are using Facebook more and more in their background checks nowadays) or have the IRS at their doorstep (the IRS is also using this to evaluate whether reported income matches their lifestyle).

His presentation also touches on the concept of weak friend connections versus strong ones, and that almost everyone in life is influenced by a maximum of 150 strong connections and thus the rest, no matter how influential they appear on Facebook, are still weak connections when it comes to being truly influential in a person’s life. He also showed an analysis of how these strong connections actually communicate, and ironically they mirror very closely the social communication interactions of those 18-30 years old, helping to debunk the myth that somehow the youth of today are out of sync and disconnected from the real world compared to their more traditional, older counterparts (Gen X and Boomers).

What his presentation and the subsequent articles and blog postings showed was that we are indeed in the infancy of social media technology and how it influences our daily lives. Social media has a ways to go as it expands and truly mirrors our real world interactions and how we’re influenced in what we buy, what news we choose to read, etc. Thus, THE area of unbounded opportunity is in the social media world that expands beyond the concept of friends and begins to touch on the infinite number of Peer Groups that exist today. Peer groups can range from a “big wave surfer club” to an LGBT business association, with each having its own unique set of members, interests and topics from which they would discuss and share amongst themselves. These peer groups exploded in terms of their ability to communicate over the past 17 years with the advent of the Internet in 1994, and yet these peer groups were limited to website technology available at the time, including message forums, discussion groups, e-mail lists and more. With social media, these peer groups were all able to have a Facebook fan page, a Twitter account, a LinkedIn group and more, and yet how do these groups all merge and function as a more seamless environment directly from the place that most users would tend to start with first, the peer group’s website. Yes, there are wonderful widget integrations of Facebook and Twitter that can be placed on these pages today, but where does the future truly lie with peer groups in the social media world.

When you stop and think about it, again the opportunities are infinite. What we’re seeing today are the first peer group community-based websites doing just this. They are going beyond the concept of FriendFeed.com, which is a website recently bought by Facebook that brings together all of your social media activities across the Internet into one, concise news feed summary and shares them with your other friends using FriendFeed.com as well. Thus, your blog postings, your YouTube videos, your Flickr photos and more can all be shared with FRIENDS, but they do nothing for your peer groups you may be a part of.

Websites in the LGBT space such as Fab.com and GayCities.com are the first entrants in this, using an integration with Facebook and FourSquare in order to share a person’s events and place check-ins with fellow gay people, not just their friends. Thus, if you are a business and you post an event on Facebook of which a Fab.com or GayCities.com user is attending, that event will now be shared not just with their Facebook friends but now also with all other gay people using Fab.com or GayCities.com as well. If a gay person checks in at your bar, restaurant, club, hotel or store (using mobile Smartphone technology), and has opted to share these check-ins on Fab.com or GayCities.com, your establishment is promoted far and wide, beyond just a person’s friend network (weak or strong connections) and into the world of peer group interactions. Peer group interactions have the ability to be even stronger in their ability to “get the word out” about an event or your business, in that the number of people interested in what other gay people are doing in their part of the world is quite large, so even though the message has been delivered from someone they may or may not know, the fact that they share the same peer group interests weighs in to influence at least some of them and again, expands your business’s exposure in the online social media world.

In the business-to-business world, social media and peer groups probably have their best opportunity with technology and websites similar to Fab.com and GayCities.com. Integrating a business’s blog, video and photo postings into a website where others of similar interest are “networking” online helps to expand a company’s marketing outreach in ways that were unheard of just a year ago. Thus, organizations such as IGLTA.org and CaliforniaGayChamber.com have integrations with social media allowing the folks with Palm Springs Tourism, Swedish Tourism and Sonoma Tourism to all network and share using their social media activities in a fully automated and integrated fashion. Every time the social media marketer in Sonoma uploads a new blog posting, it doesn’t just get distributed to their fans on Facebook, their members on LinkedIn or their followers on Twitter. It now also has a more permanent home and a wider distribution on a website that is dedicated to LGBT tourism and travel for both consumers and businesses to discover as well. Sonoma isn’t doing these blog postings for fun… they are doing them to help spread the word about their destination to potential travelers, so the more peer group websites, both consumer and business, help them to achieve their marketing goals, the better Sonoma and other destinations will do in terms of maximizing their social media marketing outreach and the more emphasis they will place on this marketing discipline above all others.

This is what we here at Pink Banana Media see as the future of marketing and communications in 2011 and beyond. The opportunities for new peer group social media-integrated websites are endless, and the more users embrace and become comfortable with these technologies (600 million strong on Facebook and growing), the more effective a social media marketer’s job becomes. Merging real world social interactions (attending an event, eating at a restaurant, dancing at a club) with online social media is the wave of the future that is here with us now.

Story published in Echelon Magazine - February/March 2011
http://digital.turn-page.com/issue/24482/42

Jupiter Hotel Social Media Promo: Merging Real World and Online Social World

2011-01-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

We here at PinkBananaMedia.com believe the future of marketing in 2011 is the merging of the "real world" with the newly developed "online social world" we've all been personally building over the past few years. Many analogies have been made to social media marketing being "word of mouth" marketing, but it's so much more than that. It's not just what we say that helps spread the word and make a video, a photo or a really good article stand out amongst our friends... it's also in what we do, how we "tag, comment, like or share" that allows the best of the best in these categories to rise to the top and get the most visibility.

Utilizing the power of Photo Tagging, one solution we developed with our friends at Travelocity was the idea of shooting compelling photos at a sponsored event and encouraging folks to quickly and easily find their photos on Travelocity's Facebook fan page and tag themselves (see Tips & Tricks: Shooting Photos at Events at http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/pbmbizreport_july2009.pdf). Well, the folks at Jupiter Hotel in Portland, Oregon have taken that concept one step further, developing a social media marketing campaign around Jupiter Lily, a very stylish and well-dressed mannequin set up in their lobby for hotel guests to shoot photos with. Turning it into an online social media contest, hotel guests are encouraged to "take a photo with Jupiter Lily & post it on Facebook to be entered to win a free hotel stay."

The results have exceeded the Jupiter Hotel's expectations! Hundreds of photos have been posted, tagged and spread virally online, both on Facebook and on Twitter. Jupiter Lily has become both a myth and an icon in Portland, where the discussion at parties and dinner conversations revolves around "who is the real Jupiter Lily" and does she truly exist in person. So not only has the Jupiter Hotel succeeded in modern day social media marketing... they've also entered into the "old-school word of mouth" world that can make a marketing effort such as this become legend in the both the travel and local circles of Portland and beyond.

Links:

- www.jupiterhotel.com

- www.facebook.com/JupiterHotel

- www.twitter.com/JupiterPDX

LA LGBT Marketing Conference was a Huge Success

2010-12-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

Our LGBT Marketing Conference held at the Radisson Hotel Westside was an incredible success, thanks to the support of our key partners including OneGoodLove.com, Lesbian News, Frontiers Magazine and Echelon Magazine. In addition, we worked closely with local LGBT chambers of commerce in the area as well, including the Long Beach LBCBN, Palm Spring's Desert Business Association and the California Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Key presenters included not only Matt Skallerud (Pink Banana Media) and Tom Roth (Community Marketing) but also Rick Lugash of Next for Small Business discussing the good, the bad and the ugly of creating good copy, Jerime Black of Barefoot Winery reviewing their successes over the years in LGBT marketing and Frank Mastronuzzi of OneGoodLove.com talking about mastering search engine optimization.

Matt Skallerud presented some of the latest in social media marketing, including some new topics such as FourSquare and mobile phone technologies and how they are becoming more and more important in the world of online marketing overall. Tom Roth presented his insights in LGBT research, including some very recent statistics related to online media usage, as well as the key concept that there is no ONE gay market, but rather many multiple LGBT markets a company should be aware of when deciding how to strategically target their marketing message.

We had two unique panels as well, including one focused more on the state of LGBT media in 2011, headed up by Ella Mathes of Lesbian News, David Stern of Frontiers Magazine and Susan Goldberg of Logo. The second panel focused more on advertising and PR to the LGBT community and included Judy Scheer of YESDESIGNGROUP, Scott Barretto of Straight Out Media and Michael Goff of Towleroad.com.

Attendees ranged from the head of Krol Vodka to a team from the Jupiter Hotel in Portland, Oregon. We had many attendees from Nevada, including both the Las Vegas and Reno areas, including the Virginia City CVB. We also had several advertising agencies, as well as a team from the Queen Mary... all looking to continue to expand their base of knowledge and remain competitive in reaching the LGBT marketplace as we approach 2011.

Photos thanks to Vic Gerami of Frontiers Magazine

LINK: http://www.lgbtmarketingconference.com/

Social Media and the Importance of Old-Fashioned Story Telling

2010-12-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

A year ago, I was telling folks that sooner rather than later, there would be several thousand social media marketers out there and that this still wouldn’t be enough to service the needs of businesses large and small seeking to tap into social media marketing as an integral part of their company’s 21^st century marketing strategy. It’s safe to say I was right, but that was an easy one to predict. The same phenomenon happened in the mid-90s when every company realized at some point along the way that they needed a website, only to find thousands of web designers from which to choose from. Many call this era the “Internet’s Wild West,” where anyone who could put together some HTML code was able to charge anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, often for the same quality of website.

Where we’re at with social media marketers is being compared to that era quite often nowadays, and it comes back to me where friends and potential clients are asking me to describe in more detail how my approach is right and everyone else’s is not. I could take the easy way out and simply throw a few key social media marketing terms their way and call it a day, but I decide to take the more challenging path and explain in more detail how it’s quite possible most of these new social media marketers might be right. Now if someone promotes “Get 1,000 new Twitter followers in 30 days”, I tell my clients to run, don’t walk, to the nearest exit and find someone who “gets it!” But fortunately, most clients are bit more Internet savvy today than they were back in 1995 and they have a better sense of what’s right and what’s wrong when it comes to social media marketing. Thus the question posed to me… what makes my style right?

I explain that in the world of social media marketing, it’s all about the “story” you tell about your company’s product or service and that in reality, there is NO ONE RIGHT WAY to tell that story. If you think about it, this makes total sense… back in the early days of advertising, the “story” revolved around a single newspaper ad designed to convey both a tone and a message. Billboards and magazines soon followed suit, and the advertising medium of choice had to tell the story in one full-page picture, in the form of an ad. Thus, “advertorial” was much sought after but rarely given from a quality publication. Radio advertising extended that story to the 30-second audio format, and it worked wonders until television turned that audio story into a 30-second video and became the advertising medium of choice for most top marketers for the past 50 years. A good ad was simply a really good story, and some ads even took the story line a few steps further in the form of those famous Maxwell House commercials done in a weekly mini-series, or perhaps like Procter & Gamble owning daytime soap operas to tell the ultimate dramatic story with only their commercials woven in.

The Internet did take the media world by storm, by both democratizing a company’s access to tools for creating their story online and finding an audience willing to pay attention. Using anything from basic HTML to a high-end Flash website, an audience for a company’s message could be found using Google search or perhaps by buying a banner ad or e-mail campaign with a popular website or two. But in many ways, not much had truly changed… it was still the company (aka the advertiser) speaking directly TO their audience, broadcasting a message for their audience in some form of story or another. It wasn’t until blogs came on the scene a few years back where things really started to change, and thus set the stage for where we’re at today. Blogs allowed a message to be heard, sometimes by a few hundred and in some cases (HuffingtonPost.com and PerezHilton.com as two examples) by many thousands. But blogs offered something a traditional website did not… the blog offered a way for readers to talk back, and what was discovered was that the readers didn’t want to talk back to the original author as much as they wanted to SPEAK WITH the other blog readers. Thus, the first truly interactive online story was born!

Fast forward to today and the blog, in its original and simple format, is the top content tool used by companies large and small in getting the word out about their company’s product or service. The blog is the ultimate tool for storytelling, and going back to our premise that most social media marketers have probably gotten it right, there is NO ONE WAY of storytelling that is right while the others would somehow be wrong. One marketer could decide the best way for a company to tell their story is in the form of a “documentary,” laying out the facts cleanly and clearly in a series of blog postings that combined, form the basis of the company’s story. Another marketer could come up with a blogging strategy that has a “fictional thriller” set as its cornerstone, and it’s then up to the creativity of the writing team to make that story come to life.

Blogs are interactive, but social media technology makes them shine! Blogs have all of the advantages that traditional online content did not. Blogs can be commented on. Blogs can be easily shared. Blogs can be subscribed to. And most importantly, blogs can be automatically integrated into the world of social media today, providing full and rich content, in the form of a story line, to Facebook, Twitter, a LinkedIn Group, FriendFeed, Google Buzz and so much more. It’s the blog’s RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed which makes this possible, and is the same basic technology that allows content in the form of photos (from Flickr and Picasa) and video (from YouTube) to be commented on, shared, subscribed to and integrated in the very same way.

By being integrated in social media, the blog’s story can develop a life of its own. Every time a person reads the blog and shares it with his or her friends on Facebook, and comments on it, the story takes on a new life of its own, and enters into the world of “word of mouth” marketing that is dominating social media today. Also, every time a person shares or comments from Twitter on a blog entry that has been converted into a micro-blog (status update) with a direct link to the full blog, this story takes on a life of its own as search engines begin to notice that the blog is “trending” and might be more relevant in search results and thus appear in the “first 10 search results.”

So thus we’re back to the “story to tell.” Companies learning social media marketing will often ask “well, how should I speak in the world of social media such as Facebook and Twitter?” I reply that they should speak as they normally would if they were out networking and meeting potential clients, talking about their company’s product or service. They’ve all been so trained that company communications must fit the rigid rules of traditional PR that they are nervous about having to learn a new format that, at first blush, appears even more confusing than what the PR textbooks had taught. More and more, they are realizing that they’ve held the skills to communicate their company’s “story” all along, as most of them have been doing it since they started with the company they’re with now. As long as they all understand the company’s chosen “story to tell,” whether a documentary, a thriller, a mystery or a Western (ok, that’s a bit of exaggeration now), they can easily get behind it and support it through their company’s social media channels with great success.

Assigning someone as the “lead storyteller” or hiring an outside consultant or writer to do this for a company is the next logical step when looking at social media marketing as a company’s lead strategy for promotion. I predict the world of freelance writers and journalists will grow by leaps and bounds in this new social media world.

Going a step beyond the primary “story” in a company’s social media outreach, progressive companies understand the power of this new form of communication and actually allow their employees the freedom and latitude to express themselves on behalf of the company in this “wild, wild world of social media.” Some companies are answering customer service complaints publicly and in a 1^st person, normal human being tone of voice, not corporate “legalese.” Other companies are expanding beyond customer service and using social media tools to promote and market their companies, again in the 1^st person and told as if speaking from one person to another. Those companies which still hold on to a more traditional approach and make their “story” sound like it was cut and paste from their product catalog or an old-fashioned press release are the ones that find social media confounding and not a productive use of their company’s time. The simple reality is that people don’t want to be communicated to by PR speak, hearing about a “state of the art” product that is “robust” and “a paradigm-changer.” They want to hear what it’s like from a normal, human point of view, whether that is their friend or simply a message delivered by a company they trust. And thus, the power of storytelling, in all of its incarnations, will continue to expand and take a lead role in how we choose the products and services of the near future.

Article appears in the Dec 2010/Jan 2011 issue of Echelon Magazine
http://digital.turn-page.com/issue/20915

Google Text Ads - Both a Science and an Art Form

2010-09-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

Over the past year, our company has been focused very strongly in social media marketing, helping to both manage our clients' social marketing efforts, as well as doing a lot of education in the form of workshops, seminars and webinars, teaching clients how to do this type of marketing on their own. A lot of emphasis has been placed on "tying all of the social media pieces together", but one area that we've not spent a lot of time on has been performance-based ads with Google and Facebook. Until now.

By default, social media marketing will work to improve a company's search engine positioning on Google, Bing and Yahoo as well. These and other search engines are incorporating more and more social media in their search results, including Facebook pages, LinkedIn groups and blogs. In addition, these search engines are incorporating Twitter and Facebook status updates as well, selecting those status updates that are shared the most (commented on, liked, retweeted, etc.) and showing those status updates in more and more search results, known as “trends.”

Google Text Ads, using their AdWords online software, is a whole different matter. AdWords has become refined enough that they provide the science in a way that is unrivaled in search engine marketing today. We have found that the "trick" to making it all work to its best potential is an art form, of which we try to summarize as follows.

We start with a first set of key words you would want your site to be found with when an online user is entering in their search term query. We set the regional demographics of who the ad is shown to, as well as set the daily budget and maximum CPC at approximately $1.00 per click.
We watch the performance of this first set of key words and using Google’s AdWords software, add additional key words Google suggests that are related to this first set we selected.
We then analyze all of this after about 10 days of the campaign running, fine-tuning each individual key word based on how it’s performed (click-through ratio, impressions delivered, etc.), it’s position relative to competitive ads running, and it’s overall quality score as ranked by Google. Key words that are performing poorly are discontinued and the campaign’s final fine-tuning is done after about 2 weeks of analyzing this empirical data provided by Google, allowing each individual campaign to be optimized based on real-world performance.

Now this, as we have stated, is our "formula" for success, of which we are constantly modifying as new tools become available. Other SEO marketers will typically have their own formula, which may be a variation of the above, or a completely different set of tactics that has worked best for them. Which one is better or not can become a matter of debate, but for your needs, if some of the world of Google text-based ads is still a bit of a mystery to you, hopefully this information can help you to both better understand how this type of marketing works, as well as help you to improve your current or future text-based ad campaigns and make them and your business a success!

Social Media Marketing in 2010 – Making It All Come Together

2010-08-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

Integrating your blog, photos and videos into one complete social media infrastructure

As we enter into the 2nd half of 2010, social media seems to be taking on an even more pervasive and dominant slice of our attention span, and thus our lives, with Facebook leading the pack (500 million strong and counting) in where we now find out about news items first as well as our friend’s antics as displayed in photos and video. Status updates, limited to 140 characters on Twitter and 420 characters on Facebook, have become the norm for one of the top ways we stay up to date with what’s happening nowadays, and every news media and blogger around the world is now making sure their headlines are making their way into Twitter with direct (and measurable) links back to their content.

So how can your business play a role in this space? Is your company’s marketing efforts, as they stand now, even relevant in the world of social media or does they need a change when it comes to getting the word out in this fast-paced, ever-changing online world? The fact is that most businesses can adapt their marketing efforts to become more inclusive of social media, and many are doing so today. On a recent trip to the Sonoma wine country of California, I found that many wineries, large and small, were progressively bringing social media marketing completely in-house, hiring a full-time social media marketer to keep their products relevant and out there in the social media world. They’ve already moved past the first phase of trying it out themselves, as a part-time “labor of love”. They’ve also moved past the second phase of hiring someone to set their social media marketing infrastructure up and get them active in the world of Facebook, blogs and Twitter. Since social media marketing is one part strategy and setup and nine parts labor, they recognized early on that once they were set up and proving that social media marketing worked, they were ready to take this on full-time with an ROI they no longer needed to hope or assume would come.

The trick is in the initial strategy and setup. It’s important to realize that all social media marketing is designed to work together, not separate, so that if a blog is part of your company’s central strategy for putting out content that is relevant to your business, then that blog can be fully integrated into your Facebook fan page as well as automatically Twittered with direct links to your blog and thus your website. This same blog can also be integrated with social media aggregate sites such as FriendFeed.com or Google Buzz, and with these sites building up more and more users through their integration with Facebook and Twitter, you’ll be guaranteed an even wider audience finding your content and thus your business. Wherever they find you, all roads lead back to you through your primary touch points (Facebook fan page, Twitter profile, blog and website).

The same applies for your photos and videos… using Flickr.com for photos and YouTube.com for videos, your content can be fully automated to propagate out there to where your audience and potential customers are. By setting up a simple infrastructure to handle your written word (blog) and photos, you’ll have 90% of your social media implementation in place. That leaves just 10% to the time needed to make sure you’ve approved all of your contacts and friends, added a few status updates, as well as reposted a few articles (with your own commentary) you found relevant to your business that your audience would like to know about from you (setting you up as a “thought leader” in your field). Using a site such as Delicious.com makes integrating and spreading these articles fully automated as well, just like when using Flickr.com and YouTube.com.

And what’s on the horizon? Location-based social media integrating your web and smart phone experience are coming on strong. FourSquare.com and Gowalla.com are in the lead, but Google and Facebook want this market and are actively pursuing development in this area as well… it’s like Yelp or TripAdvisor on steroids, adding a more social element to businesses we frequent and allowing folks to keep it more positive with tips and advice rather than just reviews. Perfect for the worlds of local and destination marketing!

And keep an eye out for websites such as IGLTA.org, which are integrating social media for their membership, allowing in this case GLBT-friendly travel-related businesses to get the word out not only to their friends, but now to their peers and consumers interested in GLBT travel as well. This will be the next wave of social media integration, pushing beyond your friends and reaching out to your company’s target market, both on a consumer and business-to-business level, further maximizing your social media marketing efforts for years to come.

Article published in the latest Aug/Sept 2010 issue of Echelon Magazine

http://digital.turn-page.com/issue/14326

Social Media HOW-TO Guide

2010-07-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

Based upon our successful seminar and webinar series we've been presenting on Social Network and Web 2.0 Marketing over the past few years, we've developed this 17-part Social Network Marketing HOW-TO GUIDE, walking you through each step in promoting your company using social network marketing in a careful and very detailed format.

Building Your Web 2.0 Business Presence
Content Tools for your Web 2.0 Business Presence
How these basic social networking tools work together
Managing and promoting events in social networking
Facebook News Feed
Messaging and direct communication tools in social networks
Social network marketing and search
Facebook advertising - how to
Other social networks (automated ones including Plaxo and FriendFeed)
Other social networks (manual)
Putting Twitter To Use For Your Company
Other social networks useful for content
How to make your website's content maximized for social networking tools
Measuring Social Network Marketing ROI
Tips and Tricks
Twitter strategies
Mobile social network marketing (includes Facebook mobile as well as Google Buzz; Mobile only tools include Loopt.com and FourSquare.com).

Click Here For More Information

Gay Market Conference - New York - 2010

2010-05-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

Together with David Paisley and Tom Roth of Community Marketing, we put together our first full-day conference on marketing to the gay & lesbian community in 2010. With over 100 attendees, this first event appears to have been a success (we'll know more once we get those feedback surveys in!)... the tone was set from the very beginning with Jarrett Barrios, President of GLAAD (www.glaad.org), delivering the opening remarks, speaking passionately on LGBT representation in media and advertising today. One can get a sense of the passion from his now-famous quote "I'm not yelling... I'm Cuban!"

From that point forward, the conference moved into high gear, with presentations on the latest research findings done by Community Marketing and a case study presentation by Scott Seitz of SPI Marketing about Ru Paul's Drag Race. After also hearing presentations by Richard Oceguera of NGLCC-NY (www.NGLCC.org) and other local representatives from OutProfessionals, NYCLGBTCC and the NYC Center, lunch was then served with a luncheon keynote presentation by Patricia Evert of the Gill Foundation.

To make sure everyone stayed awake after lunch, I went on to do my presentation on social media marketing, with the intent and goal of keeping everyone engaged for a good 90 minutes of Facebook, Twitter and blogging advice.

Our two afternoon panels went quite well, with the Media Panel featuring Jessica McCarthy of Logo, Troy Masters of Gay City News, Nick Vivion of UnicornBooty.com, Jeremy Bellman of L7G and Serge Gojkovich of GayConsultants.com. This was a lively panel where we heard quite a wide array of presentations and Q & A regarding making outreach to gays & lesbians wherever they may be... online, in print, on television, on their cell phones, and promotionally through contests and sweepstakes. The liveliness of this panel was provided by everyone putting in their 2-cents, with Nick Vivion being quite animated on the exciting opportunities available online today, and Bellman and Gojkovich bouncing back and forth regarding various aspects of iPhone and SMS marketing available on cell phones today. They even got Masters to make quite the statement that "user generated content is all crap", at which point the panel and the audience jumped in together to present some decent counterpoints that kept everyone both informed and entertained!

Next we heard from Michael Hendrix of the Precise Agency, Scott Barretto of StraightOUT Media, Michael Murphy of Fleishman-Hillard/Out Front and Steve Deitsch of Reverberate. Moderated by the skillful David Kliman, these folks hashed out how they each went about advertising and promoting a local GLBT event to their respective communities.

Companies in attendance ranged from hotels to online communities, from local destinations to corporate representatives from Prudential, Wells Fargo, WNBA, KLM Airlines and much more.

After some entertaining wrap-up with "show and tell" video ads by Tom Roth and David Paisley, the event ended with a nice, open-bar reception hosted by the Netherlands Board of Tourism, celebrating Queens Day! The venue at the Westin in Times Square was perfect and the event went incredibly well... perhaps we'll just have to do a 2-day event in 2011!

LINKS:

LGBT Business Census: Make Your Voice Heard

2010-04-06T11:57:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of information about the LGBT and allied community as consumers, but the same cannot be said for business data. Be part of the first ever National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce LGBT Business and Enterprise Study now underway. The results from this survey will add significant weight to our quest for equality by outlining information that can be used to influence corporate decision makers and local, state and national elected officials. This historic survey will lead to the greatest gathering of LGBT related business data ever complied. The findings will be the key to continued growth, development and understanding of the LGBT business owners and managers and will help ensure decision makers at every level have a deeper and more accurate picture of who LGBT people are and the power we wield in the broader business community. Take the survey before it closes on April 15, 2010 and be entered to win a $500 Visa gift certificate. Stand up and be counted by taking the survey today!

Click here to take the survey:
- http://survey.communitymarketinginc.com/se.ashx?s=359D342B5CEF7D8E&S=4

Gay & Lesbian Marketing Conference, New York (NYC)

2010-04-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

Gay & Lesbian Marketing Conference
April 30, 2010 Westin Times Square, New York City

Community Marketing, Inc. and Pink Banana Media have announced a full-day educational and networking conference for business leaders interested in growing their LGBT market share. The Gay & Lesbian Marketing Conference follows successful regional programs held by the organizers throughout the country over the past several years. Participants from the New York City region, as well as across North America are invited to attend the conference.

"In a soft economic market, the gay and lesbian segment presents an especially valid and viable opportunity for growth,” said David Paisley, the event organizer. “The Gay & Lesbian Marketing Conference offers a comprehensive research, advertising, marketing, and communications forum that will help attendees reach a broad spectrum of LGBT consumers."

A One-Day Gay MBA: Whether you are a long-time LGBT market expert or new to the segment, you will attain valuable insights and approaches into the LGBT marketplace. Dedicated to marketing, advertising and PR executives and agencies serving all industries, who want to successfully reach gay and lesbian consumers, and initiate or update effective strategies.

Keynote Address: "The Business of Change"

A consistent theme of the conference will be how marketers must engage the LGBT community, not just advertise at it. To that end, a keynote address by Patricia Evert, VP of Donor Resources at the Gill Foundation, and Chad Boettcher, Senior VP of Social Innovation at Weber Shandwick, will discuss the business case for corporations to truly embrace and integrate with LGBT nonprofit communities as a valid marketing approach.

"Business of Change is about a collaborative dialogue toward LGBT equality," said Boettcher. "Given the rapidly changing dynamic between the social and private sectors, we hope to challenge both nonprofits and corporations to seize opportunities to empower their people to drive change. The Business of Change requires that we all take action and partner together. It is not just the right thing to do; it is the smart thing to do."

Advance registration is just $245, including all educational sessions, lunch and coffee breaks. Conference registration is now open online:
http://www.communitymarketinginc.com/mkt_png_nyc.php

About the organizers:

Community Marketing, Inc. has been successfully connecting our clients with diverse LGBT communities worldwide since 1992 through consumer market intelligence and strategic planning.
Pink Banana Media specializes in unique aspects of LGBT online marketing, matching a product or service to targeted online communities through geographic and demographic targeting.

Community Partners include:
- GLAAD
- NGLCC
- NGLCC-NY
- NYCLGBTCC
- Circle of Voices
- Instinct Magazine
- Echelon Magazine
- Gay City News

More information:
www.communitymarketinginc.com or email david@communitymarketinginc.com
tel 415-437-3800

*In December, 2009, the Gill Foundation and Weber Shandwick released “Business of Change,” a resource guide focused on corporate-nonprofit collaboration to promote equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. The 104-page guide is a first-of-its-kind collection of best practices with actionable and practical ideas to help nonprofits and corporations advance LGBT equality.

Social Media Marketing HOW-TO Guide

2010-03-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

Building Your Web 2.0 Business Presence
- Facebook fan page
- LinkedIn Group
- Twitter Profile
- Discuss the power of branding in the small square icon image
Content Tools for your Web 2.0 Business Presence
- Blog for the written word and integrated into Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
  - How to choose a blog software (Wordpress, Blogspot or Tumblr)
  - What to blog about - story to tell for your business
  - Examples for destination marketing
  - Commenting, labels and tags
- Status Updates and Twitter
  - Discuss hash tags, @ symbols, etc.
- Photos added to Flickr and integrated into Facebook, Twitter and blog
- Video added to YouTube and integrated into Facebook
How these basic social networking tools work together
- Describe how the blog integrates with Facebook and Twitter
- Linking Facebook fan page to Twitter
- These social media sites (touch points) need an audience
- Measuring this audience using Bit.ly
Managing and promoting events in social networking
Facebook News Feed
- Facebook's news feed and the viral nature of reaching "friends of friends"
- The basic posting of a link
- Photos and events most viral components of Facebook news feed
- Tricks for getting people to tag themselves in photos
- Discuss viral nature of likes, comments and shares
  - Discuss managing comments as customer relationship management
Messaging and direct communication tools in social networks
Social network marketing and search
- How is Facebook content searched
- Every element should link back to each other
- How is Twitter content searched (trends, OneRiot.com, Google's new search)
- Social network marketing and search engine optimization (SEO)
Facebook advertising - how to
Other social networks (automated ones including Plaxo and FriendFeed)
- How to connect social media content in these sites
- Tricks for adding connections/fans/followers
- Using sites such as retaggr.com and unhub.com
Other social networks (manual)
- Discuss how each niche community has a few key social networks worth looking at, i.e., Yelp.com, TripAdvisor.com, Ning.com sites, TripWolf.com, etc.
Putting Twitter To Use For Your Company
- 3rd party programs and how they can help maximize Twitter marketing effectiveness
  - TweetDeck
  - Seesmic
  - HootSuite
- The power of the ReTweet
  - Why should you ReTweet other Twitter postings?
  - Why should your goal to be to have your Twitter postings ReTweeted?
Other social networks useful for content
- Digg - great tool for expanding the reach of articles written by your organization
- Delicious - bookmark articles relevant to your industry. Great tool to use as a "thought leader" in your field; also has RSS feed for integration into other sites and to set up to Twitter automatically.
- Google Reader - handy tool to highlight key articles you may like as well, similar in scope to Delicious
How to make your website's content maximized for social networking tools
- Code for thumbnail image preferences and RSS feed automation
- Various methods of adding share buttons to a site
- Making it quick and easy to find and join your various social networking sites
Measuring Social Network Marketing ROI
- Facebook Insights
- Twitter's companion site, bit.ly
Tips and Tricks
- Using Ping.fm for status updates
- Using Posterous.com for larger content updates
- Including custom HTML in your Facebook fan page
- Commenting on blog postings, Facebook postings and LinkedIn discussions related to your industry
Twitter strategies
Mobile social network marketing (includes Facebook mobile as well as Google Buzz; Mobile only tools include Loopt.com and FourSquare.com).

http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/education.cfm

Which Are The Most Gay-Friendly Companies in the World in 2010

2010-03-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

The IGLCC invites corporations to be part of the second edition of the International Business Equality Index

The International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC) is proud to invite all major international corporations to participate in the 2010 edition of the International Business Equality Index survey that will measure how they are performing internationally in issues related to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. The International Business Equality Index (Index) is designed to help corporations understand how they are performing in this area relative to other companies, in specific countries around the world. It is the only diversity index that measures performance in multiple countries; and in most countries it is the only diversity index available.

http://www.iglcc.org/newsletter/press-release-20100315.html

Advertise on the Top Gay iPhone app - Grindr

2010-02-16T14:24:00.000-08:00

Do you want to reach gay men on one of the hottest new media platforms of 2010
the iPhone app!?
We have teamed up with the #1 iPhone app reaching gay men today... Grindr!

With a reach of over 500,000 gay men worldwide (150,000 members visiting daily) and growing, Grindr has become not only the hottest new buzzword among gay men across the globe, it is also the top iPhone app in use by this desirable demographic. Set your company apart from the rest and let them see your brand associated with some of the most cutting-edge technology today!

Grindr has several advertising options as outlined below.

Banner ads - We are able to offer you banner advertising on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis of $0.25. We can link this banner ad to a website of your choice, an iPhone app, iTunes store URL, etc. To get started, we would work with you to set both a daily and a monthly budget. From this budget, we would monitor and serve your banner ads, providing you an up-to-date report as to how your ad is performing.
Broadcast messages - Grindr can target our members geographically with a broadcast message of your choice, allowing our members to tap "More" and be sent directly to the website of your choice. If you have a website URL that is specifically designed for mobile users, your ad's performance will be that much better! The rates for this broadcast message vary based on the region you wish to target.
Profile ads - In addition, we offer Profile Ads. Whether you're a local bar, restaurant or other business serving the gay community, we can work with you to create a customized business profile of your business on Grindr and have your Profile Ad appear with other member profiles in your area.

E-Mail Capture
Perfect for Travel & Destination Marketing
(We capture e-mails for you;
Cost is on a per-email basis only)

Local Broadcast Message
Reaching Thousands at One Time!
Perfect for beer, wine and spirits advertising

For more information or for a proposal, e-mail us at www.pinkbananamedia.com/contact.cfm.

Pink Banana Media Updates for January 2010

2010-01-19T12:50:00.001-08:00


:: Happy New Year - Updated Branding & Company Direction ::
We wanted to take this time to wish you all success and prosperity in 2010! I think it's safe to say that most of us feel the positive excitement in the air as we enter this new decade with hope and faith that our directions for business and personal growth will know no boundaries! That said, we are excited to announce a new company launch for 2010 - SKAL Media. SKAL Media is a culmination of all we've been developing and striving for over the past few years, and brings all of our social media marketing efforts to a focus. A lot of what we've been doing for clients has been in the form of education and training in social media marketing, ranging from webinars and seminars to consulting for clients for 30-60 day periods to help them develop their social media marketing strategy to include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and more. We're now formalizing these efforts in the form of full-day workshops designed to both educate and provide hands-on training to those individuals wishing to take social media marketing to the next level! For more information on this, go to http://www.SKALMedia.com/training-basic.cfm In addition, we've formalized a 2nd new product, our Social Media Analysis, Review & Consultation... a kind of comprehensive AUDIT to help you evaluate your company's standing in the social network marketing environment. Whether your company is just starting out in social media or is already well on its way, we can perform an in-depth analysis of how your current or future strategy fits in with your overall online marketing needs and strategy, including search engine optimization (SEO) and more. For more information on this, go to http://www.SKALMedia.com/consultation.cfm So when you have a chance, take a look at our new website... we'll be keeping you informed and up-to-date through this newsletter as to what we're up to and some of our new advances in social media marketing in 2010. www.SKALMedia.com
WEBINAR: Social Network and Web 2.0 Marketing to the GLBT Community
:: Part 1 - February 10, 2010 \|\| Part 2- February 24, 2009 ::
This is a two-part webinar series, presenting Social Network and Web 2.0 marketing and how to utilize these tools to reach the GLBT community online. NOTE: Each webinar begins at 11 am, PST, and lasts for approximately 45 minutes.We will be walking you through step-by-step on both how this works and how you can make it work for you. We will be showing you some of the current trends in making outreach to consumers using thelatest Web 2.0 tools including FaceBook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube, Flickr and more. Find out how and why other companies are utilizing these technologies to get the word out to consumers online, and learn more about some of the unique opportunities in the GLBT Web 2.0 space in targeting gays & lesbians online. Part 1 will focus on the basics and how to get started in Facebook. Part 2 will focus on more advanced topics, working with social networking sites outside of Facebook and tying all of those efforts together so that you do just a little work and get maximum exposure and effect! A lot of emphasis will be placed on the use of photos, blogs and Twitter and how these tools work well with LinkedIn, Facebook and other social networking sites. Webinar Information Here

Oct/Nov 2009 Gay Business Report

2009-10-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

In This Issue

Spotlight on Destination Marketing
Utilizing Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Photos and Video to Market a Destination to both Gay & Lesbian Travelers and Locals as well
The formula commonly in use today incorporates a Facebook fan page, a blog, a Twitter account, a Flickr account, and occassionally a YouTube channel... all dedicated exclusively to featuring the best of a local destination....

Other Highlights

Updates on our Social Network Marketing Webinars
What Are Other Destinations Doing in Social Media
HOW TO: Use Twitter Hashtags for Business
Proud Out coverboy or dangerous stereotype?: Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Brüno” gives LGBT media much to report and ponder
“CBS News on Logo” is LGBT media’s latest economic casualty
A Bear’s Life Gold Card Program
Appreciate Marketing: Sendout Cards
Paranormal Activity - A Film & Social Network Marketing

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Social Network Marketing for Hotels, Resorts and Guest Houses

2009-10-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

At times, I like writing my replies to clients in this blog as well... it provides me, as well as you, the reader, with a contemporary snapshot of what our company sees as the best overall strategy and formula for social network marketing at this moment in time. In 6 months from now, perhaps this strategy will change a bit, but overall, we believe this strategy does better than the old 80/20 rule of reaching 80% of your audience with a minimum of effort... we believe it's getting closer to 90/10 now!

Hi Marti,

I reviewed your website at http://www.xxx.com and I believe that for your cottage, what you would want to do is:

Create a Facebook fan page
Create a Twitter account
Link these two up at www.facebook.com/twitter
Set up a blog and link this to the Facebook page using their “Notes” section and to Twitter using either TwitterFeed.com or HootSuite.com
Next, come up with unique content for your blog, written in first person, that keeps your content and your property’s “story” alive and well in the social networking world you’ve set up. Include any new seasonal promotions, specials, etc., as well as fun and unique stories related to life at your accommodation, the neighborhood, and the interesting guests you’ve had stay with you.
Set up a photo account on Flickr.com and begin uploading some photos there and on your Facebook fan page about your property. When you have guests, upload those photos and identify the guests on Flickr, as well as ask them to stop by your Facebook fan page and leave a positive testimonial and tag themselves in the Facebook photos.
Unique to hotels of all sizes, be sure to have a TripAdvisor.com profile and monitor the reviews. Ask your folks to leave reviews there as well. For the GLBT audience, there is also GayCities.com, OutAdvisor.com and PinkChoice.com for GLBT accommodation reviews.

I believe that with this formula, you’ll be hitting 90% of your potential audience with a minimum of effort, and that this effort will soon become your top marketing activity and your #1 source of new bookings. This formula/strategy will also significantly improve your website’s positioning in Google and Bing and will become a cornerstone in your search engine optimization (SEO) as well.

Attached is our rate card with more detailed information… please let me know if this might be of interest for you to pursue.

Thanks,
Matt Skallerud

September 2009 Gay Business Report

2009-09-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

How Do I Get My Web 2.0 and Social Networking World All Working Together in Synchronized Harmony?
Finding the most efficient ways of using photos, blogs and videos to promote your company on the Internet, far and wide!

...from our July 2009 Gay Business Report, we went into great detail as to how and why to use Twitter, and over the past two months, even more has evolved on this topic that provides even greater relevancy to using Twitter in our business lives. But Twitter is still only part of the story, as it is both one of our primary TOOLS?for managing our online content and one of our primary TOUCH POINTS?for communicating our content’s message to a wide and relevant audience worldwide...

Other Highlights

Updates on our Social Network Marketing Webinars
How To: Manage Social Media Goals and Expections
Interview with Scott Monty, Global Digital
Communications Manager at Ford
13 Steps That Transformed One Company From
Invisible King to Sought Leader
9 Rules of Facebook Promotion Every Small
Business Should Know
New Study Shows How Different Generations Use
Facebook
Ooh la la NLGJA: National Lesbian and Gay
Journalists Association focusing on new media,
economic pressures and professional development
at Montreal convention this month

Direct Link to September 2009 Gay Business Report:
http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/pbmbizreport_sep2009.pdf

How Do I Get My Web 2.0 and Social Networking World All Working Together in Synchronized Harmony?

2009-08-31T15:51:00.000-07:00

Finding the most efficient ways of using photos, blogs and videos to promote your company on the Internet, far and wide!

It’s interesting, but as we enter into the latter half of 2009, we can look back less than a year and see how when it comes to social network marketing, we’re living history as we speak. There was a day when only a small handful of early adopters even knew what Twitter was. Now, it’s become part of our daily dialogue (can you say “Tweet”), the way “Google” has turned into “Googling” and become a verb.

From our July 2009 Gay Business Report, we went into great detail as to how and why to use Twitter, and over the past two months, even more has evolved on this topic that provides even greater relevancy to using Twitter in our business lives. But Twitter is still only part of the story, as it is both one of our primary TOOLS for managing our online content and one of our primary TOUCH POINTS for communicating our content’s message to a wide and relevant audience worldwide.

Our company’s main focus with clients is to break up the social networking world into two main components, the TOOLS used in social networking (photos, videos, blogs and micro-blogs) and the TOUCH POINTS used to broadcast the photo/video/blog message to as wide an audience as possible. There is a lot of gray area in this concept, as the tools used in placing photos, videos and blogs online are also some of the best touch points to use when broadcasting that message and communicating with as wide an audience as possible. When placing photos online, Flickr.com serves as both an excellent site to post, manage and maintain a user’s photo albums, as well as serves as one of the best sites to share photos with other Flickr.com users using some of their social networking features they’ve built into their site. Lastly, Flickr.com is also one of the best sites to use when virally spreading those photos far and wide online, as their RSS and XML?features, as well as their integration with Twitter.com, blogs and other sites.

It is this concept, using sites such as Flickr.com for photos, YouTube.com for videos, Blogger or Wordpress for blogs and Twitter.com for micro-blogs (also known as status updates) that should form the cornerstone of every social network marketing plan in place today. This content is then integrated with your social networking sites including Facebook, FriendFeed, LinkedIn and Twitter (yes, Twitter... thus the gray area of Twitter being both a tool and a touch point), and the more automated this integration is for you, the easier your life is and the more efficient your social network marketing strategy becomes.

For example, let’s say you have some photos you’ve taken of a business reception or mixer you attended, and you plan on using a few of those photos for your blog posting as well. Here’s what to do.

1. Upload the photos to Flickr.com and specify that they are part of a SET all their own (in Flickr.com, a set is synonymous with a photo album). You can upload the photos directly online at Flickr.com or use their handy photo uploading software, which makes your photo uploading work even quicker and easier.

2. When using the Flickr uploading tool, you can both create a description for the Photo Set as well as for each individual photo. If you have all of the photos selected (using CTRL-A or your Control Key to select multipe individual photos at once), you can also specify a generic description for each photo as well. Make these descriptions work for you by being exact about what event the photos were taken, along with the website addresses of the organizations you wish to promote. If you’re just an attendee, be sure to add “Photos Taken By: xxx” and enter both your company name and your website address. Do the same for the general photo set description, and now when someone clicks on any of your photos, they will be just one click away from where you want them to be... either your website, a specific page on your website, your client’s website, etc. Your Flickr.com profile will also have your website information on it as well, but since the user has to actually find your profile link, click on it, etc., you’ve now maximized your photo’s performance by placing all of that information and more directly in each individual photo’s description.

3. Place a few of these photos into one or more relevant Flickr.com groups. If the photos are related to gay travel, then make sure you’re a part of a few gay travel Flickr.com groups (some groups have thousands of members). This creates just another way for your photos to be seent.

4. Using the integration feature of Flickr.com to Twitter.com, you can select a few key photos and click on “Share”. Scrolling down to their BLOG selection under Share will allow you one-click access to then sharing your photo using Twitter as well. Use some good key words to describe your photo as you send it out into the “Twittersphere” as you want as many people to find and click on the photo as possible. Your photo will have a new link using http://flic.kr and this link will display your photo, the descriptive text you entered along with hyperlinks, thumbnails of additional photos in this photo set, direct links to your other photos and to your profile, etc. All of these can then allow a user to discover more and more about you, your company and some of the various activities you and your company are doing. You are both informing and entertaining your viewers, with the hope of further engaging them andconverting some of them into potential clients.

The rest is easy... you would then write your blog, use some of your photos in the blog posting, and link to this Flickr.com photo set directly from your blog. You would also make sure to upload these photos into a new album you’ve created, but from your Facebook Fan/Business page. Placing these photos onto your business page and not your personal page means that every online Facebook viewer who checks out one of your photos is exposed to your business, not just you as an individual. Of course, since you’ll probably be in a few of the photos, they will be linked from your personal profile since you’ll be tagging yourself in these photos as well and they will be featured in your profile’s news feed.

And yet, we’re not stopping here... your blog is hopefully already integrated into Facebook Fan page using the NOTES feature of Facebook, whereby you can automatically have your blog postings appear in your Facebook Fan page with no extra work on your part. Thus, after posting your blog and waiting a few hours (these integrations aren’t always instantaneous), you can check out your Facebook Fan page and find that your members have already commented and shared this posting with their friends as well.

A lot of time was not spent on these last concepts, as most people seem to be more and more comfortable with how Facebook and blogs work nowadays. We’ve written extensively on them in previous Gay Business Reports as well. Our main focus now is to do a more in-depth analysis of the way these components work together, especially using some of the newest tools at our fingertips such as Twitter.

On that note, let’s continue the thought process from above. Your blog posting is now on Facebook, but it hasn’t made its way automatically to Twitter. That is where TwitterFeed.com comes in. Using TwitterFeed.com (or other programs out there including HootSuite.com), you can automatically have your blog postings converted into a Twitter, along with a shortened URL, and posted to your account automatically. By also having a Bit.ly account (http://www.bit.ly), you can also make it so that you have more detailed analysis of how many click-throughs you receive, as well as how many click-throughs your blog posting has received from others ReTweeting it as well. You’d be fascinated to learn that some articles and blog postings are now receiving between 100 and 1,000 click-throughs on a normal run, and others related to hotter topics receiving upwards of 10,000 click-throughs and more. Thus, Twitter is a force to be reckoned with... do we really want to ignore such click-throughs driving RELEVANT?traffic (aka potential clients) to our website?

Further continuing along the thought process from above, let’s go back to Facebook but keep thinking about Twitter. You’re on your Facebook Fan page and you want to communicate with your members and other viewers of your fan page. Just a week ago, Facebook enabled your Facebook Fan page to integrate with your Twitter account so that when you post a business-oriented status update in your fan page, it can automatically appear as a Twitter as well. This is powerful, in that it allows you to post once on Facebook and have it appear on Twitter as well. We’ve argued in the past that to post your Twitters automatically into Facebook is not the right way to go, and we stand behind this still. Twitter conversations are developing a life of their own, with retweets, Twitter replies, shortened URLs and more, and these conversations are no longer in the form of status updates to be shared on Facebook as well. Especially in your personal profile. But to share a business posting FROM Facebook TO Twitter is relevant, in that you are starting a conversation from Facebook and allowing it to have a life in both places now. On Facebook, the conversation takes the form of comments which stay on Facebook and appear below your original status update. On Twitter, they take the form of replies using the @ symbol and ReTweets using the RT sign, with perhaps a few # signs thrown in by other users to improve their search relevance. All more indications that your Twitters now have a life of their separate from status updates in Facebook.

Of course, these same rules starting with Flickr.com above apply equally well to videos on YouTube.com as well. You’ll typically have less views on a video than you would on a photo, but the views you do receive are considerably more engaged in you, your product and your service. Using sites such as 12Seconds.TV, your video can quickly and easily be integrated on Twitter as well.

Stay tuned for our next posting in the upcoming Gay Business Report where we apply everything we’ve just discussed here in this article and take this process further, setting you up as a potential “Thought Leader” in your specific field.

Direct Link to September 2009 Gay Business Report:
http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/pbmbizreport_sep2009.pdf

How the Social Networks Can All Work Together

2009-08-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

We are working on an article for the September 2009 Gay Business Report that ties in nicely with Part 2 of our upcoming webinar we are doing on September 2nd, focusing on some of the more advanced trends and techniques in social network marketing as we enter the latter half of 2009.

The focus of this article, and what we touch on in our webinar and offer as a service to our clients, is all about setting a social network marketing strategy that includes and brings together the various social network marketing activities a person or company is doing, into one cohesive marketing plan and execution.

Part 1 of our discussions is always easy... it focuses on Facebook, as Facebook is a great place for most of us to start... to cut our teeth, so to speak, on how social network marketing works. And for many of us, Facebook can be the beginning and the end of our social network marketing strategy, as it provides us a platform from which to speak our mind (status updates), share links of our own blog postings and articles we like, share and tag photos and videos, and most importantly, provides us with a strong and lively audience paying attention to what it is we have to say.

From this Facebook page, all social network marketing techniques and habits can be taught and learned, and it's no secret that the majority of businesses large and small are in the process of figuring this out now.

But what about the world outside of Facebook, starting with Twitter? The #1 thing many of us in social network marketing hear nowadays is "why Twitter?" or "I don't understand Twitter", or better yet "I don't give two hoots about Twitter!" Which is all fine and good. But if you're in business... any business... your competitors probably do understand Twitter and do give two hoots about putting it to work for them.

A lot has been written about Twitter, and we've summarized our thoughts on the subject in the blog posting found here. The real question isn't "why Twitter" anymore, but rather, how do we get our Twitters, our Flickr photos, our YouTube videos, our blog postings, our bookmark sharing, our Google Reader article shares and more all working in sync with each other, and in a more fully automated fashion, broadcasting their message to our various audiences found on Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, FriendFeed and more.

Thus, when you post a new blog entry or upload a new photo onto not just Facebook, but also Flickr, how do you get those blog entries and those photos out there working for you, automatically. When you read an article related to your business, product or service, how do you share this article with your peers and set yourself up as a thought leader on one or more particular subjects. And lastly, why is it wrong if your business simply synchronizes your Twitters to your Facebook status updates, not realizing that the conversations being had on Twitter are becoming completely separate from the status updates you're posting on Facebook.

More importantly, once you've got this system in place and working smoothly, how do you spend the least amount of hours possible in this new marketing initiative and yet get the most marketing output, in the form of web traffic, leads and sales, out of this strategy? That is the key... to first get all of these social network marketing activities working together, ensuring there is an audience out there paying attention, and then automating this in a way that allows you to carry on and conduct business, as well as follow up on all of the new business this marketing strategy has opened up for your company.

So watch for this upcoming article, and if this is of interest to you, please do attend Part 2 of our upcoming webinar and/or request from us a proposal for putting together a unique social network marketing strategy that is right for your business.

LGBT Marketing Symposia Coming to NYC & Philadelphia

2009-08-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia on 28 September • New York City on 29 September

Community Marketing, Inc. and Pink Banana Media have announced half-day educational and networking symposia for business leaders interested in growing their LGBT market share. The California Gay & Lesbian Market Symposia follow successful programs held in New York City (2007) and Chicago (2008) and Los Angeles and San Francisco in Spring 2009. Participants from across the region, as well as throughout North America are invited to attend the Symposia.

Philadelphia, Monday, Sept. 28, 9:00am to 12:30pm at the Hub Meeting & Event Center
New York City, Tuesday Sept. 29, 9:00am to 12:30pm at the NYC Conference Center

"In a soft economic market, the gay and lesbian segment presents an especially valid and viable opportunity for growth,” said David Paisley, the event organizer. “The Gay & Lesbian Market Symposium offers a comprehensive research, advertising, marketing, and communications forum that will help attendees reach a broad spectrum of LGBT consumers."

Audience: Whether you are a long-time LGBT market expert or new to the segment, you will attain valuable insights and approaches into the LGBT marketplace. Dedicated to marketing, advertising and PR executives and agencies serving all industries, who want to successfully reach East Coast, national and international gay/lesbian consumers, and initiate or update effective strategies.

Dedicated: Symposium attendance is limited in order to facilitate the best learning and networking environment. Gain practical take-aways and new approaches from the CMI and Pink Banana teams, and our strategic partners.

Please review the preliminary agenda to see the session's program and topics of discussion.

Advance registration is just $45, including all educational sessions and coffee breaks.

Symposium registration is now open:
www.communitymarketinginc.com/mkt_int_glms.php

About the organizers:
Community Marketing, Inc. has been successfully connecting our clients with diverse gay and lesbian communities worldwide since 1992 through consumer market intelligence and strategic planning.

Pink Banana Media specializes in unique aspects of LGBT online marketing, matching a product or service to targeted online communities through geographic and demographic targeting.

Community Partners in the Symposia Series include:

More information:
www.communitymarketinginc.com or email tom@communitymarketinginc.com
tel 415-437-3800

Research on gay and lesbian consumers:
http://www.communitymarketinginc.com/mkt_int_gld.php

Announcing our new Social Network Marketing and Web 2.0 Tutorials Course

2009-08-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

A Complete Social Network Marketing Plan & Strategy for only $450
Learn to master the world of Social Networking and unlock this marketing potential for your business!

Based upon our successful seminar and webinar series we've been presenting on Social Network and Web 2.0 Marketing over the past few years, we've developed this 5-part Social Network Marketing Tutorials Course series, walking you through each step in promoting your company using social network marketing in a careful and very detailed format.

Level 1: Setting Up Your Accounts (Your Content Tools and First Touch Points)

Laying the groundwork: your social network identity
Deciding which path to take and which strategy to follow - should you blog?
Setting up a blog (Google's BlogSpot.com, Wordpress.com and Tumblr.com, just to name a few options)
set up a Flickr or Picasa photo account (multimedia sharing)
set up Twitter account and start by going through the followers list of people you know... you'll find others you know to get this all started.
set up Facebook business/fan page

Level 2: Integration

Are you on Plaxo? LinkedIn?
Use Twitterfeed to integrate your blog to Twitter
Integrate blog into Facebook, Plaxo and your Linkedin group
Do you use Retaggr.com and/or Unhub.com? Friendfeed.com?
Why use Ping.fm - Twitter is not just status updates
Discussion on posting links on Facebook, Delicious.com, Digg.com and Google Reader. It's important to highlight other stories that are relevant in theme to your business, i.e., positioning you to become a leader in directing your followers to content that is specific to your industry. Avoid just grabbing hot headlines and sharing on these sites and on Facebook.

Level 3: Case Study Examples
Several step-by-step examples of how the accounts set up above can now work for you

Blog example
- Showing advanced places for manual integration including LinkedIn groups, Ning.com, etc.
- Are you a bar or restaurant? Do you work with Yelp.com?
- Are you a hotel? Do you work with TripAdvisor.com?
Blog and Photo example
- Utilizing Tweetphoto and Twitpic examples

Level 4: Twitter Strategies

Discussions on Tweetdeck.com and Seesmic.com, showing how they integrate with Twitpic and Bit.ly
Discussions on Tweetphoto.com and how to integrate photos to Twitter
Discussions on Power Twitter programs such as Hootsuite and more.
Discussions on ReTweeting, Tweet Replies, etc.
(like Delicious and Digg, it's important to ReTweet those items that are specifically relevant to your business. Many novice Tweeters are ReTweeting things that are way to general, i.e., gay news headlines for a gay hotel or general gay travel headlines for a very specific niche travel company)
Discussion on Tweetmeme.com and OneRiot.com

Level 5: Advanced Strategies
Facebook advertising; online video; strategies for adding connections and widening your net

Facebook advertising
Following steps above and including Online Video using Youtube and Facebook
Online video marketing examples
Discussion on how video integrates with Twitter
Discussion on how Twitter connections can be used for Friendfeed.com, Linkedin for TripIt.com, etc.
Should you do your own Ning.com site?

http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/education.cfm

IGLCC Conference and OutGames 2009 in Copenhagen

2009-07-30T04:38:00.001-07:00

I write this as I sit in the airport's SAS lounge, one of the finest lounges I think I've ever seen, on my way home from a whirlwind trip to Copenhagen to attend the IGLCC Conference here, held in conjunction with the Human Right Conference being held by the World OutGames 2009 here in this city.

A word needs to be said about Copenhagen... it's a wonderful city and I wish I could have spent more time here. Staying in a hotel in the old city center area, I felt the entire city was at my fingertips for exploring, with some of the coolest and hippest restaurants spread throughout within small, medieval streets and open, picturesque canals.

Despite some negative press related to the OutGames in terms of two hate-crimes being committed, the overall feeling here is definitely one of acceptance and tolerance, along with a slightly edgy feel when one stays out past midnight meeting some of the locals at the gay bars spread throughout the old part of the city. And can these Danes party! At 4 am, they are still going strong, and during the warmer summer months when the sun can rise before 4 am, it can be quite a scene as one leaves a club in the wee hours of the early morning with full sun and crazy revelers roaming the streets.

On the business side of life, the conference overall was a success. It was a bit tough at times, in that our business group was mixed with a wide variety of conference attendees who had come for the various educational/workshop tracks including a variety of GLBT human rights topics. But we all decided to make the best of it, and this mix allowed us to meet folks we normally wouldn't have met under a purely business setting.

The week began with an opening reception at City Hall, where everyone had a chance to reconnect after not seeing each other for perhaps over a year or so. The reception was also mixed, so we mingled among some new faces from the very beginning. After connecting, a few of us headed out to the local nightlife, which seemed to be primarily focused on Oscar's, a trendy gay corner bar that had hundreds of guys spilling out on the street outside of the bar every night of the week. Oscar's became the de facto meeting point for everyone to start in their after-hours revelry, and night after night we ran into old faces, along with a few new.

On Tuesday, many of us attended the IGLTA Reception held at the Hotel 27, a really cool hotel just one block from Oscar's in the center of the old city. By the time Wednesday came around, we were all enjoying the final night's reception hosted by the CGLCC (Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce - www.copenhagen-gay-life.dk) and IGLCC (www.iglcc.org) at Goldsmith Mads Heindorf (www.madsheindorf.dk).

The conference workshops, by the way, were quite varied... I moderated a marketing panel with Ian Johnson of Out Now Consulting (outnowconsulting.com), Tom Roth of Community Marketing (www.communitymarketinginc.com) and Andreas Citak of IBM, which went quite well. I also attended a workshop held right after ours, focused on some of the new social features being developed into the ILGA website (www.ilga.org), which sounded very exciting.

So overall it made for a great but short trip to Copenhagen. It seems from here everyone is either on their way to Stockholm for Stockholm Pride this upcoming weekend, or Amsterdam for their over-the-top Gay Pride festival coming up this same weekend. I wish I could go, but alas eventually we all have to return home at some point!

Below are some links to photos from this trip. Enjoy!

Matt

Additional Links:

http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/content/tourist/gay_copenhagen

http://www.flysas.com/gay

Photo Links:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattskal/sets/72157621766180911/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattskal/sets/72157621880603696/

Social Networking Guru Matt Skallerud on Reaching the LGBT Market on Snowibiz247

2009-07-28T07:58:00.001-07:00

Check out this video interview shot by Nicholas Snow of www.Snowbiz247.com!

Matt Skallerud is an internet entrepreneur creator of web sites and campaigns targeting the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered markets. He founded GayWired.com in 1995 and subsequently created a network of sites including LesbiaNation.com, GaySports.com, GayBusinessWorld.com and GayMonkey.com, to name a few. Also created GLBT B-to-B sites GayLinkContent.com and GayMediaExpress.com. Having sold these sites, he created PinkBananaMedia.com and helps companies, large and small, reach GLBT consumers online. Skallerud has been instrumental in the nurturing and success of the NotesFromTheWorld.com family of web sites. Snowbiz247. Small screen. Big host. Worldwide audience. See most episodes at www.Snowbiz247.com.

Matt explained, "My focus is online marketing, starting with the basics of banner ads and e-mail, but expanding into the more advanced world of blogs, social networking and online video, and how those components can tie into an overall online marketing campaign including banner ads for some of the best performance for his clients. My goal is to work with companies wishing to increase the efficiency and performance of their online marketing endeavors, using some of the tried and tested of the past few years and merging with some of the new, since new is where the eyeballs are continually migrating to on a daily basis."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQnCGMgXtZ0

GNetwork360.com Gay Marketing and Travel Symposium in Buenos Aires

2009-07-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

I returned recently from what was one of my best trips to South America ever! After spending an incredible week with my Brazilian friends in Rio, I changed gears and went into business mode, heading down to Buenos Aires for the GNetwork360.com Gay Marketing and Travel Symposium, held at the Axel Hotel.

I arrived early, which allowed me to spend some quality time with both my local friends and some of the other presenters arriving early as well. Of course, quality time in Buenos Aires almost always includes food and drink, of which there was plenty of both to go around. The city itself has some of the best restaurants, and for travelers coming into Buenos Aires, the price is sinfully inexpensive. I enjoyed several dinners in the Palermo area of Buenos Aires, including a Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant called Osaka, as well as several incredible meals in the San Telmo district, an up and coming area reminiscent of old neighborhoods in Madrid.

We started the conference with a pre-conference dinner and cocktails at Inside, a local gay restaurant/bar (called resto bar) where the energy was high as we all reconnected with the other presenters and our local hosts, Gustavo and Pablo of GNetworks360.com. We also got a chance to meet the GNetworks360.com host team of volunteers helping to keep the week organized, and we had the pleasure of working and hanging with them the entire week up to the closing party at Rheo @ Crobar on Friday night.

The conference itself went very well, as it was a mix of presentations by the NGLCC (nglcc.org) and IGLCC (iglcc.org) to start, as well as GLBT travel presentations by the IGLTA (iglta.org) and ABRAT (abratgls.com). We also had marketing presentations by OutThink Partners (Steve Roth - www.outthinkpartners.com) and Out Now Consulting (Ian Johnson of www.outnowconsulting.com)... I also had an opportunity to present social network and Web 2.0 marketing to the GLBT community.

The conference wrapped up with a closing party and marketplace GLBT travel trade show at Chueca Downtown, which was absolutely packed. After that, we presenters all joined the GNetworks360.com team for dinner in San Telmo at La Banqueano, where I also had the pleasure of meeting Gustavo Colombo of Manhunt Argentina (great guy).

Just when we thought the conference was over and the city of Buenos Aires was ours to enjoy before our departures, Luciano Cazenave of Friendly Apartments (www.friendlyapartments.com) invited us all over to his home for a lovely evening of dinner and cocktails. It seems everyone was there and ready to let off a little steam... by the time the evening was over, Luciano had cranked out his array of hats and we all decided it was time to pose for a crazy-ass photo shoot! Then we all headed out to Rheo, a gay club that made for an incredible last night out in Buenos Aires. The place was multi-level and PACKED with hot men... I don't know what is in that water, but those men (and Brazilians) are over the top! Just another good reason to return to Buenos Aires in the months ahead!

What a week it was... it made for a perfect opportunity to get spoiled rotten by TAM Airlines on my way home. Their business class seats make for a perfect overnight flight of dinner with fine wine and a restful sleep!

Photo Links:

Gay Business Report - July 2009

2009-06-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

In this issue:

Understanding the Business Use of Twitter
It’s all in the tools that lay “on top” of Twitter, illuminating those millions of conversations per hour and allowing the “crowd” to take the lead in journalism.
It’s no secret we’re living history as we speak when it comes to the technological advances in social network marketing we’re seeing today. One often heard quip is “can’t it all just stop for a little while so that the rest of us can catch up!?” Well, as we all know, it’s not going to stop, and ever since the recent Iranian Election coverage on Twitter.com, it’s clear there is definitely SOMETHING going on, but what that “something” is can be a challenge to wrap one’s head around....

Thus, the power of one’s "Tweets" is not in tracking click-throughs of each individual Tweet, but rather posting something worth "ReTweeting" and spreading that information far and wide...
Tips & Tricks:? Shooting Photos at Events
Photos are definitely VIRAL in the social networking world. But how do you get those photos tagged and working for you in Facebook?
4 Reasons Why Marketers Should Choose Facebook Pages Over Facebook Groups
Six Marketing & Community Lessons From a New York City Hotel
Tourisme Montréal shifting to 100% Web-based advertising
The 7 Deadly Sins of Inbound Marketing
Three decades professionalizing LGBT Media

Link to PDF: http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/pbmbizreport_july2009.pdf

Link to site: http://www.gaybusinessreport.com

Understanding the Business Use of Twitter

2009-06-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

It’s all in the tools that lay “on top” of Twitter, illuminating those millions of conversations per hour and allowing the “crowd” to take the lead in journalism.

It’s no secret we’re living history as we speak when it comes to the technological advances in social network marketing we’re seeing today. One often heard quip is “can’t it all just stop for a little while so that the rest of us can catch up!?”

Well, as we all know, it’s not going to stop, and ever since the recent Iranian Election coverage on Twitter.com, it’s clear there is definitely SOMETHING going on, but what that “something” is can be a challenge to wrap one’s head around.

Google knows there is something there... over the past few years, Google has become one of the top destinations online users go to when they want multiple sources of up-to-the-minute news, and they want it first! Google’s method, of course, is in their superior algorithms scouring the web for top news content as it happens. But with this recent election coverage, Twitter emerged as the new front-runner in the race for quality access to information first, and both Google and Facebook have taken notice.

Why is this so important, and why should anyone care about the millions of Twitters out there that range from “I’m off to walk my dog right now” to “I just saw Jennifer Lopez eating a bagle”? The fact is that for most Twitters, it is just a sea of useless information, and when one goes to Twitter.com to see these various “status updates” changing by the minute, one wonders how this can help them... in life and in business.

The first glimpse into how this can help a business is by getting away from that Twitter.com front page experience and moving quickly into the recently launched SEARCH function on Twitter. Using this, one can do a quick search of key terms relevant to their business, such as “hotel Miami” to find various conversations going on out there in the “Twitter-Sphere” that are mentioning these key word search terms.

And what does one find when doing this? A potpourri of various business deals, user reviews and also a bit of junk related to the world of hotels in Miami. Following along to find out WHO is chatting about hotels in Miami can lead one to become connected to other businesses and key influencers out there in the Miami hotel and travel world. By clicking on the user’s name or icon, one can learn more about who is chatting about this topic by reading their short Twitter bio or by clicking over to their website directly. By connecting with this individual, in the form of a FOLLOW, one can build a nice Twitter network of other individuals and businesses that have useful in formation related to the world of hotels and travel in Miami.

This is what I call LEVEL 1 in the world of Twitter usefulness. It’s better than reading random status updates all day, but it’s still a bit messy when it comes to spending quality time getting quick, quality results in a timely manner.

The next step, LEVEL 2 of mining the Twitter world for useful information, is in using one of the newly developing 3rd party programs created specifically for this task. Twitter is different from Facebook in that Twitters have started from Day One as OPEN SOURCE technology. Any programmer could build an interface to work with Twitters, and build they did, developing a wide variety of unique programs for using Twitter ways the founders could not have dreamed of. Two top contenders, TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop, turn on the lights and bring even more order to the chaos of those millions of “Tweets” going on out there in real time, every minute of every hour of every day.

What these two programs do is allow the user quick updated access to the various searches one may wish to do on a daily basis related to your business. All of the most recent Tweets found using the key search terms one is using on Google today can be kept organized and up-to-date using these programs. In addition, for those individuals and businesses a person is currently “following” on Twitter, these contacts can be organized into Groups, very similar to the Friends List feature found on Facebook today. Using Groups, one can create a group related to business, one for travel, one for personal use, etc. These groups provide immediate screening and filtering of the Tweets one is currently following today, making the act of staying current on Twitter just a bit easier than it once was.

These programs also allow the online user the capability of automatically creating shortened URLs (using bit.ly and tinyurl.com) for use in Twitter, as well as automatically allowing the online user the capability of uploading and linking to photos and videos. As these technologies develop, they begin to look more and more like Facebook does today, including emulating the key features of Facebook that has made this social network so powerful over the past year. In addition, they both integrate with Facebook as well, and when one places a Facebook Status Update feed side by side with their Twitter feed when using these programs, the comparisons become obvious and the reasons why Facebook re-engineered their entire system to become more like Twitter also becomes more clear.

Lastly, these programs allow the online user the capability, in one click, of seeing what some of the top “conversations” are among the people and businesses one is following, as well as within the key word searches being followed. Such immediate access to current “trends” and “topics” within a series of conversations is very powerful, and leads us one step closer to what I define as LEVEL 3 of the power and utility of Twitter today.

Let’s start big picture. Before the Internet, we learned about what was happening in the world via a small handful of television stations, print magazines, newspapers and radio. Just prior to the Internet, we had even more access to choices and information with the advent of Cable TV, providing us access to history, science, travel and food, just to name a few of the key topics covered early on.

Then came the Internet, and websites blossomed, providing us even more finite access to unique information and allowing people of similar interests to connect like never before. And then, just as the Internet was finally becoming easier for folks to understand, the world of blogs emerged, allowing anyone who chose to become a citizen journalist the opportunity to voice their opinions.

Blogs were unique in that they were both the next logical step in “democratizing” access to information on the Internet, allowing individuals such as Perez Hilton the opportunity to find new-found fame. What blogs did is make access to news and information even quicker, as individuals were now posting news-like items. In addition, and more importantly, blogs allowed for individuals to INTERACT with each other, planting the seeds for what is now known as Web 2.0.

So why is this so important? Because up to now, the online world grew comfortable in this information space. Google News gave quick access to this information, as did the various RSS news readers that allowed anyone to subscribe to and receive exactly the mix of CNN, BBC, the Huffington Post and a wide variety of other news sources and blogs, that was right for them.

Then came the Iranian election coverage and Twitter. Remember, the technology of Twitter had recently become more and more advanced, allowing for direct links and short, easy-to-read descriptions of videos, photos, website articles and blogs. The openness, usefulness and power of Twitter was ready to be capitalized on by the “masses” of users of both Twitter and Facebook, and nobody saw it coming.

As was mentioned, Twitter’s power is in the 3rd party programs which interface with and make it more efficient and useful to work with. Taking that to the next logical step are programs and websites such as TweetMeme.com and OpenRiot.com. These sites take all of those millions of Twitters and try to figure out, based upon almost any search combination provided, what are the most RELEVANT Twitters at that moment in time. Since relevance is based upon these programs’ new but developing algorithms as to what is most popular and “Tweeted” the most, these programs have harnessed the POWER OF THE CROWDS in bringing the most current, relevant and in more and more cases, quality information to the average user. Some of the headlines of this week emerged based upon this, asking the question - “Is Twitter the CNN?of the Next Generation?”

Thus, the power of one’s "Tweets" is not in tracking click-throughs of each individual Tweet, but rather posting something worth "ReTweeting" and virally spreading that information far and wide.

As individuals, we have a knack for wanting the best information NOW. Although one can argue the higher quality of a fully fleshed out news story done by the New York Times compared to that of one hundred various blog postings about the same topic, the fact remains that a whole new means of accessing information has been released to the public. And the public is using this access and this technology in ways that were not thought possible just months before.

Now Google is racing to develop even better algorithms than TweetMeme.com, so that they remain relevant in the new world of “real-time conversational search.” Facebook is redeveloping their service yet again, launching a new feature which will allow users to make their status updates available to EVERYONE, the same way Twitters are today. Facebook was caught by surprise in this... they had some high-quality and timely information in their service as well, but it wasn’t available to the public at large. Thus, in the case of the Iranian Election, this information was useless when it came to planting the seeds for what has already become a major world event and could spiral into something even bigger.

So why is this important to any business using social network technologies in their marketing today? Because if you have something important and of quality to say, posting it in your blog or on your website and then putting the headline and link out there on Twitter can become increasingly important each passing day. More and more people use technologies mining these “Tweets” for access to information that is relevant to them. With this technology, some of the final barriers, also known as GATE KEEPERS of information, have been removed.

What can you do today? Besides the headline and link recommendation outlined above, you should spend some time ensuring you are connected to as many key individuals and businesses that are relevant to your business. You should also make a point of following conversations relevant to your industry based upon monitoring key word search terms in Twitter. When you come across a Tweet about an article or blog posting that is relevant to your industry, RETWEETING that Tweet allows you to both participate in this conversation and sets you up as a leader in your field. Being a leader means having more and more individuals and businesses follow what are you doing on Twitter and subsequently follow you more and more in the business and social networking world in general, including Facebook.

So is Twitter a fad? Absolutely not. When viewed from the big picture and interpreted as a truly social, human phenomenon, it’s more than obvious that Twitter has opened up a new frontier in the emerging world of global, immediate access to information, and will be considered a stepping stone to technologies we will be using in the future. That said, leveraging your time and marketing efforts on Twitter today should allow your business to grow and stay contemporary in the world of tomorrow.

Link to article in PDF format: http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/pbm_web20_twitter_use.pdf

NGLCC Conference in Seattle - May 2009

2009-06-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

I just returned from the NGLCC Conference in Seattle these past few days... it was a roaring success, and larger than it ever was with companies ranging from UPS to Office Depot to Wells Fargo Bank and many, many more global companies continually making outreach and great strides in embracing the GLBT business community. It also had a very strong contingent from the local community, led by Louise Chernin of the local GSBA (www.gsba.org).

The event began Wednesday evening with a GSBA Mixer at the top of the Space Needle in downtown Seattle. I missed this but everyone who attended found it to be an incredible experience and a great start to the week's events.

The main events began Thursday morning and continued on with a variety of educational workshops throughout the next few days. I had the opportunity to do a workshop on social network marketing to the GLBT community, which seemed to go over very well and was standing room only. The best part of this was the interactivity of the audience, who asked some excellent questions and even helped each other in some of the answers.

The evening receptions were a blast as well, and the attendees, all professional networkers in their own right, knew what to do and mingled and schmoozed the entire time. The cocktails were open bar and the hors d'oeuvres flowed all evening. One reception was held around the GLBT Marketplace, where the various companies had booths set up to better present their companies... a great way to kick this event off as the Marketplace was then open the entire next day for folks to come back and spend even more quality time with the various attendees promoting their companies.

In the meantime, several of us hit the local scene after-hours as well, checking out The Elite, Purr and The Cuff throughout Saturday night. The Elite on Thursday evening was fun as half the crowd was our group and the other half were locals, making for an excellent evening pub affair that kept everyone rather "reasonable" so that they could pace themselves for the following two days of work, networking and fun. I also had the opportunity of dining at Wild Ginger, a famous downtown restaurant with some fantastic Asian cuisine.

Overall, the event was a complete success. Check out some of the photos found below, and if the GLBT business-to-business marketplace is your scene, be sure to attend the conference in 2010 in Washington DC.

LINKS:

- www.nglcc.org

- http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattskal/sets/72157618888637745/

IGLTA Convention in Toronto - May 2009 - Take 3

2009-05-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

Ah, the convention is now in full swing... everyone has reconnected and yet the schmoozing and networking never seems to stop! On Friday, everyone is hustling and bustling along, starting with the opening breakfast where David Whitaker of Tourism Toronto welcomes us all to Toronto. The day is then a mix of various workshops and a great lunch sponsored by Air Canada.

The real highlight of Friday is yet to come... the consumer travel trade show held in the gay village at Maple Leaf Gardens. Although the lighting was dim, the event was a complete success. Various IGLTA members were able to exhibit their companies to both the other IGLTA members attending the convention as well as the hundreds of gay travel consumers to marched through the aisles. Along with a Brazilian Samba performance that blew everyone away with some very HOT dancers and performers (OK, the drumming did last a bit long... my ears are still recovering), the night was a complete success. This was the night most of the attendees headed straight over from the travel trade show into the gay village... and our own John Tanzella even blessed us all with a drag performance at Zelda's that was of course caught on cell phone video and broadcast for all to see the next morning. You go, John!

On a personal note, I had a great evening, albeit mellow (since we did have so much fun celebrating my birthday the night before). I thought I'd get a nice quiet bite to eat at this really great Indian food restaurant located just outside the Conexity.com office, and as I'm relaxing and chatting with Richard, along comes Jeff Marsh from Orbitz.com and then Tom and Dave from Community Marketing. It was one of the wonderful, unplanned evenings that I thoroughly enjoyed!

Saturday the Media Trade Show breakfast began... it's always cute to watch our IGLTA Convention attendees roll in for that Saturday morning breakfast one by one... you can always tell who went out, who stayed in and who went crazy by the way they stroll in. The breakfast was a success, however, and it allowed the various media companies in attendance to mix nicely with the attendees and "talk shop" for just a little while.

Of course, as with all IGLTA Conventions, it was the anticipation of the upcoming Gala Dinner that had everyone buzzing. And this evening was not one to disappoint. I had the opportunity to sit at a table with my dear friend Kelsey Bray of Earhart Adventures, along with the Air Canada folks who had sponsored so many functions during this event. The evening went without a hitch, with the ProudFM local personality Deb MCing the night. The new board was introduced, with Mya Lake Reyes from Las Vegas CVA and Tanya Churchmuch of Tourism Montreal / GirlPorts.com becoming our newest board members, and Steve Smith from Key West winning a board of directors comeback! For the IGLTA awards presented for best website and best brochure, our friends from OutAdventures.com took 2 out of the 3 awards presented that night, and Clovis Casemiro of Brazil was awarded the Ambassador of the Year award. Especially thrilling was our past board Chairman, Andrew Stokes of Marketing Manchester receiving the Hall of Fame Award, and Juan Julia of Axel Hotels receiving the Chairman's Awards.

What was really fun was the dance set up just outside of the dinner, along with a full Belgian chocolate fountain with lots of goodies to try out, all sponsored by our friends from Antwerp, the location of the 2010 IGLTA Convention next year.

Link to all photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattskal/sets/72157617758915032/

IGLTA Convention in Toronto - May 2009 - Take 2

2009-05-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

So here we are, Thursday morning... our only moment of reprieve as the board meetings are now over and the members are all arriving in waves. The main event begins at 2 pm, but as I go down to the registration area, everyone is doing exactly what they do best... reconnecting, schmoozing and networking. It's a frenzy as old friends who sometimes only see each other during these conventions get together and catch up. I love this moment in the IGLTA conventions each year... this and the opening reception are always the most energized moments of the convention.

The convention opens up with our presentations by John Tanzella and a board of directors Q&A. Perhaps because this Q&A was positioned at the very beginning of the convention is the reason the participation and interest from the membership as to where the organization is going was so energized... it was great! We received feedback ranging from a re-orientation as to what it means to be truly "international" to what we can do to help increase our outreach to more and more regions around the world and make that outreach mean something in terms of our mix of suppliers and retailers in the GLBT travel world.

Next came the new potential board members and their presentations (tight election with only 5 positions available to 10 potential candidates), and then we convened... one so that everyone could now have plenty of time to grill the potential new board members over the course of the convention, and two, to give everyone time to prepare for the upcoming events of the evening.

There were a few pre-party events... one was the local Canadian member reception, which was packed and overflowing with an open bar of fantastic local wine. Next came the first timers reception held at The Bay in downtown Toronto, tied in with a Barbie exhibition and some hot models to boot! The first timers reception seemed to go very well... our goal is to allow the new members an opportunity to both get oriented and connect with the group before they become overwhelmed with everyone meeting and greeting at the main opening reception, and it seemed to work... kind of like "divide the crowd and conquer" so that everyone can maximize their opportunities to meet those they flew all the way into Toronto to see.

The main opening reception was flawless... great food, excellent company and a gorgeous venue made for one hell of a night! It was here that the excitement was at a frenzy, as everyone reconnected with each other and some of the new attendees which ranged from Manhunt.net introducing their new gay travel product to Earhart Adventures bringing a new twist to lesbian global adventure travel. Locals who really stood out included Robert Sharp and his partner from OutAdventures.com, as well as all of the Pride Toronto team who came to make sure there was not a moment lapsed in our entertainment for the night!

As it was my birthday on this day, a group of us headed straight on out to Lola's, a fun little martini bar in the gay village... we had the place pretty much to ourselves, and a few tequila shots later we all headed over to Woody's where we not only go to hang out with a whole new group of IGLTA members who had all wandered on over, but we also got to see a Hot Chest contest with a few IGLTA members joining in on this as well... crazy, I tell you, crazy, but all in good fun (and all "after hours" and not on the IGLTA clock, may I remind you! LOL)

Stay tuned for part 3 coming up next!

IGLTA Convention in Toronto - May 2009 - Take 1

2009-05-12T15:59:00.001-07:00

What an incredible whirlwind of a week! For me, it all started a bit early as I flew into Philadelphia on Saturday, May 2nd to attend the Equality Forum Dinner that Saturday night. As Malcolm Lazin of Equality Forum has always been such a great friend personally and such a great supporter of IGLTA over the years, I really wanted to attend this event prior to arriving in Toronto for the IGLTA Convention, and I'm so glad I did. The evening's reception was such a pleasure and I had the opportunity to hang out with Bruce Yelk and Jeff Guaracino of the GPTMC, as well as run into old friends also flying in for this event such as Janice Mahlmann of the NGLCC-NY, John Kenyon of Proud FM in Toronto, and Rodney Hameroff of Columbia Fun Maps.

That evening, Gavin Newsom, our potential future governor of California, got up and gave an eloquent speech to cap off a truly remarkable evening.

The next day, after waking up with a Philly cheesesteak sandwich still in my stomach (I ordered a "wiz wit!"), I flew in to Toronto where I was able to enjoy a relaxing evening with friends. I discovered the Toronto community of Yorktown and the Sassafras restaurant, a hot spot where the film festival crowd hangs out every year. I knew the whirlwind was about to start, but fortunately we had our IGLTA board of directors meetings first, so starting Tuesday we hit the ground running with board meetings both Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday night we had a wonderful dinner at the Gladstone Hotel, one of the older original hotels from Toronto's historical past fully restored with each room designed by a different local designer. The dinner menu was all from unique and local fare, and between that and the wine, the evening was truly over the top.

The next evening, Wednesday, we made a mad rush to the Out Adventures pre-IGLTA reception at their offices on Bloor St. I was in the mood to walk, so a group of us set out on foot and got there just a tad late, as we had a subsequent board dinner at the nearby Marriott Hotel and we absolutely could not be late (John Tanzella would crucify us!). We made the pre-reception where we hung out a bit with Robert Sharp of Out Adventures, as well as Marta from Brazilian EcoTours and a few other gay travel professionals, both local and coming in early for the IGLTA Convention.

Dinner at the Marriott was scrumptious... I decided to go healthy and have everything with fish in it that night, so my menu ranged from black cod to sable fish, with an incredible dessert thrown in. David Whittaker from Tourism Toronto and Tracey Sandilands of Pride Toronto joined us and we had an amazing evening, all set as a perfect backdrop to the upcoming arrivals of our 26th Annual IGLTA Convention starting on Thursday.

Stay tuned for part 2, the IGLTA Convention, coming up next.

LINKS: http://www.iglta.com/

Article Mention: Refresh Magazine - New Face of Gay

2009-04-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

Check out the PDF of the upcoming article "New Face of Gay" from Refresh Magazine, out in newstands this week.

As excerpted from the article:

Matt Skallerud, owner of Pink Banana Media and founder of GayWired.com, has compiled one of the most comprehensive reports on the buying power of the gay community entitled the Gay Market Report. Included in the report, which helps businesses and individuals better market themselves to the gay community, is the fact that there is a $712 billion-a-year market with LGBT consumers. These results are some of the first available to modern-day business owners seeking to expand their market reach into this niche community. His figures come second to the research done by Witeck-Combs and Harris Interactive, which have conducted research into other areas of the LGBT community.

Check it out at http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/rf56_New_Face_of_Gay.pdf

Social Network Marketing and the Gay Travel Market

2009-04-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

The first step in the social network marketing process is to develop your primary “Touch Points”, including a Facebook Business/Fan page and Twitter account (see this link for more information: http://gaybizreport.blogspot.com/2009/04/social-network-marketing-updates-for.html).

Touch Points need Connections/Friends in order to make them work for your business. To get started, follow GLTBT travel individuals and businesses on Twitter (use the SEARCH function on Twitter to identify new connections to follow). Also, invite GLBT travel contacts in Facebook to join your Facebook Business/Fan page. You may also want to consider advertising with Facebook on a CPC basis (cost per click) in order to drive more traffic and get more people to connect with you on your Facebook page. Your ad can target "gay" and then keywords such as "travel" and "vacation". This ad can be set to target travelers in specific regions (thus focusing on your destination’s “feeder markets”) as well as by gender, age range and more. The benefits of this ad is that it will include your logo, thus providing you branding as well as directly measurable performance. To maximize the effectiveness of this ad, be sure to link it to your Facebook page, not directly to your website... you’ll get more Facebook members opting in to connect with you if you do.

Lastly, assuming you’ve been maintaining a LinkedIn.com and Plaxo.com account, keep the connections in these sites up to date with all of your main business contacts in travel. When you meet someone new at a trade show, don’t just add them to your contact database... ensure you’ve added them as a connection/friend in these sites as well.

The next step in the social network marketing process is developing a “story to tell” about your organization, product or service and posting it in the form of a blog. This story becomes the cornerstone of your social network marketing process, and feeds into the various “touch points” created in Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Rather than make this a place to post press releases, product information, etc., you should instead try to make this story more interesting and humanize the editorial as best as you can. Online consumers tend to view and read this editorial more frequently, and a good story is passed along to friends, thus increasing the viral nature of your content.

For the world of gay travel, there are a variety of blog posting themes you could choose from in order to keep your blog, and thus its content, fresh in the gay travel consumer’s eye.

These themes could include:

Events: you could focus on upcoming GLBT events in your area, including Pride festivals, film festivals and more.
Club and Bar Reviews: you could run a series of blog postings highlighting GLBT clubs and bars in your area
Restaurant Reviews: you could run a series of blog postings highlighting GLBT and GLBT-friendly restaurants in your area
Hotel Reviews: you could run a series of blog postings highlighting GLBT-friendly hotels in your area
Destination Attractions and Highlights: you can feature art exhibitions, museum openings and wide variety of attractions and highlights in your area
Individual interviews: you could have featured interviews done as blog postings of key GLBT business leaders in your area

This content would be posted on your blog, as well as requested for inclusion on other gay travel blogs you’ve developed a relationship with over the past few months, along with direct links back to your site. A link to the blog posting would also be posted on your Facebook page and promoted using your Twitter account.

To make your blog more interesting, consider the use of photos taken in a variety of social environments (bars, events, groups traveling together, etc.). A few of the key photos can be integrated into the blog along with a link to the full set of photos you’ve posted online. You should upload and tag the photos onto Facebook as well as uploaded to Flick (photos should be described and tagged with web link in description in order to maximize their marketing efforts in driving more traffic to your website.) An additional advantage to using Flickr is that the photos can be added to their gay travel group, currently at almost 700 members.

For hotel owners, try taking photos of hotel guests who would agree to having their photos uploaded onto your Facebook page and tagged so that they could share and remember their hotel stay with you. The same can be done for bars, clubs, group travelers and various other GLBT events as well. In all of these cases, when taking photos, do all you can to get the names of people in the photos, connect with them on Facebook and then tag the photos... this will increase your overall viral marketing and increase your overall number of connections/friends.

Lastly, the use of traditional destination photos can be used here as well... our recommendation is to always focus on people when using photos for social network marketing, but for a destination’s Facebook page, quality destination photos could work here as well. Similarly, a hotel or bar could use property photos to help make the online visitor more familiar with their property.

For those ready to take a more advanced leap in online viral content, videos can be a useful tool for destinations, hotels, bars and more. The videos can be informative (having a narrated walking tour depicting gay life in your city) as well as designed to tell their own story as well. The more unique the story in the video production, the more likely the videos will be shared and spread virally online. Posting video on YouTube and your Facebook page and properly tagging these uploaded videos will allow them to do the work for you. Posting the

video on your blog will increase your exposure even more.

To ensure your automated viral social networking is working for you, make sure to connect up your blog, photos, video and Twitter to Plaxo’s GLBT travel group, LinkedIn.com’s GLBT travel group and other relevant groups found on social networks including those found on Ning.com, CollectiveX.com and more. Also ensure you’ve connected your blog, photos, video and Twitter to Friendfeed.com and other automated social networks.

Also make sure to work some of the more manual social network updates that reach your specific audience, including posting some of your blog, photo and video updates in GLBT Travel groups on Facebook. More specifically, if you’re a bar or restaurant, ensure your up to date with Yelp.com. If you’re a hotel, you would use TripAdvisor.com. Specific social networks in the travel industry include TripWolf.com and specific social networks in the GLBT travel industry include GayCities.com with their user-generated reviews, and the new OutAdvisor.com.

Link to PDF version of article: http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/PBM_Web20_Travel.pdf

LAGLCC-IGLTA-GayTravelocity Reception @ Custom Hotel

2009-04-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful evening reception at the Custom Hotel in LA, hosted by an incredible staff. Over 75 people were in attendance for our first event bringing members together from LAGLCC (www.laglcc.org) and IGLTA (www.iglta.org) and sponsored by GayTravelocity.com

A few words about the Custom Hotel... it's a gorgeous boutique hotel located very near LAX. Every other Wednesday night is Crush, their local gay night they promote to the GLBT community living on the westside of LA.

Links to photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattskal/sets/72157617138719277/

Job Posting: Business Operations Manager for The Clubs

2009-04-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

Help wanted. Seeking energetic, enthusiastic and goal-oriented candidate for the position of Business Operations Manager for the Dallas and Houston Clubs (www.theclubs.com).

Tasks

Oversee local management team in Dallas and Houston
Develop staffing programs to focus on and improve overall customer service
Ensure accounting processes established by company are implemented, verified and routinely audited
Oversee marketing initiatives from conception to implementation, based upon set marketing budgets
Interact with local organizations, contractors and local authorities

Background

10 years of hands-on management experience
Online marketing experience, including understanding of current social networking and Web 2.0 trends
Staff training experience desirable, with the ability to motivate, evaluate and direct employees
Accounting experience with Quickbooks
Previous management experience in hospitality industry a plus

Requirements

BS or greater, preferably in business, management and/or marketing disciplines
Travel between Dallas and Houston on a regular basis, with possible travel to other Midwest destinations in near future
Computer experience and knowledge, including Excel, Word and PowerPoint

Selected candidate will report to the Board of Directors. Salary is negotiable. For interview consideration, please submit resumes to dennis648@aol.com.

Should You Promote Your Company On Facebook and Risk Competitors Stealing your Customers?

2009-04-16T08:50:00.001-07:00

This question has come up several times over the past month... one client in particular recently wrote: "Is it dumb for us to have a business/fan page (as opposed to profile), because competitors could start emailing all our peeps…friending them (and a lot of people accept everyone) and the start marketing to out entire mailing list?"

My response was as follows:

So you know my overall position on this… I think that the net, overall good that comes to your company by creating a Facebook business/fan page far outweighs the possibility that a competitor can poach your online network of friends (aka, your e-mail list).

First, Facebook discourages this. If someone started going through your friends and “friending” them all, Facebook would catch it at a certain point and warn the person not to do it or risk having their account closed. I know several people this has happened to, which then subsequently keeps them honest in the future. Being “honest” means that most business users of Facebook have come to realize that they need to earn friends, not just spam or steal them, and thus the greatest benefit to you as a company is that I believe what you have to offer in order to “earn” those friends and keep them staying in touch with and on top of your business offerings is considerably greater than that which your competitors can offer.

The video you’ve been placing online has been watched my almost everyone you and I know… your photos, uploaded to your business page and tagged, will go a long way in terms of spreading the word about your company far and wide to Facebook’s audience of over 200M users and growing. Posting links to your various new tours and travel packages is one way to promote yourself… posting your customers blog links, as well as providing them a page where they can post these themselves, will also help to create more buzz and bring more awareness to your company, your brand and your product offerings.

The bottom line is that your customers ARE already on Facebook… they are viewing other gay travel and tour operator offerings… they are engaging with each other and sharing information and stories about trips they’ve taken with you. Without a business presence on Facebook, these conversations and engagements are going on without you… you are NOT part of the conversation and you are missing out on shaping and influencing the direction those conversations and engagements go, which should be towards your business.

I hope this helps.

Matt

Social Network Marketing Updates for 2009

2009-04-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

The concepts of Touch Points and Connections become even more poignant in this new age of Twitter and the recent Facebook updates

There can be little doubt that social network marketing is becoming one of the fastest growing areas in the marketing world today. Every day, we are inundated with new terms and forced to continue to keep up with the latest in social networking technology, including these new Twitters everyone keeps talking about, and the more recent updates Facebook has launched in order to both stay on top of the growth curve and counter this Twitter phenomenon.

In addition, it is becoming more and more clear that the eyeballs and attention of online users worldwide are continuing to migrate and spend more time in social networking sites than ever before. Facebook was at 100,000,000 users as of July 2008, and they are now surpassing 200,000,000 today, doubling in the span of just months. To accommodate this growth, Facebook has made a variety of changes designed to try and anticipate how users can continually manage this greater and greater influx of information in a way that’s still both useful and relevant in their daily lives. Of course, this accommodation and change is met with greater resistance today as so many people are now personally vested in the functionality of Facebook and don’t want to see key features for staying in touch with friends and business associates become diminished.

That said, Facebook is still the dominant social network for businesses large and small to reach their consumers in ways never thought possible before. With the new Facebook redesign, a Facebook Business/Fan Page is fast becoming the way to go for companies wishing to have the most impact with online users today. The new design allows a business to more conveniently present itself similar to how an individual presents himself today, with photos, status updates and even blog feeds imported as Notes. All of these elements appear in a user’s News Feed, which means that the business has a better chance of staying front and center with their consumer base. The more popular the elements are (such as a great photo album tagged with multiple people), the more often that element appears in the news feed, as well as appearing on the right-hand column where Facebook now features what it deems the most popular content for a user to view for that day.

Of course, an update for 2009 in the world of social networking would not be complete were it not to discuss Twitter. This service, which has definitely taken a lead position in terms of what new social network topic people are talking about, allows all of us, individuals and businesses alike, to keep our friends and fans up to date as what we’re up to in business and in life. The technical term of a Twitter is a microblog, which is simply a small amount of information equal to that which fits into a typical cell phone text message.

One important aspect of Twitter is to have as many people following you as possible... the more that follow you, the more you’re spreading your message out there on the Internet. So if your company has just posted a new update in its blog, has issued a press release, has an event to announce or simply has something to say, putting it into a Twitter means that you have one new online location from which to get the word out. And people will hear you and respond almost immediately.

The second power of Twitter is in the non-immediate responses found when using the SEARCH function on Twitter, which was rather hidden by the folks at Twitter until only recently. You can do a search for key words relevant to your business, such as “gay travel” or “gay business” to find Twitter postings several weeks or months old that are relevant to you and your industry. Finding these postings allows you to see who is posting what, discovering more about them through their online Twitter bio and link to their website. It is fast becoming a great way to expand one’s business network to reach individuals not found through some of the more traditional social network sites we’ve been using over the past year including LinkedIn.com and Plaxo.com.

It is this concept of “followers” and “connections” that is fast becoming key in the social networking world. Without a good number of people relevant to your business staying connected with you and receiving those gentle social network updates you’re sending out by posting status updates, Twitters, photos and link postings online, you would run into the “tree falling in the woods” scenario where if no one was listening, one would question whether the tree actually fell! The key is to put in the time to develop relevant friends, followers and connections in these and other social networking sites... it is this network of connections that is fast becoming the key differentiator between a successful social networking campaign and one that is just mediocre. It’s clear that to maintain a consistent network, one must put in the time... thus, as more and more companies are wading into the social network marketing waters and finding initial success, the next logical steps are to increase the time spent (whether that’s hiring an individual to do the work or an outside agency) so that they can continue to maximize the opportunities that are just continuing to expand and grow in this new marketing space.

It is not just Facebook, MySpace and Twitter which have the opportunity to maintain a network of connections. The selection of which site you choose to upload your business photos and videos is very important as well. I tend to focus on Flickr.com for photos and YouTube.com for videos. Flickr.com not only allows for excellent integration of your business photos into a variety of sites online, but it also maintains a strong social network from which you can increase the likelihood that your photos are viewed online. By uploading your photos onto Flickr and tagging them with key words you want them to be found by, you’ve increased the likelihood of your business photos being put to work for your business. By putting your web link in with the photo’s description, someone who finds your photos can follow you all the way back to your website. Lastly, adding your photos to some relevant groups associated with your photos and your business (such as the gay travel group, which currently has over 700 members) will further expand your reach with your photos in ways not possible on other photo uploading sites.

The same applies to YouTube, where your videos can ultimately be set up to drive more and more traffic to your website with the use of tags (key words) when uploading your videos. These tags allow someone viewing one video to see “similar videos” of which yours would be included. Thus, if someone is watching a video about “gay Montreal” and your video is also about gay Montreal and tagged as such, your video will probably be one of their automatically selected “similar videos” as well, which online users click on quite frequently as they “channel surf” on YouTube. By maintaining a strong branding presence on YouTube with the use of these “channels”, your videos will then ultimately bring more eyeballs to your online products and services displayed on your website.

Gay and Lesbian Social Networking
Advertising - Marketing - Community

For the full-color PDF version of this story, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/pdf/PBM_Web20_Travel.pdf

To subscribe to the PBM Monthly Gay Business Report, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/BusinessReport/

For the annual PBM Gay Market Report, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/MarketReport/

NOTE: This article is part of the Gay Market Report 2009 and is FREE TO USE as long as byline above, credit, logo and link are included with story. Credit Pink Banana Media,

Gay Business Report - April 2009

2009-04-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

In This Issue

Social Network Marketing Updates for 2009
The concepts of Touch Points and Connections becomes even more poignant in this new age of Twitter and the recent Facebook updates
There can be little doubt that social network marketing is becoming one of the fastest growing areas in the marketing world today. Every day, we are inundated with new terms and forced to continue to keep up with the latest in social networking technology, including these new Twitters everyone keeps talking about, and the more recent updates Facebook has launched in order to both stay on top of the growth curve and counter this Twitter phenomenon....

Social Network Marketing in Gay Travel
Content ideas for gay travel and destination marketing are quite varied, and can include:

Events: you could focus on upcoming GLBT events in your area, including Pride festivals, film festivals and more.
Club and Bar Reviews: you could run a series of blog postings highlighting GLBT clubs and bars in your area
Restaurant Reviews: you could run a series of blog postings highlighting GLBT and GLBT-friendly restaurants in your area
Hotel Reviews: you could run a series of blog postings highlighting GLBT-friendly hotels in your area
Destination Attractions and Highlights: you can feature art exhibitions, museum openings and wide variety of attractions and highlights in your area
Individual interviews: you could have featured interviews done as blog postings of key GLBT business leaders in your area

Beta: New Tool for Measuring Social Network Marketing ROI
As social network marketing continues to grow in the marketing mix of companies worldwide, the one area that it continually falls short is in measurement and resulting Return on Investment (ROI) for the companies making their initial investments in this space. As a result, our company has embarked on a new project to create one of the first ROI spreadsheets for social network marketing. It’s not easy, as the variables to measure are considerably different from the tried and true banner advertising and e-mail marketing used today....

Other Highlights

Promotion of an Event using Inbound Marketing
The Power of a Tiny Picture
Book Recommendation: World Wide Rave

Download PDF

March 2009 Gay Business Report

2009-03-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

In This Issue
Webinar and Seminar Schedule Through 2009

Updated presentation adds more detail on “touch points” and the power of influential contacts in your network

Be sure to watch for our freshly updated seminar and webinar series for 2009, covering the world of Social Network and Web 2.0 marketing to the GLBT?community. With almost 50% new material, focusing on new topics such as Power Influencers and how to connect with them, as well as expanding on the best Touch Points your company can have when making outreach in this new frontiers, this seminar/webinar series will show you both how to do it all in-house, as well as help bring some new concepts to your overall online marketing mix....

Access Obama: Making contact with the White House is easier than it used to be
You work for an LGBT media outlet. You're on deadline and need a comment from the White House regarding any one of the Obama administration's civil-rights policies affecting lesbian and gay citizens. How do you go about getting your questions answered? How were gay media relations with the White House in previous administrations? And will they be different under President Obama....

Other Highlights

5 Myths About Social Network Marketing
Twitter or Facebook for Status Updates
AllFacebook Interview: Discussion With Pizza Hut
About Their Facebook Strategy
GayCities Announces First Full-Featured LGBT Travel
iPhone Application

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Community Marketing's GLBT Travel Marketing Symposium in London

2009-02-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

Community Marketing and their team (Tom Roth and David Paisley) held yet another successful all-day series of workshops, panels and seminars, helping to educate companies as to the "how's and why's" of marketing to the GLBT community, in this case specifically for the travel market.

The turnout, despite the recession, was very good and incredibly, almost everyone stayed until the very end where myself, Thomas Boemkes and Serge Gojkovich spoke on GLBT online marketing in terms of more advanced social network marketing.

The presentations during the day came from an incredible roster of speakers, including Martine Ainsworth Wells of Visit London, and Andrew Stokes of Marketing Manchester. In addition, we got to hear from Andrew Roberts of Amro Worldwide Travel on the success and increased PR achieved through the "So Gay" campaign they did in 2008, together with Ian Johnson of Out Now Consulting.

Attendees included tourism folks from Sweden, London and throughout the UK, as well as Switzerland, Ireland and other destinations from around Europe.

Photos from the event can be seen at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattskal/sets/72157613800412544/

In addition, we're pleased to announce the launch of our new Flickr GLBT Business Photo group, found at:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/glbtbiz/

New Webinar Series for 2009

2009-02-05T16:25:00.001-08:00

Updated presentation adds more detail on “touch points” and the power of influential contacts in your network

Our company, Pink Banana Media, is taking our successful seminar series we’ve done in various cities over the past few years and bringing it online throughout 2009.

Our presentation has changed these past few years, focusing on the various aspects of Social Network Marketing and helping to define just what is Web 2.0 and how does it fit in with a company’s overall marketing mix. There are so many perceived options, including blogs, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and more, and our goal has been to both demistify this environment as well as break it down into what is most important for a company today when trying to promote their product or service in this new online frontiers.

Key concepts have been “speaking with” your customer base rather than “speaking to.” This is a big one, and underlies the fundamental shift in marketing overall, as the goal is now

to “enter into our customers conversations” rather than simply “broadcast to.”

Our main seminar points, still included in our presentation today, cover the basics of a blog, a Facebook group and photos, and how to utilize those tools to get the word out in the best way possible. Topic highlights include photo tagging, a blog’s RSS feed, and the basics of Facebook key word advertising.

Setting up the blog and the photos in some of the various social network “touch points” including Flickr, Plaxo, LinkedIn and MyBlogLog have been the cornerstones of more modern social network marketing, allowing content to spread virally in some of the key social networks online that have some of the strongest overall traffic. It is this topic that has been expanded in our updated seminar and webinar series for 2009. Delving into more detail, we’re able to help companies understand how to take their social network marketing to that next level. Now that it is becoming more easily understood that the Internet is the new operating system of the future, the concept of placing photos in one location, content in the form of a blog in another location, and allowing that content to spread far and wide through preset social network connections a company has set up exclusively for their needs, is the primary topic that has been further elaborated on in our presentation.

We also touch on the more advanced, and in some ways more labor-intensive aspects of social network marketing, presenting examples which should allow a company to decide if ramping up their social network marketing efforts is right for them. Working a customized social network using Ning.com, for example, or watching various blogs and other niche social networks from which to both participate, post and comment on ongoing conversations, can work very well in taking a company’s online marketing to that next level.

The power of networking in Facebook Groups, as well as focusing on the key “influencers” in social networking including Facebook group leaders and administrators, power Twitter users, Yelp reviewers and key industry bloggers is expanded upon in a way that should hopefully demistify this level of online marketing taking hold in 2009.

Watch for our upcoming webinar schedule in our next Gay Business Report in March 2009.

http://www.gaybusinessreport.com

February 2009 Gay Business Report

2009-02-05T14:39:00.000-08:00

New Webinar Series for 2009
Updated presentation adds more detail on “touch points” and the power of influential contacts in your network

Be sure to watch for our freshly updated seminar and webinar series for 2009, covering the world of Social Network and Web 2.0 marketing to the GLBT?community. With almost 50% new material, focusing on new topics such as Power Influencers and how to connect with them, as well as expanding on the best Touch Points your company can have when making outreach in this new frontiers, this seminar/webinar series will show you both how to do it all in-house, as well as help bring some new concepts to your overall online marketing mix....

Recession, but no depression: LGBT media organizations are cutting costs, but weathering the economic downturn

The current economy’s impact on the media industry has been well documented. In December, for example, Detroit’s newspapers cut home delivery to three days a week, printing smaller editions on the other days. In January, the Chicago Tribune repackaged itself into tabloid format for distribution at newsstands, while subscribers will continue to receive the paper in traditional broadsheet format....

NGLCC Leaders Attend White House Discussions on Economic Stimulus Plans

The leadership of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) joined other leading U.S. business executives and organizations on Jan. 28 to discuss President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package with his top advisors, including Jason Berman, the White House's economic policy director....

Other Highlights

5 Types of Posts to Feed Your Business Blog
Survey Shows Inbound Marketing Becoming More Important to Small Businesses
U.S. Gays and Lesbians Continue to Travel Despite Economic Downturn
Massachusetts Launces GLBT Tourism Site

Download PDF

Spotlight on Boston

2009-02-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

Boston is ground zero for gay rights in the United States thanks to the Massachusetts legalization of gay marriage in May 2004; the GLBT community here is politically and socially active, and continues to grow. The epicenter of activity remains the picturesque South End, which enjoys the reputation of the country's oldest Victorian brick rowhouse district; pretty and distinctly quaint, it houses growing numbers of gays and young families. As real estate prices rose through the early 2000s, however, an increasing segment of the community has moved just south of the city to the burgeoning district of Dorchester. To the north of the Charles River, which wends its way from Boston Harbor westward, lies Cambridge, housing the state's two most famed universities, Harvard and MIT, along with the lesbian-ppopular residential streets of Somerville.

Most of the bars and clubs still cluster around the city's popular Theatre District just east of the South End (Popular nights include Dedo on Tuesdays, Club Cafe on Fridays, Buzz and Fritz on Saturdays and Chaps on Sundays), while the mixed area surrounding Fenway Park and the entertainment-laden Landsdowne Street include popular nights as well (Embassy on Thursdays, Machine/Ramrod on Fridays, Pink on Saturdays, and Avalon on Sundays). Other venues include Paradise in Cambridge (the puritan Boston equivalent of a strip club), Toast in Somerville, levi/leather bar The Alley in downtown, and renowned drag bar Jacques on the fringe of Chinatown. Boston's only after-hours venue is Rise, a two-floor, non-alcoholic membership club that is popular on Saturday nights.

There are currently no parties on the circuit hosted in Boston, but the annual Pride Week is highly attended by individuals from all over New England. The city enjoys two print publications - Bay Windows and in newsweekly (an HX Magazine publication). Online, EDGE Boston (EDGEboston.com) enjoys a large regional readership and hosts regular nightlife parties in town.

A few hours from Boston by ferry, plane or car lies Provincetown, MA, a popular gay resort on the tip of Cape Cod. In the summer, most GLBT Bostonians frequent this welcoming little fishing village to enjoy one of the country's top ten beaches, and a range of exciting restaurants and nightlife. More information on Provincetown can be found online at EDGEprovincetown.com or at the local business guild's website, Ptown.org.

Boston Phoenix: www.phx.com

Bay Windows: www.BayWindows.com

Boston Spirit: www.BostonSpiritMagazine.com

Pink Pages: www.pinkweb.com

Rainbow Times: www.therainbowtimesmass.com

Golden Rainbow Times: www.goldenrainbowtimesnewspaper.com

INTERNET

www.EdgeBoston.com

gayboston.blogspot.com

www.LGBTMassVacation.com

EVENTS

Boston Pride: www.BostonPride.org

BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS

www.gbbc.org

www.centralmassbusinesscouncil.com

ORGANIZATIONS

AIDS Action Committee: www.aac.org

Boston Gay Men's Chorus: www.bgmc.org

Boston Alliance of GLBT Youth: www.bagly.org

For the full-color PDF, please go to:
http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/gmg2008-boston.pdf

Spotlight on Atlanta

2009-02-04T14:25:00.001-08:00

Just about everyone along the East Coast of the U.S. knows Atlanta is the queer 'Mecca' of the South. Gays and lesbians have flocked to this Southern metropolis over the years in droves - and for good reason.

Atlanta has one of the most progressive and largest gay & lesbian communities in the entire South, excluding Florida. Anchored by Piedmont Park, north of the city, we start with the Midtown area of Atlanta. In Midtown, the gay community is spread out all throughout this region, with clusters of bars, restaurants and other gay retailers including Blakes on the Park and Outwrite Books; Ansley Mall, north of Midtown on Piedmont and Monroe with Burkhart's Pub, Brushstrokes, a number of other bars and the famous Cowtippers restaurant halfway between Midtown and Ansley Mall; Cheshire Bridge Road with The Heretic and other bars; Woofs even farther north; east side of Piedmont Park with Big Red Tomato and Red Chair; and the Midtown Promenade with Hoedowns and other bars.

Atlanta has two strong gay & lesbian business associations, and both their pride and film festivals are some of the largest in the country. In addition, their local Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) has begun marketing Atlanta officially to gay & lesbian travelers and has a section of their website dedicated to this sector. Delta Airlines, based in Atlanta, has also begun to make outreach to the gay & lesbian community and has marketed itself in event, print and Internet advertising in 2004.

David Atlanta Magazine: www.DavidAtlanta.com

Southern Voice: www.Sovo.com

Labrys Atlanta: www.labrysatl.com

INTERNET

www.Gay-Atlanta.com

www.AtlantaBoy.com

www.ProjectQAtlanta.com

EVENTS

Atlanta Pride: www.AtlantaPride.org

Black Pride Atlanta: www.inthelifeatl.com

Out On Film: www.OutOnFilm.com

BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS

www.aen.org

www.AtlantaGayChamber.com

ORGANIZATIONS

Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus: www.AGMChorus.org

Gay Atlanta Sports: www.gaytlsports.com

For the full-color PDF file, please go to http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/gmg2008-atlanta.pdf

My Week in Dallas

2009-01-27T15:23:00.001-08:00

I had an incredible work week in Dallas this past week, staying at the Kimpton Hotel Palomar and spoiled by the staff and Group Sales Manager, Sam Tucker.

As I arrived Sunday night, on the MLK Weekend holiday, the Oak Lawn and Cedar Springs area was crazy with hot guys everywhere. TMC was packed, as was S4 with a line wrapped around the corner. I had no idea the boys in Dallas could party so hard!!!!

As the work week began, at the Palomar it was very easy to meet with my friends and clients, and on top of all that, there was an incredible gym just 3 blocks away (and a Taco Bell on the way back!)

We had our IGLTA board meeting later on that week, where we were wined and dined by both the Philadelphia folks and the Ft. Lauderdale team out here meeting with us for our future convention locations. Jeff Guaracino, Josh Neal, Niki Grossman and Joshua Winston spoiled us rotten.

We then wrapped up the weekend with an IGLTA reception at the Lumen Hotel, another Kimpton property, along with all of our friends from the North Texas Gay & Lesbian Chamber. The photos from that night can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattskal/sets/72157612904270901/

The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Chamber - LAGLCC.org

2009-01-21T08:17:00.000-08:00

I've had the fortune of being nominated and elected to the board of directors of our local Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (http://www.laglcc.org/. There's a great new team on board, including Randy Malmud, the new Chamber President, Anthony Vulin, the new Chamber Vice President, James Holchin the new Treasurer and Amanda Williams the new Secretary. In addition, Doran Farnum of Frontiers News Magazine is also a new member of the board as well. JD DiSalvatore has also recently come on as a new board members, and other board members include Jason Miller, Financial Advisor with Prudential Securities,Maureen Steinberg, Realtor with Keller Williams, Julie Falen, Real Estate Solutions Entrepr

eneur/Owner, Big Fiddle Properties, Peggi Garvey, Frontiers Magazine, Kirkland Tibbels, Founder/President Funny Boy Films and Dawn Ackerman, Co-CEO OutSmart Office Solutions and Immediate Past President, LAGLCC.

For more information on this organization, including an update on all of the ways the LAGLCC can help you grow your business with education, networking and more, please check out and join us at http://www.laglcc.org/.

Also, be sure to attend our upcoming First Thursday Mixer, the premier GLBT business networking social event, at OBar, 8279 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, Thursday, February 5th from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. $5.00 cover charge only, and the drink prices are fantastic!
To RSVP, Click Here.

:: Southern California GLBT Business Online Resources ::

LAGLCC.org Social Networking Site
Be sure to check this site out... it allows all of us in the Southern California GLBT Business Community to network amongst each other using some of the latest social networking and Web 2.0 tools available today.

Also, find the LAGLCC Online At:

Recent Interview by Equal4All's World

2009-01-12T08:26:00.000-08:00

Be sure to check out my recent interview I did with J Federico of Equal4All's World.

Matthew Skallerud, President of Pink Banana Media, began his career in the GLBT marketplace in the mid-90s – a time where not many companies catered to the GLBT community and their needs to go forth and flourish in this country. Matthew wanted to be a trailblazer – a true trend-setter. And that’s just what he transformed himself into after many a trial and error. Equal4all is proud to introduce Mr. Skallerud in the raw…

http://equal4all.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/the-man-behind-pink-banana-media-–-matthew-skallerud/

January 2009 Gay Business Report

2009-01-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

In This Issue
New Marketing Tools for 2009
How to get more targeted visitors to your site

In the last edition, Matt Skallerud wrote a great article, "Making Sense of Social Media." He compared social media to talk radio and old-fashioned telephone party lines. "A tiny percent call - but everybody is listening." This article is going to teach you how to best market to all of those "listeners...."

LGBT Marketing Forum: European Tourism and Hospitality Leaders to Gather in London
Timely Discussion of Gay and Lesbian Growth Opportunities During Economic Downturn

Unprecedented economic challenges facing the global tourism and hospitality industries have led leaders to explore viable "niche" markets to fill the gaps. Research over the past decade has indicated particular strength in the gay and lesbian markets, who continue to take holidays in large numbers during recessions, health scares, etc.

Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI), the international LGBT research and marketing firm, has announced a comprehensive "European Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism" to meet these challenges and identify growth opportunities. The symposium, to be held at the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch, London on 13 February, is dedicated to marketing and sales executives of tourism boards, accommodations, travel suppliers, tour operators, retailers and meeting planners. ...

Other Highlights

What are the Benefits of Social Media Marketing?
Who’s on our PBM Social Networking Site?

Download PDF