Eric M. Carter is an avid consumer electronics enthusiast with a lifelong interest in the subject. He began his love of electronics in high school, officially joining the Cartronix team in 1991. Eric’s passion for mobile devices & high-end audio equipment for the home & car has fueled the growth of the Cartronix & AT&T Wireless stores popping up all over Northwest Indiana.

He attributes much of his brands recent success to the dedication to inbound marketing: social media, blogging, email, mobile & video marketing. Check out his recent efforts on YouTube:

Eric’s goal is to share the excitement of what he does and what the company “Cartronix, Inc” does by empowering consumers with informative news, product reviews, and easy-to-understand resource articles. If you have a question about Mobile, Facebook, Blogging or Social Media – or just want a remote starter for you car – hit up Eric M. Carter either by commenting to a post on the blog, hitting his comment information below this featurette or by checking out any of the following:

• Cartronix.com
• cartronixcaraudio.com
• myremotecarstarter.com

And when he gets a moment to breathe, he’s spending time with his lovely wife and 2 darling kids, waiting for the chance to listen to Jimmmy Buffett and counting down the days till the next Cubs game!

Eric M. Carter

Eric is a pioneer in Northwest Indiana business, being one of the first (if not the first) non-agency in The Region to build his brand primarily through inbound marketing: social media, blogging, email & video. With a collection of Cartronix & AT&T Wireless stores strategically peppered through Northwest Indiana and more on the way, Carter’s success speaks for itself.

We hope you’re able to take a few of his tips with you and put them to good practice.

    

Hey, #NWiSMers,

Coach Lee, Daver & I had lunch today at Big Daddy’s Barbeque in Valparaiso, IN. Brilliant location! Though dunno why a Memphis rib-themed joint doesn’t have Memphis ribs…but that’s my review tonight on the personal site.

We had a great pow-wow. 

We came up with the following:

NWiSM Content 1.0 & the End Goal

There’s been some back & forth about the “Vegetables” portion of the site. And that’s understandable. We took the suggestions and decided that those who have the time to get into the 101 nuts and bolts, then beautiful. If not for awhile it’s understood. Coach Lee, Daver & I have vowed to up our efforts and will write the majority of the content by the end of March. Our goal:  50 Posts between the 3 of us. We also have a couple others that might help out.

For those who write the 101 content – we’re taking the content and turning it into an ebook. It’s our Seth Godin strategy. Pending on the content, we’ll make either 1 0r 2 books. The charge for the books:  $0.00. We want to make a simple how-to for local businesses. The more 101 content pieces people write, the more likely they’ll get credit in the book. You write a section; you get credit.

The Table of Content is being drafted and we might include some testimonials so if y’all write those we could include them.

NWiSM Content 2.0

If you would rather write about stuff  your day, we would like to do the following:

Trade Show / Conference Review:

Going to a trade show? Did you hear about it on Social Media or Internet Marketing? Tell us what you thought. Are there Internet Marketing aspects to the events? Tell us! Let it out!

Northwest Indiana Networking Event Reviews:

We all go to them, but no one ever writes about them. SOOOO, we’re crafting a little template (and we’ll modify them as we write) to write reviews on the networking events we go to:  speed networking, networking groups, classes, workshops…if it’s business oriented and has a smidgeon of a trace to have anything to do with internet marketing, social media or integrated marketing (online+ offline), we want it!

Product & Industry Reviews:

Have a smart phone you want to review? Do it. Android vs. Iphone or the latest phone? Great! Read a book that has anything to do with what we did? Great! Want a new iPad. Let us know! We’ll have a template to make the writing easy.

NWiSM Charter Members Doing Something Special?

For example, Daver just has a podcast with Steve Dahl. I know of another that might have a once-in-a-lifetime speaking opportunity! Dalton’s been spending a lot of time in Charlotte. I just guest lectured at the University of Missouri. Gosser is running more races that Prefontaine…

If it’s cool and it’s from one of the #NWiSM Members, tell us!

Special! Not traditional networking events. We’ll save them for the calendar and pound them on social media.

Speaking of the calendar…

Weekly Business Networking Events via the Calendar

Speaking of our killer networking event calendar, we’ll be making a weekly update about the networking events of the week. We’ll write about time, place, location, price, whether or not it’s open to the public…

First #NWiSM Webinar

Coach Lee, Daver & I will be conducting our first #NWiSM event. Target date:  April 19. Might get pushed back if we can’t get the first ebook done by then. Price:  $0.00. We’re gonna go for an hour.

Next #NWITweetup

We’re going to be doing an #NWITweetup in April. Thinkin’ the 12/13th of April with JA Field. Thinkin’ wine tasting and, this time, we’re thinking of setting a price so the service doesn’t go barebones like they did last time. Last time we drank the wine and didn’t buy anything and didn’t tip for s***.  Probably $5. Maybe $10.00. And for the incredible $$ in wine we’ll be allowed to drink, it’s a steal!  Daver’s gonna get confirmation!

Coach, Daver…let me know what I forgot!

What Do Y’all Think?

- Finn

photo credit:  Adam*B via flickr

Nat Finn

Nat Finn is the co-founder of NWiSM. He deals in SEO, Social Media, Blogging & CPC. Also in March 2012, he’s planning to announce a project he is working on. His list of projects and employers include livemercial, Golden Technologies, Blog Indiana, #NWITweetup and…well…that’s coming.

He’s also a Cubs fan – which means he’s unusually faithful and devoted

    

LinkedIn, according to Hubspot, is 277% more effective in sales leads generations than Facebook or Twitter. With time being a constant, not recognizing the importance of LinkedIn as part of your overall marketing actions within your integrated marketing plan appears not to be business smart.

Credit www.sxc.hu

Then when one starts looking at the demographics behind LinkedIn, an even bigger picture is presented.

• Average LinkedIn member has 240 contacts
• LinkedIn has grown 45% from January of 2011 to January of 2012-02-04
• 40% of all LinkedIn members reside in the US followed by India at 9%

From a numbers point of view, 240 contacts generate around 35,000 contacts who are one degree away from you and 3.2 million who are just two degrees away from you.  Questioning the importance of LinkedIn appears not be a good business perspective.

For example, currently as a LinkedIn member, I have over 1,100 first degree connections and this means I have nearly 600,000 potential contacts (one degree of separation) and an incredible 11.8 million just two degrees away from me.  Talk about an incredible sales leads prospecting opportunity right at my finger tips.

The importance of LinkedIn may be viewed through the eyes of effective business to business networking tools of years gone by such as the Rolodexes and the little black address books. LinkedIn is these tools in hyper drive allowing you access to people you could never known about less alone connect with.

To effectively leverage this most dynamic business to business networking tool does require an investment of your time. Business to business networking contacts will not come magically to you, but securing new contacts and sales leads are relatively easy and do not require getting in your car and leaving your office. LinkedIn is environmentally friendly or some as prefer to say “quite green.”

First, your LinkedIn profile must be complete.  An incomplete profile is very similar to a store window that is under construction.  No one is attracted to you. Additionally through the search mechanisms within LinkedIn, an incomplete profile reduces your opportunity to be found.

Here again are the seven (7) basic criteria for a complete profile:

1. Professional image of you not your company’s logo
2. Compelling LinkedIn headline (Note restricted to 120 characters)
3. Your current position
4. Completed LinkedIn Summary section
5. Completed specialties section
6. Three recommendations (remember to receive one must first give)
7. Completed interests and groups section

Second, engagement must happen beyond accepting an invitation.  Invest the time to reach out and touch someone within your network.  Schedule a phone call or an appointment immediately after accepting an invitation.

Third, interactions require relevancy.  Post interesting URL links that you have found within your status bar.  Comment on the links provided by others.  Join discussion groups with the purpose to add relevant value and not blatant self promotion.

If you are a solo entrepreneur with limited marketing funds, a small business owner or a C suite executive with far more extensive marketing budgets, LinkedIn is the place to be unless you prefer as they said in a past generation “to be square” or what I believe to be “pocket poor.”

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, the Strategic Tactician, is an author, corporate coach and executive consultant who supports crazy busy forward thinking leaders at all levels and in all industries who are tired of the current status quo, of repetitive problems and truly want sustainable results for their teams as well as their selves.

    

LinkedIn members use the search feature to find sales leads, potential strategic partners to centers of influence to vendors.  Here is one proven strategy to dramatically increase your search visibility and results on this incredible powerful business to business networking Rolodex on steroids.

Credit www.sxc.hu

First, keyword research is require. Use the Google Keyword Tool to determine a one word or two word keyword for what you do.

These keywords should also be aligned to your other inbound marketing efforts such as your website, your blog, your other social media interactions. If you can locate a short long tail keyword all the better. A long tail key word is more than one word and better qualifies the searcher.

For example, one can search “black shoes.” However, if the search is very specific by “women black shoes high heels size 9″ this suggests a more qualified potential sales lead.

After determining your keyword or keywords, then it is time to visit your LinkedIn Profile. You will need to to to the edit tab of your LinkedIn Profile.  The keyword requires placement in the following five (5) key areas.

• LinkedIN Headline – This is what people read first when they see your name.  Again, using my profile as an example, my headline reads

• LinkedIn Summary – As the previous blog posting on how to improve your LinkedIn profile to increase sales,  this is the section right below your fixed headline and overview section. Within this area, your keyword must be inserted.

• Specialties  – Your specialties are at the end of your summary.  Insert your keyword in this area as well.

• Current Experience – Your keyword needs to be also embedded in your current experience.

•  Past Experience – Again, integrate your keyword within one of your past experiences.

Of course this is not the only way to be found on LinkedIn searches or to generate sales leads. However it is probably one of the quickest sales leads business to business strategies that you can personally undertake to accelerate being found within the extensive LinkedIn community.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, the Strategic Tactician, is an author, corporate coach and executive consultant who supports crazy busy forward thinking leaders at all levels and in all industries who are tired of the current status quo, of repetitive problems and truly want sustainable results for their teams as well as their selves.

    

With over 100 million users, LinkedIn has become the go to place to find business connections, sales leads as well as new business acumen and professional knowledge. So this leads to the question, how can you be found?

Credit www.sxc.hu

Your professional LinkedIn Headline is the first or second opportunity to catch someone’s eye or attention depending if that person is a visual (your professional photograph) or digital learner (your headline).  What you say here can determine if the person truly wants to learn more about you and eventually send you an invitation to connect.

Glance at the majority of these individual LinkedIn headlines and many of them read the same way.  What you find is CEO of this, Project Manager of that, etc.  Do you really want to connect with a role or with a title?

Think of a newspaper.  If the headlines of that newspaper read like the headlines of many LinkedIn Profiles, would anyone read “the rest of the story” to quote Mr. Paul Harvey?

Now consider what would happen if you integrated some personality into that headline? Or better yet, possibly you could subtly identify an ongoing issue or even psychographic (the why behind the buying decision).

To do this requires you to return to your ideal customer profile and identify some key issues or characteristics that your current customers share.  Ask yourself these questions:

• Why do my clients buy from me?

• What have they said about me?

Your LinkedIn Headline can include your role, but having that role wrapped around some other emotionally engaging words can only attract more attention.  Again with over 100 million users, the goal is to stand out, to Be the Red Jacket in a sea of gray suits.

One final word of advice or suggestion is to change your headline occasionally.  Newspapers change their headlines on a daily basis because the world is changing.  By changing your headline on monthly or quarterly basis can also be beneficial.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, the Strategic Tactician, is an author, corporate coach and executive consultant who supports crazy busy forward thinking leaders at all levels and in all industries who are tired of the current status quo, of repetitive problems and truly want sustainable results for their teams as well as their selves.

    

Have you ever wanted to call Charlie Sheen? Well, a couple of weeks ago – and if you followed him on Twitter – you could have snagged his phone number when he accidently broadcasted his phone number to that Bieber kid. What Charlie did is what so many newbie’s and even more than a few of “experts” have done on more than one occasion.

What Charlie did was that he confused a “DM” Direct Message with an “@” reply.

recent DM's

What Charlie meant to do was direct message or DM that Bieber kid his phone number asking him to call and hang out sometime.

some replies

First of all, I think it would be wise for Bieber to avoid Charlie at this time. That is not the right kind of #winning.

Second, you can only DM someone that is following you and they can only DM you back if you are following them back. How Charlie messed up is he broadcasted it out to his nearly 6.5 million followers all because he for to put the “D” in front of that Bieber kids twitter handle.

The result was that Charlie got a lot of phone calls. Not #winning. I would have called him if I followed him that is, but I do not.

How do you successfully DM someone?

Well, all you need to is put a “d” before you type their twitter handle. Yes, it is that simple, but like I said before the person you are trying to DM must be following you. That method works on Twitter and on every other Twitter client like hootsuite, tweetdeck and tweetcaster.

Why do you want to DM someone?

Simply put, you don’t want the rest of the world to see what you are saying or sending to a certain person or brand. Right, Charlie?

So, what is an “@” reply?

Well, if I want to get someone’s attention and I cannot DM them. I would just @ – then their name, like @CoachLee. I would do that if I wanted to get her attention and show her a blog, a pic or something online, but I also wanted the rest of the world to see it as well.

I like that option because it can bring other people into the conversation. You never know who is listening. They may have more insight than the person you are asking or have a different perspective all together.

I think a good rule of thumb is to never tweet something that you would not put on a billboard that your mother would drive by and see.
There are some pretty well documented Twitter fails from people complaining about a job they just got to saying something completely inappropriate to downright ignorant. I am sure I am guilty of some, and I am sure will be as well.

Think before you tweet.

Dave Woodson

Dave is the owner of getUnoticed.com a local lead generation company specializing in generating lead for small to mid-size companies. Also, as if he is not busy enough, He has decided to get back into real estate as a listing agent.
Dave has been an early adopter on a lot of social media platforms and other online marketing efforts. He recognized that more and more people were going online to look for local products and services.
He is a speaker and trainer in the local lead and real estate arena specializing in video marketing, podcasting, local SEO and lead generation.

    

Rick Gosser is the Vice-President/CEO of Gosser Corporate Sales, Inc., a logo apparel and promotional products company serving businesses, organizations and sports teams throughout the U.S. He is also a branding expert, a social media devotee, and an inspirational speaker who loves to share how changes in your lifestyle can accelerate positive change in your business.

It’s safe to say that Rick is about longevity. Married 32 years, in sales all of his life, and in business as the head of Gosser Corporate Sales Inc. for a decade, Rick believes in getting on track and staying there.

A few years ago, Rick realized he was “sick and tired of being sick and tired,” and he decided to change the course of his life by taking charge of his health. In 2010, after losing over 105 pounds, he was inducted into The Joy Fit Club, an exclusive club of people who have lost 100 pounds or more through “just plain, good ‘ol diet and exercise.” Shortly thereafter, Rick appeared on the NBC Today Show where he shared his remarkable story on the Kathie Lee & Hoda show featuring Joy Bauer, the nutrition and health expert for the NBC Today Show. They selected Rick to appear on their show 9 days after receiving his 12 page application and pictures. Rick has become an avid runner. He ran 22 5k’s in 2011, as well as his first half marathon, and he plans to run 25 races in 2012 as well as two more half marathons.

Due to his lifestyle changes, today Rick is 130 pounds lighter, more energetic and more successful, and he believes there is a direct connection between lifestyle wellness and business health. He is now a sought after speaker on branding, social media, motivation and success. He also has been a guest speaker on an inspirational radio show to reach more people with a message of hope and motivation to take charge of their health and live their best life. He even ran a running race with Biggest Loser Season 11 contestants, “The Crozier’s” from Valparaiso, Indiana.

You can learn more about Rick and how he can help you improve your business, your brand and your life at www.gossercorpsales.com.

Rick Gosser

Rick Gosser is the Vice-President/CEO of Gosser Corporate Sales, Inc. and was inducted into The Joy Fit Club after losing over 105 pounds. He is a branding expert, a social media devotee, an inspirational speaker and a devoted husband of 32 years.

    

Sue Baxter has owned her own business in marketing and advertising for over 30 years – Baxter Design & Advertising. She has lived in Northwest Indiana for 26 years, having moved here from Indianapolis. Aftera few short years in NWI, she purchased the popular magazine called Panorama. She started the website for Panorama over 15 years ago and to this day is one of the very few entities that covers all three counties. Her businesses have expanded to include two major businesses with 5 Divisions. She is the perfect person to handle the calendar for NWISM, after doing the Calendar of Events for PanoramaNOW Magazine and website for the past 15 years. She has seen that the most successful calendars are those that don’t rely upon the user to input the information. It has been proven over and over that the more successful websites accept emails for content.

We hope that you can incorporate the NWISM calendar into your own Google Calendar and that it makes your business life simpler and easier to handle.!

Nat Finn

Nat Finn is the co-founder of NWiSM. He deals in SEO, Social Media, Blogging & CPC. Also in March 2012, he’s planning to announce a project he is working on. His list of projects and employers include livemercial, Golden Technologies, Blog Indiana, #NWITweetup and…well…that’s coming.

He’s also a Cubs fan – which means he’s unusually faithful and devoted

    

Dave Woodson was voted “the Most Influential Social Media Dude” in Indiana for 2010, he is a blogger, vlogger, podcaster (#davecast), Realtor and local lead generator for small to mid-size companies.
And unlike many other so-called experts, gurus, ninjas and whatever other social media types want to call themselves, Dave has actually grew his business using the tools of social media like video marketing, blogging and regular engagement on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Dave is a marketing consultant for mortgage and real estate companies including small and mid-sizes companies, and speaks regularly about video marketing. podcasting and other social media marketing practices.

Dave does a weekly business podcast, while he continues to sell real estate and market himself along with other companies and products onlines.

Some of Dave’s specialties:

• video marketing
• Local SEO

Dave Woodson

Dave is the owner of getUnoticed.com a local lead generation company specializing in generating lead for small to mid-size companies. Also, as if he is not busy enough, He has decided to get back into real estate as a listing agent.
Dave has been an early adopter on a lot of social media platforms and other online marketing efforts. He recognized that more and more people were going online to look for local products and services.
He is a speaker and trainer in the local lead and real estate arena specializing in video marketing, podcasting, local SEO and lead generation.

    

I am a “people person” as well as a “tech nerd.” I am also a lifelong learner and helper—with 20+ years of sales and marketing experience. This combination has fueled my passion to help clients master technology that enhances their business lives by building successful online relationships using relevant communication with customers, vendors, potential venture partners and referral sources.

I was honored to win “Indiana’s Most Influential Social Media Woman” for 2009 in the first year of business as Founder/CEO of My Social Media Coach. I am doing exactly the work I love to do and feel privileged to have worked with many wonderful clients and to have spoken at many noteworthy organizations, including: YMCA of the USA, American Association of University Women, Society of Human Resource Management, WVLP Radio “Socially Speaking with Kathy Sipple”, Vocalo.org (WBEW National Public Radio), as well as numerous Chambers of Commerce, business networking events and business incubators and training facilities.

Through my work with Dean DeLisle & Forward Progress, it has been my pleasure to have helped train 19,000+ people to use social media more effectively in their business lives.

Past workshop topics have included:

• Using LinkedIn for New Business Development
• Social Media for Non-Profits
• Facebook for Business
• Twitter for Business
• Blogging Basics
• Managing Your Online Presence in 20 Minutes a Day
• Reputation Management
• Social Media Boot Camp (Intensive ½ Day Workshop)
• Social Media for Job Search

On a personal note, I have become increasingly interested in doing my part to help the environment. This has included downsizing, finding ways to drive and otherwise consume less, volunteer for local environmental initiatives such as organizing monthly Green Drinks meetings in Northwest Indiana. I am also in the process of launching a new networking site called 219greenconnect.com to facilitate communication between members of my local green community members.

Kathy Sipple

Founder/CEO at My Social Media Coach + 219 GreenConnect | Social Media
Consultant at Forward Progress | Northwest Indiana Green Drinks
Organizer | Writer | Radio Host | Public Speaker | Vermicomposter |
Dunes Hiker | Local Foodie + Community Gardener | Reiki Master