Our flight was from Sacramento which meant the trip began with a 4 ½ hour haul down I-5 Saturday morning. Tim and I were ready, a dream come true to watch the Ducks in the BCS Title game. The 4 ½ hours just flew by; we were in Sacramento in what seemed to be a… Read More
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Beyond the Pond
I write what interests me, and hope that it interests you. Most days, you’ll find this blog covers: Media. Ducks. Golf. Not necessarily in that order.
Hi. I’m Mike Frey and I’m the Chief VIsionary Officer for Paradux Media Group. I just wanted to take a second to say hello and welcome you to “The Pond” and my blog, Beyond the Pond.
3 Little Must Do’s for your Business Facebook Page
It’s the simple things that always separate yourself from your competitors. Nothing is more evident of that fact than with Facebook. It’s not hard to tell the difference between businesses that do the homework before they jump in and those that just jump in for the sake of jumping in. It’s not hard nor is… Read More
Separation of Personal Page and Business Page Like Separation of Church and State
A lot of us have Facebook personal pages as well as business pages. A pet peeve of mine is people who spend most of their time on their personal page talking about their business and sharing the links from their business and then ask me to ‘Like’ their business page. Why? You’re filling me in… Read More
We Can’t All Speak The Same Can We?
We see the blogs every day 5 ways to do this, 10 ways to do that, this is how you need to do social media. If we all operated our social media the way the guru’s say, then what would separate social media from everything else. One of the things I enjoy about social media is… Read More
If Organization Networking Why Not Social Media Networking?
For years local business owners have joined networking organizations and clubs. Local Chamber, 20/30, Rotary, BNI, just to name a few. Some are exactly what they are networking, and some are disguised as charitable although we know that 90% of the reason we are involved is for the networking. Most clubs/organizations then have sub-committees that… Read More
Why Twitter? Maybe for the News
While everyone talks and talks about how you should use social media, and if you follow their 10 steps you’re sure to succeed if you pay attention the one category that is using twitter the right way is our local journalists. That alone is why you the local small business owner should be involved in… Read More
Fine Tune your Social Media Like your Golf Game
Social Media is nothing more than communication. There will always be certain individuals who are naturally better and more talented than others at communicating.  Social media, like life offers several different forms to communicate in. It is important to play in as many different forms as you can, some will be more suited and others… Read More
The Innovative Ducks a Little Like Social Media?
Have you watched the Oregon Ducks play football this year? If not, you’re really missing out. As I watch how innovative Coach Kelly and the Oregon Ducks are on the field I can’t help but think of the comparisons with social media. Some of the traditional football fans and writers complain that they’re offense is… Read More
Layers, the more the better
Today marketing requires more layers than ever before. Years ago the business owner could choose one or more of the three traditional media outlets and call it good. With the continual downward spiral of traditional media, business owners must find layers to define the position their business has in the community. Social Media is a great way to… Read More
Blogging-Like Eating Vegetables
I really don’t like blogging.  I do find it a necessary evil today no matter what business category you fall into. Blogging seems to lend credibility to who and what it is that you do. It can make you an expert in the field that you work in. It adds great material to your website,… Read More
So What’s Your Social Media Strategy?
So what’s your social media strategy? I’m sure that when it comes to most marketing endeavors that you attach some strategy to it. Have you done that for social media? No I’m not talking about an ROI, I’m talking strategy. What is the base for your social media, Facebook? Twitter? Is location based social media… Read More
Are You a Pioneer or a Settler?
There are all sorts of numbers being thrown out there as far as how many companies have implemented social media plans and strategies. Most numbers are probably a little inflated. It’s really going to come down to region and category. There are obviously some catagories that are more suited to social media right now, similar… Read More
Where is Your Audience?
So as a small business owner where is your audience today? There was a time years ago when you could buy a ad in the Saturday local paper and get a decent ROI. If you weren’t a fan of print, and were looking to build some Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA) you could reach out… Read More
Tweeting is Word of Mouth
We were recently out of state attending a client’s strategic planning session. We didn’t know much about the area, had been very busy in the weeks leading up to that we didn’t do a lot of investigating on the internet. It also wasn’t a vacation to pull up all the to-do’s of the place you’ll… Read More
Social Media-Build Your Own Audience
Traditional Media has been doing it for years, building an audience through programming and marketing and then turning around and selling your business the opportunity to talk to their audience. Social Media is the opportunity for YOU, the local business owner to create your own audience to communicate to and through. Building an audience in… Read More
Traditional Media Created Social Media
photo credit: susan solinski Prior to conglomeration there was a time when radio, television and print were local community outlets.  The big three were locally owned, and focused on the local community. Now most decisions that are made for communities regarding their major media are made from thousands of miles away. What music to play,… Read More
What’s Next For Social Media?
While the big brands and big boxes have taken early advantage of social media, if social media continues to grow it will be because of the smaller local businesses. Big brands are paving the way which makes sense being that social media is more popular in the larger markets. The next phase will take place… Read More
Grassroots Marketing: Where Social Media Makes Perfect Sense
We belong to a local Chamber of Commerce that represents a lot of small communities in the area that we live. It represents small communities with populations as high as 8,000, but most closer to 1,000. Like a lot of small communities, the summers are filled with unique and creative events on the weekends. The… Read More
Mainstream Social Media: Is That What Users Want?
Every day we further mainstream social media. It’s hard to watch a news program that isn’t talking about what’s going on out in tweet-land or what’s being posted on Facebook. How many tv and radio commercials now ask you to follow or like and print ads with the twitter and facebook logo in them. My… Read More
Practice Patience
For local business owners the world over, and in Southern Oregon, the three keywords to opening or running a business have been location, location, location. In today’s economic and marketing environment the new three keys to success are patience, patience, patience. From an economic standpoint, we’ve been in a cycle where disposable income just doesn’t… Read More