Wednesday, November 26, 2014 In Alpine Replay, email marketing, lift tickets, Ski resorts, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving is upon us and another year is soon to come to an end. Each year I am amazed at how fast another year seems to go by. It has been a busy and full year to date with much to give thanks for.  As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend we want to thank all our partners and clients for their business, time and consideration. The abundant snow bodes well for our snow clients and partners. The following is an update from this year to date on what is going on at Siewierski Consulting and with our clients.

1. Alpine Replay/Trace - The worlds most popular app for measuring performance and sharing your days skiing, snowboarding anywhere on the planet. This year we have started to re-brand the company as Trace. The app formerly known as AlpineReplay has been re-branded as TraceSnow. More and more resorts has selected TraceSnow as there platform for an app - resorts partners include Intrawest Resorts - Winter Park Resort, Steamboat Mountain Resort, Snowshoe, Stratton, Mt Tremblant, Blue Mountain Resort. Canaan Valley, China Peak, Mont Sainte Anne, Stoneham and Ski Vermont are independent resorts/association using the platform for custom medals, contest and to engage their mountain guests.

2. Wishlist - experiential gift giving like you have never seen. Categories include: Urban Living, Adventure, Relaxation, Charming Getaways, Adrenaline, Premium Getaways. Real estate agents from companies like ReMax, 8Z, Coldwell Banker, Fuller Soothby's are using Wishlist for closing gifts and referrals. Companies are using Wishlist for employee incentives and rewards and client thank you gifts that are memorable. Call us to find out more. This past year we added new categories like Premium Getaways, continued to add new vendors and Colorado companies as well as recent launch and expansion into California.

3. Email marketing and digital marketing solutions. - new clients we wish to welcome Include Wishlist, Golf Ball Droppers.

4. Mountain Sports Club - new partnerships with Bring a Friend to ski/snowboard, Learn to ski/snowboard month and Master Fit Enterprise/America's Best Bootfitters. The number of ski areas participating continues to grow as does our membership. The email list we reach out to is now just over 89,000 and growing.

5. Mountain Action Network - Continues to offer digital reach of skiers, snowboarders and mountain sports enthusiasts in our network of site partners. Reaching millions through targeted content site partners.

Please reach out to us with any questions or projects we can help with.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012 In Facebook, Google Places, online coupons, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

The explosion on geo check in on mobile phones and the next wave of coupons associated with this is being played out with both Google and Facebook pushing each side. One account  we just turned on a new Facebook page last week was Skiers Peak in Michigan. We have spent more time recently updating clients Facebook pages to take advantage of new features with a look to being able to provide coupons off of the phones when one is near you. The two giants Google and Facebook are getting good at offering free services to small and midsize businesses viewing to attract there users to their establishments.

On the Google side we are accomplishing this with Google Places. We just posted a coupon for our Mountain Sports Club and will see where it goes with a couple of retailers moving to this next. There are numerous restaurants and establishments racing to take advantage of these powerful marketing opportunities. Contact us with questions and a quote for services at 303.554.0222.

Thursday, March 15, 2012 In email marketing solutions and agency, Facebook, Google, Pinterest, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

We continue to add more and more social media features for clients as users continue to select many different channels to communicate and interact with brands. On the Google+ front this week we launched Google+ for Mountain Sports Club. This has been a real soft launch with a badge on the home page and we are seeing new traffic and referrals as a new source in our traffic analytics. Google is truly making this a component of search results going forward and we view this as a must do for clients.

On the Facebook front we just launched the new Skiers Peak Facebook page and one for Mountain Sports Club. We will continue to add new features as a available. facebook check in is coming and the ability to add mobile coupons. We are prepping clients for this as well as extending coupons on Google as well. Look for more examples.

 Other social media requests we are responding to from clients include building and activating Pinterest accounts, making sure these (new social media icons like Pinterest and Google +) are integrated into email messaging and site design. As we know more and more opportunities continue to arise and the challenge is implementing and integrating to be efficient.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 In Google, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

I sure hear lots of buzz regarding Google+ and just last week signed up and activated an account. Not seeing much activity here that would suggest it could supplant twitter, or Facebook. Chris Crum's article today - Facebook seems worried About Google+, Should it be?, raises the point it appears twitter may take more of a hit than Facebook and discusses some of the obstacles along the way.

Are you using Goggle+? What are you discovering?

Tuesday, July 12, 2011 In Google, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

Quite the buzz and lots of opinions with the announcement of Google+. Is this the Google effort that will make its true mark in social corners? Many have speculated it will take a chunk out of Facebook's shine and now some say it is twitter that may take the bigger shot. Check out comments from Chris Crum on this topic in. Do you think they can maim Twitter as discussed.

Me I just signed up for a test account and am very curious how well this will take off and work. Having used many of the google family of products it wold be nice to see it all come together in a clean and intuitive fashion.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 In Facebook, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

The ongoing debate on does social media sites like twitter or Facebook mean the demise of blogging or email.  We continue to hear this as noise that distracts from reality. A very good summary and analysis of this discussion is found in this article - Is Blogging Really in Danger Because of Social Networks?

The following helps to put this discussion in proper perspective from our vantage point:

Qouted from referenced story on WebProNews.com -  "Blogging has legs — it's been growing now for more than a decade, but it's not a 'new thing' anymore," says Mullenweg. "Underneath the data in the article there's an interesting super-trend that the Times misses: people of all ages are becoming more and more comfortable publishing online."

As is established every time this debate comes up, blogging and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter complement one another. End of story. Without blogs, people would have less interesting content to share on Facebook and Twitter. Without Facebook and Twitter, bloggers would have a harder time getting the readers. 

Kopytoff does make a critical point, however. The lines aren't always crystal clear about what is truly "blogging" and what isn't. Even Twitter use is often called "microblogging".

We are seeing daily in the rapidly changing world how blogging and the various forms of social media are now working to drive change at every level in our world.  Bloggers may very well be more powerful agents of change than any modern day army.

We need to continue to use an integrated approach to each of these strong communication tools in our business and daily lives.

Thursday, September 23, 2010 In Facebook, social media, Twitter by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

I find it very interesting as Facebook is down midday that there are conversations starting on twitter regarding this and I am not seeing lead stories on old media web sites. As these titans of new media battle with ever emerging new forms reliability or performance will remain a key part of winners. What are your thoughts? Did Facebook going down impact you at all?

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 In social media, social networks by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

With all the social media rage and discussions on how best to use and leverage the various options, such as twitter, it is no wonder the hack yesterday happened. It sure seems to have been rather quickly resolved. We are curious if it impacted your business. If so let us know how. Quick story at NY Times goes over the incident(s) - http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/twitter-hacked-tuesday-morning/?hpw.

Monday, July 26, 2010 In email, email marketing, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

Daily we here more and more on the ongoing debate of social media vs email for online marketers. Today we found more on this with the following, "A new report from Econsultancy suggests that email still beats social networks when it comes to marketing for e-commerce. The report says that over a third (37%) of consumers don't use a social networking site, and that those who have become a "fan" or "friend" of a company or brand online are still in the minority." For more on the story and report from Web Pro News.

The big number for us is that over a third are not even engaged in the social media marketplace. While growth and adoption is huge we know there is some drop out and soft engagement in the users numbers from the social media interests. Email is still easier to use and track with a larger user base. That being said integrating with a solid social media strategy adds value to each component.

Thursday, June 24, 2010 In email marketing, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

I continue to find it interesting when I see various pundits, or more frequently those with a vested position supported by the claim, claiming email will be dead. Granted we are users and believers in email as a company, but we continue to work with more and more companies and organizations making sure email, social media. online efforts and offline are all integrated.  None is the silver bullet all by their self. Leveraging and planning strategic campaigns with all continue to prove the be the most successful.

I am curious as to what the readers think on this topic that email is going away and it is all about social media. Interesting story on statements made by Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, at a Nielsen event. See comments in this article covering this mistaken position.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010 In email marketing, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

SkiGroup.net, a Boulder, CO based ski and snowboard wholesale tour operator has just announced selecting the Lyris email solution from Siewierski Consulting as the foundation for their new email marketing efforts. SkiGroup.net has used Siewierski Consulting to develop and assist in the launch of their social media strategy.

The increasing importance of social media and email marketing are foundational for success in today's marketplace especially among savvy online users that dominate the ski marketplace. By leveraging a new web site with an integrated email and social media strategy SkiGroup,net will make it easier for their customers, clients and prospects to stay engaged and informed.

For more information on social media strategies integrated with web, offline and email marketing contact Siewierski Consulting at 303.554.0222 for a free evaluation.

Sunday, February 28, 2010 In Search Engine Optimization, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

With more and more companies using social media strategies to more effectively it is no surprise to see Google announce they are adding more significance to the weight of Facebook posts for corporate and business web sites. A recent article on this on web pro news highlights this recent shift.

At Siewierski Consulting we continue to help more and more companies plan and launch coordinated social media strategies. Recently I attended and participated in a panel in Chamonix France presented by PhocusWright at the International Travel Symposium. View the entire panel at at http://www.klewel.com/private/its10/its_2010_sample.html Use login - its and password xtPvf03z.

Another excellent resource and reading for any business team is the book Groundswell. It's a bestselling book based on analysis by Forrester Research filled with practical, data-based strategies for companies that want to harness the power of social technologies like blogs, social networks, and YouTube. We have found it to be very thought provoking and full of ideas for all companies to harness this new medium.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 In social media, social networks by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

Given all the attention and debate on what is the best way to approach social media and networks, the comment from the Detroit Pistons on their effort this past season may be enlightening. Having worked closely with 2Dogs.com over the last several years we knew it was only a matter of time before more and more key brands began to adopt our approach.


The following testimonial speaks to how well and on target the 2Dogs.com solution and service has worked for the Detroit Pistons in their online social media efforts.


Service and Execution...two words that best describe what 2Dogs brought to the table for the Detroit Pistons when we decided to develop the foundation of our social networking platform: Posting Up the Detroit Pistons Official Social Network.


All this social media stuff was brand new to us, but we knew that we had to get in the pool and start swimming if we were going to uphold our reputation for being an innovator in the sports industry. 2Dogs understood our reputation, as well as the urgency to be first in our field, and immediately started on a plan that would fulfill our expectations.


Giving us examples of their work and showing us a wide range of options -- from blogs to videos to photos to music -- 2Dogs helped us develop a completely customized social network that gives Pistons fans from around the country and around the world, everything they need to share their opinions, experiences and love for the team.


2Dogs was extremely attentive to our needs and took great care in understanding everything that we wanted on our social network. They developed the programs, tested them and then let us test them before making any decisions. When we had changes, 2Dogs made them quickly and efficiently. When something didn't work for us, 2Dogs corrected problems immediately. They made sure that we were completely solid before we went to market, and they did it in a very reasonable time frame.


Today, Posting Up has more than 10,000 members and is the fastest growing social network in the 2Dogs stable. 2Dogs continues to provide incredible service at a reasonable compensation and is always looking for ways to continue our growth.


2Dogs is an incredible organization and having them as a partner in our social media strategy has helped us perpetuate our reputation as an innovator and a leader in the sports industry. They continue to provide exceptional service and go the extra mile to execute our plans for having a dominating presence in the world of social media.


David M. Wieme
Director of Strategic Communications
Palace Sports & Entertainment


For more information on our services and solution call John Siewierski at 303.554.0222 to arrange a demo and quote.

Siewierski Consulting or email john@siewierski.com.

Friday, June 19, 2009 In social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

The joys of flying and traveling for business are a far cry from what they once were, but I must admit that on a recent to my home town, where I combined work and pleasure, I finally made the point to block out time to simply buy a magazine to read and relax. This would prove to be relaxing and just the stimulus, albeit with no money from Uncle Sam unfortunately, for this post. In addition to conducting a quick email triage before getting on the plane, it was nice for there to be an easy to access free wifi with good connectivity at BWI airport. I must admit to also being partial to several airports that have good restaurants with good seafood and this is one of them . The BWI airport in Baltimore has a Philips Crab House – others airports of note IMHO are Boston’s Logan Airport with a few Legal Seafood locations and Houston’s Bush International airport with Pappadeux’s – provide incentive to get to the airport early and enjoy a real meal and treat before heading onto the plane where we all know the culinary experience is more of a punishment.

Not having read Wired for awhile, it beckoned from the rack. I will admit I found it interesting enough that I will reactivate a subscription. Yes even in the digital world where most prognosticators have announced the death of print there is still pockets of success. I found this issue very engaging with the article on Googlenomics and the role math plays for then in the own internal economy. I loved the article on how social media and digital media are leading to a new socialism even though they are rooted in libertarian effort to decentralize and liberate each and everyone one of us. I found it disturbing and amusing how the “socialism” word has been bantered about over the last 18 months and clearly the lack of understanding shown by the media and most of our citizenry as is evidenced in the rants of TV, radio and the blogosphere.

Often I have felt the great political treatise that needs to be written and articulated is how to reconcile the ontological gap between liberty, individual freedoms and the role of the state with respect to the social responsibility of large mass democracy and governments. The way society, technology, media and government has evolved lends that past understandings of social institutions and the traditional political ideologies obsolete and inadequate for understanding today’s world and building new working models to cultivate the best out of each of us and our communities and countries.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 In email marketing, online trends, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

Given the current state of the economy a recent report showing the luxury market users growing online and looking for more value it is not a surprise. An article on eMarketer - "When the Going Gets Tough, the Rich Go Online. This is a shrinking market as more and more people has lost significant wealth. The market is also getting noisier requiring brands ot be more sophisticated in their online efforts.

“Luxury brand marketers must stay top-of-mind with wealthy Internet users by offering superior customer service, personalized products, and exclusive offers and invitations,” says Ms. Phillips. “Other marketers hoping to catch the affluents who are ‘trading down’ must raise the bar in their online efforts—not merely by advertising, but by explaining how their products or services fit in with the ‘new’ affluent lifestyle.”

For online retailers, keeping up with the Joneses will not be easy.

With the explosion in social media, continued fragmentation of traditional media with growing use of online technology as the primary communication vehicle, across demographic sectors marketers now more than ever need to be engaging and strategic on how they leverage assets, including content and knowledge to effectively maintain and gain customer business. While infatuation is currently a part of the social media landscape companies will be compelled to integrate with email, off line marketing efforts while being true to their brand. The luxury market may prove to be more demanding than most, but the rewards are significant.

Monday, May 04, 2009 In social media, social networks, Twitter by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

Starting the week today I cannot help but notice the growing groundswell or mania and adoption of Twitter. Twitter is clearly the new darling on the media and online world. Being rapidly adopted by sports teams, personalities, traditional media, movie stars it is on its way to mainstream adoption.

A truly unique service the challenge has been how best to to integrate to help drive meaningful traffic that one can monetize, measure and use to drive profits and brand. Siewierski Consulting and others view email as one of the tools to be used in building the followers - (twitterese for subscribers) - and extending the relationship one has with customers and fans.

Just a couple a twitter feature articles I saw just this morning of interest -

A side phenomena of twitter mania is the rapid use of short urls. Today's New Times has an article on short urls and how quickly they are being adopted as well as the critical assistance they play in tracking links results from twitter.

DM News weekly issue has a front page article on how sports teams and fan are using and being attracted to Twitter.

Looking for help in integrating and using Twitter and social media for your company? Make sure to contact Siewierski Consulting at 303.554.0222. Visit us online at www.siewierski.com, our blog and at Twitter. Check our recently released social media integration and kick start promotion now available.

In blogs, mountain sports club, Siewierski Consulting, social media, social networks by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

Yes, we recently updated and tweaked the design of our blog for Siewierski Consulting and client Mountain Sports Club. The new designs take into account the growing need to integrate social media and social network efforts and integrate them into design and navigation. The other goal has been to make the sites easier to use, making access to archived and recent articles quick and simple, as well as bring a new and cleaner brand image.

Twitter account, Facbook, My Space, blogs and Digg integration will become more consitent itn the branding and integration efforts with clients. The new Mountain Sports Club blog also has a new url representative of the base root url as well. The Mountain Sports Club twitter account is being used to anounce new posts of listings, deals and coupons as well as industry news and updates posted on the new blog.

Thursday, April 16, 2009 In social media, social networking, social networks by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

More and more companies and organizations are rushing to launch efforts to harness the power of extending customer relationships and branding through the use of social media, web 2.0 and beyond. This was apparent in our recent workshop at the Mountain Travel Symposium.

In an effort to assist companies get started and kick start this effort Siewierski Consulting has introduced the following package.

Review current efforts and make sure to bring any current content into new launch. Set up and brand your 3rd party blog (Blogger or Word Press). Includes identifying critical keywords to be a basis of building labels and anchoring a keyword search strategy.

Set up and integrate blog within your site, by coordinating deployment with client’s web development and hosting provider.

Set up corporate branded My Space, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube Channel & Linked In sites integrated into existing sites, email templates and data collection.

Package price $1,500. Half down and balance upon completion expected turnaround 7 – 14 days. For more details call us at 303.554.0222.

Friday, April 10, 2009 In linked in, social media, social networks by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

I have found the new group started by John Clifford at Linked In, called the Resort Marketing Group to be pretty interesting. With the season coming to an end and preparation for next year well under way, I would suggest stopping by and joining in. There may be an informal gathering at the NSAA annual meeting and convention in Marco Island. Stay tuned.

Social media sure is all the buzz and a focus here as well.

Friday, April 03, 2009 In 2Dogs.com, flaik, Siewierski Consulting, social media by http://mountainsportsclub.blogspot.com/

Social Media Work Shops at the Mountain Travel Symposium in Keystone this past week highlighted the growing importance this growing element of the online world has become in the marketing mix. On Thursday morning, April 2, Bruce Rosard of PhocusWright moderated a panel on the topic of changes, tools and opportunity for resorts, tour operators, lodging properties and business targeting the traveling Mountain vacation and local markets using social media. Topics included Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Blogs, wifi and more with a panel that included representatives form Tavelocity, Google, wireless networks and GPS tracking technology.

The panel included John Siewierski, of Siewierski Consulting and Flaik, presenting case studies on how to successfuly deploy a social media strategy using the 2dogs.com solution and at resorts with new GPS tracking technology from Flaik. A case study on how GPtours.com has used the 2dogs solution to build a community of almost 8,000 Grand Prix enthusiasts and selling trips and tours that costs $10,000 to $15,000 per trip. Resorts using this solution include Stratton Mountain, Sugar Bowl and Monarch as well as resort associations and recently the Detroit Pistons.

Social media is becoming more and more important as seen by the packed room attending these sessions. Once example of how fats tis is happening is Travelocity's decision to hire a director for social media marketing. Panelist Cady Wolf, a vice president and partner with the company announced to the crowd.

Look for more and more companies to add this to their marketing teams or make sure this task is integrated into all makrketing efforts.