Project of the Week

Featured Project of the Week: 8/23/16

The Sober World - September Issue

Featured Project of the Week: 8/15/16

LIVE Galleria - Event Invitation

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Go Riverwalk Magazine connects our readers with all facets of Fort Lauderdale life, including our flourishing downtown and Riverwalk arts & entertainment district happenings, our city-wide array of social, cultural and neighborhood events, our world-class business & professional community, trend-setting fashion & shopping, amazing dining and the many unique & diverse lifestyles found here that make Fort Lauderdale one of the best cities in the country to live, work and play!

Each month 15,000 magazines are distributed throughout Fort Lauderdale including 1500 to Riverwalk members and sponsors; banks, commercial businesses, education, government, hotels, realtors, residential buildings (condos and apartment rentals), restaurants/bars/clubs, retail as well as the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport.

If you business is looking for this Fort Lauderdale based market, contact Mark Budwig, Publisher at Publisher@GoRiverwalk.com or 954-523-1980.

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If your target market includes Fort Lauderdale businesses, residents and tourists, you should be advertising in Go Riverwalk magazine. 15,000 copies are distributed throughout Fort Lauderdale each month. For advertising information, check out the web site at:

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or contact Mark Budwig, Publisher at 954-523-1980.

How to Build Your Personal Brand, According to Millionaire Gary Vaynerchuk

When Gary Vaynerchuk speaks about branding, everyone perks up and listens. And for good reason.

Vaynerchuk makes it his business to build businesses -- thriving, multi-million dollar companies. In his early days, Vaynerchuk grew his family wine business from a $3 million to $60 million business in just five years. His digital agency VaynerMedia represents brands such as Pepsi-Co, General Electric, and Anheuser-Busch. He’s an angel investor and venture capitalist, plus a three-time New York Timesbestselling author and a prolific public speaker. Vaynerchuk is a success story and an inspiration, and that’s why people want to hear what he has to say about entrepreneurship, marketing and branding.

Vaynerchuk has recently condensed his real-world knowledge into a course offered by Udemy called “Building a Personal Brand.” For aspiring thought leaders who want to escape the nine-to-five, the course helps define your passions and strengths, giving you a blueprint for establishing yourself as a brand in your specific interests.

According to Vaynerchuk, building a brand is a tough road to travel. But if you bring the grit and passion, he’ll bring the framework and motivation in this two-hour course, complete with practice exercises to help you make a name for yourself.

Vaynerchuk’s students walk away from his course knowing these five key ideas:

• How to uncover your strengths and go all in

• How to tell your story in a captivating way

• Understanding platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more

• Engaging with your audience

• Building brand awareness

For entrepreneurs wanting to effect change, Entrepreneur.com readers are being offered a special discount on this course now through the end of July. Enter promo code: ENTREPRENEUR30 to get an additional 30 percent discount. If you’re interested in escaping the nine-to-five, this course might be a good place to get started.

Udemy offers even more for entrepreneurs. Start your next course in coding, social media marketing, or business motivation today.

by Entrepreneur Partner Studio

Developing a Hardcore Social Media Content Strategy In 5 Steps

Social media is one of the most fickle tools at a brand's disposal. On one hand it is an open platform allowing for direct engagement the likes of which we have never seen before it. But on the other it is an over-saturated platform full of constant noise that can be difficult to cleave through. The trick is to build a loyal fan base that are part of a circular community within social media. You want to foster a sense of belonging that brings people back again and again. While direct interaction is one way of doing that, it should be combined with another strategy, namely a content strategy.

The Power Of Content

Whether you like the buzzword or not, content is important. It is what you give your followers in return for their support and interest. It is a way to impart information and entertain. But most of all, it is the most consistent and fail-proof method of building a brand, not only in substance, but in authority. Social media content isn't actually a different animal to what you would find elsewhere. It is just another strain of species, a form of equally valuable content presented for optimized for social sharing. You can build an unstoppable social media content strategy in five basic steps.

Step 1. Establish your audience.

I don't mean you should set about building your audience, that is what a social media content strategy is for in the first place. I am referring to establishing who that audience is, and what they want. How can you create good social content if you don't know your audience? Target audience research is most likely part of your overall digital marketing strategy, so you can get some insights from the website analytics software you are using (Google Analytics is probably the most widespread). Those insights will include basic demographics, acquisition channels, and content preferences. There are also social-media focused tools that will give you more information:

• BirdSong Analytics provides an indepth analysis of your competitor's Facebook page showing which content has been the most successful for them, which days of the week and time of the day trigger most interactions, which words are the most common in their posts and much more.
• BuzzSumo lets you compare Facebook pages and get insights into how their updates are being received by their fans
• Fanpage Karma allows you to identify your competitor's most engaged social media followers

Step 2. Invest in some (social) keyword research.

Keyword research is going to help really hone your content. Social keyword research is a more specified form of research that will give you a good foundation for catching the eye of social followers (or potential followers). I prefer a tool like Hootsuite for this, as it is a quick way to see what is regularly updating, and what is engaging. Of course, you can also just do a search on Twitter, Facebook, or your other chosen network to see which context your core terms usually appear. If you want a cheap alternative that will give you plenty of widgets to play with, including customizable social media features, you can check out Cyfe. They have some great social researching tools to use. For example, you can import, archive and analyze Twitter search results for any keyword or hashtag. Serpstat is another must-use tool here. One of its free features allows you to find all various questions your target users tend to search for when it comes to your core term. This is great information giving you tons of content inspiration to address your audience most specific needs.

Step 3. Begin testing networks to focus.

In the past I would recommend people only focus on one or two social networks when they are building a campaign. That isn't really the rule anymore, as most brands have expanded beyond a single platform. For a smaller brand that doesn't have a team at their disposal, however, it is more likely that they will have multiple pages, but only really use one for major social growth. With that in mind, I would like to amend my past advice. Set up several social media profiles, and put equal effort into each one (in the beginning). See which yield the best results, testing out multiple forms of social content and tactics along the way. This is kind of like an A/B test, but a little less straightforward. You won't necessarily get rid of the under-performing networks, as you would with a design or feature. You will just discover what form of content and use works for each one, and then use the one that works best. So really, you are setting up several social media content campaigns individualized for the followers on each platform. This has the added benefit of allowing you to use each network for something for which it is suited.

Step 4. Develop a content calendar.

Once you know what goes on which platform, and who you are writing for, you should have a good idea of what content to plan for. I am a big believer in having an editorial calendar for every piece of work drafted, or that will be drafted in the future. Incorporating a social element into that calendar is a great idea. It will turn an incomplete strategy into one that is completely integrated. Here are some ideas to include in your social media calendar:

• Monthly holidays (including weird / unofficial holidays)
• Big entertaining or business events (especially those specific to your niche)
• Festivals, upcoming big movie releases and concerts (Find memes to cross-relate to your niche and gain attentions for exploiting long-awaited events)
• Your company plans and events (birthdays, anniversaries, company trips, etc)

Step 5. Double-check your site performance.

There's nothing worse than spending days planning a social media campaign and then watch your users land on a broken or slowly loading page. This is what too many viral content campaigns have ended up looking like. The beauty of having a social media calendar is that you can actually anticipate more traffic coming in, so do your due diligence to let your tech team know your plans and let them get properly prepared. Here are some additional tools and tips:

• Here's uptime stats tool that are being updated monthly to pick the most reliable host and keep an eye on its performance
• Make sure your site is mobile friendly (Here's Google's tool for that) and consider creating a native mobile app to build your content strategy into it. Here's an easy guide on how to make a mobile app.
• Use Monitority to get an email, a text message and a Tweet the moment your site goes down

Having a social media calendar makes sure your content and social strategy mesh and empower one another for better results.

by Ann Smarty

Founder of MyBlogU, Brand Manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas

Reach 114,700 People a Month Advertising in Go Riverwalk Magazine!

Check out the numbers!

15,000 Print Magazines Monthly
10,000+ Opt-In E-Mail Subscribers
46,500+ Facebook Fans
19,000+ Twitter Followers
18,200+ Instagram Followers
6000+ Snapchat
_____________________________
114,700+ TOTAL AUDIENCE

Check out our Go Riverwalk Media Kit online at

https://www.goriverwalk.com/goriverwalk-magazine/media-kit or call me for information at 954-523-1980 or Publisher@GoRiverwalk.com.

8 Tips for Creating an Awesome Brand

When creating your brand, it’s imperative that you think about everything from your logo to color scheme to to the tag line. You also have to have a memorable brand name, strong message, support system, and all of the necessary legalities, like getting trademarked, in place.

But, that’s only the beginning of your branding process. To help you complete creating your awesome brand, give these nine tips a spin as well.

1. How do people see you?

“The interesting thing about your personal brand is it’s never what you say it is, it’s actually what everyone else says it is,” writes founder and chairman of the award-winning matchmaking firm PCBA Paul C. Brunson. “Therefore, the first place to begin in the building and growth of your brand is to know what people think of you.”

Paul adds that you can find out how others view by: “googling yourself, holding a focus group (of close friends), or asking a life coach or business coach to conduct a 360 analysis on your behalf (we do this for all of our clients and it’s very effective).”

2. Build your online platform.

Blogger, author, digital strategist, and speaker Jeff Bullas recommends that you, “Build your own online platform such as a blog or website that you own, then amplify your content and engage with your audience on social networks.” Be adds, “Use LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter or even Pinterest and Instagram. You have options. Find what social network resonates with you.”

“The secret. Don’t wait to be perfect. Just start.”

Here are a couple of pointers to keep in mind when creating your brand;

• Be authentic.
• Have a unique voice.
• Build an email list.
• Have a memorable design.
• Create a memorable slogan that expresses your mission and purpose
• Empower your customers

Also don’t forget to harness the power of content marketing, guest blogging and networking.

3. Weave your brand into everything you do.

Personal branding should be a large part of everything you do. It should be weaved into your life. It shouldn't just be in the clothes you wear but in your every action with friends and business colleagues.

Your brand should show in how you blog online. For example, my personal brand always is helping entrepreneurs. When I attend networking events I try to have the same person you read about online, shine at networking events. If you try to be someone you're not, it will show.

4. Be consistent.

As a customer, think about the brands that you are most loyal to. Chances are that they’ve earned your trust because they are dependable. For example, Zappos is known for delivering superior customer service. Dropbox includes its signature hand drawn blue box logo on all of its messaging.

Bot examples prove at just just how important consistency is for brands. As Hannah Fleishman states on HubSpot, “All of your communications and marketing assets should tell your brand’s story.”

5. Don’t try to please everyone.

Years ago at a marketing conference, my friend Jonathan Long from Market Domination Media told me that "You're never going to please everyone, so don't try to be everything to everyone. Learn to be the best brand possible to specific set of users." This still sticks out to me as myself as a business owner really can't do everything. If I try and please everyone.... it's not even possible.

Don’t be afraid to be yourself - even if that means saying the things that no one else will. Remember, you’re not in business to please everyone. You're in business to grow a business, not please everyone.

6. Produce value.

You should be producing value with whatever you do. You don't have to be Apple to have an amazing product. Even lower end products like Ikea produce a lot of value to their customers. 

When thinking about the value that you can add, ask questions like;

• What sets your product, service and company apart from your competitors?
• What value do you provide and how does that value differ from that provided by your competitors?
• How do these benefits tap into your customer’s emotions?
• Is what I'm producing for my customer produce enough value for the price I'm charging?
• Is my brand in sync with how I'm marketing myself?

7. Associate yourself with strong brands.

“Your personal brand is strengthened or weakened by your connection to other brands,” said Shama Hyder is Founder and CEO of Marketing Zen. “Find and leverage strong brands which can elevate your own personal brand.”

You can begin by looking at the three C’s: company, college, colleagues. For example, you could contribute content to your alumni or company newsletter or blog.

8. Get sneaky with brand-building awareness.

Finally, you can start spreading brand awareness by using some outside-of-the-box techniques like;

• Setting up a referral program.
• Creating an infographic.
• Offering freemium content.
• Partnering with local businesses.
• Wrapping your car with ads.
• Giving away swag.
• Running a social media contest.
• Hosting a podcast.
• Setting up PPC ads and a remarketing campaign.

How have your created your awesome brand?

by John Rampton