I learned a lot at Free State Social last week, even if I was only able to view the conference via live streaming on my computer. Even though I wasn't able to network in person with fellow attendees and speakers, I still believe that I learned as much as I would have had I attended it in person. Hopefully next year I will be able to go again! It was a great experience, especially since there were experts like Chris Brogan and Sarah Evans in attendance.

Here are some of the main points from the first 3 speakers at the conference.

From Chris Brogan:

Questions we need to ask ourselves:

• How do we share?

• How do we give our ideas handles?
• What story are we telling?

Predicted New Trends for 2010-2011

• Social CRM
• Mobile Devices
• Velvet rope social communities (niche)

From Shawna Coronado:

• Whether you are using social media for business or personal use, it's all personal.
• Focus on building a community with your audience- be unique and always follow people back.
• And my favorite: "If you don't have anything to talk about, get out there and start doing something."

From Sarah Evans:

Ways to Stand Out Online:

• Find an opportunity to showcase what you do best.
• Hijack a conversation and offer an opportunity to share
• Meet a need in an innovate way
• Generate A LOT of quality content
• Do it for a good cause- mobilize people around a cause
• Give freely, give often
• Think like those you're trying to reach.
• Get sourced...a lot
• Aggregate content in order to stand out online.
• Take it offline- do one on ones
• Translate news and how it applies to them.
• Share people. Connect people to people.

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Social Fresh Conference that was being held in St. Louis, Missouri. In attendance were several influential speakers, marketers, and bloggers that have everything to do with social media and how it is shaping our current (future) marketing strategies, whether you are a big organization like H&R Block or a private blogger. I learned a lot and even received a free 5 minute massage from MassageEnvy during a session break!

Here are some of the highlights from the main speakers at Social Fresh.

If the past year has taught us anything, it's that saving money has become a necessity in a less friendly economic environment ... and as a result, coupons have made a huge comeback. After all, who wants to cut back on the day-to-day essentials when (with a little extra effort) you can just get them cheaper?! Okay, I'll admit, a $4.00 latte isn't really necessary EVERY day ... but if I have a $2.00 off coupon, it sure doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Retailers clearly seem to agree as coupons (particularly the online variety) have once again become mainstream.

Strong passwords are important. A strong password should contain uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. The use of a child's name or common dictionary words is not advised and can easily be fooled. If you have problems remembering cryptic passwords, consider using character substitutions to make bad passwords at least decent passwords. Following is an example of how that works.

Kelsey Childress, BIGSHOT's Social Media and Search Marketing Specialist, has been featured as a social media expert on the 'Collective Wisdom' annual report on the website Who's Blogging What. Jeff Ente, Director of the site, asked experts questions like How do we separate hype from reality in social media as we enter 2010?

To see Kelsey's answers, visit her individual social media expert profile. Additionally, here is the complete Collective Wisdom report with all the experts' answers.

Some of you may not be aware but BIGSHOT's own Kenneth Crowder has authored a Joomla book titled Using Joomla along with fellow Leadership Team member Ron Severdia. Combining years of experience, they have written 400 pages of easy to read information to give you a firm understanding of how to build and more importantly, manage your Joomla web site. The book is published by the leader in technology books, O'Reilly Media.

This book is easy to read and covers all aspect of the Joomla content management system including the upcoming Joomla 1.6.

We are excited to say that after months of writing and editing, Using Joomla was sent to the printer yesterday and will be shipping soon!

Pre-ordering is available through Amazon.com

Our very own Kelsey Childress and her blog The Social Robot have been nominated for Invesp’s Top 100 Marketers of 2009! Kelsey says, "Being nominated in the ranks of Matt Cutts, Aaron Wall, and Jordan Kasteler is certainly an honor and a privilege!"

Please vote for Kelsey by going to the nomination page (or clicking on the button below, searching for her name (Kelsey Childress), selecting it, and then hitting ‘Vote’. Every vote counts! Please share this post on Twitter, Facebook, and with friends to encourage them to do the same! We'll keep you updated on the results.

One of the best parts of the advertising business are the relationships that you form. I have been working with the folks over at Shawnee Mission Medical Center for over 5 years now, and when you work with someone that long, you really get to know them and their product.