Stephanie Liu

Free Entrance to U.S. National Parks

  • By Stephanie Liu
  • March 11, 2011
  • Events

Cabrillo National Monument
National Park Week is next month from April 16th – 24th, 2011 and folks like me who enjoy going on walks and hikes at national parks here in California can go off on an adventure without having to pay regular entrance fees.

So come out and enjoy the fresh

air and take advantage of this great event. If you’re not available that week, don’t worry — there’s other fee-free days that you can take advantage of. One other tip to take note is that several national park concessioners are joining the National Park Service in welcoming visitors with their own special offers. Feel free to check them out while planning your next outdoor trip.

WHEN: Fee-free days in 2011:

  • January 15-17 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday weekend)
  • April 16-24 (National Park Week)
  • June 21 (First day of summer)
  • September 24 (Public Lands Day)
  • November 11-13 (Veterans Day weekend)

WHERE: More than 100 U.S. National Parks (call for more info).

California Parks

  • Cabrillo National Monument
  • Death Valley National Park
  • John Muir National Historic Site
  • Joshua Tree National Park
  • Lassen Volcanic National Park
  • Lava Beds National Monument
  • Muir Woods National Monument
  • Pinnacles National Monument
  • San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
  • Sequoia National Park
  • Whiskeytown Unit National Recreation Area
  • Yosemite National Park

Photo Credit: Flickr User Iamtheh

 

Stephanie Liu

Free Admission to The New Children’s Museum

  • By Stephanie Liu
  • March 7, 2011
  • Events

One of my favorite places here in San Diego is The New Children’s Museum. It’s filled with creativity, beautiful art, and fun activities that my niece and nephews can enjoy. And now, thanks to Target, you can enjoy a free day of admission to The New Children’s Museum in downtown the second Sunday of every month. That means, this weekend you can hop on down to the museum and take advantage of their extended hours (10AM – 4PM) to think, play, and create.

Every Target Free Second Sunday includes a variety of special performance and activities for children. So if you’ve got little ones, be sure to bring them down.

For more information, visit The New Children’s Museum website at http://www.thinkplaycreate.org.

If you like this post and are looking for more “wallet-free” weekends here in San Diego, check out Diego on a Dime by Junvi Ola. Her site is 100% dedicated to keeping you up to date on great events in San Diego that won’t hurt your budget.

Stephanie Liu

Digital Media Dinner – Social Media Branding Recap

The second series of Digital Media Dinner was held last month and focused on how businesses both large and small could strengthen their company’s presence across various social networks, review sites,  in addition to collective buying sites such as Groupon.  The event was hosted by local social media consultant, Melodie Tao (also known as Marketing Melodie) and featured Danny Wurst, Community Manager at Yelp, Kate Grofton, Account Manager at Groupon, and Lee Mills the VP of Marketing at MojoPages as panelists.

To kickoff the event, Melodie Tao presented a high level overview of popular online review sites, location based services, and provided the audience with tips and tricks on how to create and maintain their own Facebook business page. Then opened the floor to the audience to ask her and the panelists a few questions. What I found most interesting was the difference of a Facebook Profile versus a Facebook Page.

According to Facebook’s terms of service, “Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook.”

This means, should a business create a Facebook profile instead of a Facebook page, Facebook has the authority to delete that profile and as a result, the business would lose their list of friends. So if you’re business has a profile instead of a page – act now and set up your Facebook page. Once you make that change you’ll have access then to view analytics on your Facebook page and take advantage of Facebook’s Like buttons and widgets.

Another key take away that I came home with were Yelp Events. Apparently I have been living under a rock and am not as Yelp savvy like my dear friend Jonathan H. because when Melodie Tao asked who heard about the event on Yelp – almost everyone raised their hands! Yelp Events? Huh? What is that?

Yelp Events features local events that Yelpers can RSVP to and a comment board that the community can participate in. My excuse for not being aware of this feature is because I generally look for events on Facebook and only go on Yelp to read and write reviews. However, since the event, I’ve taken a stab at adding a few San Diego Ad Club and Ad 2 San Diego events to the calendar and it was pretty easy.

Overall, I enjoyed Digital Media Dinner and look forward to the next series. For those of you that were unable to attend, you can view Melodie Tao’s presentation below or on SlideShare.

Digital Media Dinners- Social Media Branding

View more presentations from Melodie Tao


Credits: Photo courtesy of Melodie Tao.

San Diego Advertising Fund for Emergencies Annual Party
Stephanie Liu

San Diego Advertising Fund for Emergencies Annual Party

  • By Stephanie Liu
  • March 1, 2011
  • Events

SAFE – the San Diego Advertising Fund for Emergencies is a volunteer, non-profit organization (501c3) dedicated to providing financial aid in life crisis situations to members of the San Diego County advertising and marketing community and their families. Our services are free. Cases are handled carefully, confidentially and compassionately.
This year, the Annual SAFE Party is going to be held on Thursday, March 3, 2011 at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse from 6PM – 10PM. To purchase your tickets online, visit the official SAFE website. Supporting SAFE ensures that we will be here today and tomorrow, should you need us.

If you need help, call us at 619-255-2281. If you’d like to help SAFE by donating, volunteering or becoming a sponsor, visit GIVE HELP section of the web site.

Stephanie Liu

Snug Life

Today’s Guest Blogger is Ian grist from TechandTonic. Ian shares his views about the current state of Technology, Business, and Life in general. When he’s not blogging, Ian is playing the bass guitar in the band Dying to Wake.

Now that I have a partner in my love of Snuggies (HeyStephanie!), I’ve done a lot of thinking about the current popularity and unsure future of Snuggies. Are these just going to be a temporary fad? Or are they actually going to stick around and secure a foothold in our society much like blankets did in the 1930’s. Or maybe that was hundreds of years ago. Anyway, your standard blanket has been around for a long time. If some newer blanket technology exists, why are we still using the old kind? Just like no one is still using the 1st generation iPod because newer ones are cheaper, with more storage and color screens – why in the world are people still staying warm with standard blankets?!

Let me take it back a little farther with a better example. In the mid 60’s, the 8-track first came to market. It grew in popularity, and became the established standard for mobile audio throughout the 70’s. However, with the invention of the CD player, and its price dropping over the next ten years, it quickly became the obvious replacement to the 8-track with far superior sound quality. This was the obvious and typical progression as better technology became available, people gave up the older stuff. Such should be the progression of blankets to Snuggies.

It’s my hope that within the next 10 years we will, as a society, begin to phase out the use of regular blankets as people begin to realize that Snuggie’s are far superior. Any standard blanket can be significantly improved with the addition of sleeves. Or skeletor.

This not only provides protection against He-Man, but also provides sleeves for easy access, warmth, and allows you to do all sorts of activities without being inhibited by all the extra material that comes with a standard blanket. They can even be improved with the addition of some Ninja Turtles screen printing. Who can argue with the protection of a half shell and the warmth of Snuggie material?

I hope I’ve provided a convincing case for the longevity of the Snuggie in our culture. I, for one, will not be using blankets for the rest of my life as I transition over to the warm convenience of snuggies.

Stephanie Liu

Tips for Marketing on Foursquare – OMS 2011

Thanks to my current employer, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the Online Marketing Summit (OMS) in San Diego which was held at the Downtown Westin Gaslamp Quarter. I was at the conference most of the time providing attendees with a demo of my company’s software solutions for SEM and SEO and while I wasn’t able to attend a lot of the sessions, I was able to attend a session on how marketers could leverage the location-based social media platform, Foursquare, to target and reward loyal consumers.

Mike Lewis, the speaker and  Vice President of Marketing at Awareness, Inc. kicked off his presentation with a comedy web series on YouTube produced by HubSpot, Inc. called, “Foursquare Cops,” which I had to share (see below). The rest of the presentation is up on SlideShare. If you attended the event, what was your key take away?

Foursquare Cops – HubSpot, Inc.

Top 10 Ways Marketers can Use Foursquare

Presented by Mike Lewis (@bostonmike) at OMS 2011

View more  presentations from Mike Lewis on SlideShare and visit his blog Social Episodesfor more of his insight on social media and its on today’s businesses.

If you’re already on Foursquare, feel free to add me – HeyStephanie. Check you later!

Stephanie Liu

Land a Power Lunch with Top San Diego Advertising & Marketing Executives

  • By Stephanie Liu
  • February 15, 2011
  • Events

Are you looking to get ahead in your career as an advertising and marketing professional in San Diego? Well if you’re already an Ad 2 San Diego member, you’re already off to a great start!

Ad 2 San Diego has partnered with top advertising and marketing professionals in the community to participate in a silent auction where Ad 2 San Diego members can bid on a private lunch with a top executive. This is the perfect opportunity to gain face-time with executives in the community who you can exchange ideas and key lessons with regarding your field.

Attendees will be able to bid on a one-on-one lunch with the following executives listed below. To learn more about each executive, click on his or her name to view their individual bios online.

For your chance to bid on an exclusive one-on-one lunch with any of the executives listed above, be sure to RSVP and register today for this month’s Ad 2 San Diego Members-only event.

If you’re not already an Ad 2 San Diego member, this is the perfect opportunity to join. Easily sign up online and take advantage of membership benefits today.

Stephanie Liu

Get Face Time with San Diego Marketing & Advertising Executives

  • By Stephanie Liu
  • February 13, 2011
  • Events

Feel elite with Ad 2 San Diego (Ad2SD) at the February Members Only Event hosted at the Gaslamp Speakeasy!  An ultra-exclusive event, this Happy Hour is password secure and therefore, only Ad2SD members are allowed to attend.  Behind closed doors, members will be able to enjoy 1/2 Off Signature Prohibition-Style Drinks and Complimentary Light Appetizers.

As part of the members-only event, Ad2SD folks will have access to participate in a silent auction to bid on One-on-One Lunches with distinguished advertising and marketing executives in the San Diego community.

Below are the details for the event – be sure to RSVP to reserve your spot. If you’re not already an Ad2SD member, you can easily sign up and register online. For more information on the event, visit the Ad2SD website or the Facebook fan page.

Ad 2 February Happy Hour Details:

· Date: Thursday, February 17, 2011

· Time: 6-8pm

· Location: Gaslamp Speakeasy

· Address: 710 4th Ave, San Diego, CA 92118

· Specials: 1/2 Off Signature Drinks and Appetizers

· Light Appetizers will be provided

· Silent Auction: Bid on a chance for a One-on-One Lunch with Advertising & Marketing Executives!

· Price: $10 – Ad 2 & Student Members. $15 – San Diego Ad Club Members

Stephanie Liu

Ad 2 SD Cause Marketing Night 2010 – Come Drink for a Cause!

  • By Stephanie Liu
  • October 19, 2010
  • Events

The 2010 Public Service Committee has selected their annual partners… The Seany Foundation and S.A.F.E.  That’s right, this year we selected two organizations to receive help from Ad 2 SD and its great members. Come Drink for a Cause, celebrate the kick off for Ad 2’s 2010 Public Service campaigns, and mingle with Ad 2 and these great organizations!

Make sure to get raffle tickets for your chance at some great prizes!  All proceeds from admission and raffle sales will benefit these two Public Service campaigns.

Read more on Seany Foundation, S.A.F.E., and Ad 2 SD Public Service here.

Event Details

What: Ad 2 San Diego Cause Marketing Night

When: Thursday, October 21, 2010

Time: 6:00 – 8:00pm

Where: Proper Gastro Pub and Wine Steals at the Ball Park, Upper Patio

Address: 795 J St.  x  San Diego, CA 92101

Drink Specials: Half Price Appetizers, Half Price Wells, $2 Off Draughts, $4 Wines, $5 Martini Specials from 6-7pm  x  $4 20oz. Miller Lt & Hennepin, $4 Wells from 7-8pm.

Cost: Ad 2 / Students – $10. SAFE / Seany Foundation / YNPN Member – $10. Ad Club / Non-Members – $15.

Donate for the raffle and contribute to Public Service!

Download application here and email Brittany Cook.

Stephanie Liu

Marketing via New Media and HeyStephanie Meet Again

In an effort to stay abreast of trends in the social media landscape, I enrolled in the Marketing via New Media course through UCSD Extension which is taught byBecky Carroll, author of the CustomersRock.net. The objective of the online course is to “examine interactive marketing opportunities beyond websites, including blogs, vlogs (video blogs), forums, e-mail campaigns, social networking, communities, podcasts, mobile computing, and even virtual reality.” For individuals whose day to day activities are usually fast-paced, this is a great way to learn and embrace the new marketing opportunities within social media on their own time.

I first heard of the new media marketing course in 2008 when the company I was working for at the time, Brickfish®, was invited by Becky Carroll and her students to speak. We presented what Brickfish was and how companies could use our platform to launch a social media advertising campaign. In fact, I blogged about my first encounter with Becky’s class which you can view here: Marketing via New Media Meets Brickfish.

Since 2008, I’ve always wanted to enroll but there was always an obstacle (i.e. work life balance, other extracurricular commitments, etc.) that prevented me from doing so. Now that I’ve finally enrolled in the class and I’m definitely looking forward to what the course has to offer as well as meeting other students in the class that are as passionate about social media as I am. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.