Amanda Pensack recently joined TRA360 as a Social Media Strategist. Over the next several months she will be developing new social media campaigns, promotions and tactics using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. To date, Amanda has been learning about the business, customers, and projects. She’s also been tweeting on TRA360’s Facebook page, main Twitter account, and created new Facebook pages for TRA360’s Regulatory Writing and Technical Documentation practices.

Amanda graduated Cum Laude from Elon University in May 2011 with a BA in Strategic Communications. Amanda’s background is in Public Relations and online media working with B2B companies. Amanda worked at MGR Strategic Communications in August 2011 as a New Business Coordinator where she helped pitch social media strategy to potential clients. Her past experience includes working for a non-profit organization that benefits poverty-stricken families called Step Up of Alamance based in Burlington, NC. While at Step Up for two years, she helped film and produced videos for the organization’s open house, designed a logo and a letterhead, blogged on behalf of the organization and put together a photojournalism project that told the story of a homeless single mother’s troubles.

Amanda has also worked for Allied Integrated Marketing in Boston, MA where she helped promote films from major film studios including Disney, Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures. Her favorite gig was helping to promote the movie “500 Days of Summer” with the Sausage King of Boston in Fenway Park, where they handed out 500 free sausages to Red Sox fans. Amanda has also spent time studying and interning overseas in Australia. After moving from Cairns to Sydney in 2010, she began working as a Social Media Strategist for Residex, a company that sells information on the housing market in North Sydney, Australia. While at Residex, Amanda developed a social media platform and business model for the company to implement. Amanda’s work at Residex culminated in the hiring of a full-time social media professional.

So this past week I’ve been hitting the events hard, from the Gilbane Conference to WebInno, and tonight at the PunchBowl Startup Community Mixer. Rather than go over the usual of who I met, what they do and what I think, I’m going to take a less ego-centric approach and share what I learned.

The Gilbane Conference was an awesome experience in the four hours I spent there. The event was focused on web content management and customer relationship management, which are big fancy terms for getting good stuff online, making it easy to find, getting involved with customers online, providing content and managing all of the things that go into a website and how they relate to a business and can be improved.

As one of the executives put it, if companies spent a fraction of the time creating content as they do trying to optimize their site, SEO, or finding news ways of managing the customer online experience, they would be much better off. The latter is still critical in today’s saturated online market, but things like hits and being on Google’s front page will come naturally as an effect from the cause of good content. What good is a top three ranking if when a prospect clicks on your site they can’t find anything worthwhile? Will a great call to action matter if there is no online presence to back it up? These are all pieces of a business that are interwoven and must be part of a strategy beyond “lets just be on Facebook.” Why do you want to be on Facebook is an important question where in the answer lies the key- to make customers and prospects happy. How do you make a person happy when they are interested in your industry? You guessed it- provide great content free of charge.

Now there are many services out there trying to do all of this stuff for you, and that may be necessary for large corporations. But for people like you and I, we are tasked with trying to do this for small to medium sized businesses. Find out what your customers are interested in, throw the ball back and forth a few times, and make sure your time is well spent engaging people where they are. As the adage goes, fish where the fish are. And no, large nets and trolling do not apply. It doesn’t matter if you have 10 customers or 10 million, everyone wants to feel special and they can tell when an approach is gimmicky or a poorly disguised sales pitch. Give them the free content, and from there you can funnel the prospects and make some money. The more content you make- the better! After all, if someone is interested in say a video on SEO that you just posted, they are likely to check out what else there is and share it. Viral growth doesn’t have to always be by accident or chance, there’s a strategy that can be implemented and it starts with content and the customer. By becoming a trusted source and thought leader, you will be well on your way to getting that ROI every marketer is gauged on, and it will be a heck of a lot more effective than an outbound marketing campaign (though both at once is better).

Last week was my first time attending Beantown Social, a networking group in the Boston area focus on good times and social media. Being an avid social media guy, I saw it as an opportunity to mingle with my fellow nerds and learn something new. From event planning with Eventbrite to advertising with Google Adsense, I got a crash course on many various tools I’m already familiar with. If you haven’t heard of Eventbrite, check it out! I get at least half of the events I go to weekly from that site (for free!), and hope to use it in the future for some of my own.

The organizer of the event was Kristen Haley, the brains behind x10industries. She works hard organizing these events and getting the venues on board for some mutual benefits, like free snacks for the group and lots of thirsty customers for the waiters. This event was held at the Think Tank Bistrotheque, in Cambridge and it didn’t disappoint. They provided a nice cozy room for the meetup and the appetizers were, as the kids say nowadays, bomb. I chose not to partake in any extra-business activities, but from what I heard the cocktails were right on the money. Needless to say, this won’t be my last time venturing into Boston for BTS.

Being an entrepreneur means living as a bridge builder between dreams and reality. Entrepreneurs are great at seeing opportunity and capitalizing on it either socially or financially (or preferably both!), regardless of the apparent obstacles and curve balls that life can throw.  Tonight I had the chance to meet quite a few people who fit right into this definition. 

The UMass Lowell Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship alongside Merrimack Valley Sandbox, put on an event at Middlesex  Community College where four local entrepreneurs were showcased and shared their wealth of knowledge. The premise of such events is to foster a community of innovation in the region. From near-failures to sustained companies, each story was unique in itself and shed light on the difficulties that are a common thread for start-ups.

First up was Glynn Lloyd of City Fresh Foods. Since 1994, his company has strived to provide excellent  foods to the local communities with a emphasis on cost-effectiveness, without succumbing to the ever-present pressures to lower quality. City Fresh Foods now serves overs 8,000 meals per day to schools, businesses and the elderly. Anyone who has ever eaten “school lunch” knows the status quo for a <$2 meal, and Glynn is well on his way to change that. Who knew inexpenssive food can be nutritious, locally sourced and healthy?

On the topic of locally sourced food, Jennifer Hashley of New Entry Sustainable Farming is changing the game. Her company is born from the idea of community supported agriculture (CSA), or farming that is conscientious of its effects on workers, the environment, the animals, and the consumers. There truly is a hidden price we all pay for those goods at the supermarket and raising awareness is key to solving the problem. That and creating the ecosystem that supports CSA from all angles is what her initiative is geared towards.

All this talk about food is making me crave a good slice of pizza. And no, I’m not talking about some cookie-cutter cardboard sauce-laced concoction for a cheap price. I’m talking quality, like the pizza at Espresso Pizza in Lowell MA. Frank Carvalho is one of the owners of the shop and his passion and dedication show in the results. But what really struck me as remarkable about him was his company Mill Cities Community Investments. MCCI aims to provide financial services and loans to under-served people and companies, filling the voids that big banks leave. His knowledge of finances and capital have been instrumental in creating a viable business that is socially conscious and sustainable.

Lastly was the youngest of the bunch, a fellow Riverhawk Sam Antonaccio. His creative idea, while still in the early stages, is an ambitious project to create an interactive experience for people looking to explore Lowell’s history. Using a smartphone or tablet, users will be able to have a real time history lesson based on their location and the surrounding landmarks. Though there is still much to be worked out, he has been making headway with the help of the entrepreneurial community and I look forward to using his product.

Though each of the presenters were different in their history, they all share the same characteristics that any successful entrepreneur needs to have. Passion, creativity, and a never-satisfied appetite for a better future are part of what has made them achievers. Luckily these traits can be nurtured in all of us, and with a little sweat equity, our pipe dreams can actually see the light of day. It can be done, and they’re proving it.