Jennings Social Media Marketing press release regarding Valerie Jennings’ recognition as one of Friday Girl TV’s 2011 Women 2 Watch was recently posted on Yahoo!Finance.com , MSNBC.com and Businessweek.com. The article reviews Jennings as a change agent, entrepreneur, community activist and an all around phenomenal woman.
Valerie Jennings, CEO and entrepreneur of Jennings Social Media Marketing, was recently featured as one of Friday Girl T.V.’s 2011 Women 2 Watch.
The feature was released today and reviews Jennings as a change agent, entrepreneur, community activist and an all around phenomenal woman. In addition to being featured on Friday Girl T.V.’s Women 2 Watch page, Jennings will appear in the monthly Friday Girl Newsletter: The Friday Files: The Girl’s Guide to Chic.
Friday Girl T.V. features interviews with progressive women of all ages who are influential in shaping their community through the arts, business, philanthropy, fashion, health and fitness, with additional segments on fashion, sex, love, relationships, lifestyle and culture (http://fridaygirltv.com/woman-2-watch-4/).
Jennings Social Media Marketing is a full service company that utilizes the art of online storytelling with the science of measuring quantifiable results. Jennings creates comprehensive social media marketing and Web advertising strategies from website design and development to viral videos. The company represents publicly traded to medium-sized businesses across the U.S. and overseas including technology, sports, sustainability, entertainment, travel, financial, health care and real estate (www.jenningssocialmedia.com).
Franchises have been embracing social media platforms as an opportunity to help extend their brands. In a recent article, written by Jason Ankeny in entrepeneur.com, he explains the significance in using social media for franchises.
The article states that among franchises active in social media, 45 percent tell Franchise Business Review they’ve leveraged tools like Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter to boost brand awareness, and 24 percent are pursuing new customers. But 11 percent are looking at social networking as a way to recruit franchisees.
“Social media is a part of every marketing campaign we have. We have a presence on various social networking sites, and many franchisees have their own sites as well,” says Christie Wells, customer experience and communications manager for Häagen-Dazs Shoppe Co, a gourmet ice cream business in Minneapolis. “These are awareness opportunities for us, and we’re using them to get the word out there that we’re looking for franchisees.”
“The heart of the social media opportunity is that we’re continuing to get better at building a dialogue with our fans. We can understand what they want and what they don’t want, and respond in ways consistent with our brand equity,” O’ Reilly of Einstein Bros says. “Consumers are smart and they’re savvy, with opinions that need to be respected. Social media is the best way to keep them engaged.”
At the Social Good Summit held by Mashable and 92Y, Chris Hughes commented on the upcoming release of a new social network designed for non-profit organizations. Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, explained his passion for Jumo, the new network. Jumo will primarily exist to build relationships between people and non-profit organizations. He believes that giving begins with a relationship, and Jumo will help create these connections. Watch this video to learn more about the innovative social network that Hughes has planned.
Social media campaigns are evolving as advertisers learn which techniques work and which are not as beneficial. As advertisers become more interested in social media marketing, they are willing to pay more. Facebook still leads the way in money spent for advertisements, while Twitter and location-based programs are in the experimental phase. This article from Adam Ostrow at mashable.com shows where the money is in this expanding industry.
This post originally appeared on Forbes.com, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about social media, business and technology.
Citing a recovering economy and increasing marketer interest in the space, research company eMarketer recently raised its 2010 spending forecast for advertising on social networks by nearly 30% to $1.68 billion domestically.
Within the social media world, however, a number of trends are dictating how, why and where money gets spent — trends that will push the industry past the $2 billion mark in 2011, according to eMarketer’s projections.
Valerie Jennings 
Cassie Stubs
Katie Stumpf
