Media Interviews
The Roanoke Times 07/19/09
Social media @ work
By Adriana Gomez Licon
Photo by: Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times
Business professionals in the Roanoke Valley are considering how to integrate Twitter and other social networking sites with their companies.
Fingers quickly key on laptops, Blackberries and cellphones as 17 people speak a language that two years ago would have been impossible to understand.
Following users, sharing links, updating status, hash tagging topics are what marketing strategists and business professionals in Roanoke talk about every week at Roanoke MeetUp 2.0. They gather to discuss integration of social networking sites such as Twitter with their companies.
“We realized that by using social media as a tool, you would increase your search engine presence,” said Ira Kaufman, president of Optimized Strategies. “You have more people coming to your Web site.”
His company develops marketing strategies that mix traditional advertising with online and social media. For instance, Optimized Strategies designed and maintains the Web site of Kissito Post Acute, a national health care and rehabilitation center that has facilities in Texas and Virginia.
“They asked us to rebuild their Web site and incorporate social media,” said Patsy Stewart, director of operations at Optimized Strategies. “They actually found us through social media.” … continue to read
