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Social Media/NetworkingDon’t Miss This Tonight! Free Webinar – Smart Social Media for Horse Professionals!
Event: Smart Social Media Marketing for Horse Professionals If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right. Social media is hands down the most powerful marketing and business tool horse professionals have ever had available. It’s inexpensive, works well for businesses that rely on “word of mouth,” is an excellent customer relations tool and enables horse professionals to share what they do in a very visual, “next best thing to being there” way. It has also grown and changed so rapidly over the last year that few horse business owners are fully capitalizing on its benefits. If you want to get more out of your social media presence, don’t miss “Smart Social Media for Horse Professionals 2011.” You’ll learn how to: * Integrate social media into your overall marketing plan – Get optimized for success! HITS Launches Social Networking Pages on Facebook and Twitter for the Marshall & Sterling League © ESI Photography. Ashley Prusak and Vendelier on course in the $7,500 Children's Jumper Classic at the 2010 Marshall & Sterling League National Finals. SAUGERTIES, NEW YORK (May 11, 2011) — HITS is pleased to announce that it has launched social networking pages on Facebook and Twitter for the Marshall & Sterling League, the United States’ most popular grassroots equestrian league. HITS will employ the power and reach of these two social media platforms to further its kinship with the League’s more than 1,300 member shows and its members, currently numbering over 1,900 individuals. “Although we’ve only scratched the surface of potential for social media tools, we’ve had great success utilizing these innovative platforms for our horse shows,” said Tom Struzzieri, HITS President and CEO. “We are excited to implement this form of outreach and communication for the members of the Marshall & Sterling League. The technology is evolving daily and we are excited to explore the various new ways that we can engage and interact with our members and horse show customers. In the near future, we expect to provide additional tools, applications, and resources for members through our presence in social media to help enrich their experience as League members.” John Allan from Equine Wellness Magazine to Speak at Canadian Women’s Horse Industry ConferenceThe Canadian Women’s Horse Industry Association is pleased to announce that John Allan, the Associate Publisher of Equine Wellness Magazine, will be participating as a speaker at the conference. The conference will be held March 4-5, 2011 in Toronto at the Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel. Allan will participate on March 5, 2011 on the panel “Making the New Media Landscape Work for You and Your Business”. Allan brings to the table extensive experience is social networking. From radio, print, magazines to the web, Allan has always focused on communication between businesses and their clients. Delivering the message is the important part of what John accomplishes, whatever the medium. The internet was a natural progression and is an important tool in today’s environment. “Social Media has always been with us in one form or another, and today it’s just easier to reach more people. But, the problem remains, does your message create the right response? I hope to demonstrate the common errors to avoid and the strategies you can use to succeed,” he states. Allan’s company is also the Platinum Media Sponsor of the event. “When we heard about this event we knew that we wanted to help spread the word,” he adds. WHIA Newsletter September 15, 2010We are just a week away from our conference and looks like there is going to be a really wonderful group of people attending. We have people coming from all over the U.S. and Canada. Our exhibitors this year are fantastic and are going to showcase some incredible products and services. Our speakers are going to give everyone in attendance a lot to think about and learn. And, again, we have a ton of super door prizes to give away including a half share in a thoroughbred race horse (compliments of Kate Richards Wilt and Pocket Aces Racing). Thanks to everyone who is donating door prizes. A list of them is on our website. I had a couple of cancellations this morning and so I have two FREE tickets to give away. If you are attending the event and want to bring a friend, please email me right away or better yet, call me at 615-730-7833. These reservations have already been paid for and I don’t want the lunches to go to waste! We will also again have our OPEN NETWORKING sessions where you will get to promote your business and meet a lot of people in the room. Like last year, the dress is casual and jeans are fine. If you haven’t signed up to attend but still want to come, please call us at 615-730-7833 so we can get you registered. Everyone who attends receives a directory with contact listings all of the attendees. This is a really great resource tool. Finally, the Kentucky governor’s wife, Jane Brashear, can’t make it because of scheduling conflicts, but she is sending someone very special in her place. We will send out a press release about this exciting speaker later today or tomorrow. All I know is that you will really enjoy her luncheon speech a great deal. AHP Member Lisa Kemp Wins PR Award in ‘New Media’ for Boiselle Calendar Campaign
June 12, 2010 – Despite the ‘wild, woolly West’ nature of online and social or interactive media, AHP member Lisa Kemp has successfully navigated her way into a prestigious public relations (PR) award in the New Media category, winning a Silver Trumpet Award from the Publicity Club of Chicago (PCC), the Midwest’s largest communications industry trade association. Although Lisa’s entry was the only equine-related PR campaign, she successfully competed against some heavy hitters in the global marketplace; other winners in the New Media category included large consumer companies such as Kraft, Sara Lee, and Allstate, in addition to some of Chicago’s largest advertising and PR firms. “I think getting this award is great because every time horses are in the public eye, it becomes an opportunity for us to get the word out about how wonderful they are and invite others to participate, which strengthens our industry,” says Lisa. “It’s also great for horse business owners, since it shows we can compete on the same playing field as the big guys when it comes to marketing and PR, thanks to technology and new media.” A Month Long Editorial, Based on Weather & Photos of a Hawk in Our Birdbath One of our resident hawks taking a bath in our birdbath during the heatwave. As I was going to post a new editorial back on June 15th about not having any rain and it being 100 degrees in the shade and bam, we start getting almost daily thunderstorms! We had been averaging 110 heat index at the first of June, which was very oppressive to go outside to do work, much less ride. I was having to water my garden twice a day which was taking up to 2 hrs or more a day, hence I got behind in web work. My beans (or so I thought) and tomatoes are mostly done until I plant again in August, so I should have a reprieve in the harvesting soon. We have a small pool which has been invaluable to being out in this heat. I’m in the AC a large part of the day, so my body isn’t accustomed to the heat like it is. I go out in the evening to work usually, but that is when my husband, Jerry, goes to our J-30 sailboat so I don’t have his help then… bummer. My son is here and he is in charge of cleaning paddocks, feeding horses when Jerry isn’t around, watering other plants around house and doing horse’s feet when I haven’t, plus he is my associate editor so he is kept busy much of the day adding articles. This leaves me to the other yard work that I may want done that my husband doesn’t think is necessary (he hates it, other than mowing with the riding mower). Both of them get bothered by flies more than I do – I have darker skin and I guess it helps in repelling them. I did have to spray myself and horses a lot at the beginning of June when the yellow flies were so bad, but they have died off or it’s because we got the fly predators and stepped up using the Natural Pet Vet Bug Check (HorsesintheSouth is an affiliate). The flies aren’t as bad now and I can deal with a couple of yellow flies landing on me as I harvest the garden. Since the week-long rains at the end of June, I’ve had a second blooming of beans – these are the ones that weren’t doing as well as they were in a shadier area, but that is what probably helped them to reproduce being out of the blaring sun. And, I have a whole bunch of cherry tomatoes blooming and some volunteer tomato plants from last year’s cherry tomatoes that had been plowed under but came back up in different places, are producing. They are so good. I leave them in a bowl next to where I make my yerba-mate tea in the morning and I end up eating a handful while I wait for the tea to steep. Now my website design work for the redesign for the SuncoastBedding.com site is getting in full swing, so another thing to keep me from riding or working on my own website. It never ends, does it? Plus the grass keeps growing more from all of the rain. I use our weed-whipper and push mower which ends up ‘killing’ my arm the next day. Even using the riding mower gets my left arm that had the shoulder replacement. If I would just do this stuff every day, my muscles wouldn’t atrophy so soon, lol. I got some cool pictures of our resident hawk taking a bath in our birdbath, plus my husband, Jerry, did a video and put it on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHVy0ov1kao (there are evidently a lot of YouTube videos of hawks taking baths…;P). These pictures were taken with my Sony digital camera with a 70-250 macro lens through my husband’s office window through the screen, but I think they still turned out really cool. We aren’t sure if these are 2 different hawks taking a bath as in the blog gallery, you can see 1 of the hawks ‘screaming’ for the other one maybe? In the gallery you will see a hawk standing on our grapevine pole and we aren’t sure if that is a different hawk or the 1st hawk (if there is 2 of them – can anyone tell by their feathers?)
Anyway, I will be offering a summer/July 4th birthday (mine Watch for the July newsletter – it’s coming too. We are using a new Email Service Provider (ESP), so I still have to finish designing it; I may just send out something now and let my programmer finish the design. We are using MailChimp and is isn’t as easy to use as Constant Contact (requires that you know some html and design), but it isn’t blocked by spam filters as easily as CC is. Info is on our Sales/Special page. As usual you will get a killer deal. It’s weird, but we are actually cooler here than in the northern states with them being in the triple digits (bummer for the Queen of England’s visit to the UN since she was last here in 1957). But, it’s starting to heat up again and will be in the usual mid-nineties this week, sigh… If you are a Farmville addict like I have become, join me at http://www.facebook.com/TeriRehkopf.HorsesintheSouth, then request to be my neighbor on FV. Also be sure to join my Fan page at http://www.facebook.com/HorsesintheSouth. The TeriRehkopf.HorsesintheSouth FB account is a 2nd FB account. My 1st account is already almost at the 5,000 FB friends limit, so I had to start a new account to accept new friends and add new FV neighbors as this one is at the 300 neighbors limit. Geesh, Farmville is such a ‘time-suction’, but it is also very ‘feng shui’ like. I love their graphics. If only web design was this easy! I swear I going to write a blog about my journey to the addiction on Farmville and seeing so many horse people Facebook friends being in the same boat as me or worse! When I get to this, I’ll post some hints on how to get leveled-up. I love the horses that FV adds for us horse fanatics. They really have recognized our market in that respect AQHA and Ruidoso Downs Announce Launch of AAFutureWager.comWebsite and social media pages offer an inside look at top contenders, history of All American. The American Quarter Horse Journal, June 22, 2010 – The American Quarter Horse Association and Ruidoso Downs have debuted a new website at www.AAFutureWager.com aimed at providing horseplayers detailed information on the inaugural All American Future Wager and the top 25 2-year-old Quarter Horses in the nation. The website also provides an historic glimpse at the $2-million All American Futurity (G1). In anticipation of the July 15-18 Future Wager pool period, a poll of American Quarter Horse handicappers and players has produced a list of the top 25 horses that are likely to contend for a win in the All American Futurity on September 6. (While every horse on the poll may not yet be entered to run in the All American Futurity trials, all will be eligible to make late payment.) AAFutureWager.com provides past performances and other details for each horse named in the poll. “AAFutureWager.com gives horseplayers an inside look at the history of the All American Futurity and Ruidoso Downs. Plus, the website contains current information and past performances for the best 2-year-old Quarter Horses in the country with detailed Quarter Horse racing handicapping lessons,” remarked Rachel Weber, Director of Marketing for Ruidoso Downs. EQUILITE by Arenus – Advice Now Available on Social NetworkSt. Louis, Mo. (April 5, 2010) – The best advice in the horse world use to be shared in the barn as it was passed on from rider to rider and groom to groom. Thanks to today’s computer friendly world that same advice is available on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and E-Blogger. ARENUS, makers of animal health products and herbal supplement blends have joined the social media sites to keep their clients up-to-date on the latest in health care for horses. “ARENUS is using the social media sites to keep pace with today’s busy horse owners,” said Stacey Small, creator of the EQUILITE line of products. “We will provide our clients with the most up-to-date information on natural horse care through Twitter, Facebook and E-Bloggers.” Fans can follow EQUILITE on Twitter to find out who’s winning the EQUILITE 2010 Grooming and Conditioning Awards as they are presented throughout the season at the finest horse shows in America, including the Exquis World Dressage Masters, Winter Equestrian Festival, and Florida Reining Horse Association Snowbird Slide. Jane Savoie Needs Your Help with Facebook!Imagine my shock when I went over to my Solve Horseback Riding Fears Fan Page on Facebook to find out they have blocked my publishing rights! I carefully read through all the possible violations and can’t, for the life of me, figure out what I’ve done wrong. I know you can still see the page and you can even post stuff on it. My I have had my publishing rights removed so I can’t post any new content (tips, videos, articles etc.) I showed the list to a couple of friends. The only thing they can figure is that the title of the page represents “Generic Concepts” and doesn’t clearly show it’s associated with a business (which is what Fan pages are supposed to be.) They suggested I change the name to: Jane Savoie-Freedom From Fear for Horseback Riders. New Online Horse Forum at The Seattle TimesHorse fans are embarking on an online literary adventure on The Seattle Times horse forum. Forum members are starting an Equestrian Book Club with “Seabiscuit” as their first selection. This true story of the 1930s by Laura Hillenbrand focuses on four unique personalities that created one of horse racing’s greatest legends. Forum members are planning to read one book a month. Starting Dec. 7, readers can post comments each week about the designated section of the book on the forum at their convenience. The book thread will be near the top of the board. Directions for registering to participate in the forum are also at the top of the board. There is no separate registration required to participate in the book club. The forum and book club are free and open to any interested horse fans. The club is also looking for recommendations of good horse books for its reading list. The Northwest Horse Forum recently celebrated its first anniversary. Horse enthusiasts from Oregon to Canada are talking about everything from horsekeeping in the rain to the best places to ride — and training, trails, tack, hay, shows, events and more. “The forum is a chance to give horse folks and their interests more visibility. We’re trying to make this a good consumer-oriented forum,” said Joan Deutsch, forum moderator. “If you’re not interested in the current discussions on the forum, you can start your own conversations.” With the downturn in the economy, many horse owners are having trouble affording their horses. Many owners have had to part with their horses. There’s a substantial discussion about the crisis in unwanted horses on the forum. The forum is building a list of good horse sites. If you have a site or know of one, please send a link. www.seattletimes.com/horseforum Joan Deutsch 425-417-9028 |
) special for advertising on our website/newsletter and I have a new sales person, Linda Bourdow to assist me. You may contact her at 
