Semester Reflection

At the beginning of the semester I honestly thought that I knew everything there was to know about social media. I thought this class would be easy and that it wouldn't require a lot of work. I didn't think that I had much to learn about social media in general. I am glad that I took this class because I ended up learning more than I thought I would.

I expected to learn about what content to post on different social media platforms. I also expected to learn how to gain more followers on social media. I also expected to learn about social media sites that I was not familiar with such as Twitter.

Throughout the semester I learned what content to post on different social media platforms and how often to post. I also learned specifics for my industry on what time of day and what days to post. I learned how to use Twitter, which I previously had no experience with. I also learned how to try and target my content towards my target market to get more followers and post engagements.

My favorite experience in this class was my weekly blog posts. I started to dread my weekly Facebook and Twitter Posts. I never got tired of blogging and I felt like I learned a lot about how to form a blog post. I feel like the blog is something that I want to continue for myself personally and use as a social media marketing tool in my career.

No Shave November Contest

Gentleman, we hope you have been participating in No Shave November. This contest is for you!! In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we want to show you that we are thankful for your support here at Ana Mae Events. We also want to GIVE you $500 for having the best beard! We will also GIVE $500 to a cancer charity of your choosing in your name. After all, No Shave November is about bringing awareness to hair loss during cancer treatments.

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Beards will be judged on volume, length and overall beauty. Our friends over at My Man Beard will be helping us judge the contest. If you haven't started growing your beard, you still have time! All contest entries are due on December 2, 2016. 

To participate in the contest, simply email us a picture of yourself to anamaesocial@gmail.com featuring your beard, of course. All entries are due at 11:59 p.m. (Central Time) on December 2, 2016. In the body of the email please give us your name and best day time phone number to reach you at. Please title the email No Shave November. We will also be featuring your picture on all of our social media platforms!! May the best beard, WIN! 

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Top 5 Reasons to Hire a Corporate Event Planner

As a corporate event planning company, we know the value and benefits of hiring a business like Ana Mae Events. We wanted to share the top 5 reasons why YOU should hire a professional to plan your next event. 

#5 Experienced Professionals Have an Eye for Detail
Unless your company has an in house event planner, chances are you don't have anyone on your team with extensive event planning experience. Experience is needed to learn the in's and out's of event coordination. A professional will have an eye for detail that an amateur will not. If you are the type of person who worries about the small details, you will be grateful you hired an experienced professional.

#4 Day of Coordination 
If you don't hire a event planner for full service event planning, you should hire a day-of-coordinator. A day-of-coordinator will be the point of contact for the venue, vendors and event staff during the event. If anything needs to be taken care of it will be taken care of by the day-of-coordinator. Even though you are hosting the event, you can focus on it's purpose and not worry about small details. At Ana Mae Events if you hire us for full service event planning, a day-of-coordinator is included in that package.

#3 Event Marketing 
Events are a great way to showcase everything your company has to offer. An event coordinator can plan a custom theme and marketing plan for your event. At Ana Mae Event's we also offer help with social media marketing for any event we coordinate. We will work with your marketing team to make sure your brand and vision are consistent with the event theme. Any experienced professional will be able to take your brand and put a creative spin on it!

#2 You Will Save Time 
You are busy professional, your employees are busy too. The best thing about hiring an event coordinator is that they can take meetings for you, answer emails and phone calls. You should be focusing on your business operations. An experienced planner will be able to take your vision and run with it to create the event of your dreams.

#1 You Will Save Money 
Yes, you do have to pay for event planning services. However, a coordinator will help you stay within budget. They do this by giving you options that are within your budget when it comes to entertainment, catering and venues. Many event planners have connections with venues and catering companies and can get you discounts you would not be able to get yourself. A good event coordinator is also an excellent contract negotiator. They will make sure you get a good deal on goods and services. 

Here at Ana Mae Events we are VERY excited about the release of our new commercial.

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Fall Harvest Market Festival

Ana Mae Events is hosting a Fall Harvest Market Festival in LakeFront Park in downtown Hudson on Saturday November 12, 2016. The fun begins at 10 am and goes until 5pm. It will be the perfect opportunity to find some treats and gifts from your favorite local businesses before the holiday season. We have many booths you can stop by to purchase some fall favorites. Family Fresh Market will be there selling fresh fall flowers and baked goods. The Postmark Grille will have a booth on the north end of the park serving a delicious butternut squash bisque for $3 a cup, as well as pizza by the slice for $2. Stop at the booth next door at Knoke's Chocolates for delicious candies and baked goods for all price ranges. Smith Photography will be doing fall 'mini sessions' for $15, a perfect way to get your holiday photos out of the way! A mini session includes 5 fully edited photos with rights emailed to you within 10 days of the event. Dunn Brothers Coffee Co will have a booth located right at the entrance of the event, with fresh coffee and hot cocoa for $1 a cup. Stop by La Rue Marche's booth for unique gifts and clothing perfect for a holiday gift, or maybe even a treat for yourself. There will be free live music at this event by the Dweebs and The Alisha Silver Band. We can't wait to see you there.

We still have booth rentals available if any other local businesses would like to participate, the only requirement is that you live within a thirty minutes of Hudson. If you are interested please send us an email to anamaesocial@gmail.com with a short paragraph to ensure that your business would be a good fit for sales at this event. Please answer the following questions in your email to us: How do you handle sales and prepare for sales to be made? Is your company prepared with the resources and products to make sales at an event that could see up to one thousand attendees? Do you have a plan to approach potential clients at this event? How will you decide who to approach at the event? How will you present your product to the customer to make the sale? Is your sales team prepared to handle objections? What is your experience in closing sales? Do you follow up with your clients after a sale is made? We ask these questions of all of the companies we are thinking of doing business with. Why? Because we want to work with the best in the industry and we want to ensure that doing business together is beneficial to all parties involved. We look forward to hearing from you and hopefully doing business with you in the future.

 

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#SocialMediaAtEvents

An event hashtag is an important key to incorporating social media into your events. A big sign with a clever hashtag can be a staple decoration to link your social media presence to the event. On the sign be sure to include the icons for the social media platforms you use (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram etc.). This way you can see what the event attendees have to say about your event on social media as well as the pictures they took of the event. The hashtag will also be a tool to bring awareness to the event and your brand to those who aren't aware. If the event is open to the public, start using the hashtag a week prior to the event to get more people to attend. If the event is not open to the public, make sure your company posts with the hashtags on ALL of the social media platforms you use the day of the event. Posts with the hashtag by your company will ensure that social media users can search the hashtag and find your pages.

Almost everyone has a smart phone in this day and age. You can take full advantage of today's technology by having an app for your brand or company. Not only will this app give the customers full access to all of your social media and brand information, you can use this to get feedback and survey customers. Post event you can have a poll asking the attendees what they liked and disliked about the event so you can improve in the future. You can also use this as an interactive tool during the event for promotions and contests. An app will help you increase attendee participation during the event. Maybe you are having a costume contest? Have the guests vote right on the app for their favorite costume. Customers LOVE companies that genuinely care about THEIR opinions. Even when you are not hosting an event, an app is a great tool to stay connected to your clients and keep them connected to you. Include games and exclusive photo filters, maybe even a contest on the app. Be sure to post a link to download the app of all of your social media platforms.

 

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Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Night

Ana Mae Events would like to invite you to a night dedicated to all things PINK, in honor of breast cancer awareness. 
WHO: This event is hosted by the Ana Mae Events in collaboration with other downtown Hudson businesses. The proceeds of this event are going to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. 
WHAT: A pink ticket ($50), gets you a swagbag filled with merchandise and treats from Hudson area businesses, it also gets you EXCLUSIVE specials at local restaurants. You are also automatically entered into all the drawings at the end of the night one time. Any additional drawing tickets can be purchased for $5 a piece at the Postmark Grille before 9 pm on the day of the event. Any businesses with pink ribbons on their storefront are participating in our event. 
WHEN: Thursday October 27, 2016 from 4pm to 10pm. 
WHERE: This event begins in lakefront park with a short presentation from representatives from Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. From there you are encouraged to stop in and support local restaurants with the pink EXCLUSIVE specials.  Any businesses with a pink ribbon on their storefront are participating in our event in some way, it might be an activity or a special celebrity guest. We will end the party at the Postmark Grille at 9pm for the final drawings.  The Postmark Grille will also be awarding a gift certificate to the best dressed in pink!! We will then present a check to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. 

We look forward to a night dedicated to all things PINK and finding a cure for breast cancer. If you are unable to make this event and want to find out how you can help or if you have any questions about the event: Please contact us at anamaesocial@gmail.com


You can also donate directly to the foundation here: DONATE

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Kicks and Treats for Charity

We are coordinating a spooky Halloween event for Dagz Kickboxing and Fitness, on October 29, 2016. They have asked us to extend the invitation to our clients, for a night of kicks and treats! Come dressed in your best costume starting at 4pm at the Dagz Kickboxing and Fitness Studio. Entry for each guest is five dollars, and all of the proceeds will go to Ronald McDonald House.

 There will be treats for the whole family, including signature cocktails for the adults and DQ treats for the kids! Dinner from a local food truck will be a hit with the whole family. Be ready to play some vintage arcade games and go through a (kid friendly) haunted house. At this event there will be opportunities to win some delightful prizes from Pier 500, La Rue Marche, Massage Envy and more! You can also win a FREE six month membership with Dagz Kickboxing and Fitness by wearing the best costume to the party. Throughout the evening there will be demonstrations by the Dagz team. Their highly trained staff would love to teach you a few tricks and tips for getting fit. We will end the night by announcing the costume contest winner and then watching a family friendly spooky movie starting at 9pm. We hope to see you all there, it will be a great night for every guy and ghoul! Find out more on the Dagz Kickboxing and Fitness blog.

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