SCV Latino Chamber Gala Night Sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank

MEDIA CONTACT:  Patricia Gracia

E-Mail Patricia@PowerMediaGroup.com

Or Call 661-505-1009 / 818-415-3230

"Keynote speaker for the night is Glenn Llopis, founder of the Center for Hispanic Leadership and the Center for Innovation and Humanity." 

The Santa Clarita Valley Latino Chamber of Commerce, the first Latino chamber in Santa Clarita and the fastest growing in Southern California, will celebrate its first anniversary with its first-ever Annual Awards Banquet, Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 at the Valencia Hyatt Conference Center Grand Ballroom, during a night featuring gourmet dining, a VIP reception, music and dancing until midnight. The celebration is sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank and reported by Power Media Group.

”The SCV Latino Camber of Commerce's evening of celebration and networking begins with a cocktail hour and VIP reception, followed by an awards banquet honoring this year's selections for New Business of the Year, Sponsor of the Year, Community Leader of the Year, Sponsor of the Year and much more. Events begin at 5:30 p.m. We are very fortunate to welcome all our guests as well as our sponsors” Stays Bill Miranda, SCV Latino Chamber’ CEO.

 Founder of the Center for Hispanic Leadership and the Center for Innovation and Humanity

Keynote speaker for the night is Glenn Llopis, founder of the Center for Hispanic Leadership and the Center for Innovation and Humanity. A consultant and frequent speaker on topics including issues concerning the global workplace, innovation, maintaining ethical leadership and helping employees find new purpose, Llopis is also the author of Earning Serendipity: Four Skills for Creating and Sustaining Good Fortune in Your Work, Why Hispanic Leadership will Save America's Corporations, and Why a Personal Employee Brand will Save Your Career and Your Workplace. Llopis' talk for the evening will focus on improving business leadership and increasing innovation in the workplace by developing of an understanding of the immigrant perspective.

Llopis has made frequent television appearances on CNN, MSNBC, Univision, Fox News, NBC and ABC.

Individual tickets for the event include admission to the VIP cocktail hour reception, dinner, the awards banquet, the keynote speaker, music and dancing. Organization or company VIP tables are available, as well. VIP sponsorship packages are available that include a VIP promotional booth, sponsorship recognition in the event program, a VIP table with seating for 10, as well as publicity in the SCV Latino Chamber of Commerce's Valleys Magazine, Our Valleys Magazine www.ourvalleys.com  Tidbits Magazine, event flyers, social media promotions, KHTS Radio commercials and other advertising.

”Attendance and sponsorship at this event are fantastic ways to support the Latino business community in Southern California and present your business, agency or brand's advertising to the Hispanic market”, Commented Patricia Gracia, Power Media Group’s Founder  www.powermediagroup.com and SCV Latino Chamber Board Member.

“The Hispanic population in the US is growing at a tremendous rate, and so too is the advertising Hispanic market. According to the 2010 US Census, Hispanics in the United States already account for some 16.3 percent of the total population, a potential $1 trillion market for goods and services, and that number that will grow to 25 percent of the total population by 2050. By far the largest source of population growth in America, the Hispanic population grew 43 percent over the last decade, accounting for 56 percent of total US population growth,” Added Patricia Gracia.

With a population of more than 50.5 million Hispanics, the US is the fifth-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world with the Hispanic population more than doubling in many states. Most of the US Hispanic population, some 79 percent, speak Spanish in their homes, and 70 percent watch Spanish-language television, listen to Spanish-language radio and read Spanish-language newspapers or other media, creating a huge potential for businesses in the advertising Hispanic market. Surveys have shown the Hispanic population spends on average more than half its day engaged with television, the internet or other technology, and most have a strong commitment to family, religion and heritage.

As an added bonus in addition to inclusion in the evening's program, member directory and sponsor ads, the event's sponsors will also have the potential to reach 18,000,000 viewers when the Annual Awards Banquet is broadcast by KXLA via Direct TV, the Dish Network and Time-Warner Cable.

For more information and details, visit the Chamber's website at:
http://scvlatinochamberofcommerce.com/calendar?eventId=344958&EventViewMode=EventDetails

Amapola Supermarkets Celebrates 50 Years of Serving the Latino Community

Amapola Supermarkets Celebrates 50 Years of Serving the Latino Community

Top 10 Social Networking Websites & Forums – August 2011

Note: The Experian Hitwise data featured is based on US market share of visits as defined by the IAB, which is the percentage of online traffic to the domain or category, from the Experian Hitwise sample of 10 million US internet users. Experian Hitwise measures more than 1 million unique websites on a daily basis, including sub-domains of larger websites. Experian Hitwise categorizes websites into industries on the basis of subject matter and content, as well as market orientation and competitive context. The market share of visits percentage does not include traffic for all sub-domains of certain websites that could be reported on separately.

Source: MarketingCharts.com

NEWS!-How Men share Purchase Recommendations?

Men, like consumers in general, are far more likely to recommend purchases to family and friends in person than by any other means, according to “The Great Male Survey” conducted by AskMen.com with Ipsos OTX Media CT. The survey, which polled more than 83,000 teen boys and men in the US, UK, Australia and Canada, found that the youngest respondents were the most likely to make recommendations face-to-face. Phone and email recommendations lagged far behind. Mobile and social networks were chosen by a small but significant minority as methods of recommending purchases. Between 5% and 6% of respondents under age 35 said they share purchase information over Facebook or another social network. Among older men, this share was lower still. Posts on social networks about products or services, though they may be relatively rare among men, are influential, according to survey data. ROI Research reported that 60% of US social network users were at least somewhat likely to take an action when a friend posts something about a product or brand on a social network. In spite of the widespread popularity of Facebook, slightly more men prefer to recommend purchases through text message, particularly those in the younger groups. Seven percent of those between 20 and 28 years old said they text their purchase preferences, while 6% of teens as well as men 29 to 34 do. Their ease with texting reflects the ubiquity of mobile phones among men of all ages around the world. In answer to a question about which device they use most when not working, the plurality in almost all age groups said the computer. But a quarter of men between the ages of 25 and 39 spend more of their spare time on mobile devices. For more information at <http://www.emarketer.com>

7 steps to effective social media risk management

The power of social media channels such as Facebook (which reached one trillion page views in June), Twitter (with 100 million active users monthly), and LinkedIn (with 63% more visitors in June than it had a year earlier) cannot be denied. These channels provide an enormous opportunity for financial institutions to build employee and brand loyalty, communicate with customers, and increase their customer base. With this opportunity, however, comes increased risk.

Social media’s most damaging potential impact is on reputation. Employees, customers, and vendors can be a bank’s greatest ambassadors–or undermine its brand and public image. Realistically, no one can control or change what is said online, but banks can monitor comments and respond to them in a timely and appropriate manner.

Beyond reputational risks, social media exposes banks to legal and employment risks as well. Banks and other organizations are using social media not only for its marketing benefits but also for the networking opportunities it affords employees and employers alike.

As one might expect, regulators and courts are litigating and otherwise addressing new legal and employment issues. That these cases are being determined under laws that were designed before the age of Facebook–and therefore are outside the context of this relatively new and evolving technology–heightens the possibility of exposure.

In addition, technical attacks via social media expose banks to information security risks.

mong the deceptive practices are “clickjacking” (getting a Web user to click on a seemingly innocuous button that takes control of the computer); link shortening; social engineering tactics, and the gathering of challenge question answers based on Facebook information.

Following are seven steps that provide guidance on mitigating existing risks–including reputation risks, risks of using social media for candidate screening and employee termination, the risk of virus attacks, and the risk of employees making company information public.

Mitigating the risks
None of the myriad risks associated with social media use can be eliminated completely. But taking a thoughtful and structured approach to understanding and assessing the risks and then developing and implementing a comprehensive plan will reduce a bank’s susceptibility. To deploy an effective social media risk management strategy, we recommend banks take the following actions.

1. Engage a multidisciplinary team. Social media is not just an IT or marketing problem.

Since social media activity affects a wide range of functions, an effective strategy brings together senior representatives from Human Resources, Legal, Information Technology, Marketing, Risk Management, Public Relations, Compliance, and any other affected functions.

Assigning a project or program manager will help to track and maintain the team’s progress.

2. Document current and intended social media use. The multidisciplinary team’s first order of business should be to document how each department currently uses social media and how it intends to use it in the future.

It’s up to the multidisciplinary team to use the bank’s overall strategy as a guide to determine which types of social media use align with organizational objectives. The team then establishes how the bank–including its employees, recruiters, marketers, and IT department–will use and be affected by social media. Having multiple people involved in making these decisions can present a challenge, but having one person responsible for the execution of the social media strategy–and having the support of senior management–will move this process along more quickly.

3. Perform a risk assessment. Before the multidisciplinary team can even consider safeguards and controls, it must identify and quantify the various risks associated with social media use.

This risk assessment takes into account the likelihood and potential damage resulting from occurrences such as employee defamation of the bank, its products, or its leadership–as well as any other risks to which social media use exposes a bank. The risk assessment also involves identifying the controls that are already in place, which could be mitigating a portion of the risk. To help prioritize the most significant risks, a bank can determine the sufficiency of these controls and work them into an overall residual risk rating.

4. Expand current policies to include social media. Once risks have been identified, it should be apparent whether, and where, the bank’s policy needs to be expanded in order to better address the risks.

A bank can choose to centralize social media guidelines by including them in a single policy. Or it could incorporate the guidelines into existing policies and add new content to cover social media risks. Whichever option a bank chooses, the policy needs to be easily accessible to employees and cover some basic topics: appropriate and inappropriate employee use of social media; human resources policies; information security policies; marketing and communications policies; and vendor management policies.

A 2011 survey by nCircle found that 68% of companies have social media policies–up from 58% in 2010. (How many employees follow them is a different question.)

5. Implement safeguards. A Proofpoint survey from August 2010 found that one in five U.S. companies had investigated a data leak that occurred via a posting on a social media site.

Social media is a channel unprotected by typical information security safeguards, which tend to focus on an organization’s controlled network. As such, organizations must evaluate a new set of information security risks and mitigate them with information security policies and controls.

6. Provide social media training. Even the best policies will be ineffective if employees don’t understand them.

It’s critical for a bank to invest its time and resources into educating its workforce about the intricacies of its social media policy. Training should include examples of appropriate and inappropriate communications and actions, distinguishing between positive and negative use of the medium, and highlighting the constant threats present on these sites. In addition, training should not be a one-time occurrence, but, rather, an ongoing effort.

7. Monitor social media channels. Banks also need to consider how they will stay current on social media chatter that could have an impact on their objectives.

Social customer relationship management (CRM) tools, composed of software products and vendor services, can help banks monitor public channels for social media chatter that could affect the organization. How an organization responds to negative comments made via social media entails significant risks of its own.

Nestlé’s Facebook page, for instance, was inundated with negative comments in March 2010 following a Greenpeace campaign against the company’s use of palm oil. The company’s attempt to restrict commentary drew more unwanted attention to the issue and created a public relations disaster.

Risks of doing nothing
So maybe you’re thinking you can avoid altogether the many risks related to social media use. Simply eliminate its use in marketing, recruiting, and other bank departments, and ban employees from using it on company time or equipment.

However, failing to exploit the opportunities social media provides for building a brand, attracting new customers, and retaining current customers exposes banks to risks, too.

Banning any official participation in social media ignores the positive effects of using a powerful channel appropriately to build relationships with stakeholders, customers, potential employees, and other affiliates. Banks would give up the ability to use a potent communication tool and expand the reach of their products and services in a quick and cost-effective manner.

Face it: Social media channels have become part of the fabric of social interaction for an increasing segment of the population, and it’s impossible to put the social media genie back in the bottle.

However, organizations that formally assess the risks of social media and implement guidelines that promote its responsible use will be better equipped to reap the benefits of these new tools.

By Raj Chaudhary and Erika Del Giudice, Crowe Horwath LLP

Overnight Facebook Posts Drive More Engagement

September 15, 2011

Facebook posts made by retail brands during the overnight hours of 8 PM to 7 AM drive 20% more user engagement, in terms of like and comment rates, than posts made between 8 AM and 7 PM,according to a September 2011 report from Buddy Media. However, data from “Strategies for Effective Facebook Wall Posts” indicates 89% of retail brand wall posts are made between 8 AM and 7 PM.

Buddy Media analysis indicates these are “busy hours” for most consumers, when they have less time to visit their Facebook accounts. Buddy Media advises retail brands to use publisher tools to automatically schedule posts during the overnight hours.

Wednesday Best Day for Retail Posts

Fan engagement for Facebook wall posts made by retail brands spikes on Wednesdays and Sundays. In particular, Buddy Media finds wall posts made on Wednesdays have fan engagement 8% above average, followed by Sundays with a fan engagement rate 2% above average. Posts on Saturdays have a fan engagement rate slightly above average.

Conversely, wall posts made on Fridays have the lowest fan engagement of any day of the week (6% below average), followed by Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (about 2% below average each).

Yet retailers spread out their wall posts roughly equally during weekdays, with a slight spike on Thursdays. Far fewer wall posts are made on Saturdays and Sundays, despite their relatively high rates of fan engagement.

1-2 Posts a Day Produces Optimal Engagement

The report indicates that retail brands posting one to times per day have fan engagement rates 40% higher than retail brands posting three times per day or more. Like rates for brands posting one to two times a day are 32% higher than like rates for brands posting three or more times a day, while comment rates are 73% higher.

Buddy Media advises retail brands to focus on quality of posts more than quantity, and to only post more than twice in a day if posts contain exclusive content such as highlights of a sale that changes during the day.

1-4 Posts Per Week Boosts Engagement

The report also finds that Facebook user engagement with a retail brand decreases drastically as the number of posts in a given week rises. Posting one to four times per week produces a user engagement rate 71% higher than that achieved by posting five or more times per week.

ROI Research: Consumers Prefer Infrequent SocNet Communication

The highest percentages of online consumers say products, services and companies should communicate via social networks once a month or less and once a week or less, according to an April 2011 study from ROI Research and Performics. Data from “S-Net: A Study in Social Media Usage and Behavior” indicates 28% of online consumers say social network communication should be conducted once a month or less, while 26% say once a week or less.

Only 3% say more than once a day and 7% say daily. In one piece of good news for brands who communicate via social network, only 4% of online consumers say they should never use this form of communication.

About the Data: Buddy Media analyzed user engagement of Facebook wall posts from nearly 100 global retail brands between January 1 and June 30, 2011.

Overnight Facebook Posts Drive More Engagement

September 15, 2011

Facebook posts made by retail brands during the overnight hours of 8 PM to 7 AM drive 20% more user engagement, in terms of like and comment rates, than posts made between 8 AM and 7 PM,according to a September 2011 report from Buddy Media. However, data from “Strategies for Effective Facebook Wall Posts” indicates 89% of retail brand wall posts are made between 8 AM and 7 PM.

Buddy Media analysis indicates these are “busy hours” for most consumers, when they have less time to visit their Facebook accounts. Buddy Media advises retail brands to use publisher tools to automatically schedule posts during the overnight hours.

Wednesday Best Day for Retail Posts

Fan engagement for Facebook wall posts made by retail brands spikes on Wednesdays and Sundays. In particular, Buddy Media finds wall posts made on Wednesdays have fan engagement 8% above average, followed by Sundays with a fan engagement rate 2% above average. Posts on Saturdays have a fan engagement rate slightly above average.

Conversely, wall posts made on Fridays have the lowest fan engagement of any day of the week (6% below average), followed by Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (about 2% below average each).

Yet retailers spread out their wall posts roughly equally during weekdays, with a slight spike on Thursdays. Far fewer wall posts are made on Saturdays and Sundays, despite their relatively high rates of fan engagement.

1-2 Posts a Day Produces Optimal Engagement

The report indicates that retail brands posting one to times per day have fan engagement rates 40% higher than retail brands posting three times per day or more. Like rates for brands posting one to two times a day are 32% higher than like rates for brands posting three or more times a day, while comment rates are 73% higher.

Buddy Media advises retail brands to focus on quality of posts more than quantity, and to only post more than twice in a day if posts contain exclusive content such as highlights of a sale that changes during the day.

1-4 Posts Per Week Boosts Engagement

The report also finds that Facebook user engagement with a retail brand decreases drastically as the number of posts in a given week rises. Posting one to four times per week produces a user engagement rate 71% higher than that achieved by posting five or more times per week.

ROI Research: Consumers Prefer Infrequent SocNet Communication

The highest percentages of online consumers say products, services and companies should communicate via social networks once a month or less and once a week or less, according to an April 2011 study from ROI Research and Performics. Data from “S-Net: A Study in Social Media Usage and Behavior” indicates 28% of online consumers say social network communication should be conducted once a month or less, while 26% say once a week or less.

Only 3% say more than once a day and 7% say daily. In one piece of good news for brands who communicate via social network, only 4% of online consumers say they should never use this form of communication.

About the Data: Buddy Media analyzed user engagement of Facebook wall posts from nearly 100 global retail brands between January 1 and June 30, 2011.

7 in 10 Mobile Users Check Status Updates

About seven in 10 (69%) US smartphone and tablet users check social network status updates on their mobile device, making it the most popular mobile social networking activity,according to September 2011 data from Prosper Mobile Insights. Viewing photos closely follows in popularity (66%).

Other mobile social networking activities performed by more than half of mobile users include updating status (53%) and sending emails (51%), while 49% post photos taken on their smartphone/tablet. Only 26.5% go to retailer pages to find deals while shopping, and 15% don’t access social media sites on their mobile device.

PC Preferred Web Device

Even among smartphone and tablet users, a desktop or laptop computer is the most popular means of web access by a sizable margin. About 64% of mobile users prefer a desktop/laptop for accessing the internet.

In contrast, about 29% prefer using a smartphone (55% less than prefer a PC), and only 8% prefer a tablet (87.5% less than prefer a PC). Total equals more than 100% due to rounding.

App Leading Way to Visit Facebook via Mobile Device

Close to three-quarters (72%) of mobile users visit Facebook regularly (routinely, as in a set pattern) via PC. Another 63% regularly visit Facebook on a mobile device via app. However, only 25% regularly visit Facebook on a mobile device via URL, which is 60% less than the percentage using a mobile app to visit Facebook on a regular basis. Fourteen percent of mobile users do not visit Facebook regularly by any means.

App Rivals PC for Regular Twitter Visitors

Among mobile users, 23% regularly visit Twitter via computer and 22% regularly visit Twitter via mobile app. Only 11% regularly visit Twitter via mobile URL, while 66% do not regularly visit Twitter.

Other Findings

• 42.5% of mobile users are somewhat or very likely to switch from their favorite social media site if a better one becomes available. About 2% do not use social media sites.
• About 51% of mobile users have a Google + account, with 24% using it all the time. Another 16% don’t have an account but would like to sign up, while 16% have not heard of it.
• 80% of mobile users say the best service/coverage is more important to their smartphone/tablet, while 20% say the newest technology is more important.

Nielsen: Facebook Dominates Mobile Social Networks

Much as it does in the world of PC-based social networking, Facebook is the clear leader among mobile social networks with about 46.5 million unique mobile visitors during Q3 2011, according to data from The Nielsen Company. This was roughly four times the unique mobile audience of its nearest competitor, Twitter, which had about 11.4 million mobile visitors.

About the Data: Prosper Mobile Insights surveyed 294 smartphone and tablet users on their devices from August 30 – September 2, 2011.

Source: MarketingCharts.com