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Successful Ikea facebook campaign shows importance of offering deals to consumers on social media

Ikea Sweden got some good coverage yesterday for a facebook campaign it ran to promote the opening of a new store in Malmo, Sweden. The company wanted to promote the opening of the new branch, but their budget was limited. They hired an advertising agency called Forsman and Bodenfors, who came up with the idea of using Facebook’s photo tagging feature... Continue »
Miriam Schwab on November 27, 2009 • Category Social Media • Tags: , , , • Comments (4)

Israel PayPal accounts can now withdraw funds to Israeli bank accounts! Amen!

The day that I thought would never arrive is here: Israeli PayPal account holders can now withdraw their PayPal funds to Israeli bank accounts! Oh happy day. PayPal says that it will take 3-5 days for your funds to arrive in your Israeli bank account, and there is an 8 NIS fee if you withdraw less than 1000 NIS at a time: To add a bank account to your PayPal... Continue »
Miriam Schwab on November 13, 2009 • Category eCommerce • Tags: , • Comments (30)

New! Course on Social Media Marketing for businesses

After a long break I’ll be giving a course on social media marketing for businesses on Sept. 23 and 30. The course had filled up already, but we’ve moved the venue to a bigger room so we have 5 spaces left for anyone interested. The course will take place in the Sandisk offices in the Kfar Saba Hi-Tech park. Each session will be four hours, and we will... Continue »
Miriam Schwab on September 16, 2009 • Category Social Media • Tags: , , , , , , • Comments (1)

The way NOT to do online PR

We often get emails from people who want to increase exposure of a new online service or software and hope that we’ll blog about it. I have no problem with this as I see this practice as acceptable…as long as the writer has a clue who I am and why there’s a possible connection between their product and my interests. But a few days ago I... Continue »
Miriam Schwab on August 12, 2009 • Category Social Media • • Comments (2)

Thanks to our blog, we are now considered PayPal Israel experts

So you’re wondering how you can use PayPal in Israel? Does PayPal accept Shekels? Can you withdraw your PayPal funds to your Israeli bank account? Etc. As you often do when in doubt, you head over to Google and type in “PayPal Israel” to see what the web has to say about your questions. If you are located in Israel, here are approximately what the... Continue »
Miriam Schwab on July 27, 2009 • Category Blogging • Tags: , , , , , , • Comments (5)

How to create a personal brand by using online tools

This past Wednesday (July 15, 2008) I presented at an ISOC Israel event on the topic of day-to-day use of social media. My presentation was about personal branding, why one would want to create a personal brand online, and how to go about doing so. Why? In the past, creating a personal brand was solely the domain of celebrities. However, today everyone can... Continue »
Miriam Schwab on July 19, 2009 • Category Social Media • Tags: , , , • Comments (4)

Social Media Secrets – presented at IBM for SSVN event

This past Wednesday, July 8 I was privileged to be the “keynote speaker” (I find that term kind of amusing, thus the quotation marks) at IBM for the latest SSVN (The Startups & Societal Ventures Network) event. The challenge of talking to a large group about social media is trying to make sure that the information is not too overwhelming... Continue »
Miriam Schwab on July 12, 2009 • Category Social Media • Tags: , , , , , • Comments (2)

What social media marketing is NOT – my presentation at Affilicon 2009

For the second year running I had the opportunity to be on a panel at Affilicon, the Affiliate Marketing Conference & Exhibition that took place last week in Israel. Like last year, this year I was on the social media panel, and I decided to take a devil’s advocate approach to my presentation: to talk about what social media marketing is NOT. The... Continue »
Miriam Schwab on June 7, 2009 • Category Social Media • Tags: , , , , , • Comments (9)

Are press releases relevant in a world of social media conversations?

Public relations (PR) is as relevant as ever. Getting good coverage for your company or organization can be key in generating new leads and strengthening brand awareness. But is PR the same thing today as it was five years ago? What I mean is, to achieve the goals of PR, does that still involve traditional activities like press releases? On the one hand,... Continue »
Miriam Schwab on May 28, 2009 • Category Social Media • Tags: , , , , , , • Comments (3)

How PayPal really works for Israelis and Shekels

There always seems to be confusion regarding how Israelis can use PayPal – can they use it in their currency, i.e. Shekels? Can they withdraw funds? Are there limits they should know about? Almost a year ago I blogged about an announcement on the PayPal blog regarding new PayPal currencies, one of which was the Israeli Shekel. Despite that post, some... Continue »
Miriam Schwab on May 5, 2009 • Category Cool Tools • Tags: , , , • Comments (64)