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Business Professionals Flock to North Hempstead’s BTDC Social Media Seminar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 4, 2013
MEDIA CONTACTS: Collin Nash, Ryan Mulholland, & Sam Marksheid | (516) 869-7794

Business Professionals Flock to North Hempstead’s BTDC Social Media Seminar

North Hempstead, NY – As a partner with village leaders across the Great Neck Peninsula to help revitalize downtown commercial corridors, North Hempstead and its Business and Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC) continue to identify new ways to educate small business owners on how to build and keep their customer base.

In its most recent effort on December 3rd, the BTDC hosted another of its series of occasional seminars, this time focusing on one of the fastest growing marketing trends: using the web, mobile devices, and social media to promote and sell their products and services.

Approximately 100 business owners from various industries including architecture, retail, not-for-profits and more, attended the two-hour seminar at the Harbor Links Clubhouse. The conference featured a trio of experts who spoke on the subject of web- and mobile device-based marketing.

Beth Granger of Beth Granger Consulting discussed incorporating social media for business or personal success. “The key is to get your customers talking about you,” Granger said, referring to customers using hashtags on Twitter so others can search for them.

The specialty of Mike Aversano of Local Biz on the Web, Inc. is to monitor those online reviews to ensure they are positive. His company also focuses on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and ensuring high visibility for businesses on the web. “What you need as a local business is to be found so you can generate the type of productivity you are looking for,” Aversano said.

Ellen DePasquale-Williams of Constant Contact concentrated on the most recent addition to the marketing world: mobile devices. She said more than nine out of ten U.S. adults now own cell phones and nearly one third of Americans use only mobile devices to access the internet and email. With that in mind, DePasquale-Williams emphasized that marketing materials like email newsletters must be compatible for mobile devices.

The information was extremely helpful said Jeffrey Phillips, Owner of Café Rustica, an Italian restaurant in Great Neck. “I thought the format was great, and I got a lot of new information from it,” said Phillips, who currently runs a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram page for his business and plans to meet with the guest speakers to discuss how to improve those social media pages.

Beth Lurie, Director of the Beth Lurie Language Center of Port Washington, who specializes in tutoring and test preparation in French, Italian and Spanish for adults and children, also found the seminar extremely beneficial. “From the smallest of details such as what font is best to use in an e-mail newsletter to which social media platform is best for your business, the guest speakers had it covered,” Lurie said.

An attendee with one of the more unique businesses was Barbara Grapstein of Gold Coast Giggles. Grapstein is a certified laughter leader and laughter yoga instructor who travels the globe educating groups about laughter’s many benefits. “The seminar opened to my eyes to the importance of my online footprint and how highlighting testimonials from my customers can be beneficial to promoting my business,” said Grapstein.

The seminar was organized by BTDC Program Director Louise Fishman and Economic Development Specialist Roy Smitheimer. Great sponsors that made the free event possible include Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck & Co., P.C.; National Grid; Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo, & Terrana LLP; Sovereign Bank/Santander; and the Long Island Development Corporation.



From left, Doris Mellina, Marketing & Business Development Officer, Long Island Development Corp/Long Island Small Business Assistance Corp. (LIDC/LISBAC, Louise Fishman, Executive Director, North Hempstead BTDC; Roy Smitheimer, Economic Development Specialist, North Hempstead BTDC; Wayne Wink, Nassau County Legislator/North Hempstead Town Clerk-Elect; Mike Aversano, Principal/Owner, Local Biz on the Web, Inc.; Ellen DePasquale Williams, Regional Development Director, Constant Contact; Beth Granger, Principal/Owner, Beth Granger Consulting; Nina McCann, Director of Marketing, Forchelli Law.



The full house at the Harbor Links clubhouse.
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