March Tweetup to be held tonight at Luni Latin Kitchen and Coffee studio head as many head off  for SXSWi conference in Austin.  This Tweetup is a joint effort between SMC Dallas and #cubanakolls. (Lauren Fernandez & Traci Koller). They have requested   to use the hashtags #smcdallas & #cubanakolls when talking about the event on Twitter. RSVP HERE on this Facebook Event page.

New Meetup.com group, SMB Social Media Networking, organized by Dallas social media speaker J. R. Atkins, held a Happy Hour networking event last night at Trece to bring like-minded small-medium-sized business owners together for brainstorming on the latest techniques and opportunities.  This  casual event  environment of small- and-medium-business leaders helped facilitate mingling and discussions  on how business owners are using social media.  Corner6 Labs, an Irving-based social media marketing firm sponsored the event and gave away two prizes: the opportunity for a guest blog post on the Corner6 Blog, and a free SEO analysis on the winner’s website. Corner6 representative Travis Blythe was quite the character and co-MC. He wore a lab coat in-line with his company’s branding, and asked attendees to sign it with his/her twitter handle and their thoughts on where social media was headed in 2010. If you are a social media enthusiastic, entrepreneur, or small business owner, I recommend checking out  this group by joining them at their events and receiving their updates via their Meetup.com group.

Neil Lemons is the founder of the Social Media Dallas News site and the lead SEM Strategist at The Marketing Zen Group, a social media marketing company offering website design, SEO, and pay-per-click. Check out their latest articles about using social media as a marketing tool.

The folks over at Social Media Club Dallas have done it again. They are consistently bringing together to hear social media best practices from agencies, corporate marketers, and professional consultants.

This month’s social media expert speaker is Aaron Strout. Here are a few of the details before I tell you about Aaron.

Social Media Club’s February’s Agenda:

1. Welcome and intro to speaker - Jessica Nunez @NunezPR

2. Featured Speaker - Aaron Strout, CMO of Powered, Inc.

3. Sponsor Introduction - TBD

4. Post Event Tweetup at Bengal Coast

About our Speaker

Aaron Strout @AaronStrout
Chief Marketing Officer
Powered

Aaron Strout @aaronstrout

As the head of marketing at social media agency, Powered,

Social Media & Powered Company Voice Aaron Strout’s Bio

Aaron focuses not only on day to day marketing activities but also provides a social voice for the company. In this role, Aaron continues with his speaking, blogging, podcasting and social networking activities with an eye toward creating awareness and lead generation for the company. Prior to joining Powered, Aaron was the Vice President of Social Media at Mzinga, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based provider of online communities and social networks for businesses. In this role, Aaron focused on tapping into the power of social media for business.

In addition to his knowledge of the interactive and new media landscape, Aaron has more than 15 years of online marketing and advertising experience, with a strong background in integrated and online marketing. Before joining Mzinga, Aaron worked at Fidelity Investments in their retail division, with a focus on online and acquisition marketing. Aaron’s work at Fidelity revolved around Web strategy & marketing, as well as the development of interactive and print campaigns, including direct mail, e-mail, banner & print ads, and event marketing.

Aaron is a founding member and former president of (BIMA) and a member and former board member of the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX). Aaron is an interim board member for the prestigious Social Media Club. He will be part of a team responsible for creating standards around social media and community. He also sits on the advisory board for BuzzGain (recently acquired by Meltwater News), SavvyAuntie.com, Dialog and the Social Media Marketing Institute. For details on signing up to hear Aaron speak, sign up here.

The Dallas Morning News recently reported an amazing statistic. The largest percentage increase in Internet use since 2005 has been in the 70-to-75 age group. This was according to a Pew Internet and American Life Project survey. The survey found that 45 percent of that age bracket is online, compared with 26 percent in 2005. In a touching story about Virgil Heidbrink, an 85 year-old former sales manager and public speaker who now lives in a senior living community, they explained how many senior living facilities in Austin and Dallas are forming virtual social media communities before the facilities are built and residents take occupancy. Many are also implementing programs for training seniors on social media.

Heidbrink spends three to four hours a day in the blogosphere – that virtual neighborhood of the Internet where he writes his blog and answers readers’ e-mail. A computer coach has helped the resident at the Edgemere retirement community in Dallas build and maintain his website.

Read the Dallas Morning News Senior Social Media article.