Social Strata Archives

Hoop.la: An Online Community Platform For Your Social Hub

09/17/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Recently, my good friend, Rosemary O’Neill, President of Social Strata, was good enough to grant me an interview about the most #RockHot name for a company solution I know — Hoop.la. We originally met via Social Slam, my used-to-be-favorite spring fling that is now defunct. I love to give her grief about her crazy Twitter handle (@rhogroupee) and for that she’s now affectionately called RoHo. In all seriousness, her company’s latest community application is pretty cool, and we’re sharing here in a Q&A that’s sure to get your juices flowing, so grab a spittoon.

What is a Hoop.la? Do you have to sing that?
First of all Jayme, I love the way you say “Hoop.la!” Hoop.la is an online community application that integrates blog, forums, chat, calendar, and media/file uploads in an easy-to-use (and mobile-friendly) interface. It’s SaaS, so there’s no software to install, no plug-ins. Hoop.la was first released in 2010, and is currently supporting over 4,000 sites serving millions of page views every day.

Who would need this?
Well, we’ve got customers ranging from small non-profits using our free Hoop.la Spark plan to run their donor/volunteer communities all the way up to Pro Enterprise-level deployments for Rodale’s Runner’s World Magazine community. If you’re a business looking to create a social hub on your own website, and wanting to pull together your crazy array of social “outposts” (as Chris Brogan calls them), you might want to check out Hoop.la.

Do I have to give up my WordPress blog?
No. That’s the cool thing. Hoop.la is designed to be really flexible, so that you can turn off or on any of the modules (like blogging or chat) with the click of a button. We also offer import services, if you do decide to bring over your existing blog or forum content from another platform.

How can you fit Hoop.la in with the rest of your website?
You can easily make custom pages within Hoop.la that have any HTML you like. Also, there are built-in widgets that are embeddable on your existing site; so, for example, if you want to pop a widget that shows recent forum topics on your home page, you can do it with the click of a button. No geekery required. (However, if you’re feeling saucy, you can access the custom CSS to really tailor the look and feel.)

How is this better than just using a Facebook page?
Would you like to be earning SEO juice for yourself instead of Mark Zuckerberg? We definitely aren’t saying you don’t need Facebook; however, every business should have their own social “center of gravity” that’s under their direct control. With Hoop.la you own the data and you control the experience, period. We have lots of customers who are successfully cross-pollinating from their Facebook page to their Hoop.la site, making even more engagement opportunities.

Can I use it for private or internal communities too?
Definitely! Hoop.la is designed with really granular permissions, so you can keep the whole site public, or you can restrict certain features or forums, and you can even monetize certain activities with built-in premium memberships (no merchant account required). Long John Silver’s is using Hoop.la for its private, internal franchisee community.

Hoop.la is worth checking out, Jayme adds. Please do reach Roho aka Rosemary O’Neill at 206-283-5999 ext 106 for a demo.

The Happy Friday Series: Don’t Bloom Where You’re Planted

07/12/2013 By Jayme Soulati

We’ve all heard the phrase, “bloom where you’re planted.” It conjures visions of sunflowers swaying happily in the breeze, right?

But what if your current environment makes you feel like a weed? A dandelion squeezed between the sidewalk cracks?

You have the power to uproot and move to richer soil.

I know what I’m talking about.

As an adult, I’ve moved all the way across country twice, voluntarily. You see, my husband and I had a conversation about 14 years ago that went something like, “if you could live anywhere, where would you go?” We both had a deep curiosity about the Pacific Northwest, so we visited, loved it, and decided to pack up a U-Haul, two dogs and one cat, and move from the Washington, DC area to pretty much the farthest point away in the continental United States.

We happily spent about 12 years in the gorgeous, lush, remote Northwest. But then we started to get an urge…with kids in the picture who wanted to know their grandparents, a severe Vitamin D deficiency, and a vague need to be back on the East Coast, we started researching a new place to bloom.

Once again, we chose a place to visit, fell in love with it, and packed our family (now 3 kids and one cat). The winner? An island town outside of Charleston, SC. I’ve always dreamed of living at the beach, so I’ve literally moved to my “happy place.”

However, this post isn’t about how awesome it is to be barefoot 75% of the time. (It is awesome.) It’s about taking control of your happiness, and choosing where you want to be, rather than feeling stuck where you are.

Maybe your happy spot isn’t a physical location. Maybe it’s a new career. Regardless of what it is, make your move!

Bloom where you plant yourself, and be happy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rosemary O’Neill is Co-Founder/President of Social Strata, which makes the Hoop.la online community platform. For the last 15 years, she has been evangelizing the social conversation and helping customers like Mattel, Long John Silvers, and HarperCollins grow thriving communities. She has also appeared on Fox & Friends and NPR as an HR rebel. You can find her online via Twitter (@rhogroupee), on her small business marketing blog at https://rhogroupee.com, and as a weekly contributor to Liz Strauss’ Successful and Outstanding Blog. She makes a mean blueberry pie.
LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/rosemaryoneill

Always Publish An E-Book, Too

06/27/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Self-publishing a book in whichever format comes first is a wonderfully tedious, exciting, disturbing, and mind-boggling experience. I know this to be true because I just did it — with many trials, tribs and nail-biting.

Today, I’m so pleased to present:

If you download the e-book, and find you just can’t live without the soft-cover to hold in your hand, you can get this .

There’s an entire system of pricing you have to consider when setting yours. Because I used a hybrid publisher, they get a portion of every sale and so does Amazon. Hopefully, your first book is an experiment in the discovery of the process and not a get-rich-quick scheme (‘cuz I hate to break it to ya, that ain’t gonna happen).

My Biggest Mistake

I was so hell bent on publishing the manuscript for the soft cover to debut mid-April at the that I neglected the e-book.

I was exhausted after writing the book, proofing, fixing, proofing, seeing comps, building a presentation deck, traveling, and ohmygosh where did the time go…that I put aside that e-book.

When I went to tackle it, apparently, I couldn’t add the hyperlinks to the hard copy template. Something about InDesign vs. Mobi files…?

So, I created a spreadsheet with 40 hyperlinks that needed to go into the document on a respective page on a respective line and for a respective word phrase.

After two weeks, I got a file to proof and check those 40 links, and then I got another file and then I got another file to check those 40 links. So, if your analytics shows me pinging your blog for two seconds, you’ll know why — Jon Buscall, Danny Brown, Dino Dogan, Gini Dietrich, Adam Toporek, The Jack, New England Multimedia, Ralph Dopping, Kaarina Dillabough, Laura Click, Erica Allison, Fire Pole Marketing, 12Most.com., Steamfeed, and others.

My Best Move

Embarking on self-publishing is a mine field. Just hook into any thread on a LinkedIn Group or Google+ Community oriented to the topic, and your head will spin. There are about 24 gazillion pieces of software you can use to publish, and if you’re just an author/content marketer as I am, you’ll drown choosing the right fork in the river.

That’s why using was the best move I made. As a hybrid publisher, they help you with any aspect of the self-publishing journey from proofing/editing, designing the layout and cover, publishing the e-book, adding a QR code, and printing the hard copy. It even has a storefront on its website featuring a variety of little known authors writing on a breadth of topics.

Interested in working with a publisher like this? Try them; see my interview right here. David Braughler is top dog in my book.

And, speaking of “my book,” Thank you, world, for waiting patiently as I schooled myself in the self-publishing arena. A special shout out to who ALWAYS supports, shares and ‘raderies moi and Roho, aka , for that awesome review of this book.

Soulati Media On The Street With @rhogroupee Rosemary O’Neill

04/09/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Rosemary O’Neill flanked by Jeremy Floyd, Eric Pratum and Sean McGinnis

Social Slam 2013 was a huge success, except for also huge technical difficulties which limited the Soulati Media On The Street interviews to a handful…meh.

But, am so pleased to share this really perfect interview (because she was a good sport and permitted me making fun of her Twitter ID) with Rosemary O’Neill, owner of Social Strata where they make the Hoop.La. And, guess where she blogs? Right here…https://rhogroupee.com, and she blames that on her husband; uh-huh.

Permit my introduction of this fun Lady Friend, Rosemary O’Neill! (Oh, and please turn up the volume…the baby mic isn’t working well on YouTube.)

Soulati-'TUDE!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

My Biggest Mistake

My Best Move

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