Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month. Come at 6:00 pm for social hour; program starts at 6:30 pm.

COMING UP: MIPA MEETING: March 14

The Ins and Outs of amazon.com—How to Use It to Your Best Advantage and Avoid the Pitfalls

Where: Joule, Minneapolis—651-492-8761, 1200 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis 55415

(http://cojoule.com/location/directions.php)

February 8 meeting notes:

Six Simple Steps to Getting Results with Social Media

MIPA's February 8, 2012, meeting was attended by a total of 26 people, including members of the MIPA Board.

After everyone in attendance introduced themselves to the group, some announcements were made:
• The March 14, 2012, meeting topic will be the great debate over Amazon.
• The MIPA Vendor Fair is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, April 11, 2012, between 6:30 pm–8:30 pm at Joule, Minneapolis
• The Midwest Book Awards Gala will be held on Wednesday, May 9, 2012, from 6:30 pm–8:30 pm at the Bloomington Center for the Arts
• Tables are still available for the Bloomington Writer's Festival on Saturday, March 24, 2012, at the Bloomington Center for the Arts
• Members are encouraged to submit articles to populate the MIPA newsletter, which is being expanded in March 2012. Materials should be sent to Sheyna Galyan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Once MIPA business was taken care of, the evening's guest speaker was introduced. Social media expert Tai Goodwin shared the presentation, "Six Steps to Getting Real Results with Social Media."

Goodwin began her presentation by sharing a story about how she used social media to get herself on the cover of Career magazine to promote her coaching business. She then discussed how attendees can use social media to promote their books. Goodwin began by defining the purpose of social media—to create awareness, build credibility, cross barriers, build a brand, maximize visibility, and sell products and services for research and to showcase talents and expertise.

Here are the six steps she focused on:
1. Have a clearly defined purpose
2. Develop a plan
3. Write down the results you wish to achieve
4. Go where your audience is
5. Provide relevant, valuable content for your online audience
6. Have something to sell

Also discussed were strategies for packaging content online. They include creating newsletters, e-zine articles, e-books, reports, surveys and videos.