Archive for month: June, 2016

(image courtesy: florencecc.com)

From the State Newspaper

By: Bob Spear

“On his way to membership in multiple halls of fame, teaching professional Grant Bennett turned Florence Country Club into the Mecca of junior golf in the 1950s and ’60s. No facility could match the parade of champions who learned the game there and piled up records to envy.

South Carolina’s golf community knows the names: U.S. junior champion Buddy Baker, Billy Womack, Jack Lewis Jr. and Randy and Russell Glover, to name a few.

All these years later, thanks to efforts by Ben Zeigler and John Orr, Florence CC is striving to regain its lofty station in junior golf. The combination of head pro Steve Behr and teaching pro Paul Woodbury, along with the membership’s backing, the club’s program for youngsters is flourishing. The rejuvenated Grant Bennett Florence Junior Invitational tournament represents the cherry atop the banana split.

The combination of focusing on the Bennett legacy and the South Carolina Junior Golf Association’s taking over the operation makes the tournament a must-play on the top juniors’ calendars. Overwhelming demand forced SCJGA head Chris Miller to turn down 49 entries for this year’s event.

“They’re trying to recapture the magic that Grant Bennett created, and they’re going gangbusters,” said Happ Lathrop, executive director of the South Carolina Golf Association and a driving force behind junior golf’s growth in the state. “They’re looking to build a teaching facility and a junior clubhouse. The possibilities are enormous in terms of helping golf grow among younger players.”

Before the state organization became involved four years ago, the tournament struggled to attract a quality field. Upon a recommendation from Fort Jackson GC and SCGA board member Jeff Connell, Zeigler came to Lathrop for direction.

Told the SCGA’s involvement would require raising funds, Zeigler replied, “That won’t be a problem,” and the tournament netted more than $30,000 the first year. This year’s program contains a lengthy list of sponsors – both corporate and individuals such as PGA Tour pro Tommy Gainey and wife Erin.

“Honoring former champions is important for a couple of reasons,” Lathrop said. “First, the young players learn about the legacy of Mr. Bennett. Second, they get to meet and hear from players who had some outstanding accomplishments in golf.”

The tournament honored Columbian Bobby Foster, the 1963 champion, this year. He followed Baker, Randy Glover and Lewis to be saluted for their successes.

“Some other clubs are doing what Florence is in focusing on junior golf, and that’s great to see,” Lathrop said. “Greenville Country Club has a program growing and the Country Club of Spartanburg just hired a junior-specific professional. Of course, everywhere (Hall of Fame pro) Jackie Seawell has been really worked on junior golf development.”

One young player bolted from the Wednesday afternoon reception to honor Foster saying, “I’ve got to go practice some more.”

He found the practice tee full of players with dreams of following Foster or Lewis or even U.S. Open champions Dustin Johnson and Lucas Glover, the latter’s credentials include winning the 1994 Grant Bennett Florence Junior Invitational.

“That’s a great sight,” said Lathrop, taking in the scene that included players both in the tournament field and those who hope to be there one day. “It’s spreading.”

Chip shots

Jacob Bridgeman (Inman) eagled the par-5 18^th hole twice, the first time to pull even and the second time on the third playoff hole to edge Grant Sellers (McBee) for the title in the Grant Bennett Florence Junior Invitational. The pair tied at 135, two strokes better than Jack Parrott (Columbia) and Nick Willis (Cowpens). … Walter and Walt Todd (Laurens) won their second SCGA Dudley-Sullivan Father-Son Championship, edging Rusty and Brooks Massey(Lexington) by two strokes at Green Valley CC in Greenville. … Winners in the GolfweekAmateur Golf Tour tourney at Windermere: Paul Ponder (championship flight), Jason Breedlove (A flight), Chris Moore (B flight), Bryan Wilkerson (C flight) and Jimmy Mathias (D flight). Players compete in flights according to handicaps. To participate, call John Livoti(864-982-0876). … Connor Bruns (Duncan/Furman) defeated Johnson Holliday (Aynor/USC Aiken) 4 and 2 to win the SCGA’s South Carolina Match-Play title at Bear Creek GC on Hilton Head Island. … USC and Clemson players continue to reap All-America honors, including USC women Katelyn Dambaugh and Sarah Schmelzel, USC men Matt Nesmithand Will Starke, and Clemson men Stephen Behr and Austin Langdale. … It’s not how, but how many, which is a round-about way to report this correspondent made one of the less artistic holes-in-one on record on No. 7 at Florence CC.”

State Newspaper Article

Is your business protected from a data breach? Here are 10 quick tips that you can use to make sure your information and your customers’ data is safe, from Inc Magazine:

The largest data theft in history:

• 1.2 billion internet user names and passwords compromised
• 420,000 websites impacted
• Well-known national brands and small companies affected.

 

Maybe you use Pinterest for business: for social media marketing, as a way to build greater product awareness, and to help build your brand. And maybe you use Pinterest to increase sales, generate more revenue, and make more money for your business.

Or maybe you think Twitter is sufficient.

Twitter should be a key component in your social media marketing strategy… butPinterest drives significantly more content to publishers than Twitter.

So if you’re not using Pinterest for business, you should be.

Yet you also might not be particularly excited by the thought of adding another social network to your social media marketing duties. Fortunately that’s a problem the folks at Buffer tackled with their Buffer for Pinterest integration. (Buffer’s tool lets you schedule, analyze, and share pins — in short, think Buffer for Pinterest.) So Inc Magazine asked Buffer co-founder Leo Widrich for practical ways to use Pinterest for business.

Here are several tips from Leo to make the most of your social media marketing strategy, especially using the help that Pinterest can provide:

1. Schedule pins.

The most important new feature now available for Pinterest is that you can schedule all your Pinterest pins with Buffer from one dashboard. As with Buffer for Twitter, now you can schedule pins to post consistently throughout the day.

You can share content to Pinterest from the Buffer dashboard or from the Buffer browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

2. Take advantage of smart weekly posting strategies.

When it comes to timing, there’s not a bad day to post on Pinterest. But different topics definitely perform at varying levels on different days of the week.

Pinterest shared some great info on these correlations last year. Here’s a look at what people are most like to focus on and pin on different days of the week:

• Monday: Good intentions spark interest in fitness and health
• Tuesday: Gadgets and technology tend to be all the rage
• Wednesday: When people look for a little something to get through the week, like inspirational quotes
• Thursday: Fashion, fashion, and more fashion
• Friday: Funny GIFs bring comic relief to the end of the week
• Saturday: Vacations and travel are top of mind
• Sunday: Food and craft ideas

Additionally, a bit.ly study found that Saturday is a great overall day for pinning.Maybe that’s when users have extra time for projects, or just for dreaming.

3. Measure the performance of your pins.

Another most important feature for all businesses is the ability to effectively measure how well you’re doing on Pinterest. Buffer’s Pinterest integration lets you measure the performance of your pins to understand how your audience is growing and how your followers are engaging with your content.

You can also filter, export, and sort your data so you can make smarter decisions with your social media campaigns.

4. Take advantage of smart posting frequency strategies.

Visual marketing service Piqora interviewed 200 big-time brands like Whole Foods, Lowes, and LL Bean, and discovered that many had experienced the most consistent Pinterest growth somewhere between “a few pins a week” and “3 to 10 pins per day.” (Note that this survey was pre-Smart Feed.)

On the higher end of the spectrum, the folks behind Ahalogy, a Pinterest marketing platform, say the sky is the limit when it comes to pins per day. Pinterest is different than other social media networks, says Ahalogy founder Bob Gilbreath, and requires re-thinking the “social media rules.”

Ahalogy says its clients have seen the best results when they pin 15 to 30 items per day, with pins spread throughout the day.

Our best advice? Pin as much quality content as you have time for. You’re unlikely to overwhelm your followers thanks to the Pinterest Smart Feed algorithm, and each pin is a chance to grow your exposure and audience.

5. Manage all your social media accounts from one dashboard.

Pinterest now lets marketers connect all their social accounts, including Pinterest, to their Buffer dashboard so they can post everywhere from one tool.

Save time by connecting as many Pinterest accounts as you like and you can easily publish content to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn as well.

6. Schedule pins directly from Pinterest.com.

With most of the sharing buttons all over the web, it’s important for business to be able to schedule their pins not just from a dashboard, but from wherever they are. TheBuffer browser extension makes it easy to schedule anything on Pinterest.com directly as a repin to your boards.

7. Take advantage of smart hourly timing strategies.

With so many different audiences and categories of content, Pinterest provides an interesting challenge when it comes to pinning down (ahem) the best times of day to post.

According to a study of nearly 10 million pins by Digitas and Curalate, the best times to pin vary by topic/industry.

For example:

• Friday at 3 p.m. ET is prime time for fashion pinning
• Electronics pins do best Mondays at 10 p.m. ET
• Automotive pins do well Fridays at 12 p.m. ET

Ahalogy found that between 8 p.m. E T and midnight any day is peak time for pinningrecipes about chocolate, and discovered that food brands could see the highest repin potential at 8 a.m. and the highest traffic potential from 10 to 11 p.m.

8. Schedule any image you find on the web to Pinterest.

Now you can also schedule any image you find on the way directly as a pin for your Pinterest account.

If you install the Buffer browser extension you can instantly schedule any image you find as a pin by right-clicking it and hitting “share as image” or hitting the blue “share as image button.”

9. Create a consistent sharing experience.

Like with other social media networks, a consistent sharing strategy is important on Pinterest to build your following.

Most marketing experts agree that spreading your pins throughout the day is a handy thing to do. Varying your timing exposes you to different segments of the Pinterest population and can lead to more exposure, repins, and followers.

And with Pinterest’s recent change to a Smart Feed that personalizes what users see in their accounts, you can pin basically anytime, without overwhelming your audience.

(Band of Oz image courtesy: SCnow.com)

Were you one of the many folks who filled the streets for Florence After Five last week?

If so, take a look at this gallery from the Morning News.

You never know, they might’ve caught a pic or two of you during all of the fun!

From the Morning News: “Florence After Five is a street party held in downtown Florence the final Friday of each month From April to October.

On Friday, hundreds of people started their weekend on Dargan Street listening to live music from Band of Oz, danced, and enjoyed music and drinks from local vendors.”

Click on the link below to go straight to the image gallery:

SCnow.com Media Gallery- Band of Oz Performs at Florence After Five