Scorpion Questions & Scorpion Answers

One of the best scorpion questions and answers ever. So I am not going to have too much to add, but I did want to put Mat’s comments up here. Pretty entertaining as well, but realize Mat is not a pest control guy so some of the information isn’t exactly right:

 From: Mat Siltala
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 12:00 PM
To: Matt McGee
Cc: Thomas Ballantyne
Subject: Re: Northern Scorpions

I will let Thomas the actual pest control guy answer this with a more verified answer, but I can speak with a little experience since I have been stung by a bark scorpion (which are not native where you are at) and which are one of the worst – and I lived to tell about it.

Everyone reacts differently. We have friends last night that had a two year old get stung by one and had to go to the hospital and get the anti venom treatment and was in ICU all night.

The littler you are the more effect they have.

It feels like a pulsating electric shock that is constant for like 18 – 24 hours … parts of mine lasted 48 which really sucked. My Father in Law who has been stung like 5 times now says its like a mosquito bite lol

…. they cant fly they are pretty blind from what I know and they cant climb glass (they say put your baby crib in mason jars if you live where scorpions are)

I think you guys will be ok … I would recommend getting a black light from home depot or walmart tonight and just have a fun “family night in excursion … don’t scare the kids) but go blacklighting for scorpions .. they light up crazy and its kinda fun when you find one (yea i know i am sick huh?) we find several in the house a month for a long time, but over the last year are finally getting them under control thanks to Thomas .. we only find 2-3 a year and we think it was because of the house being vacant for so long.

I wouldn’t stress about it … the bark ones down here are suppose to be the worse (most deadliest anyway for those allergic) but almost everyone in my family sans the kids have been stung and have lived to tell about it … I am actually kind of glad ive been stung so im not always worried about how bad its gonna be … it sucked and i dont ever want that again but i know what its like etc…

so blacklight the house tonight … under beds, in corners, in closets … they like to feel pressure on them so under stuff is where you will find them. if you have a block wall outside you can black light that too … we call those scorpion condo here and that is where most of them hang out … better on the wall outside than in my house right?

they sting from just the tail – in fact those crazy idiots at bulwark pick them up by the tail (not recommended)

small small small kids i would take to hospital but your kids just watch them … if they seem to have respitory problems then take them but not rush to hospital … cause most likely it will just hurt and they will be ok

the ones here usually i only see in groups of one …. so not sure how normal that is.

anyway … good luck and hope this helps.

-Mat

Sorry, the email was too good not to post.

Scorpion Stings and Young Children

Mat did hit on one point, children are at great risk. The smaller you are the more effect the venom will have. It’s a simple body mass equation. Not unlike alcohol, toxins in your body are metabolized based on your body mass. The larger you are the more your body can cope with toxins. As a general rule of thumb, children are more susceptible to any type of poison. So parents have a valid concern when it comes to scorpions stinging babies and/or young children.

Related articles

• The stinging scorpion (khamneithang.wordpress.com)
• Scorpions In Arizona Already A Problem (blogpestcontrol.com)
• Baby Scorpion Hiding in Luggage Bites Woman Returning Home From Trip [Image] (bostinno.com)
• Las Vegas Exterminator Earns 4th Angie’s List Super Service Award (bulwarkpestcontrol.com)
• The Unwelcome Visitor (mountainmissy.wordpress.com)

Scorpion Anti Venom now approved by FDA – Prevent Scorpion Bites

After several years of trials on the anti-venom made in Mexico, the FDA approves the anti-venom. Hopefully within a month or two all Arizona hospitals will have the antivenom on hand.

What can home owners do to prevent scorpions?

Regular service around the exterior of a home is the first and foremost step in scorpion control. Whether you hire a professional pest control service or do your own home maintenance, consistency is the key. Scorpions trouble neighborhoods. We will never be able to rid an entire neighborhood of scorpions. So keep the scorpions at bay with a regular treatment, do-it-yourself or call a professional.

After a regular treatment, additional precautions would be glue traps placed in corners. Glass jars placed around the base of beds and especially cribs. Scorpion seals also create an additional barrier. Treating moisture points in the yard is advised. And treating around pool equipment helps.

It is also advised for those that have allergic reactions to carry an Epinephrine Injection.

Related articles

• FDA Approves Treatment for Scorpion Bites (ducknetweb.blogspot.com)
• FDA Approves First Scorpion Sting Antidote (fda.gov)

Social Media Arizona – SMAZ Panel – Social Media Strategy

#SMAZ Panel w/

Elise Redlin Cook, Fiona Downhill, Cindy Kim, Sarah Marie

–

Mike Corak as Moderator,

& Thomas Ballantyne ( Thos003 ) as Narrator.

–

So what is Social Media strategy?

Fionn : Since I have been doing this for a long time, everything is SEO. Sorry, but being found in the search engine is what really matters. Social media is just an arm of SEO.

( Thos003 thoughts… Probably not what people want to hear, that marketers are just gaming social media…. Microphone distractions… Don‘t know who is talking…)

….. People don’t look at it like a social media strategy they look at it as your brand. What do you want to say? What is your audience/customer looking for from you?

Cindy : You need an editorial calendar that matches your goals, time of year, product promos, new releases….

–

Uh.. Someone on the Panel… Ebooks are the new whitepapers.

–

Redlin: Is content appropriate for ____(Blank)________ Channel. Fill in the blank. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube…

(In Thos003 head …Need Name Tags on Table to be able to follow.. Okay FOCUS…)

Sara – Content needs more attention not just on how, but who. Who is managing it? Bring together all the individuals that are publishing content. Consistent message. Work with the various departments of the organization.

Elise – When I begin, I start with what mediums are appropriate. Ask, “How does content differ and frequency based on network?” Pay attention to the tone of the social media as well.

Fionn- I want my content on Google. Whether on twitter, or blogs, I want it found on Google. I want to rank for Keywords. One of the enemies is corporation silos. Client story… Marketing fought with IT and with operations.

Cindy – Research is key. Where are people going to search for content. You don’t deliver information, readers find it. Where are people researching, reading. If you had an ideal list, a golden list, where are they going to go, where are they looking, where are they asking. Where is your prospect base communicating.

Elise- Lot of tools out there to conduct research. Social content ground swell. If you have demographic information then you can find out where they go. Flowtown current customer list. Connect with existing customers in their online communities.

Sara- Silos happen in research as well. How will research in social help you in other ways? Segment your audiences. Social listening is also a good way to find your audience.

( Thos003, note to self… Create an overall customer persona for each of your target markets. Create a message that speaks to them.)

Cindy – After listening and understanding audience ask yourself if they fit your golden customer profile.

Elise – Specific keywords that the consumer uses, and adapting to the way they speak. Jargon that is industry related works for an industry audience, but it may not work for your customer audience.

Fionn – Social as a marketing campaign, there is audience. You don’t need focus groups. You don’t need secret shoppers. The information is there online. Getting long tail search is a great way to get audience. Find all the “how to… ”s and put together a spreadsheet then blog it.

Mike- TV is related to reviews and shows while television is not really in their vernacular.

–

Content Audit?

[Content Audit is looking at all the existing content and digital assets, on the web and off, that a client already has.]

Sara – Get a sense of your landscape ahead of time so that it can help you down the road.

Elise – Use already made content and re-purpose it. Make a slide show. Make a podcast. Lot of great ways to re-purpose it.

Mike – Do you feel like a librarian at times?

Sara – Yes.. Some of my co-workers didn’t think they would see me again during my last content audit.

( Thos003 head… Nope haven’t seen her since she stepped off into that black and green character flowing abyss… the content audit matrix is real!)

Cindy – When your communication team gets a hold of it, when you start building on the good content you find, you can get some good marketing, just by sharing. Take what’s good from you audit and breath new life into it!

Fionn- We help clients to control the top 10 for their name. Did you ever do any TV ads? Real cool ads. TV ads all on one micro site and they get awesome traffic on it. There is no content, text, on that site at all. We built some good links for it and they get a ton of traffic from it.

Cindy – Webinar with CEOs. We got five pieces of coverage from it.

Sara – When you do an audit you can see relationships between content, marry them and get new content. Show the relations and link back to the old content.

Mike: Kinda like content curation.
[ Content Curation =Archiving and preserving digital assets. ]

–

Content Plan?

Fionn – Dominate search by following all the search engine rules.

Cindy – Some companies are getting to a stage where their main site is their blog and their traditional site becomes a … “if you want to learn more click here”

–

Editorial Calender–

Elise – I kinda play a Community manager role. The editorial calendar is shared through out the entire staff. If they have something related that they are excited about then they can add to that when the time is right. But I get the final say and they have to contact me for approval.

( Serious note Thos003 to self… Make sure your editorial calendar is internal. Don’t let your competitors scoop you on it… if you have that great of information… probably not applicable to pest control.)

Sara – If you are an agency you must have people on the day to day operations. You are not entrenched in the company. Accept that you are an outsider. You will need an insiders voice. Social media is more difficult. You need more updates.

Cindy – Social media with out content is just chatter. Social media all content is just broadcasting. Editorial calendar, every company should be planning. Does your content resonate? Are you on track with the company? What is your goal? Awareness, thought leadership, brand sales,… At a buyer level it’s all educational.

–

How do you measure success?

Elise – Return on objective. What was your objective? Awareness, sharing a voice, finding out info from audience, or pure link building? Return on objective.

Fionn – Nothing matters if its not driving sells. How many RTs, Followers, …. Customer satisfaction, customer retention, up sales, resells, …it all comes back to the bottom line. In social medial, ROI isn’t there for my clients. My social media is for personal brand.

Sara – Web analytics can show you how social is driving traffic, but it’s hard to tell what actually converts customers.

( Flash back from earlier session with Matt – “Let’s draw a line in the sand so from here on out this is your ROI.”)

–

Who do you need to have as best friends within your organization?

Cindy – Everybody has to be your best friends. Janitor, CEO. Who is going to be my content providers?

Sara – Get people talking together and pull/pool the information together.

Question from audience: Reputation management, which social media platforms do you recommend for reputation management?

Fionn – Take over top ten with mircosites. Facebook, Youtube, linkedin. You need 20 digital assets to take over the top 10.

–

Question from Audience…

I’ve got the Social Media content rolling… I’ve got the branding principles down, messaging down, I know exactly what to post. But then audience doesn’t respond. When do you step back and say we need a new strategy. Or when do you give the audience the opportunity to decided?

Sara – If you have not been listening to the audience along the way then you are not ready to publish.

Cindy – Client side, look at the content and set expectations. Agencies come in handy by saying this is dated or too product focused.

–

Audience… How long do you give them to set up content strategy… listen, and plan?

Mike – At least 30 days of listening.

–

 

Thank you for a great panel! … roll credits…

–

FIONN DOWNHILL – PRESIDENT- ELIXIR INTERACTIVE Internet Marketing professional, consultant, speaker and CEO of Elixir Interactive

Cindy Kim

@CindyKimPR– Marketing director for JDA Software. SM Marketing Blogger. Heart security, software and technology. Co-founder of Women of Web 3.0 Group. http://cindykimblog.wordpress.com

@sara_ann_marie

@RedlinCook with Vertical Measures.

Super Mom, Wife,& Animal lover by night and Content Strategist, SEM, ORM, SMO wannabe Photog by day who believes there is a reason to celebrate EVERY day!

And since he got so little attention above…

@MikeCorak

Tempe, AZ
Husband, father, digital professional who loves music, strategy, St. Patrick’s Day, and fun with friends. http://www.digitalmarketingstrategy.com

….Just helping a brother out. =)

Related Article:

5 Things I learned at #SMAZ- Social Media AZ

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