It can be challenging to find content that resonates with your brand’s social fans. So why not let them find it for you?

Here are five tips for searching and sharing your fans’ social content:

1. Advanced searches: Whether it’s a “quick search” or “advanced search query” on Hootsuite, a #discover search on Twitter, or an “explore” search on Foursquare, all are legit ways to search your product using keywords or phrases within a set number of miles from a city. You’ll be amazed what people say about the product! For example: If you’re running social for the Milwaukee Brewers, you’d probably want to search not only “Milwaukee Brewers” but also “baseball,” “national league” and “Bernie.” On Twitter especially, advanced searches are an excellent way to find conversations you might not otherwise be privy to. Facebook’s GraphSearch has yet to impress us. But it’s still new.

2. Photo-sharing sites. Statigram is a resource where you can view Instagram photos tagged with your brand name, or find shots of patrons in your location. However, if you chose to use a photo, don’t forget to give attribution to the fan who snapped it. One way to do that is give a shout-out with their Instagram handle. Fans love it when you use their photos. But first, know each site’s terms of use, and whenever possible, give fan credit where fan credit is due.

3. Review/check-in sites: Foursquare, Yelp and UrbanSpoon are also places to find pictures of your product or company, along with reviews. Again, if you’re going to use a customer’s public photo, it’s probably best to get permission and give credit to the owner before using them to “sell” product, or associate with your client’s brand.

4. No-brainer: Never use a picture with someone under 18 in it without parent or guardian permission. End of story.

5. Share the love: You don’t always need to self promote. It looks great to support your community and surrounding businesses. When posting content that involves another community or business, tag them in it! Now your message is going out to your fans, and those following the business/community you tagged. Win-win!

Search and you shall find. It’s amazing what’s out there and you don’t even have to ask for it.

Mindbenders Media Vine: Tour with Tom Crabtree

Vine: a six-second video app powered by Twitter.

Within two days of the app being released Jan. 30, it had more than 13,000 users. That number is skyrocketing.

Unfortunately, if you don’t have a iPhone or iPad, you can’t use Vine. On the bright side, there are tons of online sites that post Vine videos, you can watch those and be jealous. Once Vine works out most of its kinks, it will be released for Android.

Within the last 24 hours there have been a number of “experts” opining on ways Vine can improve. This is the reason this app is going to be HUGE!

Vine has infinite potential to expand and be refined. And it’s Mindbenders’ closely-held belief that instant videos will be more than a trend — but a widely-adopted way of sharing hyper-local happenings. Vine has already been tested and adopted by news organizations. As early as Feb. 1, the Wall Street Journal was assigning stories using Vine, and NBC New York was the first to use the app.

It’s easy to get excited about Vine’s potential. It’s minimalistic. Easy to use. It’s green! Despite being in its infancy, developers are already running with the app, creating a “Being John Malkovich”-type portal call Vinepeek where you can view (even record) newly-posted Vines in realtime. Very voyeuristic.

Why should you give Vine the time of day (in your personal life):

• It’s amazingly simply and fun. GIF vids=social media gold.
• It allows you to SAY more than 140 characters.
• It’s super sharable! Sharing is the new reading.
• It’s the fastest growing app ever. Ever. EVER. Now is the time to test it!

Good ways to use Vine for business:

• Create a simple “How-To.” Example: How to cook a sauce, how to mix a drink, how to use a hair product, how to shave your manly beard. Whatever. Just remember — keep it concise. Not that you have a choice.
• Event update: Vine is a perfect way to keep fans updated on what’s happening at a grand opening, conference, party, training session, etc.
• Promote a sale or deal: Instead of using written words to promote, tell customers to send you a Vine, and you can send them back a video of a coupon with a specific whisper code or number. “Thanks, Vine!”
• Showcase a product or service: It will help raise awareness. Release an “exclusive first look” via Vine.
• Entertain! Be random, fun, creative and get personal. People eat that s@#! up. It makes you seem real vs. a greedy machine.

Who to follow on Vine:

• Urban Outfitters
• Red Vines
• GE
• Ritz Crackers
• Malibu Rum
• Tyra Banks
• Paul McCartney
• Emmy Rossum

We can’t wait for the new MySpace. Justin Timberlake & Co. purchased the social media grandaddy, and are attempting to reinvent it by catering to a hip/hipster audience of bohemian 30-somethings. Only problem: It’s late! It’s got more buzz in social circles than a Kimye baby bump at a sorority rush party. We waited months to get our invites, finally receiving access to the beta site just recently. It looks pretty sweet. But one has to wonder: Will the wait for the new MySpace be justified? To quote Robin Gibb: “No … no it won’t.”

Google Plus is the best-kept secret in social SEO. G+ is a haven for wonks,
geeks and businesses if they know what’s good for them. Retailers and restaurants, especially, should know that 2013 ain’t nuttin’ but a G+ Thang, bay-beh.

Twitter should stay strong in 2013, but will diversify. Like all social sites, expect it to tweak its algorithm and start bombarding you with opportunities to advertise. Resistance may be futile, but stay resolute — Twitter is still the most social, social-media site. Who to watch: Justin Bieber. The king of “selfies” will continue his public self-reflection. We’re still amazed at his 35 million followers. Honestly: Do you know anyone that follows him?

Pinterest. The leader in visual content. Well, maybe. Instagram is expected to see an 89 percent increase in 2013 — the LARGEST among major social networks. Hopefully this increase will involve #fewer #hashtagged #photos. Rumor has it that Pinterest is going to gang up with a sporting goods/outdoors store and run a campaign that will attract men like a Kate Upton Google search. Best advice: Unless you’re a visually oriented business, steer clear of the Big P.

Aside from running legal Facebook contests (which almost no one truly does) analytics are still the biggest obstacle to overcome for most “socialites” in 2013. Expect the Facebooks, Twitters and Pinterests of the world to introduce suped-up analytics offerings native to their site/helping show ROI.

Tout: Replace a 140-character post with a 15-second video.
SnapChat: Real-time picture-chatting.
InstaCollage: Instagram, but with more borders, filter options, texts, and background color.
Tappr: Milwaukee start-up has 11 bars added to its local app. We love the idea of buying a beer for the lady at the end of the bar … with our iPhone.
Overgram: Add text captions to photos and pictures for Instagram.
RetailMeNot: A coupon go-to when shopping at Target, online or in-store.

Happy socializing in 2013!

I see Pinterest as the new Google. If I want to find something, (recipe, how-to project, great content for a client) I search Pinterest first, not Google.

                        You’ve got to pin it, to win it, says Pinnt.

Businesses must to learn to blend in with Pinterest users. If they’re interested in your product or service, they’ll click on the link connected to your Pin. This is where my three tips will come in handy.

Inspired by Jeff Bullas’s recent post here are three ways to build your Pinterest page.

1.) Profile picture: Try using a well-composed, well-lit picture that is actually a person, like the owner or representative of your business. A brand logo is great for brand building, but it signifies a new user and, at worst, a spammer!

2.) Original links: It’s great to re-pin, especially since you want be “social” on a social network, but uploading or adding your own pins will help your SEO. You want to have a good mix of original pins and re-pins — you want to look like you can stand on your own two (creative) feet.

3.) Board placement/content: The boards you want seen the most, put in the first row. Your board content should vary. You want a few boards that are of personal interest, and boards that only have to do with your brand. Compartmentalize accordingly. Personal interest boards make you seem like an actual human being, not a robot.

Pinning can naturally advertise your business, without any pushing. If you have great content, visually interesting graphics, and strategic keywords, you shouldn’t have to promote and “get all up in a consumer’s business.”

Maggie Pinnt is a social media strategist at Mindbenders Media, a Milwaukee-based social media marketing and design agency. She can be reached at maggie@mindbendersmedia.com

The site’s skin benefitted from the lush tones of treated wood, which reflect Rustico’s classic, oven-fired pizzas. Mindspike has reimagined the social buttons — making them cleaner and larger — better directing restaurant patrons to Rustico’s Facebook and Twitter.

Usually, you have to travel to tropical locales to truly soak up some rays. But the Ultimate Sun tan can be found about halfway between the equator and the North Pole — right here on Milwaukee’s East Side.

The solar specialists at Mindspike Design have formulated a new way for customers to keep an eye on Ultimate Sun with a brand spankin’ new website.

Ultimate Sun’s five different types of tanning beds are featured, all offering UV-free tanning options — a far cry from the cramped tanning beds of old. And that fresh take on tanning has transferred to the redesign, which includes one-touch drop-down pricing options for Ultimate Sun web surfers. In a spiffy social-media connection, the brand’s Twitter feed has been integrated into the sleek, sexy, photo-focused site.

The fully content-manageable site was created to be mobile friendly, with a responsive design in mind. The redesigned site goes beyond selling Ultimate Sun’s hand-picked products. It also tells fans about who they are with a “meet the fam” tab, profiling each employee’s hometown, favorites, photos and includes a few “rando” references for good measure.

UltimateSunTan.com shines a positive light on owner Sini Skodras’s stellar shop, which stands the shadows of UWM. Messaging mentions students — a welcome clientele that’s offered special discounts — and caters to sun-seeking patrons looking to add a little color by spray or by bed.

(Cue movie trailer voiceover:) We thoroughly enjoyed working with Ultimate Sun. You could even say this redesign was … fun in the sun.

Wait, the only thing better than writing about beer and designing around it is writing about it while drinking it. So here we go!

Milwaukee's Best (beer festival)

A few beer facts: 

• Beer is the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems. In this case, attending the Milwaukee Brewfest 2012 is a way to skip out on your honey-do list. Which is, in a way, a solution to a problem.

• 24 Hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? Well, you’ll have to ask the 75 different beer companies scheduled to tap a keg at Milwaukee Brewfest.

• Egyptian “laborers” received “a measure” of beer a day as they built the pyramids. And there will be a number of breweries in attendance that started small, building national operations from ground up. Craft-brew grandaddies Sam Adams, Paulaner and New Belgium will roam the Pavilion with a certain air of debonair, whispering secrets to tasty upstarts.

• It helped make Milwaukee famous. A dozen breweries located within a Galena hops-throw of Milwaukee will be representin’ like no-coast gangstas. Wisconsin brewhouses like Leinenkugels, Lakefront, Capital, Titletown, Tyrenea, Furthermore, O’So, Delafield, Rhinelander, Point and Milwaukee Brewing will all be in attendance.

Milwaukee Brewfest may be a big festival for smaller breweries, but it’s where the cream always rises to the top. Maybe we should trademark that … Prost!

P.S. V.I.P tickets are sold out but you can purchase general admission tickets here!

Mindspike Design worked closely with YMCA Milwaukee staff to develop a fully client-content-manageable site — a springboard for teams to sign up and get informed.

Mindspike’s design team deftly balanced the site’s look and feel, allowing site-goers to quickly access information on the event’s opening ceremonies, how to book a hotel, a merchandising portal and how to volunteer for the events. And a ticker on the 2012 YMCA Nationals site counts down to the June 29-July 2 competition.

Fittingly, the Milwaukee-hosted event will coincide with the the city’s biggest gig: Summerfest. A distinctly “Milwaukee feel” can be found on the homepage, which features a rotating gallery of photos showing MKE’s cityscape, the Diego Calatrava-designed Milwaukee Art Museum, sponsor information and a cross-section of “Y” membership.

The site took months to conceive and weeks to develop. And on the big day, our high-bar designers launched the site in a nanosecond and stuck the landing.

Long story short: The site proves we’re a lot like Internet gymnasts — but without the leotards.

Contact: Mindspike Design @ 414-765-2344

The newly-launched Milwaukee-based social-media marketing collective was an idea hatched at the turn of the 21st century — a time when MySpace was your space and the American business landscape was populated like a dot-com boom town.

In the ensuing decade, the idea of mindbenders media developed as social media evolved. We’re launching it at a time when nearly every person and every business on the planet with an internet connection has turned an interested eye to social media.

A picture may say a thousand words, but an entire story can now be told in a Tweet. Mindbenders Media understands this. We provide the intuitive social-media marketing strategy and multi-faceted content businesses are looking for. We have specialists focusing on every array of multimedia and social media. Mindbenders Media’s team of experts create a veritable beehive of social-media buzz around clients, while ensuring they don’t get stung online.

We’ll help you predict the future. Welcome to our world.

Mr. Mindbender may look like Mr. Clean, but he composes tweets like a digital Mozart.

When an artist greets you with the paradoxical disclaimer that they hate self-promotion, you can’t help but take it with a grain of salt. But it’s got to be said: Mike Magestro really does — and the mere act of sitting down to talk about himself seems to push this artist out of his comfort zone. He’s fidgety. Rough-hewn at the edges and somehow goofy. He sits at the table with a big mug of coffee at his side and a blank pad of paper in front of him that he never touches. The paper sits in front of him face up like a challenge, the imprinting of words and thoughts onto its surface an open dare. When asked what he’s working on, Magestro shrugs his shoulders. He opens up, slowly, in the identical expression of designer and artist — “A project,” he says. The word — project — thumps out of him nonchalantly and without pretense, as if he was stating what he ate for breakfast. He sighs a little, apologetic. “I have a lot of projects,” he says. “Music. My art.” He whisks at something in the air then. “Lotus flowers.”

These words are so esoteric and vague, they seem to hang in the air. Magestro knows this. “Ok. What I’m doing right now with my art is lotus flowers. I only paint lotus flowers right now.” He stares past me, focusing his thoughts. “And my music. My personal project is with Your Fallen Majesty. And my design work with Mindspike…everything I do is design, really.” His voice trails off and he seems to have reached a kind of wall: he’s a puzzling individual, because he is unlike the typical artist, the typical designer, the typical musician; he is interestingly arcane, because he isn’t broadcasting his work, notching his belt with accomplishments or collecting accolades or searching for the next big buyer/publisher/well-to-do what-have-you connections in the industry. Those agendas are the typical bread and butter activities of many creatives — but Magestro seems to care as much about them as someone might care about a drawer of dirty socks.

That is puzzling, indeed, since Magestro’s creative accomplishments are intimidating. He’s the President, owner and director of Mindspike Design, a creative design powerhouse in Milwaukee’s Third Ward that he jokingly refers to as a “design mafia.” He’s an internationally acclaimed graphic designer, whose works have been published in countless books, magazines and periodicals; he’s a visual artist, a videographer; a poet, a photographer; a perpetual and enthusiastic musician and lyricist. (Drummer in the band Spanglemaker; lyricist for The Gufs and Your Fallen Majesty, the latter the result of a new writing relationship formed with The Gufs frontman, Goran.) Magestro tells me he got members of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to do the background for a recent track he collaborated on with Kevin Sucher, a noted producer who currently manages Eric Benet and has worked with the likes of Robbie Williams, Hall and Oates, Michelle Branch, TRAIN, and Duncan Sheik.

How does one man play so many roles? Regardless of the how, the role that is taking center stage at this time is that of the painter. This month, Magestro is a featured artist at Milwaukee’s Gallery Night where his series of lotus flower paintings will be on display at MyDwelling in the Third Ward.

“It’s about beauty in chaos, the lotuses,” Magestro muses, his face pensive. “It represents human growth. Coming out of ego. You look at the lotus, a flower blooming out of all that mud…something in the chaos but not of it — just like us, you know?” He pauses and seems to enjoy the silence. “We are all beauty in chaos.”

This kind of zen, esoteric philosophy seems to match Magestro’s laidback demeanor well. He is calm, and unruffled — like the ponds that sit beneath the lotuses he paints. Of course, this is no coincidence: Buddhism and Reiki infiltrate and influence Magestro’s creative philosophies in every single arena. “Music, art — it’s all design,” he says. “It’s all about being able to create something with a deeper meaning, something that says what I want to say, but in different ways.” He pauses for a solid fifteen seconds. When he speaks again, his tone is matter-of-fact, his affect pragmatic. “I only do something because I have a message to give. The most important thing about art is being able to touch people with it, being able to create something with my own meaning, that other people can take and apply their own meaning to. It’s about conquering.”

Steady and unpretentious in his appraisals, he regards his work with an attitude one does not often find in individuals of the same calibre. He never works with the same medium twice, finishing a series and moving on as if closing a chapter, a fait accompli. “I’m always learning,” he says flatly. “If I don’t know how to do something, I take it apart, and figure it out. Before I started painting these, I hadn’t touched a brush in years.” He motions at one of his lotus paintings on the wall.

No matter what type of artistic expression it is, musical, visual, or typographical, it is impossible not to see that there’s a deeper message behind it all — a method in the madness, a crystalized awareness in the great blue something. These infiltrations — into the world of art, design, and music — have to be a relief to a guy whose job as an industry creative head present him everyday with questions he, rightly or wrongly, may not care about answering. However, because he plays this role, one might point out that this allows him to move within and between the worlds of art and music with impunity.

Still, the guy works, diligent and openhearted. “Who gives a shit about putting an image on a piece of canvas if it holds no meaning?” Magestro says. He shrugs. “I could try to sell my paintings, but I don’t. I could try to promote myself more, but I don’t. That’s not something that interests me. It’s not about the money. It’s about the message.” He is a restless artist, resilient, and surprising. He’s back to work after this, back to his projects, questions, pursuit of answers. He stares out the window, his face dark against the wall of light from the street. The day is ahead. “It’s not about me,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s about the blossoming of the lotus.”