By Cheval John

January 12th, 2018

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Houston has long been known as the energy capital of the world.

It makes sense because the entire city was built directly and indirectly through the discovery of oil in the spindletop area in the early 20th century.

The riches made from the oil boom allowed people to form their own businesses in the growing city.

It even led one former Houston Post reporter Marcellus E. Foster to form the Houston Chronicle in 1901 despite the fact they already had two newspapers in the city with a population of about 45,000 residents at that time.

The Houston Chronicle outlasted the other newspapers to become the official newspaper of record (the Houston Post was bought and shut down by the Chronicle in 1995).

Another result of the oil boom was the creation of the Houston Ship Channel in 1914 which allowed the Port of Houston to become one of the largest cargo exporters in the United States due to connecting with the Gulf of Mexico.

The riches made from the wealthy also allowed them to create the Medical District, the largest area of hospitals in the world, the houston symphony orchestra, the houston ballet and many other places which has enriched the vibrancy of the city.

Why I went through the history lesson of houston you might ask?

Many outsiders only know the city of houston as the energy capital of the world.

They might not understand there is more to this city than meets the eye.

Though the oil and gas industry are the drivers of the houston economy, there are other business sectors which are comparable to other cities in the united states and even the world.

The city has a vibrant music scene where many independent artists create their sound and eventually get discovered by major music labels.

The food industry is very hip as well as they are thousands of restaurants in the city which some have said will take a lifetime to visit.

The above is quite impossible because many restaurants are closing every year while new restaurants are appearing at the same time.

Super Bowl 51 allowed visitors to see the different coffee shops, bars, burger joints, barbecue joints and restaurants the city had to offer.

Visitors also had the opportunity to see the thriving arts and entertainment scene the city has to offer.

They also might have been shocked to know the city of houston is among the few cities in the United States to have the the major artistry of the symphony orchestra, the ballet and the theather based in one area.

Many might be also be surprised to know Houston is among the places where the tech startup community is based.

Matt Mullenweg created this platform in the city of houston in 2003 from a code called b2/cafelog before changing the official name to wordpress.

And higher education institutions like the University of Houston and Rice University has set up incubators to allow startups to grow at a pace where they can be profitable on their own.

The non-higher education company which has also been a resource for startups is Station Houston.

Station Houston was created in March of 2016 to help startups connect with potential investors.

They give workshops on pitching to investors, growing your customer base and building a community around your brand.

Houston is also a hot bed for the social media industry.

Since every business sector must be on social media, they have to understand how to grow their audience and their business through this platform.

Unfortunately, people will have a tough time finding work as a social media professional in the city of houston.

According to Conductor, Houston was not even in the top ten for content marketing work and seo work.

It leads back to the oil and gas industry as they are rules and regulations on what you can report and what you can’t due to the competitive nature of the business sector.

Which leads to this point.

CEO’s, executives and C-Suite will have to be on social media in addition to the employees of each of the business sectors because people transparency from each brand.

They can not afford to do business as usual like they did in the past with comments about certain crisis or a change in the business structure with quote “said in a statement.”

Yes, they have to be very careful of what they say because it can become misunderstood by the public.

However, they can let the public know when an event is happening as quickly as they can, “We will answer all of your questions as soon as we can once we know all the details” in a crisis like an oil spill.

Or in the case of Walmart shutting down 63 Sam’s Clubs stores yesterday without giving their workers any warning about their change in direction of the business.

At least the rest of the workers in other stores within Walmart know they will be out of work soon.

Samantha Kelly, who is a twitter expert and founder of “The Women’s Inspire Network” said this statement in Social Media Examiner:

“CEOs will no longer be able to avoid social media. They’ll become the company’s biggest marketer by engaging with customers and allies more regularly and showing more behind the scenes and the human side, which will increase sales and brand advocates.”

This further explains that leadership from every business sector especially here in the city of houston must be on social media this year or wind up losing business to their competitors who are already there.

It does not mean for them to just broadcast their message hoping to get a sale on the first interaction.

It means taking the time to build trust with their customers consistently.

So they might be wondering how to get started with building a community with their customers on social media.

And which social media agency or professional corporations and organizations can work with.

Here are the top social media professionals here in houston I believe will be the best bet to guide them in taking their social media activities to the next level.

This list is not in any particular order

KAMI HUYSE

Kami is the founder of Zoetica Media, an agency which provide social media services to the health care sector, the non-profits and the travel industry.

She has been a public relations professional for more than twenty years prior to founding her company.

Kami is also the co-founder behind the Social Media Breakfast Houston, a monthly event which started in 2009.

Social Media Breakfast Houston is also live streamed on Facebook.

KRISTYNA TORRES-CRUZ

Known as “PR Kristyna”, she provides workshops and seminars about social media to the non-profit sectors.

Kristyna also does some live streaming surrounding tips to using social media to build an audience.

One of the best advice a person can follow from her is this: “Do not post the same content to other social media platforms because each of the platforms have different audiences and it comes across as lazy” #paraphrased.

Kristyna worked as a social media volunteer during Super Bowl 51 last year.

REBECCA COUNCILL

Rebecca is a social media professional who provides services to small businesses.

She is also a certified evernote consultant and businesses who needs helps with this platform can find her.

Rebecca is the founder of Social Media Day Houston, a one day event which brings together speakers on different social media topics and is indirectly part of the global Social Media Day event which was started by Mashable.

She also had the opportunity to work as a social media volunteer during Super Bowl 51 last year.

KRISTY GILLENTINE

Kristy is a former journalist and producer, who is the Vice President of Public Engagement for Drive West Communications.

She is also the creator of #chatsnap, the first twitter chat talking all things surrounding snapchat.

Kristy has done some snapchat takeovers including one for her former employer, KTRK-TV, a Houston media station.

She has also been featured on top blogs including Hootsuite and Social Media Examiner.

KEN WATSON

Ken is the founder of Watson Knowledge Services, a agency which provides small businesses with social media audits and consulting.

His main expertise is instagram.

Ken started #chatgram, the first twitter chat about all topics surrounding the instagram platform.

He also worked as a social media volunteer during Super Bowl 51 last year.

BOBBIE BYRD AND LISA STAUBER
Bobbie and Lisa are the co-founders of Quirky Owl Media, an agency which provides social media services to small businesses.

It is the parent company of Blog Elevated, an annual conference which brings together speakers on topics surrounding blogging.

They also co-host #blogelevated, a twitter chat which is an extension of the conference and was featured in Hootsuite’s blog.

They have spoken at Social Media Day Houston last year.

ERIC T. TUNG

Eric is the Digital Director for Go To Marketers, a Canadian based company.

He has spoken at Social Media Marketing World twice and was featured in media outlets like Forbes and The New York Times.

Eric has also been the guest speaker at Social Media Breakfast Houston and has build a strong online presence.

ANH T NGUYEN

Anh is the founder of Amplified Marketing, which provides services for mid-sized organizations.

She is also the co-host of #mobilechat, a twitter chat about topics surrounding mobile technology.

Anh has made appearances on Livestream Universe and has spoken at Social Media Breakfast Houston.

MADALYN SKLAR
Madalyn is a twitter expert who has build communities via Twitter Chats.

She was among the first to live tweet at a conference event when Twitter was in the early stages.

Madalyn hosts #twittersmarter, a chat about topics surrounding twitter.

She is also the host of #socialroi which recently celebrated it’s one year anniversary and is produced by Manage Flitter.

Madalyn has made many appearances on many media outlets including Al Jazeera and the Huffington Post.

JILLIAN GOLTZMAN

Jillian is an instagram expert and influencer.

She blogs at Cup of Charisma, where she shares tips on fashion and social good.

Jillian is also an account supervisor at Integrate, an award winning digital agency.

She was among the speakers at the inaugural Hispanicize Houston event last year.

Jillian has spoken at Social Media Breakfast Houston and was featured in the Houston Chronicle.

BASYA BENSHUSHAM

Basya is the founder of Pink Cilantro, a digital agency which focuses on social media and data.

The company has worked with brands like AT&T.

She has spoken at Social Media Breakfast Houston about data focused social media.

ASHLEY JOHNSON

Ashley is the founder of Mouth Marketing, LLC, a marketing agency which provides consulting to small businesses and startups.

Their specialty is LinkedIn because they have grown their business through the social platform.

Ashley has spoken at Social Media Day Houston in 2016 and 2017.

She has made an appearance on media outlets including Texas Business Radio and Voyage Houston.

AIMEE WOODALL

Aimee is the founder of The Black Sheep Agency, a marketing company which works with non-profits and for profit businesses who does social good.

She has been recognized by the Houston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 in 2014 and has been featured in media outlets including the Houston Chronicle, Fast Company and the Huffington Post.

Her company took part in former first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign, “Better Make Room” which brought one billion impressions on social media.

There you have it, the list of social media professionals who I believe will add value to your corporation and organization.

Did I miss anyone who you believe should be on this list? You can leave your comment below.