Final Contestant Image Submitted At 11:41pm, 6/21/10

DesignSherpa, the leading social media and internet marketing system for design professionals has officially closed the “What Inspires You” contest for new entries at midnight, June 21, 2010.  Hundreds of submissions were received on this site, all including an image and 100 words of inspiration, and our judges will now go to work selecting the top 100 contestants to move to the next round.  We will feature the work and submissions of our favorites until the judges award the ultimate prize of $10K, the trip to Maison & Objet, and the chance to blog about it for DesignSherpa.  We can’t wait to uncover the amazing design talent that rises above all others.  Will a design industry icon be acknowledged or will a new talent be discovered?  Keep checking back here to keep up with all the news.

We launched this social media contest to give something back and to thank the home design and remodeling industry that so quickly made DesignSherpa a successful service for providing full service social media solutions to such a wide array of design professionals, showrooms, and retailers.  We had no idea what to expect or what part of the ultimate prize would be most interesting to the design community.  It looks like Paris and Maison & Objet topped the list based on a survey we hosted here since the launch of the contest.  Who knew?

Just An Image and 100 Words!

DesignSherpa’s “What Inspires You?” contest is nearing the entry deadline of June 21.  There is still plenty of time to become eligible for the $10,000 and trip to Paris and Maison & Objet in January.  100 contestants will be selected to move on to the second stage of the contest this summer.  You can find out more and enter here. And for a little inspiration….here is the submission from our 100th contestant to enter “What Inspires You?”:

The natural aesthetics of an autumn leaf, the color of lichen, and the sculptural form of a bleached bone inspire me. Clean, modern design also gets me up in the morning. It is the union of these two stimuli, however, which truly make me feel alive. On the hunt for a unique wall installation for a client, I found these bleached bison skulls while visiting Jackson Hole, Wyoming. To create visual interest within the arrangement I removed the horn caps of one skull and stained it black, lending an interesting yin/yang affect.

You have until June 21 to let us know what inspires you!

Entries for DesignSherpa’s “What Inspires You?” contest are pouring in over the last week as design inspired and social media savvy entrants are getting into the game for the 10 day trip to Paris, visit to Maison & Objet, and $10,000 cash prize.

Here is entry #49, which we really like…..(Hint?)

Infinite possibility. A blank slate. A fresh canvas. These are my inspirations. What could this room be? Who will visit? What memories will be created here? In the quiet moments of standing in a room-to-be, a million possibilities flash like a old movie reel though my mind. In a split second this room could conjure a french market cafe, a morroccan riad, Notting Hill, a Soho loft. Will the room say mid-century Eames? Classic Dorothy Draper? Cool Vicente Wolf? Or maybe pop art campy kitsch? This is my room and this room allows me to dream.

Entry deadline is June 21!  It only takes 100 words and an image to get into the judging for round 2.  Besides “What Inspires You?”…What are you waiting for?

One really successful Interior Designer told me that attending David Shepherd’s Business of Design events helped her to organize her business for purposeful and charted financial growth.  Looking back, a major piece of her learning was centered around the deployment of of social media tools as a foundation for a powerful internet marketing strategy.  So, we were really pleased to get a reference and a call from David, inviting us to participate in his September event in New York City.

We launched our DigitalSherpa turnkey social media solutions last summer, and are now managing close to 1000 social media campaigns for local companies in home design and remodeling, as well as other sectors of the local home and real estate business communities.  The overarching goal of the program is helping companies achieve the results of an expertly executed social media internet marketing program, while saving them the 40-50 hours a month of their valuable time that would otherwise be invested in the usual business of running their businesses.

This is a particularly exciting time for DesignSherpa since the program and its participants are receiving lots of attention across the blogosphere spurred by our recently introduced “What Inspires You” Contest. The contest is open to everyone, DesignSherpa client or not, professional or consumer, with an inspired design sensibility and reasonably strong set of communication skills.  The winner will find him or her self in Paris for ten days, attending Maison & Objet, with a $10,000 cash prize just to make things a bit more luxurious.

The contest was launched to celebrate the amazing reception design professionals across the country have afforded us since the introduction of DesignSherpa, and it is our small payback to celebrate social media, design pros, and design enthusiasts.  We have been simply overwhelmed by the level of two way engagement and participation we have enjoyed with so many design professionals as we work steadily at establishing their social footprints.

Most importantly, we are really eager to share some of the secrets of social media marketing with the design industry in New York in September, and to take it a step further by making ourselves available to implement and execute the programs in turnkey fashion and at affordable monthly rates.

We hope to see you in New York in September!

The explosion of social media tools and networks, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, create a unique opportunity for design professionals, retailers, showrooms, service providers and other luxury home design businesses to get active driving their profiles and brands on the web.  DesignSherpa, our revolutionary Internet marketing service for the home design industry from Network Communications, Inc., the country’s largest group of regional home design media brands including Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, At Home in Arkansas, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, Kansas City Home & Garden, Mountain Living, New England Home, Seattle Homes & Lifestyles, St. Louis Homes & Lifestyles and more, is tickled to announce a new social media contest that provides an opportunity for those in the greater design community – even those who blog about design — to share what inspires them for a chance to win amazing prizes, including a $10,000 cash prize plus a paid trip to Paris combined with a full visit to Maison & Objet in January, 2011. All inspiring entries will be reviewed and judged by an esteemed panel of high-profile stylemakers that reads like a Who’s Who in the design world, including Diane Carroll, Tobi Fairley, Michael Fink, Elaine Griffin, Marcia Sherrill, and Clinton Smith.

Here is how the “What Inspires You?” online contest works:

The Grand Prize winner will be determined by advancing through four (4) phases by a distinguished judging panel of leading design experts.

Phase I: Entrants submit a 100-word post and image on what inspires them.

Phase II: The one hundred (100) entrants with the highest scores will submit a 350-word post about an interior or architectural design topic that communicates their unique passion for design.

Phase III: The top ten (10) entrants will submit a video of no longer than three (3) minutes produced and created by them that is both entertaining and informative about some element of home design.

Phase IV: Three (3) Finalists will each be interviewed via phone to determine the Grand Prize winner of:

• $10,000 cash prize
• Expense Paid 10-day trip for one to Paris, France, with a retail value of $15,000, that includes: round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations at the Jean-Louis Deniot designed Hotel Racamier, and a 4-day pass to the annual ‘Maison & Objet’ trade show in January 2011
• Plus, the opportunity to contribute to the community of DesignSherpa blogs

Social media tools are helping home design businesses organize engaged online communities that drive meaningful leads and referrals for their companies.  Likewise, consumer design enthusiasts have been sharing their design sensibility and building profiles for themselves in the Design blogosphere, an option not unavailable to them before the proliferation of social tools.  So, we thought we would add a little excitement to the talented community of writers that is already generating amazing content on the web, and to those that aspire to inspire, but are undiscovered so far.

You only have until June 21 to submit your entry.  So, “What Inspires You?”  It just might line your pockets with cash, a plane ticket, and the trip of a lifetime to Paris, France.

Welcome to DesignSherpa, a revolutionary internet marketing service for the home design and remodeling industry from Network Communications, Inc., the parent company of the country’s largest group of regional home design media brands including New England Home, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, At Home in Arkansas, Seattle Homes & Lifestyles, Kansas City Home & Garden, Mountain Living, St. Louis Homes & Lifestyles, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles and more.

DesignSherpa provides a turn key solution to building and managing a social media marketing program for design professionals, retailers, showrooms, and luxury home service providers.  DesignSherpa takes the risk and complexity out of social media marketing, creating a new kind of Internet Marketing presence for your home design business. We will improve your visibility on Google, increase your web traffic, enhance your connection with consumers and other design professionals, and turbo-charge your referral network.

The explosion of social media tools and networks, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, create a unique opportunity for design professionals, retailers, showrooms, and other luxury home design businesses to get active on the web, by providing interesting content relevant to consumers and the  trade who are seeking ideas or resources while they plan enhanced residential living environments.  Social media tools help you get involved in the process that starts with inspiration and culminates in selecting  products and resources, creating an active and engaged online community around your business when your prospects are most active.

Network Communications and its home design media brands recognize the incredible potential of social media marketing to improve your bottom line.  We also understand the time and technology challenges that social media marketing presents to busy design professionals.

DesignSherpa is a monthly subscription service that provides a customized turn-key solution to create active, engaged and effective virtual networks of prospects and influential members of the trade in your market..

Our numerous luxury home magazine professionals from Atlanta to Seattle bring their unique skills in content creation and management, as well as knowledge of social media networks to the implementation of DesignSherpa.

Our teams are all social-media certified. Every member has gone through a detailed month-long training program with Domus Consulting to educate them about the power of social media networks and to give them insight and experience in developing effective and influential networks.  Our teams submitted themselves to several additional months of training in creating and sharing content that drives engagement around their magazine brands and market activity and growth in their own social networks.  They can now share their experiences and help you start to harness the power of social media with benefits best appreciated by getting active with a well thought out complete social media strategy and system.

To learn more about this powerful service, please visit the following links:

About DesignSherpa

About Home Design and Network Communications, Inc .

“What Inspires You?”

Meet Our Dream Panel of Judges

DesignSherpa has assembled a talented and diverse team of judges with unwavering design credentials and sensibility. They spend their days working at the top echelon of their professions in design journalism, design education, interior, and fashion design.  They have agreed to lend their good eyes and creative minds to a  six month What Inspires You? judging process.  We are pleased to introduce the judges to all of our entrants and contest followers:

DIANE CARROLL: A veteran design journalist, Carroll joined the Network Communications, Inc., team in 2009 as Editor in Chief of At Home in Arkansas, a highly successful statewide design publication that she and her staff have transitioned into a regional design resource with a thriving online audience and strong social media presence.

Previously, Carroll served as a regional editor and ongoing contributor for a variety of residential design publications, including Metropolitan Home, Traditional Home, House Beautiful, Better Homes & Gardens, Ladies’ Home Journal, Renovation Style, Kitchen and Bath Ideas, and a wide range of specialty magazines. In her 15-year stint as a regional editor based in Dallas, her stories graced the covers of House Beautiful, Metropolitan Home and Traditional Home numerous times. Working with Meredith Publications, Carroll’s work was also featured in multiple books, including Discovering Home, New Classic Style and Real-Life Decorating.

TOBI FAIRLEY: Selected by Traditional Home Magazine as one of the Top 20 Young Designers in America for 2009, Fairley has a signature look that is fresh and simple combining colorful, large-scale geometric prints with classic furniture styles for a beautiful and functional result. Since establishing her firm a decade ago, Fairley’s projects have spanned the southern region and the nation from Charleston to Los Angeles. Her award-winning designs for high-profile and celebrity clients have been featured on HGTV and published in Traditional Home, Better Homes and Gardens special publications, and have graced the cover of At Home in Arkansas Magazine 6 times.

Fairley’s design blog, which chronicles the happenings at her luxury residential design firm and highlights her favorite things, has gained immediate popularity since its launch in September 2008. She is currently working on product designs for several companies that will be introduced in 2010 and has become a popular speaker at industry events across the nation sharing both her business and blog successes.

MICHAEL FINK: Currently the dean of the new School of Fashion at The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Fink was named to the post in the fall of 2009.  Prior to his appointment at SCAD, he was vice president and women’s fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue where he was responsible for forecasting women’s seasonal trends as well as analyzing and supporting the women’s fashion and women’s accessories selection for stores nationwide. He also developed product, both private label and branded, and played a key role in integrating the seasonal fashion message into his Saks.com series “Front Row at the Shows,” marketing concepts, advertising and windows.

Fink has toured extensively throughout the country lecturing on fashion trends. A fashion expert in local, national and international media, Fink was a frequent commentator on “Full Frontal Fashion,” and also appeared on “The Today Show,” CNN and as a fashion adviser on “The Apprentice.” He has been featured in The International Herald Tribune, USA Today, The New York Times, Harpers Bazaar, Time Magazine (India), and Marie Claire, among others.
ELAINE GRIFFIN: A Yale–educated native of Georgia (B.A., Art History) who studied postgraduate at the New York School of Interior Design, Elaine began her design career in the office of architectural behemoth Peter Marino. She is a contributing editor of Elle Decor and is ranked as one of House Beautiful’s Top 100 American Designers. A participant in the 2003 Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse, Elaine’s work has been featured in publications including Elle Decor, House Beautiful, the New York Times, Daily News and Post, Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Accents, New York magazine, and Oprah’s O at Home.  Elaine’s first book, Design Rules: The Professional’s Guide to Do-It-Yourself Home Style, was published by Gotham Books in Fall 2009.

MARCIA SHERRILL: A member of the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America, Sherrill’s handbag designs are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Permanent Collection at The Costume Institute. She served on the board of The Fashion Institute of Technology’s Accessories Department for 15 years. Her designs have been featured over 700 times in W, Women’s Wear Daily, Elle, InStyle, Vogue, Style.com, Harpers Bazaar, Self, Mirabella, Lucky, The New York Times, Town & Country, Departures and Travel & Leisure, among others.

Sherrill is co-author of the ground-breaking Portraits of Hope, the first book focused on breast cancer survivors from every age, race and gender. Her next work, Stylemakers: Inside Fashion, featured the insider personalities that drive the fascinating world of fashion. Beginning as a writer and contributing editor for New York’s Avenue and the Hamptons Country magazines for 6 years, Sherrill writes for Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles and has also written for Elle Décor, Southern Accents and House Beautiful.

CLINTON SMITH: An award-winning journalist and the Editorial Director of Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, Smith has covered the fields of style, design and travel for a decade. Under his leadership, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles has garnered numerous awards and accolades, including a Gold GAMMA for Best Design from the Magazine Association of the Southeast. In 2006, he was personally awarded the Media Award from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Georgia Chapter. Smith is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Department of Journalism at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), his alma mater. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Museum of Design Atlanta and is a member of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America, as well as the Atlanta Press Club.
Smith’s versatility as a writer has led him to pen articles on a number of lifestyle topics— from dog spas to pretty paint palettes. An established authority on matters of taste and style, Smith has been quoted frequently in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on style and design-related articles, made numerous TV appearances on WXIA-TV (NBC) and Fox 5’s Good Day Atlanta, and spoken at numerous events at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center and AmericasMart.

We believe that the core of a powerful social media program is content. The development of targeted content that is consistent with your brand story, which is distributed through social media platforms that align with your customers and prospects preferences, will generate measurable results in your business performance.

Social media marketing requires expertise and management, and at DesignSherpa our mission is to do the heavy lifting associated with building content and managing the distribution through social networks and increased Google recognition. This work doesn’t remove you or your marketing team from the process: it enhances your resources and focuses you and your team on the work of identifying and engaging high-quality prospects and staying connected with your current customers.

Our Chairman & CEO, Dan McCarthy, has been an early adopter of social media as an internet marketing strategy. In his personal blog, ViralHousingFix, Dan has shared many of his observations about the application of social media to marketing and has articulated some foundation principles.

To better understand our approach to social media marketing and to gain additional perspective, you may want to read Dan’s following posts:

Migrating a brand strategy from marketing to content: A case study

My two principals of social media marketing

Online content isn’t just consumed…it can be transformed

An organizational shift to social media: Project Massive Network

Social media can be a marketing platform: It starts with brand evangelism

In a recent post at Dan McCarthy’s Viralhousingfix blog there was an interesting ground level story about a local cycling/spin studio operator’s view on his own experiences with social media as a tool for expanding his business.  I happen to know the operator, and he is a practical smart thinker that never overstates matters or sugar coats his experiences.

The operator, Bill Pryor of Spynergy Cycling Studio (full disclosure: Bill is an old media hand and good friend, and we have used his expertise to help us develop our DigitalSherpa social media services) had this to say about social media as tool for a small businesses like his:

First, all this is still exploratory and the best practices are far from well defined —– but it doesn’t take much time (or money) to explore and there is more than enough anecdotal stuff happening to make me feel it is worth it. Second not ALL my customers are into this stuff……not even MOST of my customers and prospects are into it. But a small, passionate and fast growing group ARE into this. And those people are disproportionately important because they are those key “connectors” or “engagers” or whatever it was that Malcom Gladwell called them in Tipping Point. The ones who ARE into social media often can turn into obsessive evangelists for your business. Evangelists armed with amazing networking tools.

Check out the post at Viralhousingfix.com to see some examples of how some of Bill’s social media savvy customers have helped him promote his local fitness business.  Also, read this post on local businesses and social media .  If you are interested in checking in on Bill’s blogging approach for Spynergy, find it here at spynergy.squarespace.com/blog .  It is just another example of how social media can be an inexpensive but powerful boost for small businesses.