In this ninth episode of I Live In Dallas Radio, co-hosted by myself and Jason Channell, we interview Mike D. Merrill, who is the Director of Marketing for the locally-based global online marketing company ReachLocal. Merrill is also the chairman and past-president of the Social Media Club of Dallas.

An Interview with Mike Merrill

Mike has consistently brought value to the Dallas community as far as leadership in marketing, social media education, and volunteerism. He is on several boards including the Volunteer Center of North Texas, which represents over 2,500 volunteer organizations.

This Internet radio show was recorded in a private room at The Gent's Place, located in Preston Center, a shopping area in Preston Hollow, and a stone's throw away from President George W. Bush's neighborhood estate.

In this radio show, we ask Mike to recount his story of how social media improved his career after finding himself laid off from a technology sales job back in 2009. He started his own consultancy, Bacon Marketing, and eventually was asked to head up the social media department for ReachLocal, a worldwide online marketing company with over 22,000 clients. We also ask him to tell us how he rebuilt the Social Media Club of Dallas to become the 2nd most attended social media club in the world.

Mike also gives some expert tips on how companies use social media and how you as an individual can use it find or get a better job.

An Interview with Ben Davis of The Gent's Place

In the second part of I Live in Dallas Radio Episode #9, we speak with The Gent's Place Owner and CEO Ben Davis. The Gent's Place is a men's grooming and lifestyle club with several locations including two in the Dallas area. Davis gives us his background, how The Gent's Place came about and garnered business through the use of savvy social media marketing. He also informs us of the unique services they offer for men such as haircuts, hand and foot "repair", shoe shining, massages, and straight razor shaves. Davis was named as a 40 Under Forty Award Honoree by the Dallas Business Journal for 2012, and is quite an impressive guy.

Listen as:

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• Mike reveals his three best social media job-hunting and personal branding tips
  
• Mike shares how he grew a fledgling organization to the 2nd largest social media club in the world .
  
• Ben explains everything a men's lifestyle club entails
  
• Ben reveals how social media grew his business to three stores.