(log starts a few minutes in....about a conversation about what a big task writing a marketing plan is) [18:14] Even just an outline with bullet points will help me think through things [18:16] Are you finding your marketing plan flows from your mission statement? That was a good starting point for me. [18:16] For me it lit me up to have questions... why am I doing this? Why am I the right person to be doing this? And why now? Then What are my products? who am I marketing to?... [18:17] I like "Why am I the right person to be doing this?" It gets to the passion issue...something I'm very interested in [18:18] Makes good business sense too [18:18] <@manikk> that it . the mission and vision statement process makes me think deeply ...to know what I am doing [18:18] Where and how will I find the group I'm marketing to? What do I want them to do? How am I going to market to them? then what is my time line... [18:18] Manikk, remind us what your business is? (I have a terrible memory) [18:18] yes - pushes you to ask these questions..I learned recently the term "customer avatar" to identify the prototypical customer... [18:19] "Where?" is a good question. If you're business is mostly loca, you don't need to advertise all over the world (WWW) [18:19] <@manikk> We provide solutions/services for businesses and individuals to exploit the ever growing web opportunities. :) [18:19] I have all of my questions written, now its just answering them : / [18:19] some tips I got to identify the customer included identifying the top 10 sites in my area and see what they are doing... [18:20] Thx Manikk. Do you have a web site or not yet? [18:20] great point, identifying what competitors are doing [18:20] <@manikk> not yet built that [18:20] Pam, I tried to apply the "customer avatar" to my dictionary project this week [18:21] Looking at competitors' marketing presence is often very helpful to me [18:21] i also learned about a cool site called compete.com - there's a bit you can free but it costs a lot but it is kinda amazing...learned it from someone in this course, I thin. [18:21] compete.com looks interesting... [18:22] One of the main things I learned as to interview, really spend time with the customers I do have... [18:22] Makes me think of things I could do for free to research the competition [18:22] : ) [18:23] thanx Pam, I will ck out compete.com! [18:23] Both of these things are good uses for social media....especially Twitter [18:23] can you explain what you mean? [18:23] See what your customers, potential customers, compeitors are saying [18:23] I am a huge proponent of Facebook! [18:24] ah - so checking out competitors on Facebook and twitter... [18:24] I love Facebook personally but am not sure how to use it for business. How do you use it? [18:25] I will send you an audio clip that talks about how to use Facebook for marketing [18:25] Pam, I like doing key word or hash tag searches on Twitter to see what folks are saying [18:25] Cool. [18:26] One successful campaign I just did for a custoemr on FB was to have people take pictures of themselves with a sign we made that said "I LOVE NCCE" (the company) [18:26] well for me and what I do its all about building relationships, I use it all the time, it might be posting a positive quote from someone else, or one that I came up with, and I use it to post what I'm doing... like I just got done teaching a local workshop [18:26] People jumped all over that and did really creative things [18:26] Other than that, not a lot of strong participation with FB though [18:27] sounds great Karen! [18:27] Thanks, Jane. I have started using Twitter more for the update kind of stuff [18:27] just make sure all of your posts arent all about business [18:27] yeah - that sounds like a cool idea [18:27] Funny because a couple years ago, when I started with Twitter, I thought it was completely stupid! :) [18:27] <@manikk> I am a new comer to FB and twitter [18:27] like the other night during the big storm my post was... Eating popcorn and watching the snow fly! [18:28] I use FB more for personal stuff, and Twitter more for work stuff [18:28] I haven't really focused on using fb yet. I post a related article about meditation...have Facebook fan pages...get a few clicks to our main site...but have definitely not spent the time...yet [18:28] Although I do like putting personal comments on Twitter...it makes it more interesting...like popcorn and the snow :) [18:28] : ) [18:29] Hello everybody just arrive from work [18:29] sorry [18:29] so, how do hash marks work? [18:29] One thing I learned about FB this week is that it is recommended that you set up a special landing page...not just your Wall [18:29] Hi, Indira. Great to see you here. [18:29] HI indira [18:29] <@manikk> hi indira [18:29] Hash tags.... like #ustream indicate a topic [18:29] Hi everybody [18:29] Hi Indira! great "see" you [18:29] (Indira, we're talking about Facebook + Twitter) [18:30] ok ok [18:30] hmmm - is that different than just putting in there upstream? [18:30] So if I do a search for #ustream, I can see what anybody (not just people I'm following) are saying about that topic [18:30] cool [18:30] <@manikk> ok [18:31] A lot of conference do hash tags to aggregate everyone's comments.... so for example #ncce2011 [18:31] There are also folks who do scheduled chats on Twitter....one I follow is #edchat about education [18:31] The chats are a little crazy to follow if there are a lot of people on though [18:32] I probably should use twitter too, but i hardly do, I guess its cuz right now my business is local, and I have FB friends that are local and dont have that on Twitter [18:32] <@manikk> chat on twitter ? [18:32] Yeah, chat on Twitter. Crazy, huh? It's actually pretty neat. [18:32] see now those chats on twitter I dont get [18:32] Jane, a big question would be are your customers or potential customers on Twitter? [18:32] and also you can search for important things happening around the world for example if you search #egypt it will appear a lot of information that is being publish about this [18:33] Only 6% the US population is on Twitter (and most aren't active) [18:33] Yes the Egypt topic is HUGE right now....very interesting. [18:33] yeah, potential one are on twitter. this new project I'm working on is going to open my market right up toi being able to use the web [18:33] Jane, you might look for groups on Twitter in your area [18:34] There is a directory of stuff like this....going to get a link.... [18:34] ok thanx I will do that Karen [18:35] Karen, I am curious to know how your dictionary will be monetized? [18:35] http://listorious.com/ and wefollow.com are two Twitter directories [18:36] Karen, something we have done for our NGO and I guess this could apply to business also is to choose some topics related with our organisation and publish things on twitter using them in this way the people how is interested in those topics know your project. [18:36] It's cool to find whole communities on Twitter.... Manikk, I know some really cool open ed people just through Twitter [18:36] Jane, yeah, I'm curious about that too :) Seriously, we are self-funding it and have no plans to monetize. (I do other consulting in open ed that pays the bills...mostly:) [18:37] P2PU is the same....just volunteers. Much of open ed is done that way. Wikipedia. It's pretty neat. [18:37] well thats a great thing when you can do what your love and dont have to be concerned about monetiztion! [18:38] Indira, that's great. How do you attract followers? [18:38] <@manikk> Indira's idea is great [18:38] I'm a big believer in doing what you love and letting the details work themselves out [18:39] listorius looks very cool [18:39] yes! I've been doing so much with no pay, I need to get the business working though so I can get out of my job that pays my bills [18:39] I get that! [18:40] I've had some interesting business opportunities pop up through Twitter [18:40] my life has been run that way, too and has been doing fine, actually...but now I want to excel in business AND pay bills! [18:40] Someone read a blog post I cross-posted on Twitter and asked me to write an article for a magazine. I was shocked. [18:40] By publishing interesting information we find in the Internet (news, free software we find,..) and using #softwarelibre #audio #video some of the material we have are free How to guides so sometimes we publish them on twitter with those # [18:41] Indira, excellent use of hash tags! [18:41] Also by participating in some events in Latinamerica using their # [18:41] Figuring out the hot hash tags is kind of like SEO [18:41] Events are a great way to attract people to Twitter [18:42] yes! I've been writing articles for a long time, I plan to start posting them for marketing now to, I have several places listed to get started [18:42] this hash tag thing still seems...weird to me - will have to spend some time playing with it [18:42] Pam, it does take some getting used to! [18:42] <@manikk> me too pam :) [18:42] Some people also use hash tags like punctuation like #lovethischat [18:42] : ) so MUCH to learn! [18:42] yeah, I dont understand the hashtag thingy [18:43] Jane, I think the article writing thing is a GREAT marketing tool [18:43] Blogging is great for this. [18:43] I get tons of hits to various web sites because of blog articles on timely topics [18:43] yes, I have a blog started but dont use it effectively, I also write for a local magazine, but have a spot on examiner.com to write, and several other palces [18:44] If you keep the right to stuff you write for others, you can cross-post on a blog [18:44] oh I always keep the rights [18:44] Anyone have recs for places to look for good, quality content? Interested in meditation, retreats, related...discerning aggregators... [18:44] And sometimes you can get customers or others to "guest" write posts for you [18:45] I'm not much into writing, myself, but am finding people who like/want to write in exchange for web presence.... [18:45] great point [18:45] I have a problem with mi boss he thinks blogs doesn't work, people spend time writing great things and people just don't read them anymore, well thats what he thinks. We have -not updated- a blog in our site, the thing is we don't have any tool for counting our visitors or anything like that so I have no idea if the are working or not :/ [18:46] Not sure in that area, Pam, but you might throw out the question on the forum [18:46] I LOVE WRITING! (you might have guess that)....but you can also do video or audio posts. Those are engaging [18:47] Indira, it's all about tracking the hits. You might surprise your boss with the numbers [18:47] I plan on incorportaing all of it, pdf's, audio, and video [18:47] Most blogging tools track hits (Wordpress, Blogger) or you could use Google Analytics [18:48] I think it's very funny (also informative) to look at what people search for that take them to our blog [18:48] My calling seems to be to identify content generators and support them getting their words, music, audio, video out there - that interests me... [18:48] Our site is on Joomla, I'll try Google :) Thanks! [18:48] Indira - have you tried google analytics? it is amazing the info it will give you [18:48] <@manikk> Indira, u should have a tracking stats..that helps u a lot... recently I have put the counter for one of my NGO client [18:48] Pam, that's cool. Have you looked at any of hte new content curation tools? They are awesome. [18:49] what are content curation tools? [18:49] <@manikk> Karen , hte ?? [18:49] <@manikk> content curation ?? [18:49] Sorry "the" ! [18:50] Conent curation lets you pull together other people's content (tweets, YouTube videos, FB stuff, etc.) into one stream [18:50] The curation part is that you control what goes in and what doesn't [18:50] <@manikk> that sounds great [18:50] Here's one I'm doing for a conference I'm doing social media for: http://http://qrait.com/users/ncceconnect/ncce-2011 [18:50] <@manikk> Gwibber kind of thing ? [18:51] The idea is that there is a lot of great content out there but who has time to screen it all? [18:51] Don't know Gwibber...going to look... [18:51] yes - big need the screening...i use mashables, for instance... [18:52] Gwibber looks like Tweetdeck kind of. Is it? [18:52] <@manikk> yes [18:52] <@manikk> content curation is different ? [18:52] Yes, Mashable [18:52] you're all giving me too much to look at ! lol! information overlaod!!! ahhhh ( : [18:53] what does mashable mean? [18:53] Thanks! [18:53] Content curation is more about pulling together a stream of content for others to look at ... not just yourself [18:53] <@manikk> for others ? [18:53] I am lost, probably not a bad thing right now! [18:54] So with Qrait, you can embed it (we put it on our web site), and we're also going to project it on a big screen at the event [18:54] I've seen people use content curation for online courses like this too [18:54] Kind of like a list of links...but more "live" content so you don't have to click off to a link [18:55] http://mashable.com/ ... more info to overload on :) [18:55] just looked at your site...i think I'll borrow your contest idea and apply it to my website...I want to encourage people to do 2 things 1) join 2) write reviews of retreats they have been on... [18:55] will check out trait - why do you use this one? [18:55] I really like that page :) [18:55] qrait [18:55] In general, I link mashing or remixing means pulling together user-generated content into a central site or page [18:56] great idea Pam! [18:56] thanks, Jane [18:56] Pam, that contest thing was the best mktg thing I've done this year! :) (It's like Flat Stanley if any of you have kids) [18:56] so is washables a content curator? [18:56] I evaluated a few different content curation tools and like Qrait the best [18:57] LOL - yes been hearing about flat Stanley from my neice [18:57] cool - I meant "washables" [18:58] I can post some others if you are intested: [18:58] Yes please Karen! [18:59] <@manikk> :) [18:59] I'll start with trait since you've done your homework! [19:00] http://www.curated.by/ [19:00] HAve to jump off for another class - bye y'all. THanks sooo much for this. Jane - I get overwhelmed often in this new world! p [19:01] have a great night Pam, great talking with you [19:01] <@manikk> bye Pam [19:01] Here we go.. Mashable article on content curation http://mashable.com/2010/05/03/content-curation-creation/ [19:01] Thanks for being here, everyone. Have a great week. [19:02] I can't do this time next week, so either you all can do it without me or we can pick a different time. [19:02] I'll post something in the forum. Is that working for everyone? [19:02] lets pick a differnt time Karen [19:02] I like having your guidance actually ( : [19:02] Thx. [19:03] me too [19:03] <@manikk> Post it in the forum [19:03] I'll also post the log from this session on the course under "Chat logs" (Last week's is there too) [19:03] thank you so much everyone! [19:03] really enjoy this class Karen [19:03] Thank you! And talk to you soon. -------------------- Here are some more links for content curation for those interested: http://mashable.com/2011/01/06/curation-tools * Storify * scoop.it * curated.by * PearlTrees http://relaxnoreally.blogspot.com/2011/01/tools-for-curation.html * Keepstream * curated.by * Prezi * Storify And more here: http://www.conversationagent.com/2010/11/power-tools-for-content-aggregation-and-curation.html