the principal at Topaz Consulting, is a relationship marketing professional, with a passion for utilizing social technology for building B2B/B2C relationships, sharing information, networking and advancing the greater good. She has over 20 years of public relations, marketing and community building experience. Her combination of political, nonprofit, higher ed and corporate experience has afforded her opportunities to build communities where none existed, develop and launch innovative programming and bridge generational, economic and racial divides.
Shannon serves on the board of directors for the In Series, a Washington, DC performing arts organization. She is a regular contributor to Women Grow Business and Discover Exceptionalism, and her blog, Shannon Sez So, examines life's joys, pains and idiosyncrasies. Shannon is the founder of Topaz Consulting, a DC based marketing consultancy with a nationwide portfolio of clients. She graduated from Mount Vernon College (now part of The George Washington University) and is a proud native Washingtonian.
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPlurkTumblrEvents are a great way to network, learn and share information; however, they can be expensive, time consuming and unproductive if you don't plan properly. You want to make the most of your experience and get the biggest bang for your precious resources. FutureSimple has put together a great infographic on leveraging your time while there.
Provided by FutureSimple.com
xxx
Calling a thing by its proper name is typically easy: car, house, dog, elephant, desk, tree and so on. Often it only takes a simple and discreet correction if the thing is incorrectly identified. However, with the proliferation of social technology, and the subsequent plethora of developers, early adopters, power-users and "experts," this category of thing has gotten mislabeled and become confusing, especially to the newbie.
Social (adj.), “pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations” Thus all of your online social activities should center on “friendly companionship or relations.”
Social technology – web-based tools and platforms used for social purposes, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.
Social network – followers, fans, friends and connections developed and maintaned on social platforms
Social media – user-generated content -- composition, video, photograph or spoken word -- created for and disseminated via social platforms
Social marketing – process of creating customer interest in a product via social technology
Information is power!
The word cloud is brought to you by Wordle.
If social technology platforms were countries, this is how the world would look (kinda). In this version of the world, Facebook, Habbo, (the Former Kingdom of) MySpace, Bebo, Twitter, Friendster, Orkut and YouTube make up the G8.
Every Sunday at 9:00 pm (ET), Mack Collier hosts #blogchat on Twitter, which utilizes the micro-blog's platform to harness the collective intelligence of the Twitterverse. This past week, Mack's guest was Chris Brogan, who shared learnings and best practices on the topic "How to Use Other Social Media Sites to Improve Your Blog."
In 60 minutes, Chris dropped several social media nuggets of knowledge (nok), some of them are below*. You can read the full transcript here.
What nuggets of knowledge would you add?
Which nuggets are you interested in learning more about?
*These tweets are taken out of context and reading the transcript is recommended to receive complete understanding of Chris Brogran's tweets and the full value of the #blogchat.
You may not get a second chance to make a first impression, but you will get hundreds of chances to make memorable impressions. When you think of all of the business cards you have collected, do you remember any of the people, their products or services? Nugget of knowledge: It's about making a memorable impression.How to make a memorable impression:
To be unforgettable, follow-up with a same day email. Not only will you be ahead of everyone else, you'll make a memorable and good impression. |
|
Time is your most valuable and only non-renewable resource. Today is fleeting with every tick of the clock and, well, tomorrow may not get here. Attending professional conferences, conventions and meetings are good ways to connect with clients, vendors and potential new clients among other things.
To make the most out of conference experiences, you need to be strategic, just as you are in every other aspect of your business. Conferences are typically packed with sessions, workshops, receptions, panels, keynote speakers, banquets, happy hours and so on. Pre-planning is a necessity if you want to get the most out your time there. 1. Figure out your objectives for attending Conferences are expensive. You have to pay registration, hotel, travel, food and other associated costs such as a dog walker or kennel, extra childcare and trip preparation. You can’t afford to go there and come back empty-handed.
2. Make a plan "Reading is fundamental" is as true today as it was when the famous literacy campaign began in 1966. Many conferences email materials to attendees ahead of time, so if you don’t have the option to pre-register for sessions, be sure to make a schedule for yourself.
3. Take care of yourself Be sure to schedule time for on-your-own-meals, work you need to do, rest and exercise. There are only so many hours in a day and you need to eat, sleep, work, attend sessions, network, check on things at home and so on, don’t overdo it. Pace yourself. 4. Attend the social events The parties, happy hours, receptions, dinners and brunches are as valuable as any session if not more so. Go to the events, armed with your elevator pitch, business cards and a smile. Be prepared to start conversations with strangers and politely jump into group discussions.
5. Test ideas Conferences are meccas for the pioneers, innovators and rock stars of your field. Take a few extra minutes at a book-signing or after the workshop to bounce an idea off of someone. Get different perspectives on a idea by holding an informal focus group with colleagues during breakfast or a coffee break. 6. Do CASE studies If imitation is the greatest form of flattery then CASE studies are the best thing since sliced bread. Copy and steal everything is the premise of utilizing an organization’s or person’s best practices and infusing them into your enterprise.
7. Follow-up, follow-up and follow-up Email, call, tweet or write a letter. Use all of the business cards you collected to remind people who you are, where you met and how you two can work together. This is a post I wrote for Women Grow Business and was originally posted on April 8, 2010. |
