December 13th is Saint Lucy’s Day in Northern Europe, so I thought I would share this dear tradition with you.
For today, beacuse it is the 13th, you have to start 13 new conversations with people you haver never met. This can be replying to tweets, finding tweets related to you, blogs, facebook pages or LinkedIn groups in which your expertise could be useful now or later on. Remember the cocktail party story from our meetings, approach people like if you were meeting them in real-life. Be open, be yourself, and you will finish this task of in no time.
Social Media is all about conversations, so try to incorporate everything you know about it so far, and what your use of the different sites have taught you.
We are now half way to the 24th of December – Christmas Eve – and half way through this Advent Calendar!
Today your lecture = your task = your treat, and how can that be true?
I’ll tell you:
You have done a great job these past 11 days and deserve a really big treat; a day off! At the same time, it is a good way to focus on the holidays, get everything sorted, and just soak in that Christmas spirit in the presence of the ones you love.
On the other hand, it is also very important to realise that when dealing with Social Media, what you do offline is also essential. What you do offline is what you are projecting through Social Media, and therefore your focus should still be on providing great service here, and Social Media should be seen as a tool that extends this service, and shares it with everyone which you do not reach offline.
Your task will then be, to take a day off from Social Media, not even to check your Twitter status several times a day – or all that jazz – just the essentials that you cannot live without. Enjoy it!
Another weekend has come upon us, and in two weeks it will be Christmas that is here. So much to do, so much to eat, and so many presents to buy, deliver, and receive. Have you got everything planned for the holiday season yet?
If not, today is your chance, and you can do it while you plan your social media activities for the next week. Already now try to make a sketch of what day you will be publishing your blog, what tips/information you will be giving on Facebook, and what tweets you will send out.
If you do not follow it a 100%, don’t worry. But imaging what information people would want about presentation, and the planning to give it too them, should take you closer to the finish line than any other options.
So your task today is:
Create a plan for next week’s social media activities
Here is a brief suggestion:
Twitter; Send 2-5 tweets every day, some will be promoting the other social media activities, e.g. the blog.
Blog; Create 1 post, e.g. midweek, and perhaps about Jeff
Facebook; create 2-3 posts during the week, e.g. top 5 fear, how to overcome your fear of presenting, and how to enjoy presenting.
YouTube; Post a video
This is just a suggestion, so feel free to create your own. If you can, send it to me in an e-mail Monday, and I will give you some feedback, and maybe some suggestions – but only if you need it!!!
Don’t give all your good advice away, but try to give a little more than what is known so that you differentiate yourself from the competition. If you create an awesome advice to share online that is completely your own creation, you will be able to track if it is being shared – and who knows – it might become “general” knowledge. That would be a good gift to the society! Leaving legacies is important, especially if you have the expertise to do so – which we know you have Alan :).
Christmas is also a time to think of others, but many feel it is a busy time, and may forget to do so. Goodwill is a very important thing for businesses, and especially small businesses on the rise. The actions really show the ethos of the company, but also makes an important difference to others. A traditional Reading charity is “The Giving Tree“.
Trees have been put up all over Reading, including the Broad St. Mall, Yell and Microsoft. Trees are decorated with tags which represent a Christmas wish from a child from a family which cannot afford Christmas presents. It is possible to pick up a tag, go out and buy the present, and then return with it unwrapped. The people behind the appeal will then make sure the presents are distributed before Christmas. This may be the only presents the child will get this Christmas. So if you want to think of others this year, and make a difference, this is one of the causes that help you do so.
Today your challenge is to create a blog post, but not just any blog post.
Create a blog which will receive several views, comments, and hopefully will be shared!!!
Start by writing down ideas for future blog posts, and the decide on the one you feel the most passionate about.
If you have time, you should also publish another “Jeff story”, or schedule them. Remember, if you schedule blogs in advance, you won’t end up feeling bad about not having the time to post any in your busy weeks.
Try to research other blogs that you either follow or remember, pay attention to what tools or graphics they use in their blogs, and what makes them interesting.
Your blog post should be posted next week, so really put a lot of effort into it. Remember, open-ended questions and topics that relate to people, are more likely to be shared!!
Christmas baking is a lovely thing, not only is it fun to do, but often also quite fun to eat :). Maybe this year it is time to start a new tradition, or explore your creative side (bet you will like the accent):
If you are really good, it should end up like the one in the following clip:
We have already had a glance at Technorati at our last meeting, but here is why it might turn out to be useful for you:
Technorati is a blog search engine and directory, and provides a broad collection of blogs, ranging from A-Z.
Technorati.com indexes more than a million blogs.
It has been created to help bloggers succeed by collecting, highlighting, and distributing the global online conversation.
It now also works as a full service media company providing services to the blogs and social media sites and connecting them with advertisers who want to join the conversation.
Technorati.com tracks not only the authority and influence of blogs, but also the most comprehensive and current index of who and what is most popular in the Blogosphere.
The site has become the definitive source for the top stories, opinions, photos and videos emerging across news, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, sports, politics and business.
Blogs that are something, and blogs that want to be something are all listed here. If you want to be a pioneer in your area, this is the place to start. There is not much about presenting at the moment, but why not change that?
You can search among blogs depending on ranking, tags used, hot topics and much more. Technorati also analyses the state of the blogosphere once in a while, and you will be able to get essential information here about what is hot, what is not, and how many people you might be reaching!
You will not only be able to share your knowledge and expertise with others, but you will also be able to research what other people is saying about a certain topic. You also have the chance to follow some of the most popular blogs of all time, and possible get a few tips or hint as to why it is people like them, and choose to follow the blogs.
Getting your blog on Technorati.com is sort of the same as your webpage showing up in a search on Google, essential! So do not waste any more time, but sign up, and let’s see what happens.
Don’t forget that when interacting with social media everything always has benefits for both parties, if you cannot see the benefits you might be doing something wrong. We will work more on that later 🙂
It’s December 9th, and 16 days left until Christmas, are you ready for that?
Good luck on your Microsoft presentation today, Alan. You will do great!
1/3 of this Christmas period has gone by, and so has the time of this Advent Calendar/challenge. The first week offered more basic tasks, including implementation, exploring new aspects of the sites, and a lot of mind mapping for material.
Because you are busy today and the next couple of days as well, the tasks/challenges will not be to hard, but instead contain something that you can achieve easily if you put the right amount of effort into it.
We have talked a lot about measuring success via Social Media. In real business success is mainly measured on the bottom line, but it is more complicated online.
First of all, you may not always be sure what information clients calling or e-mailing you have already found online, nor how they ended up there. Some ways of measuring is through number of views, followers, times shared and in feedback via comments.
But what is it that triggers this response? What makes people want to share something with the world, what puts a smile on their face, what touches them, or what is really so valuable that others should hear about it? What makes them click on a link on Twitter and go to a blog to read more?
Some key aspects were the 4 topics we discussed in one of our meeting:
Communication
Collaboration
Education
Entertainment
Try to use as many as possible, and don’t be afraid to start a conversation with the people you attract; get them to give you more information, and they will feel as if someone really cares, that they get a little extra, that you are worth telling others about.
Your task today will be trying to figure out what people like about what you do, when you have made a huge impact, when you had significant response, and then create something that gets shared… a lot!
So:
Find the blog post that gave you the highest amount of views
Find the Facebook status that attracted the most comments
Find the Tweet which was retweeted the most times
Try to find the best part of all these and use your findings to create either a blog post, a tweet or a Facebook status.
Remember the basic Twitter advice for increasing re-tweets, encourage people to give feedback, use open-ended questions, and make an impact.
And as your first challenge ever, it has to reach a minimum of 25 in total, but you can post it on different sites, paraphrased and so on, and you can even encourage people to do so because you need 25 – it is up to you.
Guess all is fair in Social Media and business as well 🙂
The watch starts counting down from 24 hrs from when you post something the first time. It just has to start by 23.59 today the latest!
Good luck!
Here is a little Christmas movie as a reward for your hard work last week, and for some good Christmas spirit (nothing better than classic cartoons).
Today, we are focusing on your online home, i.e. your homepage. This is the meeting place, and foundation for all your activities, and in the future it should give people the chance to link to all your other Social Media sites and activities via plugins, which we discussed a lot when talking about WordPress.org.
Webpages are an essential thing for a company, not many people find the service they need through word-of-mouth or recommendations anymore, but instead “google” everything. If you do not come up in the results, then they will not pick you! There are few who still uses recommendations, and such bonds or trust is very important, so always keep your focus on the quality of what you do offline, and make your online activities a representation of this. We do still live in the real world (as far as I know)!
Today, your task will be to go into your website, read through all the pages, all the content, click on all links and so on, then create a list of things you liked, things you would like to change, things you remember, new ideas you generate while doing so, and just everything going through your head. This list will be important for you to build on intensely in the near future, and come up with a user-friendly, professional and fun website, where people get a good sense of who Enjoy Presenting is, what they do, who they are, and where they are.
Think of how to link all the different social media sites, your different clients, who your customers are and what information they would want. Try thinking of how to do so, e.g. make a heading/page for each one, so that they will all be satisfied from a visit on the webpage. Create a media or news site where they can find more information, and don’t forget to write “integrate blog” on the list :).
These are just suggestions, so really try thinking like your clients, what they like about Enjoy Presenting, why they chose you, who they are, and what they need you for. Answering these questions will help you see your webpage through their eyes.
When considering your webpage, you might want to take in to consideration:
Come up with an idea of how you would like your webpage to be based on the consideration of your clients
Put it all together in a document, and add any new thoughts during this process so that we can discuss it in January
Christmas is a merry time, but also a very sweet time, filled with lots of cakes, pies and biscuits. So avoid the stress and get the Christmas baking over with early (or do the easy solution of buying it at the k/specialty shops instead). If you love baking, here are the recipes for traditional British Christmas baking. Lots of mouth-watering pictures to go with the recipes, and here is a little extra just for you.
I hope you had a fantastic weekend. Unfortunately, the weekend is over and it is time to head back into the office. So far we have managed to get a quick look at Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn, YouTube and your offline activities. So what is missing? Facebook, that is.
You already have a personal site, but now it is time to focus on your corporate site; even though you have the page we will start by going back to basics at Facebook by following their “pages” guide for setting up a page for an organisation online.
Here is Facebook’s own suggestion of how to use a “business” page:
How to best use the different applications and features
Use Publisher to keep your users updated on new content.
Write or import Notes (even on-the-go) and share them with your audience.
Post Photos and Videos of your events.
Add Applications that enhance your Page experience.
Create Discussion Boards to solicit user feedback and generate brainstorms.
Create Groups to help people with similar interests connect with one another
Set up Events and have your fans RSVP
Check out Facebook Platform to see how you can customize your presence on Facebook.
How to best share your information
Get instant access to your audience and their friends when you update your Page through News Feed and send targeted updates..
Implement Facebook Connect on your site so users can log-in with their Facebook ID and can easily share and distribute their activities on your site with their Facebook friends.
Add Facebook Share to your site and make it easy for your audience to spread content to their friends on Facebook.
With Comment Box, Facebook users on your site can comment on your content, post those comments to their profiles, and share them with their friends on Facebook.
The Like Box enables users to like your Facebook Page and view its stream directly from your website.
If you do not feel like working your way through the different pages online, or learning by doing, here is an actual “Facebook Pages” manual which can be downloaded, printed, and used just like a normal manual – and all for FREE. And who knows, you might discover something you didn’t know was possible with Facebook already.
Should you ever have any problems with Facebook, or wonder how other pages look the way they do, remember to consult the Help section first.
Facebook contains a lot of information, and is a place where people can follow you casually. I feel that pictures (even videos), tips, articles and everything to do with Enjoy Presenting will do well here, but you have already set up a strategic plan: the 6 topics you mention on the page!!!
They are:
Top Presenting tips
How to overcome the fear of public speaking
Articles about presenting
First to find out about free seminars
How to write funny material
So much more…
The first thing I would like you to do is read these through again, and consider their relation to each other. I am a bit unsure about no. 5, because I actually see that as a big part of your competitive advantage. I would also prefer something a la “Open Events”, or schedule for where you will be training. Free seminar is fine, but on Facebook we might want to just call it an. If you are doing anything voluntarily or open, you have the chance to inform people here, and let them sign up.
For your content, I would suggest something a la tips being no. 1, news no. 2, articles no. 3, videos no. 4, events no. 5, and much more as no. 6., but the point of today’s task is mainly to get you to think about it, and make sure you can deliver what you promise, and that it is in sync with everything else you do (hence your task yesterday!). The fear you might consider incorporating as an introduction, maybe like “whether you want to overcome your fear of presentation, or become better at presenting, Enjoy Presenting can help you”. Everything is brief suggestions, but just a way to get you thinking.
So the tasks will be:
Get familiar with the Facebook Pages opportunities (don’t worry, I will help you more with this after Christmas, and take it into consideration in the report)
Consider what you will publish on Facebook (and if you change anything, remember to do it on the page as well).
Make sure you deliver what you promise
And start doing it now; Post a great tip, article or fact today! (it doesn’t have to be anything big, just something which is valuable for people who want to become better at presenting, every little helps!).
And while you are thinking about what to do with your Facebook page, why not enjoy some Christmas music (it goes great together with a red Christmas cup from Starbucks’ filled with hot chocolate).
And it is up to you to decide whether you prefer the old or newer version of this British classic:
Hope you are enjoying your weekend, and have had a little time to think about some ideas for videos, if not here is a chance to combine it with today’s tasks.
It is now 20 days until Christmas (in the UK) and time will only move faster from here. It is about time to make a list of what to get done, and what presents to buy. If you have it sorted now, you might manage to avoid the Christmas stress, and having to go shopping the 23rd-24th December.
It is still weekend, so I promise I will go easy on the task and the lectures. Today will be all about presenting, and the material which you use within your business, and therefore I shouldn’t be the lecturer, but you.
So here is what you have to do:
Create new material
Find material which can be used for creating blogs, articles, movies, speeches, and training sessions.
Research everything from news, books, journals to resent trends.
And using your own advice, STORIES!
The information can be everything from presidential speeches to service received in supermarkets to office politics. Make it interesting for your users, i.e. mainly professionals, and a few pieces regarding schools and universities. Also collect more quotes, videos, articles, and anything which can be used as a kick starter for new thoughts and ideas.
Try building up tips that you will be giving away as freemium, in order to sell them the premium, which is your actual training sessions and their essentials. And remember, if it is already available online, there is no reason to hide it. Show that you know it, that you use it, and build it up as an introduction to the expertise they will be receiving from you.
As we discussed the blog story may have been a bit early, we need to give people what they are looking for when they google “presentations” or “presentations skills”, and Facebook and YouTube is a great place for that (which I mentioned for your task yesterday).
Do not focus too much on where to post the different things, it is better to just get a lot of ideas down now, and then I promise you will get time to think about the objectives for easch social media site very soon.
You treat will be a guide to Christmas shopping, because it is really something that gets people stuck in the hours leading up to Christmas, and is a major stress factor. So plan it now, schedule time to pick it up, and good luck finding the perfect gifts! Shopping online has become more popular, but remember to do it in good time, to avoid disappointment. Most offer giftwrapping as well! I personally think Christmas shopping is a tradition in itself, filled with spirit, lots of decorations, hot chocolate and marshmallows, cafés, frozen toes and all that jazz, but we are all different. Most important thing is getting it done in an enjoyable way.
You have been doing great so far Alan on your blog and the LinkedIn page. Twitter you did handle well before, but now there has actually been some activity going on in your #, i.e. #enjoypresenting. Did you remember to create a company account for the future?
I know it is Saturday, so today will only contain a few pieces of information (in videos to make them more digestible), and the tasks will be something you can do whenever it fits in with you.
The topic of today will be YouTube, which indeed is something we have discussed a lot. I will enclose the key lessons from Darre LaCroix’s “You Post It, You Profit” videos in the report, and once in the future when you have time you should sit down and watch them through.
Until then I would very much like you to watch two videos, one from Darren, and a YouTube help video – and isn’t this great, your lectures are your tasks, and your tasks is your lectures!! (at least half of the tasks)
The video from Darren LaCroix is approximately 10 minutes about equipment, which is a very good basics. Check it out here. The way you can differentiate yourself from the trainers already out there is not only by being super personal, down-to-earth and funny, but also by only delivering quality. If you get a few videos out there which ooze of professionalism, it will be a major benefit. I know Darren says rather profitable than perfect, but sometimes it is better to offer good quality in order to get the profit, I call that good relationship management!!
YouTube have created their own video to help you customise you page, and this will be good for another of today’s tasks, which is setting up your YouTube channel. You can do so at YouTube.com, but since you already have one I assume you will know the process. Remember this is only for your videos, so no music videos or videos from others. Feel free to link to other video’s in the descriptions or the comments, but this is a side of Enjoy Presenting where people can get a “real” view of what you are offering, without having to come out of hibernation!
The last thing I want you to consider is material for videos. Remember that one video has one purpose, and that people lose their attention after 2-4 min. YouTube has a max. of 10 min. upload and 1024 MB, but try not to create long movies unless you really have something important to say/show. Rough sketches/ideas from mind maps or brainstorms are a good first step towards future presenting movies (and you will be working more on YouTube soon).
Today has got a total of 4 tasks
Watch the Darren LaCroix video about equipment
Watch the video on how to customise your page
Create a YouTube channel
Take some time to brainstorm for material for videos
I know you are wondering about how to be profitable on YouTube, and why even create the videos, so if you have extra time I would suggest you watch Darren LaCroix’s video ‘Why Video, Why Now, Why You Tube?’
What better way to give you a treat than through YouTube after this little lesson. Here is a Christmas movie by a classic couple everyone must love; Tom & Jerry.
This is a Social Media Advent Calendar created for Alan Donegan of Enjoy Presenting, to help him optimise his social media efforts in a fun and interactive way, while bringing him a little bit of Christmas cheer.
Enjoy's Advent Calendar 