online marketing

Just came from another great event by Third Tuesday Calgary this time hosting Julien Smith, co-author of Trust Agents (Chris Brogan and Julien Smith). Those who missed it, missed a lot. Below are the notes for those who attended, let's compare!

• Hype vs. channel: hype dies, channel is forever
• Controlling future is about controlling a channel
• Channels used to be one-way, now it's both ways
• A channel starts from a network
• Channel: a tube you use to communicate with members of your network (my understanding, I may be wrong).
• Channel examples: Twitter, YouTube Channel, Facebook Fan Page
• Channel example (specific): ShitMyDadSays
• $50,000 / year example: great example, also referenced in Guy Kawasaki's Reality Check: on average $50,000 / year is enough to live in North America. Anything beyond that should not (hypothetically) make you happier.
• Social Networks and happiness. The closer you are to the centre of your network, the happier you are.
• Over time networks dissipate, so one should build tribes continuously.
• Laughter takes walls away; at work and at home. Laugh.
• Social capital = puzzle piece of the game
• Facilitate the exchange of social capital
• Reliability is huge. Be consistent with your content.
• Create content that's visible and indexable.
• Insiders vs. outsiders of a social neighbourhood.
• Insider language. Example: Sprite commercial ;)
• Differentiation: Blue Ocean Strategy
• Pattern breaking. Example: Cirque Du Soleil
• Do something different.
• What can be measured can be sold.
• Book reference: Connected by Nicholas A. Christakis.
• Be the lead goose.

For those who could not attend, you can catch Julien on his Canadian tour. More about the tour and the author:

• The next event is on Wednesday in Victoria.
• See Julien's site: InOverYourHead.
• Julien is talking (podcast): http://inoveryourhead.mevio.com/
• Alternatively, feel free to buy the book. BTW, I'm not getting paid, I just liked the presentation.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine asked me questions about linkedin.com and how I benefited by using it so far. I have been meaning to respond to her questions but didn't have a chance to do it. Now, I realized that this information may be useful for other people too, hence I'm sharing it here. Below is an overview of a few useful features on linkedin.com that I've benefited by since I first started using it.

1. One place for your resume
2. To connect with colleagues, past and present
3. To discover new connections
4. To join groups of similar interests
5. To help people solve problems
6. To stay up to date with your network
7. To recommend and get recommended
8. To look for jobs and apply for jobs
9. Search visibility and personal branding

Facts from Guy Kawasaki on the subject:

• People with more than twenty connections are thirty-four times more likely to be approached with a job opportunity than people with less than five.
• The average number for Harvard Business School grads is fifty-eight, so you could skip the MBA, work at Google, and probably get most of the connections you need. Later, you can hire Harvard MBAs to prepare your income taxes.
• All 500 of the Fortune 500 are represented in LinkedIn. In fact, 499 of them are represented by director-level and above employees.
• The average number of LinkedIn connections for people who work at Google is forty-seven.

A good friend and a colleague of mine Rob Howard of Suitcase Interactive lent me a great book recently. “The Leader in You: how to win friends, influence people and succeed is a changing world” by Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc. Stuart R. Levine and Michael A. Crom, VP. I’m still going through it but I wanted to point that although it was printed in May 1995, the materials have significant relevance in today’s world and will have it in the coming years. In this post I want to share key points that complete each chapter. If you are not sure you want to buy this book, please see the points below to get more details about it. Please note that these are not from the back or the front cover, these points are “hidden” at the end of each chapter. I’m writing these things down for two reasons: 1) I want to make sure that I review these principles. 2) I want to share these with you. Here we go…

1. the first step toward success is identifying your leadership strengths
2. communication is built on trusting relationships
3. motivation can never be forced. people have to want to do a good job.
4. there’s nothing more effective and rewarding than showing a genuine interest in other people
5. step outside yourself to discover what’s important to someone else.
6. nobody is more persuasive than a good listener.
7. team players are the leaders of tomorrow.
8. truly respecting others is the bedrock of motivation.
9. people work for money but work the extra mile for recognition, praise, and rewards.
10. be quick to admit mistakes and slow to criticize. above all, be constructive.
11. set goals that are clear, challenging, and obtainable.
12. leaders never loose their focus. they keep their eyes on the bog picture.
13. consistently high performance comes from a balance between work and leisure.
14. gain strengths from the positive and don’t be sapped by the negative.
15. tame your worries and energize your life.
16. never underestimate the power of enthusiasm.

I plan to get back to each of those points and add relevant examples from my daily life for each of the points above. I will be happy to see your examples too in the comments.