Social Media Panel With Tim Walker

Tim Walker invited Natanya Anderson and myself to join him on a social media panel at the Association for University Business and Economic Research conference held at the Driskoll Hotel. Here is the full audio and a few pics. I posted a few more at Flickr, and I recorded the audio: Tim Walker’s Social Media Panel.mp3

Social Media Panel
Tim Walker, Natanya Anderson, and Jason Molin at the Driskill
Social Media Panel
Our blurry audience

Tim asked me to speak to “INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES — some practical pointers about how social media plays out in a university / institutional setting” and here is the outline I prepared.

Openings

  • We started a year after we discussed starting, waiting for right people, prototype
  • I started with those that got it, wanted to do it, were already. Still looking for the eagerly engaged.
  • My sell was based on current communications failures, newsletters and site overburdened
  • Pitched as: make it easier on your audience and yourselves, communicate more efficiently

Pitch

  • Our newsletters are too much, basically SPAM
  • Our site (and Web team) are overburdened with ‘bulletin board” info (and little strategy, audience focus)
  • Even our school news blog can’t publish everybody’s local news…you need a direct publishing method

Effect

  • Our newsletters are more weekly headlines
  • Our audience can ‘follow’ us in a variety of ways
  • They can comment on the blog and respond to our Twitter or FB accounts
  • Our Web stewards have control over local news

Social Media Panel

Family Time Rocks! First Show

Family Time Rocks! The Nutty Brown Cafe
Family Time Rocks! The Nutty Brown Cafe - Sara Hickman, Jason Molin, Gray Parsons

We had a fabulous first Family Time Rocks! show this evening at the Nutty Brown Cafe…made up lots of songs like this one for Hayden, a young fellow who told us that the rain had stopped and we could continue to play. Sara sang this song for him.

Hayden by Family Time Rocks!


Sara singing “I Wish I Were A Princess” outside, kids night at the Nutty Brown Cafe.

Q&A w/Jason Repko

7029_158141152957_623397957_2631379_5908563_sJason Repko encouraged me to develop my book idea. We had lunch and I advised him on creating a Web presence for himself. He agreed to help document the process from his perspective, exactly what I need to make sure this book answers the questions of the novice reader. Here’s what I advised, he asked in reply, and I answered. (I haven’t answered all the questions yet, but I will. And add others.)

Me: You need a site with blog. Get a host that supports (easily installs and upgrades) WordPress.

Q: Why in the world would I need a website?

A. It’s Google’s world. That’s where you need to show up as you want to be found. But you need to do more than show up, you need to be accurately and impressively portrayed. Don’t leave that to chance. Represent yourself. Google rewards recency, relevance, and referrals. So do people. You’ve got to have a site that was updated recently, is relevant to your interests, and is referred to from other sites, part of the Web.

Say someone is interested in you. Perhaps you’re applying for a job, or they heard about you through a friend or colleague, met you at a conference or saw something you had done. They want to know more about you. They Google your name. What do they find? Make sure they find you as you want to be found. Continue reading Q&A w/Jason Repko

Book Breakdown

“Digital Ambassador” could be broken down in many ways.

The whole thing started as a two part idea, manifesto for how to show up at Google’s party like a rockstar and the nuts and bolts of doing it. Part philosophy, part tutorial.

Philosophy could include: brand of you applied on the Web, listening strategies, how to play the networking game your way, recency-relevance-reference, the blog format as business card and living cv, technographic community awareness, finding your people, sharing your value.

How-to could include: set up your Google accounts, use them,  and appear on the front page, approach Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, post audio and video, set up a Blogger or WordPress blog, integrate your network activity, use media effectively.