Successful Blog

10:00 – Terry Starbucker on Pitching Social Media to Clients — 5 Key Questions for Potential Clients

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. Relationships with customers, employees, colleagues, coworkers, builders, contractors, developers, and CUSTOMERS — in the form of readers, buyers, clients, and others — are the success of any business.

How do we form the best relationships; bring our best to them; build environments that nurture them; and measure our success?

Join the Comment Box Conference. Ask questions. Discuss answers. Meet people in the comment box. Find out.

Terry Starbucker

Terry Starbucker is a service company executive who knows more than the average bear about leaderships and the social web. In his own words,

“I believe in the incredible potential of the human spirit, the vast underappreciated beauty of the earth, my wife’s smile and the love that radiates from it, long hugs and soft kisses, weddings and butterflies, honesty and courage, incurable optimism, the men and women in the arena, movies that make me laugh and cry at the human condition, the Green Bay Packers, downward dogs, a fine hot grande latte, the warmness of friendship, the spirit of SOBCon, vanilla ice cream, Elton & Bernie, the Grand Tetons, common courtesy, melodies I can’t get out of my head, amazing grace, Mom & Dad & my two sisters, servant leadership, government above hypocrisy, the daily grind, deep cleansing breaths, the power of dreams, the incredible wisdom of my grandmother, E=MC², and God and the Golden Rule.”

Terry’s focus today is …

Pitching Social Media to Clients — 5 Key Questions for Potential Clients

  • Are you ready to have public conversations?
  • How pervasive are your Social Media users in your customer base?
  • What is your sensitivity to negativity?
  • How are your current “conversational” avenues working?
  • Do you understand the medium and how to speak in it?

What other social media “pitching” questions do you have?

Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, is a founder of SOBCon, and posts his musings and observations about “the optimistic side of the daily grind” in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full.
Follow @starbucker at Twitter.

9:00 – Angela Maiers on Literacy and Learning in the 21st Century

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. Relationships with customers, employees, colleagues, coworkers, builders, contractors, developers, and CUSTOMERS — in the form of readers, buyers, clients, and others — are the success of any business.

How do we form the best relationships; bring our best to them; build environments that nurture them; and measure our success?

Join the Comment Box Conference. Ask questions. Discuss answers. Meet people in the comment box. Find out.

Angela Maiers

Angela Maiers works with educators, DOE’s, schools, districts and teachers reach their goals in literacy and literacy education. In her consulting work, she spends her time teaching, researching, writing, speaking, and conducting seminars across the country in the areas of literacy, learning, and 21st century education.

Angela has created, developed, and organized multiple literacy institutes reaching thousands of educators across the United States.

Angela is answering questions today about the intricacies of

Literacy and Learning in the 21st Century

  • Habitudes- Habits and Attitudes of Successful Learning
  • 21st Century Literacy and Learning
  • Engagement and Conditions of Learning
  • Twitter Engagement
  • 21st Century Education Reform
Angela is proud of her 20-year career in education, especially the years she spent as a classroom teacher.

She is currently working as an independent consultant dedicated and committed to helping DOE’s, schools, districts and teachers reach their goals in literacy and literacy education through my company Maiers Educational Services.
Follow @angelamaiers at Twitter.

8:00 – Shannon Paul on Internet People and What They Do

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. Relationships with customers, employees, colleagues, coworkers, builders, contractors, developers, and CUSTOMERS — in the form of readers, buyers, clients, and others — are the success of any business.

How do we form the best relationships; bring our best to them; build environments that nurture them; and measure our success?

Join the Comment Box Conference. Ask questions. Discuss answers. Meet people in the comment box. Find out.

Shannon Paul

Shannon Paul currently works in New Media with the NHL Detroit Red Wings as a creator of web-based content and digital marketing strategy. She is responsible for fostering relationships across the social web for the organization and the team.

Shannon began her career as an intern with the NBA Detroit Pistons Community Relations department before making her way back into the sports industry in her current position. Her professional background is in traditional public relations but her interest in social media communication dates back to her time as a student when she created an independent study program aimed at building and exploring the impact of blogs on mass communication.

Today Shannon is bringing research and insights on

Who’s Online Anyway?

Maybe everyone still isn’t online, but the gap is certainly closing, and it turns out we’re not all the same.

Of the 138 million people, age 13 and older, with broadband Internet connections in the U.S., 105 million (76 percent) are active contributors to the Web via social media, according to a study conducted earlier this year by Netpop Research.

The problem with identifying who’s online isn’t a matter of behavior, but of semantics. A lot of people regularly contribute to the social web without realizing that they’re contributing to the social web.

Case in point: if you ask someone who’s not a marketer or web development professional whether or not they participate in social media and they’ll probably look at you like you have two heads.

However, ask them whether they’ve ever uploaded a photo or passed on a YouTube video to a friend and you’ll likely get a definite yes.

Add to this communication gap a tendency for marketers and/or businesses to treat the populations online as if we are all the same and you’ll soon realize that identifying an audience as “online” simply isn’t enough.

I referenced the same study mentioned above for a recent post on my blog about the differences between the populations on MySpace versus Facebook, but the differences don’t end there.

The study utilized the following five population segments to differentiate the variety of broadband users.

  • Social Clickers rely on the Internet to maintain relationships with friends and family and to seek out new friends. A generational divide runs through this group, yet all Social Clickers share a desired to connect and communicate with others online.
  • Content Kings pursue a wide range of diversions available on the web. Deciding when, where and how to access entertainment, Content Kings create their own entertainment experiences. Content Kings see the Internet primarily as an entertainment source, and spend an overwhelming amount of their time online in the pursuit of fun.
  • Everyday Pros use the web quickly and efficiently. They are less likely to express their ideas online, nor are they interested in engaging with others. Everyday Pros focus on accomplishing mundane activities online, like checking stocks and managing their bank accounts. Everyday pros are short on time and disinclined to linger online.
  • Fast Trackers flock to the web to get their daily dose of news, sports, and weather. With a constant need to stay up-to-date, this group use a mix of major and specialized sites to get what they need. Focused and efficient, Fast Trackers spend half of their time online pursuing the facts, news and information they crave.
  • Online Insiders do more of everything there is to do online. They know about the Internet and see themselves essentially “living online.” Online Insiders divide their online time more evenly across major areas of online involvement.

As a supplement to this post, I recently discovered this new slide deck posted by the busy researchers at Netpop on Slideshare that helps explain the differences in the types of users you’re likely to encounter on the social web.

Netpop | Snapshot: US 2009

View more presentations from Netpop. (tags: tracker fast )
With so many businesses clamoring to develop an online presence, doesn’t it make sense to get to know how yours fits in and what kinds of engagement your customers are looking for?
Before contemplating whether your business should be on Facebook, take a look at your objectives and find your people. They’ll tell you where to go.

In 2008 Shannon Paul launched the Very Official Blog where she continues to write about social media for professional communicators.
Follow @shannonpaul at Twitter.

7:00 – Becky McCray on Successful Entrepreneurship

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. Relationships with customers, employees, colleagues, coworkers, builders, contractors, developers, and CUSTOMERS — in the form of readers, buyers, clients, and others — are the success of any business.

How do we form the best relationships; bring our best to them; build environments that nurture them; and measure our success?

Join the Comment Box Conference. Ask questions. Discuss answers. Meet people in the comment box. Find out.

Becky McCray

Becky McCray is a small town entrepreneur with boatload of experience online and off. Becky has worked as an antiques dealer, city administrator, nonprofit executive and newspaper reporter. Listen to her talk small business, and you’ll know she brought something to and took some from every career step and life step she’s made.

Currently, Becky is the co-owner of a small town retail liquor store and small cattle ranch. As a consultant, she helps small businesses to maintain their web presence and helps city governments with project management and grant writing.

Today Becky’s focus is

Successful Entrepreneurship

  • Redefining failure and learning from mistakes.
  • Positioning yourself as an expert.
  • Learning to brag on your successes.

Ask me anything about going into business. Small towns – they’re where it’s at!

Becky McCray is a small town entrepreneur. She writes Small Biz Survival about small business and rural issues, based on her own successes and failures. She is the co-owner of a small town retail liquor store and small cattle ranch, and is a consultant to her surrounding small town governments.
Follow @BeckyMcCray at Twitter.

6:00 – Vicky H on Writing for the Web

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. Relationships with customers, employees, colleagues, coworkers, builders, contractors, developers, and CUSTOMERS — in the form of readers, buyers, clients, and others — are the success of any business.

How do we form the best relationships; bring our best to them; build environments that nurture them; and measure our success?

Join the Comment Box Conference. Ask questions. Discuss answers. Meet people in the comment box. Find out.

Vicky H

Vicky H explains the role of technology in parenting this way at her site, Remarkable Parents :
Our site will help you make better use of your precious time. We will help you become more organized and productive. This will enable you to be part of the conversation, instead of fighting it.

“Because … technology tools aren’t just for teens. Adults are using them to connect with each other, to learn new things, and to be more productive at home and at work!”

Technology is not going away and the web is not going anywhere. … Our kids, in this era, have never experienced life without computers. We have some catching up to do, and this is where Remarkable Parents comes in.

Vicky H will be talking about

Writing for the Web

  • Blogging: It’s More than Writing.
  • They Don’t Read, They Skim
  • Monitoring the Conversation?
  • Why Is the Web different?
  • What’s so great about URLs?

Ask this remarkable mom your questions.

Vicky has worked in higher education field for more than 10 years experienced on both the academic side and the Information Technology/administrative side of the college. Vicky writes at Remarkable Parents where she shows parents how to keep with the technology that is part of their children’s world.
Follow @eeUS at Twitter.

5:00 – John Haydon on Social Media and Trust Online

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. Relationships with customers, employees, colleagues, coworkers, builders, contractors, developers, and CUSTOMERS — in the form of readers, buyers, clients, and others — are the success of any business.

How do we form the best relationships; bring our best to them; build environments that nurture them; and measure our success?

Join the Comment Box Conference. Ask questions. Discuss answers. Meet people in the comment box. Find out.

John Haydon

John Haydon is the Social Media Coach and Publisher of CorporateDollar.Org and his fans describe him well. In the words of Rebecca Leaman of Wild Apricot, “John speaks directly to the needs and interests of small nonprofits.” Chris Garrett, Co-author of Problogger agrees “John’s short ebook gets straight to the point and only shows you the most authentic and ethical techniques, keeping the ‘social’ in social media! I would recommend it to anyone, profits and non-profits alike.”

John’s focus today is

Social Media and Trust Online

  • Social Proof -Book marking, testimonials, number of comments, number of subscribers, community involvement.
  • Consistency – Sticking around for years.
  • Being Honest – Just being who you are.
  • Being Afraid
  • Not Worrying — about what other folks are doing

John has had experience with relationships online. “John absolutely knows his Twittering.” – Michael Martine, Remarkablogger.com

John Haydon is sharing his social media common sense at Socialize your non-profit’s social media where you can learn about all facets of the using the social web for your profit or nonprofit organization.
Follow @johnhaydon at Twitter.