PLN - Part 4

My original plan for the foundation of my PLN  was to mainly stick with people in my physical network of associates, friends, and family, I have come to realize that very few of those folks are active social media users. In keeping with the spirit of this class, I know I have to branch out further and more creatively. Besides, I have also come to terms with the fact that my time and availability is limited and I simply have to be able to learn and grow professionally as my crazy schedule permits, even if it is 4:00 in the morning.

I found a couple of sources that I think can help me with this. The first source is Constant Contact. The site has a blog page dedicated to their own staff contributors as well as a place for community bloggers. I found a number of free "webinars" in the Community portion of the site one of which, I have written on my calendar.. I am following them on Twitter and have subscribed to their blog lists. I like that I can follow just the one blog page without having to subscribe to all of the staff blogs individually.

Another source that I especially like is Open Forum.  Sponsored by American Express, this site offers a wealth of resources for business owners - videos, articles, blogs, podcasts, and expert advice to boost my business. To take full advantage of all of the features of the site, you need to log in. In order to do so, you must have be an American Express account holder. At the moment, I am not one, although I do plan on applying for a business account soon. There is, however, plenty of information that is accessible without being a  member. There is an entire section called Crash Courses, which I have browsed through and subscribed to. There is a lot to be learned here. There is a community blog section here as well and a section on Women in Business, which I am very interested in.


For me, this is one stop shopping! I can follow both of these sites easily and feel as if I will be getting a good return on my investment of time and mental energy. What do you think?

PLN - Part 3

In keeping with my PLN plan to tap into the knowledge of the vendors in my business area, I made inroads in a couple of areas.

I had a Facebook page for my business which was pretty basic and more than a little underutilized. Because the page was attached to my personal account, if I wanted to "like" another business, it would show as a "like" from me personally, when I wanted it to appear from the store. I learned how to toggle back and forth between the account name from my personal account name to my store page name, depending on what I was trying to do. As a result, there is now an area on the page which shows business to business "likes". These act as endorsements, of sorts, and are always reciprocated in kind. It has proved to be a good opportunity for team-building and conversation starting. The nice website developer who works at the theater across the street was kind enough to show me how to do it when I mentioned it when I bumped into him at the cafe next door. I love my work neighbors!

Additionally, I did not have a email address for the business. Prior, I was filtering everything through my personal email address. I created a dedicated e-mail account, which is helping me keep things straight personally and professionally. This will be especially important in my role as the new secretary of the Merchants Association. I added the new information to the Facebook page and it will soon show on the store website, which is still in development, but should be up within a week or two.

I also signed up for a Twitter account for the store. Anyone interested in following us can do so at @HipGypsyNT. I linked the Twitter account to the Facebook page, but am having difficulty getting the tweets to show up on the page, although I know it is set up properly. There is apparently some disconnect between Twitter and secondary Facebook pages. My website developer friend is helping me try to figure out a workaround. Have I mentioned how I love my work neighbors?

I created a blog for the store and am having fun with that. My partners are blown away! Updated the Facebook page and tweeted it out there. I got a FB message from my very tech-savvy daughter in Japan yesterday. Apparently she is impressed with how much I am "evolving"! We shall see how it goes! Check out the blog and let me know what you think. In my first few posts, I was able to utilize a number of the tools we learned about this semester.

PLN - Part 2

As part of my PLN, I used Google Docs to put together a survey for the Merchants Association that I belong to for my business. It has been helpful as a means of gathering information not only those who participate regularly but also those who do not or cannot attend meetings regularly. The survey serves several purposes. It helps the Association meet the needs and desires of its existing membership while learning what issues or concerns might be preventing non-members from participating.

To see the survey I developed click here.

PLN - Part 1

In my very first blog post about developing my PLN, I mentioned that I thought I would start by building off of the relationships that were being established during the community-wide fund-raiser my business partners and I spear-headed in February. That being said, I have added as many of them as possible to my Symbaloo Web-Mix. Although not all involved have web pages, I did manage to locate a good portion of them.

This will give me a good opportunity to keep up with what is going on in the neighborhood, without all of the pavement pounding, which is sometimes impractical. Considering the weather, I am glad I am not out-and-about today. Check out the view of the neighborhood from our Gateway Harbor Web Cam as of 2 minutes ago. Brrrr... No one is shopping OR collaborating today!

Checking out everybody's website is proving to be a good way to become familiar not only with what merchandise/service is being offered, but also to continuously look for more opportunities to work with, and learn from each other going forward. I've noticed that just mentioning that you saw this or that on someone's website is a pretty effective conversation starter!

Case in point... I learned via a website visit to one area merchant that she offered classes in stained glass making. When I stopped by the store to get more information, we got to talking about the possibility of running a street-wide event for Mother's Day weekend. The merchant mentioned something known as a "shop hop". Never heard of one before, but was happy to do a little research. If you happen to be in the Webster Street area that weekend, check it out because we have some fun stuff in the works!

SoundCloud

                                   http://www.dubstep.lv/2010/07/27/dubstep-lv-soundcloud/


Even though everyone else in my family is familiar with SoundCloud, this was my first attempt at using it personally. I must say, this was kind of fun, even if I did sputter a little. Hey, I get nervous "speaking" in public! Have a listen by clicking here.

Manners Matter!

In Chapter 4 of Discovering the Internet, the authors briefly touched on a few e-mail etiquette rules we should be mindful of. Although I have never made any monumental etiquette blunders while using e-mail, I have heard more than a few horror stories over the years. While any number of books have been penned on the subject, a quick Internet search can bring up loads of articles and blog posts about the potential pitfalls awaiting any of us who use e-mail.

As I browsed through my search results for e-mail etiquette, I noticed that practically every other article quantified the number of "tips" being listed. Being in a "more is better" kind of mood, I skipped those that offered the top 3, 10, or 26 tips and went directly for the top 101!  Put out by netmanners.com., 101 Email Etiquette Tips was a pretty comprehensive list which covered proper protocol for e-mail, formatting, attachments, forwarding, business mail, IM, blogs, message boards, and forums. I learned a few things that I was doing wrong (like leaving the subject field blank and not editing out other e-mail addresses before forwarding).

My favorite tip, and the sagest advice, happened to be #101... "Type unto others as you would have them type unto you." Is that not perfect in its' simplicity and elementary truth? Check out the article and let me know what you think.

So many e-mail addresses, so little time...

                                                               http://www.highlandpolice.com/cid2.htm

I was thinking, while reading Chapter 4, that while I have used e-mail for some time, I never have felt the need to be a slave to it, as so many people seem to be. There was a time, not so long ago, that it would not be unusual for me to go days or even weeks without ever looking at my e-mail. Needless to say, it also wasn't unusual to find a mountain of messages waiting for me when I let too much time pass between log-in's. This never bothered me too much since most of what I found there was what I considered "mental litter'...advertising and coupons from stores I frequented, forwarded jokes or inspirational messages from my contacts, solicitations from political or social groups that I expressed an interest in, newsletters, the occasional Nigerian Sting, and every once in a while, something pertinent. I probably spent as much time hitting the delete button as I did reading all that stuff!

These days, I suddenly found myself juggling multiple e-mail addresses from multiple e-mail services. Between my personal one, my work one, my store one, and most recently, my school one, this had the potential to be a recipe for disaster for a e-mail slacker like me!

I mentioned in a previous post that I had acquired my first smart phone.  I gotta say.. that phone, which I was only mildly interested in, has become a great e-mail management system for me! I am happy to report that my e-mail accounts are being attended to quite regularly these days! There is something almost liberating about the ability to delete the junk almost instantaneously while knowing that I am not missing anything crucial.

                                                                 http://www.getcws.com

How I wish I could manage the rest of my life as easily as I can now manage my e-mail(s)! How do you manage?

Symbaloo-A-Roo!

So I have started adding Tiles for the other businesses in the Merchant Association to which I belong. I have a ways to go, but it's a start...

Surveys!

I am always so encouraged when I get to apply some of what I am learning in school to life in the 'real world'. It is gratifying to realize that this long, sometimes arduous, and rather expensive process has meaningful and valuable application to my here-and-now life. I have recently had two opportunities to do just this.

The Merchant Association that I belong to through my business is undergoing a renaissance of sorts. The group has seen membership decline by more than half over the last 10 years. Those that remain have been members practically from the associations' inception. As a result of new business growth in the area recently, however, interest in reinvigorating the group has soared. The old guard, who have been tirelessly holding it together, has decided that the time has come for some fresh ideas, younger leadership, and some new blood to take up the torch of association development. They are ready for a rest from the necessary chore of keeping a cohesive and eclectic assortment of players moving in the same direction and focused on the same long-range goal, which is the success of the area as a shopping destination. They have earned the right to take a breather. The task has, at times, been likened to trying to heard cats...impossibly difficult.

The group recently expressed a need for a strongly worded cease-and-desist type letter to be written to a rather rouge member who had self-appointed herself to head up an important association-sponsored community event against the wishes of the majority of the membership. While wanting to approach the matter delicately but emphatically, the letter required some level of legal overtones. Asked to pen the letter on behalf of the group, I had my first opportunity to put my paralegal writing skills to real use.  The opportunity preceded my learning of Google Docs. Had it not, I can see how much more efficiently I could have circulated the draft letter amongst the membership in order to make the numerous but necessary revisions. As it was, I used a combination of e-mail, face-to-face, pavement-pounding, and telephone to come up with the final product. Although the end-product came out well, it certainly took a great deal more effort than it could have.

At our last couple of meetings, there has been talk about conducting a  survey amongst all of the merchants in the area, members and non-members, to see how membership could be grown. I had already made up a mock survey for the Google Doc assignment, so this was perfect timing! I volunteered to draft an actual survey on behalf of the group. I plan to use Google Docs for this project and save myself a whole lot of time. I'm excited for the opportunity to put another newly acquired skill to practical use. The only challenge I am facing is trying to muscle e-mail addresses from the old guard...they are privacy loving people of the highest order. They are not giving them up easily. Considering all that I have learned this semester, I think I am just the girl for the job! What do you think?