“Using social networks for holiday incentives” is my latest column for the Home News Tribune, Courier News and myCentralJersey.com, published on November 2, 2011 http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20111102/NJCOLUMNIST13/311020013/Using-social-networks-for-holiday-incentives
I briefly mention how businesses can use QR codes as a shortcut way for smartphone users to find their website.
This specific app is a QR code reader, generator and scanner for Android. I decided to create a new QR code for my blog http://www.evaabreu.com
It was pretty easy to do, just a few simple steps using the app on my phone. I emailed the newly created QR code to myself and opened it on my main computer so I could test it out. It worked fine.
Then I saved the QR code as a jpg file and decided to add it to my new business cards, which I was in the process of creating in Microsoft Word (I’m not a designer by any means, just wanted to print up a few business cards to have on hand before I place another order with the company that usually does my cards).
I printed a sample sheet of the new business cards to see how it would look (I used Avery 8871 Matte White Clean Edge Business Cards http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Products/Cards/Business-Cards/Two_Side-Printable-Ink-Jet-Clean-Edge-Business-Cards_08871.htm )
I tested the printed QR code from the business card by scanning it with my phone to make sure it worked. It worked.
Here is the final result, and although it may not be as picture perfect as a professional graphic designer would have done, I think it’s OK for now to use. What do you think?
So the idea is, if I hand out my business cards in real life, the person can scan the QR code and check out my blog without having to type in the actual URL or string of letters and symbols for the web address. You can do the same for your website or social media profile or YouTube channel or even a geolocation, calendar event or phone number.
Would you be interested in a having a business card like this made for you? Contact me and let’s talk. You never know who you’re going to meet in real life or what opportunities may be out there for you. I figured having a business card like this might help.
This one minute, 28 second video that I filmed while on board a NY Waterway Ferry between Port Imperial Weehawken NJ and NYC won the Grand Prize in the Video Category of a NY Waterway photo and video contest on Facebook last month (August 2011)
The original video was posted on the NY Waterway Facebook page. I’ll be uploading the video to YouTube some time this month as well.
Here is the original posting (contest entry) and comments:
Thanks to all who commented and supported the contest! Special thanks to Anthony Quintano who inspired me to enter the contest after he posted several photo entries, one of which was chosen as the Grand Prize winner in the Photo Category; congratulations!
* * *
On another topic, I’ve been working on several video segments for a new hyperlocal website http://www.EverythingEdisonNJ.com. Here’s a sample:
I think YouTube is the new Myspace, but with a twist. What do you think?
Today, I had the privilege of presenting an overview of social networking and social media at a membership meeting of the Appraisal Institute - Metro New Jersey Chapter (http://www.ai-newjersey.org).
There were approximately 80 people in attendance at the lunch meeting held at the Spanish Tavern in Mountainside, NJ (which everyone seemed to enjoy the food there, including shrimp and calamari appetizers, seafood paella, flan, cheesecake and chocolate mousse for dessert… oh, and the sangria too).
Before my presentation, two attorneys from the law firm of Davenport & Spiotti presented the topic “Business Communication & Gadgets for Today’s Appraiser.” Seth Davenport, Esq. and Robert Spiotti, Esq. discussed how the latest technology and electronics can help us save time and be more efficient in our work, but warned if it’s too fun to use, it may not be the best choice as a business tool.
The most important technology tool? The scanner, which can help us in our ultimate goal of becoming a paperless office. Mr. Davenport suggested doing the scanning yourself, rather than delegating it to a staff member, because it’s a more efficient use of time. I tend to agree, as it follows the principle of “handle it once.”
In my presentation, I did a high level executive summary explaining, in simple terms, what social media and social networking is.
Here is a slide that I custom-created for this particular group to explain how important it is to start with an up-to-date website first, to establish your “bricks and mortar” presence on the Internet.
Your website would be your main “storefront”, representing your business or service on the Internet. From there, you can start building up a base of satellite locations on social sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, which would always point back to your website for more complete information.
We ended the presentation with lots of great questions and hopefully, the participants left with a better understanding of what social media is and how social networking can be used as a new business communication tool to connect with others in their industry.
How do you use social media for your business? What are your questions about social media or social networking?
Leave a comment below or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn and let’s have a conversation!
One of the traits of a New Small entrepreneur is testing new emerging technology tools.
I’ve been testing a new platform for webcasts as an additional way to connect with folks like you who read this blog and to provide more in-depth training and helpful information.
I’d like to get your feedback about the following technology platform and what you think about it: (after reviewing the webcast, please email me with your comments: eva@evaabreu.com. Thanks!)
Archived playback of the Virtual Lunchcast Interview with Phil Simon is available here:
This was recorded live as a Virtual Lunchcast Discussion on Wed. Jan 05, 2011 at 12:30PM EST. It was offered free and was open to all to join in.
Background info previously posted about the Lunchcast Discussion:
Thirty minute virtual lunch discussion with New Jersey author Phil Simon about his new book The New Smallhttp://www.thenewsmall.com (Motion, 2010).
In The New Small: How a New Breed of Small Businesses is Harnessing the Power of Emerging Technologies, you’ll discover how companies are creatively and intelligently use technology to reach new customers, reduce costs, increase internal collaboration and communication, and create flexible work environments. Phil is also author of Why New Systems Fail (Cengage, 2010) and The Next Wave of Technologies (John Wiley & Sons, 2010). He is an independent technology consultant, author, writer, and dynamic public speaker for hire. Learn more about Phil at http://www.philsimonsystems.com
What are your thoughts? Are you a New Small business too? Do you have questions about using new technology for your business? Feel free to contact Phil Simon above or contact me via email: eva@evaabreu.com or leave a comment below, or connect with me or Phil on the social networks.
In the social media classes that I teach in New Jersey, I discuss the idea of creating content once, re-purposing it into several different variations, then spreading it out over different platforms.
Here’s a recent example:
1. I interviewed Dave Elchoness of Tagwhat, a mobile augmented reality application. Dave is in Colorado, I’m in NJ and we conducted the interview virtually using Skype on an early Sunday morning.
2. Recorded using Pamela Recording (a free application for Skype), saving the file as an mp3 file.
8. Wrote a column based on the interview, which appeared in the print edition of The Home News Tribune, Courier News and online on myCentralJersey.com
9. Created this blog post to add to my personal blog, to describe the behind-the-scenes and technical aspects of how one idea can be perpetuated virtually.
There might be a lot of technical information that you don’t yet understand in the description above, but this is the new reality of all the possibilities on the Internet, which allows us to…
Augment — or improve or add to — what is already out there.
Should we talk some more about this topic? Would it be worthwhile to schedule a workshop or roundtable discussion about this?
Leave a comment below with your thoughts, questions and comments or email me: eva {at} evaabreu {dot} com or connect with me through Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
Talk to you soon,
Eva
Full disclosure: please note - I am not compensated nor receive any form of remuneration for any of the products or services described in this blog post. I’ve included the links above for reference only.
According to a wikipedia defintion, the term “digital mashup’ is defined as:
1. Digital media content containing any or all of text, graphics, audio, video and animation drawn from pre-existing sources, to create a new derivative work.
I have a background in video and cable television production, radio, disc jockey, theatrical and live event production and have been focusing on how to incorporate each of these elements into my social media teachings.
Here is one recent example:
This video, uploaded to YouTube, is made up primarily of photos taken by my kidlets (some captured as individual screenshots taken from video footage shot on that day), and voice-over (air-check) recorded live from that day. I edited using AVS Video Editor 4 (which was recommended to me last year by a Twitter follower), with white titles added over black background generated by the software.
This took several months for me to figure out how to best edit this together, through trial and error.
Could it be better? Sure.
Is it OK for now? I think so. I’ll use it as a case study, when I start teaching again in the Fall at OLLI-Rutgers.
The take-home point: The more ways you can reach and connect with your audience, through various media, the better.
Teach yourself, learn from others, share what you know. That’s my philosophy. If that’s your philosophy, let’s talk.
Questions? Comments? Feel free to send an email to eva {at} evaabreu {dot} com or connect on Facebook or Twitter.
Thanks for reading / viewing / listening / commenting.
Here’s a video that I produced from the July 4th weekend: Fireworks in Highland Park NJ, July 3, 2010 for NJ Social Media.
Special thanks to Leora Wenger for her Facebook and “Here in HP” blog post, which is how I originally found out about the fireworks returning back to Highland Park.
How was your July 4th Weekend? Do you have photos or videos uploaded? Send me an email: eva {at} evaabreu {dot} com or post them on the NJ Social Media Facebook Page.
Many things happening, life at laser warp speed, but it’s all good. How about you? What’s going on in your part of the world?
Many people have asked about the book; it’s taken a long and winding detour, but is definitely not grounded, just docked in a temporary holding pattern. I’m afraid to make any further date commitments and would rather surprise everyone and just release it when it’s finally ready to take flight, and then I’ll announce it. Question to all: Should I make it available as just an e-book only, or e-book and paperback? Please leave a comment below email eva {at} evaabreu {dot} com with your thoughts.
Currently planning the first NJ Social Media Conference on Friday, June 18, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza - Somerset. Lots of details to take care of, if you’re interested in helping behind the scenes, I’ll gladly accept your help and hopefully, give you the opportunity to learn some new skills and add some experience to your resume. Contact me for further info.
Hoping to have the chance to catch up with you soon, so you can update me on where in the world you are these days : ) Drop me a note, or hit me up on Twitter or Facebook to fill me in.
One of the many hats that I wear includes one that represents the Organizing Coach part of me.
(in fact, that’s how I got started in learning about today’s Social Media, when I started experimenting with writing blogs for my organizing coaching business and moderating a network that I created on Ryze, called Sort Thing Out - Getting Organized which has since faded into the background, with the advent of Twitter and Facebook and who knows what’s next!)
Recently I’ve been doing a series of presentations about Decluttering and Organizing, including a 10 week course at OLLI-Rutgers Continuing Education and several workshops at the Edison Public Library and Sayreville Public Library.
We’ve been covering a whole host of topics, including decluttering and organizing electronic files.
So, I figured I better walk the walk… especially after experiencing a system meltdown. What better time to do some much needed e-cleaning?
In digging through e-archives, here’s an blog post that I wrote back in 2005 from a blog that is no longer active:
Thursday, October 13, 2005
“Living with Less”
As a follow up to my previous post on gift-giving, here are a few thoughts, coming from a local Holistic Moms group meeting and from other sources that I’ve read about in the past, regarding how to curb the excess materialism and prevent the “buy me!” syndrome with your kids:
1. Ask your relatives to cut back on the number of presents they give to your kids (this is a tough one, especially with “old school” family members, or long distance grandparents).
2. Ask for clothes, instead of toys.
3. Request gift certificates, savings bonds, or money for college fund.
4. Suggest giving books, instead of toys.
5. Donation Birthday Party, where guests are asked to bring either new or gently used books, videos, etc. to donate to a local charity. I did this with my kindergartener, for two years in a row. It wasn’t easy, he wasn’t too happy about it, but I did remind him, quite often, that he would be getting the toys on his “list” from us, and from his aunts & uncles.
6. For every new toy received, an old toy has to be donated.
(There are definitely more ideas out there, this is just a quickie summary).
Otherwise, as moms, we find it very frustrating to try to fight the Media, the Mega-toy stores and the Message that society conveys: “gotta have that! I NEED to have that!”.
What are your thoughts or suggestions on how we can make a difference with our children to curb the excess toy syndrome? What is the “little something” we can do every day, to try and reinforce this change of habit with our kids, to “Live with Less” stuff? Feel free to post your thoughts in the Comments section.
Is this still relevant today?
With today’s economy, can we learn to live with less, regardless if you have kids or not?
What can you clean out today? (Got any old hats or baseball caps like the one above that have lived past their prime?)
Let me know if you do any releasing, clearing, or decluttering today.
…leaving you with Eva’s Edict: “Throw It Out Thursday”
Take 10 minutes and sort through a pile to release today. Leave a comment or tweet me back with what you’ve released.
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