Adobe Adobe eLearning Suite
http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/elearningsuite.html
The Adobe suite of products is so flexible and intuitive it is the eLearning tool of choice and is one of my favorites, I’m always discovering new aspects and better ways of achieving the outcomes I need.  Unfortunately the prices to many can be prohibitive if you are self employed or worse, out of work and looking to improve your work prospects.

Luckily, you can purchase them individually or as a suite of packages which may work out cheaper in the long run.

Articulate Rapid E-Learning Studio
http://www.articulate.com/
I use Quizmaker extensively as in Instructional Designer, it is very easy to learn and use has a number of question types available.  You can brand the player and create templates for how each question is displayed – very helpful that.  It can be published in a number of formats including SCORM and for the web.  Unfortunately, it is quite time consuming when changes need to be made as it needs to be republished each time and should you modify the HTML page produced to include other features, it is overwritten so you must remember to keep a copy (named differently) as a backup.  In one particular LMS’ case it had trouble with the same file name and would not overwrite it so the details of the quizmaker file had to be changed before the republishing exercise.

Raptivity
http://www.raptivity.com/downloads.html
Raptivity Himalaya Pack is good but quite ugly and clunky, but it does have a lot of flexibility in the resources you can embed in an activity such as flash.

Seminar learning System
http://www.seminar.co.uk/
It’s 8 question types of multi-choice, Yes/No, True/False, Matching, Ordered, Typed, Free Text and Branch is quite useful, most systems have something similar

When I initially looked at it, it took me a while to get familiar with the interface and work out how to create an activity, although this took longer than some other packages it produced some very nice activities, fluid and functioning and again, easy to brand and customise.  It also has the ability to be embed video and be added to Powerpoint as it appears as a plugin in the toolbar.

Captivate
http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/
Part of the Adobe eLearning suite, it is a screen capture software that is most commonly used for training guides.  It can capture screens, mouse clicks and video actions and much more as well as easily embedded into articulate, Powerpoint and various other tools.

Unfortunately, it needs a lot of RAM to create but publishes to a small(ish) flash file that has a lot of flexibility in that an audio file can be embedded across the whole animation or ‘slide by slide’.  Captivate has an intuitive interface, a bit like Powerpoint, as each capture is seen as a slide which you can annotate with instructions, notes or other useful hints.

Branding and templates can be created up front then used indefinitely, but any changes to the template are not that easy to find and update later on.

I prefer Camtasia to this one as it gives you a lot more flexibilty and functions are either on screen or easy to find.

Camtasia Studio
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
“Record anything on your PC screen plus webcam and audio. Turn it into a high-quality, polished video.”

As it provides a timeline too it is much easier to embed an audio track over the top for backgrounds plus ‘a lecture’ so for example you can capture a software such as Adobe connect pro, youtube videos and the like then publish it on line.  Changes to a template are easy and can be set up at any time throughout the project, it also has various output options including SCORM, as a web page, MP4 and swf file and the license tends to be cheaper than Captivate.

Wimba Create
http://www.wimba.com/products/wimba_create/
“Quickly and easily convert your Microsoft Word documents into content for your online courses.  Using a combination of special styles and dialog boxes, you can add interactive features…”

Wimba by far has the broadest interactions and once published looks very similar to a web page where the menus appear on the side and the content is displayed in the main area.  Features include Flashcards, Insert HTML, Java, and other code, Navigation, Table of contents, Formatting, Hyperlinks, Popups and many more and exports to WebCT IMS package, Blackboard package, Moodle SCORM, Microsoft LRN IMS, SCORM 1.2 package, IMS QTI Lite (assessment questions) and Set of plain HTML pages ready for web or CD delivery. It also exports to SCORM 2004 but I am not sure how well it integrates with Articulate or other similar eLearning tools.

Since Wimba Create is based on software that is already widely used (MS Word), users can create advanced learning objects with minimal training.

Pros

• Easy to use – users need only to know how to format in Word and click a button to convert to HTML
• Based on MS Word therefore available for all tutors to be able to create content for their courses (as opposed to having only people who can use the software)
• Visually appealing – looks professional and sophisticated
• Possible to embed quizzes, flashcards and multimedia (audio and video)

Cons

• Problems with filenames – when Wimba Create generates its set of files, it puts them into a folder with the same name as the original Word file.
• Formatting issues:
• Picture resolution – pictures may not be as clear when converted to an HTML file
• Tables with merged cells do not work at all in Wimba Create
• Wimba Create does not support overlapping styles

Other software to consider include Lectora Inspire (http://www.trivantis.com/uk/lectora-inspire) and The Wild Thing Project (http://thewildproject.sourceforge.net/).

There is also a very good list of Rapid e-Learning tools available on KINEO’s website at http://www.kineo.com/authoring-tools/rapid-e-learning-authoring-tools.html

You may already be on Twitter, but are you using it for promoting your website – and to get targeted visitors to your site? Twitter is a real powerhouse of traffic if you take a little time to learn how to do it.

How Does Twitter Work?

Twitter allows users to post messages up to a total of 140 characters, which includes punctuation and spaces. Not only can you tweet via your computer but also through your mobile telephone networks as well. And given that most telephone services limit texts on your cell phones to 160 characters, Twitter opted to limit it to 140 leaving you with 20 characters for your user-name. The messages that you post are public and can be read by anyone who signs up to “follow” your tweets.

Getting Started

Get to know Twitter a bit first –Be sure to read through the Twitter Rules and Terms of Service to stay out of trouble.

Create your company profile – Go to twitter.com and click sign up now. Enter your company name just as you want it to appear in the “Full Name” field. This is your user name or “handle” by which you will be known on Twitter. Use the shortest name that describes your company. Preferably your company or website name (without the .com) if its available and not over 20 characters.

Learn the Twitter lingo –Although Twitter seems easy enough, understanding the special terms used to communicate will make using this social network much more effective. Read Twitter 101 to learn about each of the terms used in with your Twitter account.

Personalise your profile - Go into Settings and give your company or website a face. Upload a picture, such as your logo or homepage screen-shot. Then add the names of those who will be tweeting on the account. Its especially important to pay attention to to bio section. It is limited to 160 characters so you need to determine the best way to describe your website and/or what you do. Use some of your most important keywords. Space is limited to one line in the bio section, but you can go to the design tab and utilise the background image on your profile to post additional information.

 Begin tweeting -Remember Twitter allows you to post messages only up to 140 characters long, including punctuation and spaces. Its also best to use a casual, friendly tone, or even some humour to keep your tweets from being too dry or boring. a good idea is to make your followers feel like insiders with behind the scenes looks at your company. Write tweets about breaking business news, post links to your website, as well as to other sites or articles you think your followers may be interested in.

Retweet Posts - especially tweets by others that you feel will be of interest to your followers. Always make sure your re-tweets provide value to your followers. This will eventually make you more visible to others who may not have found you otherwise.

 Make Connections- Twitter isn’t just an advertising medium, its a Social Medium. Get out and communicate. Use the search box on your Twitter homepage to search for other professionals in your field. Use key terms, specific to your website such to search for mentions of these keywords by other websites, your visitors and potential visitors. When you find interesting tweets you can choose to follow those individuals who posted the tweets. Say hello to be personable. Twitter also has a Find Peoplesection to search for specific people, companies or websites by name.

Find out what people are saying about you – Type your company name, website name or products into the search box on your Twitter home page and discover where your company and products are mentioned.

Building Relationships – Respond immediately to any complaints posted and send thank you notes to those who give praise. Offer helpful hints and quickly answer any questions or issues about your site or services.

Promote your Twitter account –Promote your twitter account wherever you can. Post a Twitter badge on your website, connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Add your Twitter URL to your signature line for your email.

Tips to help you get the most out of Twitter:

• Be sure your posts are interesting! – Its just as easy to choose to unfollow you as to follow you.

• Follow others –The more people you follow, the more people will follow you.

• Know your goals – Knowing your goals helps you determine what to post and when to post it.

• Use shortened URL’s -You only have 140 characters, and can often use more than the allotted space for the URL alone. Use the Bit.ly to shorten the links you post..

• Use DMs (Direct Messages)to send private messages to other Twitterers who are following you to personally address concerns.

• Re-tweet Often, but make it good stuff! Re-tweeting is a common form of communicating on Twitter.

• Pay attention to the Trending Topics on your Twitter search page. These most mentioned terms show you what most people are paying attention to right now and can be used for topics on your own Tweets.

• Don’t spam people by sending unsolicited @messages or DM’s.

• Don’t post the same messages to a multitude of accounts, or tweet the same things over and over, or to a multitude of accounts.

• Do not “follow churn”or follow and unfollow the same people over and over.

• Ask for feedback– ask friends and followers to give you feedback on your website or products/services.

• Put a Twitter icon on your homepage.

NanoGong 4
http://gong.ust.hk/nanogong/
This free open source software is extremely flexible as it can either be downloaded and installed on the local PC with two clicks, embedded into a web page or into Moodle directly (see http://gong.ust.hk/nanogong/moodle.html#htmleditor for further details).  Installing directly into Moodle would kill two birds with one stone in that it can be used for both Picaro, Live Online – no need to record using Adobe Connect – and any other course on offer.

It’s a Java applet that can be used to record, playback and save a students voice and when the recording is played back, the user can speed up or slow down the sound if they want to while the teacher can asses their English skills from the uploaded file.

Features include:

• The file size for the player is very small (around 200KB) and the recorder interface is only 180 x 40 pixels in size.
• The applet loads quickly.
• Play back at different speeds if required.
• Playback any sound file created using the applet from a website.
• Recorded voice can be saved as an MP3 directly to the user’s hard drive.
• Can send the recorded voice directly to a Web server.

There are a number of MP3 recording software available as free-ware or shareware that would need to be installed directly to the users PC.

The best and easiest to install of this type are as follows:

MP3 Recorder
http://www.spgsoft.com/mp3-recorder.html
This is a free-ware application which can only be downloaded locally to a windows platform so this could be quite limiting.  This is bar far the simplest to install and the user can record directly to their pc or desktop then upload it as a file to the LMS if required, you would need to set up an assignment function in the LMS though.  But it does have some useful features including:

• CD quality voice recording (MP3 format)
• User friendly interface, with no editor (can’t beat Audacity for this) available to manipulate the audio – keeps it nice and simple.
• Easy to record and played back on your computer directly in the MP3 format.

MP3 voice recorder
http://www.prvsoft.com/mp3-voice-recorder.html
(http://www.fileguru.com/MP3-Voice-Recorder/download)
It has many similar features to the MP3 recorder but also allows the following:

• Adjustable bit-rate to improve recording
• You can save recorded sound in many different formats including WAV, AAC, WMA, FLAC, M4A and AC3.
• Choose the output file.

Recordpad
http://www.nch.com.au/recordpad/index.html
This provides a more intuitive interface and allows you to record directly to your PC.  It also has the following features:

• Can be used on a Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Pocket PC, Smart-phone operation system as well as an app for the iPhone.
• You can start a recording, save it, and replay the file in minutes.
• It can be used to record voice or other audio to add to digital presentations, creating an audio book or to simply record a message.
• Quickly and easily record audio notes, messages or announcements in either wav or mp3.

With its flexibility and the various operating systems it can be used on, anyone with a Smart-phone such as an iPhone where apps are extremely simple to install, will find this a very useful and easy to use recording device.

For mobile learning options, Record-pad is an option but it is not the only choice as there are a large variety specifically designed for each handset and it would be more appropriate to utilise as many of these as possible in the future.  Recordings could be instantly made, uploaded anywhere for instant feedback.

Backboard
http://www.getbackboard.com/
Share and get feedback on documents (Word, Excel), Powerpoint, images (including Photoshop PSD files), webpages and free-form text. Backboard also features multiple versions of a project, email integration – you only need to send an email with the file for review – there is also the option for desktop upload and SSL encryption.

Box
http://sites.box.net/simple/
Share any content from anywhere, you can see versioning of docs, who did what and when and you don’t necessarily have to have a naming convention.  You can upload any file type, share individual files as well as folders and it has a really simple interface.  You can also access content on the move, on any device from the iPad to the Android which could be useful.  Password protected sharing, document sharing history and google apps integration are also included.

Diary
http://diary.com
Free software which organizes all your diary events and synchronises them as well as linking to google apps it can also synchronise with Outlook, Google calendar, Facebook and Twitter.  If you have a google app account you can use this with single sign on.

Dropbox
http://www.dropbox.com
File sync from anywhere with a web interface, download the app for your PC, gives you instant access from a desktop icon where you can “click and drag” files from your pc to the drop box for sharing.  Or just access the files from the web interface.  Upload files of any size or type, it automatically detects when changes have occured and keeps a history of every change that has been made to a file, allowing you to undo any mistakes and even undelete files. The default is 30 days of history for all your files.

Several people can collaborate on the same files and see instantly any changes that occur, it also has FREE Mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android to allow dropbox access on the move.

Similar to box.net but perhaps not as user friendly and there is a space limitation

Edmodo
http://www.edmodo.com/
This looks interesting as a very basic collaboration area, see what you think at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHtwgZEHzNs&feature=player_embedded?

Glogster
http://edu.glogster.com/
Is a type of blog where posters can be created and shared.  You can set it up for a group of students who can then embed it into their blog.  All you need to do is create an account, say how many students you need it for and it will create areas for each student to create their posters.  It’s private and allows students to embed any type of resource into their design.

NB:  for each account you would need a different email address!  (Guide available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80NISdsoouE&feature=player_embedded)

Manymoon
https://www.manymoon.com/auth/login
A Google Apps for project planning & collaboration, very cool and you get a lot for the basic package.  If you already have the apps then this is a very useful addition as you can create projects and assign tasks to different collaboators,clients or users.

Onstage
http://www.onstageportal.com/tour/
This could be useful as it is not only a file upload and collaboration tool but also a project planning tool as well.  It has an in built mail system where files can be sent as attachments to members of the team for discussion and annotation.  You can also allocate tasks and collaborators.

ProofHQ
proofhq.com
Like Backboard, ProofHQ has the ability to annotate a variety of document types – PDFs, PSDs, JPGs, Word, Powerpoint – and webpages. It also includes email integration, version control and the ability to create workspaces. You can customize the look and feel to give it some branding.

ReviewBasics FREE
http://www.reviewbasics.com
Upload different document types, review online, share, annotate and mark up images, videos and documents.

Stixy (Beta) FREE
http://www.stixy.com/
This is quite cool for collaboration and you can tag and sort images, unfortunately you can only load one file at a time.

Zoho and google docs
http://www.zoho.com
Are very similar to drop box, but zoho and Google can be linked together.  The FREE Google account has a maximum file upload size of 1024MB and up to 50 users.

Alternatively, you can obtain a Google Apps for business http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html but there is an annual cost of $50/user/year with unlimited users.

Other sharing options

• DimDim: http://www.dimdim.com/
• Slide share: http://www.slideshare.net/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
  You can set up closed groups for academic purposes, invite your own members to the group and there are 3 settings to provide flexibilty for the groups – which you can decide on.
• Airset: http://www.airset.com is good for scheduling and contact collaborators.

Wiki’s and Blogs

• PBWorks: http://pbworks.com/
  Is often used in the academic community and it is FREE
• Wetpaint Wiki: http://www.wetpaint.com/
  FREE but with lots of advertising
• WordPress Blog: http://wordpress.org/
  Has a very simple user interface with loads of resources and template designs all FREE
• Ning: http://www.ning.com/
  Are removing their FREE product (http://tcrn.ch/bVAjrv) but it is still good and worth considering.
• Buddy Press: http://buddypress.org/
  Open source and FREE
• Eduspaces: http://eduspaces.net/index.php
  Is a site dedicated to education and educational technology

Others, more for personal use, like Facebook

• Spruz: http://www.spruz.com/
• Socialgo:http://www.socialgo.com/
  FREE and easy to build
• Grou.ps: http://grou.ps/

Office Equivalents

Open Office (PC) & Neo Office (Mac)
Both of these are great alternatives to Microsoft office, easy to use and if you like the office interface, these aren’t too different and have the main features.
You can open any existing office file in these packages as well as creating normal Word, PowerPoint or Excel documents, but be warned, when opening an old Powerpoint some of the animations may not work.  Also, any images that were saved as .tiffs will be a problem as they too will not display properly so it is best to reformat the images into .gif or .jpg formats.

Toms Planner
http://tomsplanner.com
Is a Project Management tool for the production of Gannt Charts online, these are printable, downloadable, save-able and sharable.

Graphics – Photoshop Equivalents

GIMP (PC, MAC, Linux)
http://www.gimp.org/
This Photoshop equivalent open source software is very popular and if you’re familiar with Photoshop you should have no problems using it.  It has all the normal features such as resizing, filtering and retouching and just like Photoshop, you can save your photo to a web friendly format.  There is also a type of layering system which is useful if, like me, you like to build a graphic using many images.  If, like me, you work with brochures and wish to use the same graphics for teaching material you can import them into Gimp and customise accordingly.

However, there is one small problem with GIMP in that the user interface is not as intuitive as it could be as you don’t get one window but several movable panels, which is a pane if you are using other packages at the same time, but this is just a small gripe for what is basically a nice graphic editing package.

Photo Plus (PC)
http://www.serif.com/free-photo-editing-software/php-se.asp
Another alternative to Photoshop is Photo Plus Starter edition by Serif but, unlike Gimp, the user interface here is much better with all the standard photo editing tools such as paint, resize, filter etc. that you would expect to have. But it does have some drawbacks in that, technically, you are only allowed one copy per person and it only exists for PC’s – sorry MAC owners!  There are a number of good features included in the free version but so much more is available with PhotoPlusX4 if you don’t mind parting with some cash, but its still cheaper than Photoshop and is a great alternative once you get used to the interface.

Screen shots software

Inkscape (PC)
http://inkscape.org/
An alternative to Adobe Illustrator, and there aren’t many of those, you can easily create vectors using pre-made shape tools and the pen tool.  One feature that was very impressive was that you could easily edit vector points/anchors, something quite difficult to do in illustrator.  The interface may be more ‘clunky’ but it doesn’t take long to find what you need.

Print Screen key (PC)
Most people have come across this at some point as it’s one of the easiest ways to grab a picture of the screen.  Simply hit the Print Screen (PrtScn) key on the keyboard, an image is created and stored in the computer’s memory, then open MS Word or other and click Edit > Paste.

Grab (MAC)
This piece of freeware is pre-installed in all MACs that have OSX. You can take shots of a screen, window or parts of the screen.  One of the best features is the fact that you can set a timer to take a screen shot in 30 seconds. This gives you time to set up the view you want to take.

MW Snap (PC)
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/mwsnap.html
This excellent screen capturing software for the PC lets you take screen shots, window shots or shots of parts of the screen. Unfortunately, it does not come with the timed screen capture feature that is included in Grab and some other software’s.

Jing (MAC and PC)
http://www.techsmith.com/jing/
Captures the PC screen as you use it and allows you to draw the dimensions of the capture area on the screen, record with Audio and saves only as SWF (Flash compressed format), it can only be 5 minutes maximum but you can pause while you are recording the screen if you need to make any adjustments.  It is easy to install, free and comes with a very simple user/help guide.  However, you can upgrade to Snagit for a few extra pounds which will give you more functionality and save options.

PDF Software (Acrobat Equivalents)

Scan Soft PDF Creator
http://scansoft-pdf-create.software.informer.com/
This is an excellent replacement for Adobe Acrobat contains most of the features that you would expect to find in Adobe Acrobat.  You can create PDFs from all Microsoft documents (Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc.) add bookmarks, security features and page numbering.  However, one of the features that has not worked too well in the past was inserting PDF’s.  This option should allow you to combine two different PDFs into one, which it did intermittently but at other times it crashed the program.  However, this is only a slight complaint and overall this is a decent alternative to Adobe Acrobat.

HTML/ Web Page Creation Software

Page Breeze
http://www.pagebreeze.com/
Free HTML editor with a simple interface, similar to Dreamweaver and doesn’t take too long to become familiar with the interface.

Coffee Free HTML
http://www.coffeecup.com/free-editor/
May not be free but is a very easy to use HTML editor and like PageBreeze, the interface is similar to Dreamweaver so this too is easy to get use to.

Online HTML Editor
http://www.onlinehtmleditor.net/
Real time online with preview, really easy to use and you can copy the code into notepad and save as a HTML page.  It is great for checking code for errors and the look of a page before using it on a live site.

Free HTML editor
http://www.free-online-html-editor.com/
Is another free online HTML editor, similar to the Online Editor but without the preview function.  It has a really simple toolbar and is great for anyone who just needs to knock up a quick web page, it too has a very simple interface and easy to use by anyone.

NVue
http://net2.com/nvu
Has a WYSIWYG HTML editor and comes with prebuilt templates which make building your first website nice and simple.  The interface and toolbars are similar to word so finding your way around is relatively easy.  all in all this is definitely worth considering as analternative to say, Dreamweaver and is a very useful HTML editor.

Doteasy
http://www.doteasy.com
This web hosting and site builder is a great first step into web design as it provides the novice designer with a set of templates for some nice looking sites, where you only have to add your own content. The prices are reasonable and provide a simple solution for anyone who needs a site quickly.

ISpring
http://www.ispringsolutions.com
Creates Flash presentations from PowerPoint and is a useful piece of software that allows you to create Flash Presentations from PowerPoint.  Making them into Flash presentations means that they can be published easily to a number of sites such as SlideShare and the format also protects your work so that no one can edit, change or delete it. One of the unique aspects is that you can retain any audio and animation that you add to your PowerPoint and when ISpring is installed it works as a plugin in PowerPoint, appearing in the PowerPoint toolbar, just click on Publish to create the file.

Audio Software

AVS Audio Editor
http://download.cnet.com/AVS-Audio-Editor/3000-2170_4-10406673.html
This is a PC software which is easy to use for recording quick items.  You can save in different file formats such as WAV and MP3 but it’s no longer free.

Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net
Simply the best audio editor for Mac and PC, enough said.

Flash MP3 Player
http://flash-mp3-player.net/players/multi/generator/
Play MP3 audio files in your webpages, choose colour, size etc, you just download to get the code.

Free MP3 to OGG converter
http://www.freemp3wmaconverter.com/
Brilliantly easy to install and use, such a simple conversion tool, any audio type can be converted very simply and run in the background…now all I need to find is an image converter that is just as simple!!

Convert Genius
http://www.convertgenius.com/
Free trial, converts any video format for popular output devices including DVD player, iPad, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, Zune, PSP, PS3, Blackberry, 3G phones and many more.

Microsoft Sound Recording and Easy Screen Reader
http://www.any-sound-recorder.com/recorder-sound/microsoft-sound-recorder-easy-screen-recorder.html

Image Conversion

Advanced Batch Converter
http://www.batchconverter.com/
At last I have found a fairly reasonable batch image converter easy to use, it only took me about 10 minutes, it is very quick to convert EPS to JPG.  My only complaint is that you select the files in the right pane of the window the when you select add it shows them in the left pane, but that’s only a small problem which most people won’t even notice!

What are people saying about you and your business on Twitter and Facebook?

How many customers have you missed out on this year because you’re not using Social Media properly?

What are your competitors doing on Linked In that’s helping them get ahead of you?

If you’re NOT using social media (Twitter, Facebook, Linked In etc) properly in your business then you’re almost certainly losing business and you’ll have no idea about the answers to the questions above.

The fact is social media is changing the whole way society communicates and changing the way people choose what to buy and where to go. Right now, as you read this, there are thousands of people in your area – your potential customers – using Facebook and Twitter. And it’s not just the kids. If your target market is between the age of 25 and 45 then they’re using social media in their thousands. The fastest growing segment on Facebook in 2010 was the over 50’s!

This is where the Social Media Blueprint for Business comes in and will teach you everything you need to know about how to use Social Media effectively in your business.You can go through the training, step-by-step, in your own time, at your own pace, at home or in the office. Whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced dabbler(!) the Social Media Blueprints for Business will help you get on the right track so that your business doesn’t get left behind.

Who’s it for?

•  If you know nothing about Twitter or Facebook – then the new Social Media Blueprints for Business are perfect for you. No previous knowledge is required.
• If you’ve dabbled with Social Media a bit in the past but found it unfulfilling or confusing – then the new Social Media Blueprints for Business are perfect for you.
• If you’re serious about the future of your business and you recognise the shift that Social Media is creating in the way we communicate – then the new Social Media Blueprints for Business are perfect for you.

FACT Social media is where the people are. Everyday.

FACT It’s FREE

FACT  It’s easy (when you know what to do) to engage with people via Twitter and Facebook and turn them into paying customers…

FACT  Those businesses that are using social media properly are getting ahead of their competitors, are growing more quickly and have miles better relationships and reputations with their customers.

FACT  Most businesses in the UK are either not using social media at all or else are dabbling with it because they don’t know what to do. Neither are smart strategies.

The Blueprints are all delivered online via a secure member-only website. Once you’ve invested in your training you’ll be given your own private log-in so you can go through the training in your own time and at your own pace. The modules are available 24/7. Multiple-user licenses are available so different people within a company or organisation can all benefit from the training.

Interested? then click here for more information and pricing; want a bit more info? check out the demo by clicking here.

After coming away from Carmel Christian Centre yesterday excited by what the Bristol based but Internationally active ministry has achieved over the years on it’s amazing journey and learning about  their Vision for 2011 just blew me away. The audio visual content of the presentation were flawlessly put together by Cre8ion to get the right message out there and I’m sure the content will be available on the websites shortly. The only minor grumble for me was that Social Media wasn’t being used to it’s full potential on this occasion, however after chatting over coffee this is all about to change…

This got me wondering how other churches are getting to grips with Social Media so after a bit of a surf on the web I came across this really interesting blog entry at the  Ministry Best Practices website by Bill Reichart who is a Pastor, Writer, Speaker and Digital Entrepreneur from Atlanta;  the following article was written by Bill back in February 2009 and looks like we’ve all missed a bit of a trick until now!

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Sure Social Media and Networks, like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter etc.., have a big “gee-whiz” factor. Everybody is hopping on the bandwagon. People are telling you that if you and your church don’t get connected to this new media that you’re going to get left behind and miss out.

But there has got to be a more compelling reason for a church, ministry or non-profit to sign on to these social media applications than “everybody else is doing it.”

The question you have to ask concerning your organization is, “Why get on board and get involved with Social Media?”

The answer to that question comes from business -they call it ROI, Return On Investment. What is the ROI of Social Media for ministry and your church? In this post, I don’t want to address the quantitative aspect of ROI, but rather the qualitative.

How does social media improve the quality of ministry and help move the church’s objectives forward?

I believe there needs to be 3 ROI Quality Goals and Objectives for Social Media

1. Communication
2. Connecting
3. Call to Action

Let me break these down:

1. Communication – Social Media must help the church effectively and efficiently communicate it’s message. Certainly Social Media isn’t the only medium. A church can communicate to it’s people on the Sunday morning platform, bulletins, mailings, phone calls, emails, face-to-face conversations, television, radio etc… Social Media, though, becomes just another effective tool to add to the church’s communication mosaic. But Social Media has some unique benefits all it’s own in effectively communicating:

- it’s easy and effortless, it doesn’t take much money or manpower to implement or use it.
- it’s ubiquitous, since it is so available and pervasive it isn’t hard for people to miss the message.
- it’s variety, social media takes many different forms, words, audio and image.
- it’s viral, the beauty of social media is that your message can expand well beyond it’s intended audience – therefore exposing and introducing new people to your cause and community.

2. Connecting – Social Media must connect your community. Unlike communication which most often pushes information in a “one-way” direction, connecting must create a conversation. You must ask, Will Social Media create conversation within the community? Are people able to talk to you the minister/ministry team leader? Can they talk to one another? Also, part of the conversation involves other key elements:
- contribute, can others contribute in helpful and meaningful ways to the conversation? Are they even able to shape the conversation?
- collaborate, does your social media allow the benefits from the collective hive of experience, skills and knowledge from your community?

3. Call to Action – Social Media must prompt people to do something. It can’t be passive. Some of the calls to ACTION might include:
- Go, are you asking someone to go and serve others in some way?
- Give, are you asking someone to give either of their time or financially to the cause?
- Pray, are you calling people to act in concerted and persevering prayer?
-Mobilize, are you asking people to spread the message of the cause to their friends and networks?

So as you think about Social Media for your church, ministry or non-profit, you must ask yourself….How will this new Social Media “thing” help our church, ministry or organisation Communicate, Connect our Community, and Call People to Action?

If you have a clear answer to that question, then most definitely your church should invest in Social Media.

Been a while since I posted last but rest assured I’ve been a busy bod behind the scenes. One of the things I’m keen to do is help small businesses utilize the power of Social Media to improve their sales, build relationships and deliver excellent service and I came across the following article on the Content Marketing Today website By Newt Barrett who gives an example of how a local business in Staunton Virginia managed to outsmart a large grocery chain by using Social Media to build a local customer base and following; there is no reason why the same can’t be done here in Bristol or the United Kingdom…

Facebook has got down turning over out a fresh way to filter your News Feed

Earlier, the News Feed gave you two options: Top News (which is Facebook’s algorithmic choice of the most absorbing stories from your feed) or Most Recent stories, which merely leaned the latest stories from your friends as they come out

Now, the Most Recent option has been turned into a drop down down menu which reveals a slew of options. You can now see only stories tied in to Games, Status Updates, Photos, Links and Pages. You can also select to see only stories from an ad hoc Group of yours. Finally, the drop-down menu now gives you access to the Live Feed settings, where you can find out whether you desire to see more or less stories from a specific user

The function of idiosyncratic filters is more or less self-explanatory; Games gives you an overview of game-related content, Status Updates shows you a stream of imageless updates from your buddies, Links focuses on status updates that incorporate links, Photos (probably the most utilitarian filter) displays only posts with images, and Pages only shows you updates from Pages as fought back to persons on Facebook

The option is not live for everyone yet, and it’s possible that Facebook is merely testing the feature. The filters are also not entirely fresh; this is just another in a long line of Facebook’s experiments with the News Feed. We like it, though: the fresh filters are easily come-at-able and we opine many users (especially those with a lot of friends) will happen them utilitarian

[via Inside Facebook

Mashable!

If Coca Cola’s Social Media policy is only three pages, why does mine need to be any different? It’s a fair question until you look at the finer details.
Social Media Today