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All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (-5hrs). So the first time (07:35) is the equivalent of 1:35pm BST for UK and 3.35pm in Finland.

07:35:15  Toby Parkins : Hi Ryan and Martin=
07:51:05 uknetweb : Hi everyone. We will be starting shortly. There is no sound yet by the way.
07:55:54 habeyhl : Do I have to call in to hear the audio, or can I hear it through the web?
07:56:25 uknetweb : Audio is being switched on now
07:56:41 habeyhl : thanks!
07:59:05 habeyhl : is there a twitter hash tag for this?
08:03:35 Ray Bolitho : Nice shirt Toby!
08:03:59 Tony Conte : hearing you loud and clear Toby!
08:04:00 cathy : Hello
08:04:15 Charla Symons : Hi from Totally Truro
08:04:57 Follett Stock : Good afternoon everyone – Follett Stock Solicitors & FS Media
08:05:24 Kristin Zhivago : hi
08:05:31 Ryan Mcfarlane : Hello
08:05:38 Dougie Woods : Hi Toby!
08:05:56 Matt : Good afternoon from Matt, Rob and Mark from WDL
08:06:01 Jemiina Hautamäki : Hello from Finland, from Persoona
08:13:06 Toby Parkins : Hi Dougie, well done – you made it
08:13:45 Toby Parkins : Hi Jemiina, thanks for coming
08:24:18 Gary J : Twitter
08:24:22 habeyhl : Twitter
08:24:25 Tony Conte : Blogs/wordpress
08:24:26 Charla Symons : Facebook and Twitter
08:24:37 Craig : WordPress / facebook / twitter
08:24:41 Kristin Zhivago : Blog – since 2004, Twitter (business), facebook (personal only)
08:24:50 Dougie Woods : facebook
08:24:52 John Knowles : As a company? Facebook, Twitter, Forums, Youtube, LinkedIn
08:24:54 Follett Stock : Facebook/Twitter/UGC
08:24:58 Jemiina Hautamäki : Twitter, Skype, Facebook, blogs
08:24:59 Ryan Mcfarlane : Blogs, skype, facebook
08:25:08 evolutionpd : facebook, twitter, blog, slideshare, linkedin
08:25:18 Ray Bolitho : none I’m afraid
08:25:20 Kristin Zhivago : Kristin Zhivago here – agree with you about virtual worlds
08:25:36 Kristin Zhivago : Also skype
08:25:41 Toby Parkins : Yeah, virtual worlds are really powerful
08:25:54 Gary J : Just starting with wordpress
08:27:59 Josef Nankivell : twitter is always a great place to have a web dev question answered – with a transactive memory like twitter the answers find you
08:29:12 John Knowles : Gordon Brown on #w elovethenhs
08:34:06 habeyhl : what are ABC1s, C2DEs?
08:34:26 Matt : social bandings
08:34:37 Toby Parkins : marketing groups
08:34:56 habeyhl : thanks
08:36:07 Toby Parkins : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_social_gradefor more information on Social Grading
08:36:28 Toby Parkins : (the link should open in a new window/tab
08:36:45 Toby Parkins : It’s a UK system
08:38:13 Paul : Not at all currently
08:38:14 Tony Conte : to increase SEO and drive more traffic
08:38:17 Gary J : Awareness, marketing, driving clients to site and SEO
08:38:29 John Knowles : Research, identifying/qualifying prospects, driving offline PR
08:38:33 Toby Parkins : at UKNetWeb we are finding that 70% of new business comes through some kind of Social Media
08:38:33 Ryan Mcfarlane : SEO
08:38:33 Kristin Zhivago : will be using it to launch my next book
08:38:41 evolutionpd : marketing, awareness, engagement,
08:38:48 habeyhl : we’re not using it well
08:38:49 Follett Stock : posting links to articles, driving traffic to site, a bit of PR and marketing
08:38:56 Charla Symons : Awareness of events and driving traffic to www.enjoytruro.co.uk
08:39:07 habeyhl : (thanks for the link Toby)
08:39:08 Josef Nankivell : using social media for research into starting a web business
08:39:19 John Knowles : also online PR.
08:39:25 Kristin Zhivago : already using it to raise awareness. and helping clients adopt it
08:39:49 Kristin Zhivago : Yes, already using a blog for that
08:39:50 cathy : Not using it in the offices-some volunteers are on it -casual references to our charity?
08:39:52 John Knowles : Even where our clients’ eventual targets aren’t that interested in social media, the journalists who cater for them usually are.
08:39:54 Kristin Zhivago : And Twitter
08:40:17 John Knowles : (In fact, you get a faster response from Facebook / Twitter than from email or phone!)
08:40:26 Kristin Zhivago : absolutely
08:40:30 Ray Bolitho : not using it at all but really feel that I need to
08:40:38 Josef Nankivell : very true, John
08:40:44 Toby Parkins : It’s really important to ensure that your Social Media strategy is integrated with the rest of your communication strategy
08:41:19 John Knowles : Toby… how much of this presentation is being recorded? (Just the slideshow & Aren, or chat etc too?)
08:41:38 Toby Parkins : Not sure if all chat is recorded.
08:41:51 Toby Parkins : The main presentation window and audio are recorded.
08:42:19 Toby Parkins : We may be able to record the chat for future use. Please let me know if there is anything commercially sensitive
08:42:54 John Knowles : That would be useful, Toby – it’s hard to read all the comments and concentrate on Aren at the same time!
08:43:07 Elliot Smith : Copy & paste into notebook
08:43:17 Elliot Smith : er.. notepad
08:44:03 Toby Parkins : Need to eat more fish and enhance your Corpus Callosum
08:49:08 Elliot Smith : Thanks Toby. Just suffering from sleep deprivation
08:53:11 Tony Conte : not getting google screen
08:53:19 Tony Conte : still showing Business Cornwall
08:53:56 John Knowles : Are Twilerts available within Twitter?
08:55:52 Toby Parkins : It’s available as a seperate site although I think it’s down at the moment
09:04:35 cathy : Can you join any of these at a “corporate ” level or do you have to have an individual as a front at least?
09:05:38 Toby Parkins : Cathy, I’ll let Aren answer that one
09:05:38 John Knowles : Some of them are a bit of both – on Facebook and LinkedIn etc. you can have a corporate page with linked personal profiles
09:06:15 Kristin Zhivago : do you advise CEOs to twitter? eg Zappos CEO – constantly twittering
09:06:37 cathy : I have no wish to “share ” with the world myself but it might help our charity
09:07:09 Kristin Zhivago : mostly i work with b2b companies
09:07:43 Kristin Zhivago : the problem is time management – the CEO seldom has the time
09:07:44 Gary J : C athy: We use our company name as our twitter handle
09:08:26 cathy : Thank you for those replies.Will try for a more general presence
09:09:04 Gary J : We are also just about to launch a new site (in a couple of weeks), so have used the URL (www.TheAntCan.com) as my twitter handle (theantcan)and use the logo as my twitter picture.
09:09:14 John Knowles : Cathy – a friend of mine has certinaly taken that approach. She’s self-employed, and has moved entirely from a personal to a business presence.
09:09:46 John Knowles : How easy is it to set up the sharing functionality if you’re non-technical?
09:09:55 Gary J : If using wordpress, how do you get the sahre this link
09:10:13 Elliot Smith : Every business should consider registering their company name / url on social networking sites, even if it’s only to protect your name
09:10:33 Gary J : What plugin do you use? and for retweeting?
09:10:48 John Knowles : Is wordpress subscription based?
09:10:49 Tony Conte : which is better, WordPress hosted or on wordpress server? from an SEO point of view?
09:11:08 Gary J : WordPress is free – we have it on our own server
09:11:10 cathy : Are there any downsides to all this? Does it take up a lot of time tracking and monitoring?
09:11:39 Gary J : Thanks
09:12:36 Josef Nankivell : When starting an online business, do you think it is important to share your new experiences/issues with others? Or wait until your business is at a certain level of success before using social media?
09:12:38 Tony Conte : makes sense, thanks
09:12:58 Gary J : Do you find the google adsense detractss from content on your site or do your clients linke it?
09:13:44 John Knowles : Cathy – as much as you let it, really. I suppose the main danger is that you spend ages catering for a very few people. You need to be very clear about objectives and how much time it’s worth to you, I’d say.
09:14:30 Elliot Smith : How about Facebook as an advertising platform?
09:14:38 Gary J : What’s best – adsense or paid-for banner ads?
09:15:00 Josef Nankivell : Thanks very much, I was thinkning along the same lines.
09:15:17 John Knowles : From whose point of view, Gary?
09:15:26 Gary J : Aren – this is really useful stuff. Thank you.
09:16:34 Elliot Smith : thanks!
09:16:48 Kristin Zhivago : thank you
09:16:54 John Knowles : Thanks Aren
09:17:03 Ryan Mcfarlane : Nice work – cheers
09:17:08 John Knowles : Media with a K?
09:17:10 John Knowles :
09:17:20 Paul : Interesting stuff. Thanks.
09:17:21 Josef Nankivell : Thank you Aren. This has been very helpful!
09:17:24 evolutionpd : Thanks Aren
09:17:32 Tony Conte : thanks Aren
09:18:46 habeyhl : managing
09:18:53 Charla Symons : Managing a website
09:18:53 cathy : Managing
09:18:56 John Knowles : As a company, we’re in the process of developing a new site
09:18:56 Elliot Smith : Just about managing
09:19:04 Jemiina Hautamäki : managing, designing & developing
09:19:04 Charla Symons : ww.enjoytruro.co.uk
09:19:17 Gary J : We have a wesbite, are launching a network www.theantcan.comand just starting to develop a wordpress site.
09:19:17 Joona : designing
09:19:19 habeyhl : www.womenshealth.gov
09:19:22 Craig : www.websitedesign.co.uk
09:19:22 Kristin Zhivago : had a website since 1995 or so – http://www.zhivago.comand blog since 2004 http://www.revenuejournal.com
09:19:31 Paul : Contributing and developing new site(s)
09:19:31 Tony Conte : design, manage and develop, plus offline.
09:19:48 John Knowles : For reference, we’re www.jkc.co.uk- although there’s not much there now!
09:19:52 Josef Nankivell : contributing to Bright Hub as a writer http://www.brighthub.com/members/kivster.aspx
09:22:07 Gary J : Can you recommend a banned words filter as part of an automatic upload feature?
09:22:44 John Knowles : Are blog homepages more effective as a list of full articles, or just headlines / first paragraphs where you can click through?
09:26:04 Mark : im going camping this weekend
09:26:15 John Knowles : Ooh… that’s interesting. Why did you choose Dimdim?
09:26:40 John Knowles : Hold on – if Toby’s doing the presentation, who’s anwering the questions? Oh…
09:26:44 Aren : Not me – another Aren by the way
09:27:05 John Knowles : Surely there can’t be two Arens!
09:27:38 Aren : I believe he’s actually called Joe.
09:27:41 cathy : What’s on your ceiling?
09:28:27 Aren : Sorry with regards to Q’s I will pass to Toby when he stops unless best answered by me.
09:28:36 Aren : On the ceiling?
09:29:05 cathy : Something keeps catching Toby’s eye up there!
09:29:11 Ryan Mcfarlane : Live Chat – surly its just a good way for a company to have a low cost base in india and use images / names of british people to make them look like they are using local staff?
09:29:31 Kristin Zhivago : good way?
09:29:42 Kristin Zhivago : I wouldn’t call that “good.”
09:30:23 Aren : In the example used the live chat is managed locally.
09:30:47 Aren : I am sure some companies may use it to outsource customer service abroad.
09:30:55 Josef Nankivell : That’s a very good idea. I have purchased several items due to a friend’s regarding the product!
09:31:02 habeyhl : I’ve found it’s often call center staff that staff the live chat. I’ve gone from chat to phone call with the same person sometimes
09:31:03 Charla Symons : Very locally – i went to school with Aaron!
09:31:07 John Knowles : Risky though
09:31:14 Josef Nankivell : friend’s excitment*
09:32:21 John Knowles : You have to be pretty confident to say: “Here. Ask your friends to help you find a cheaper price”
09:32:24 Aren : By the way, Toby is not looking at the ceiling – we have a projector screen in front / above displaying the view you see
09:33:52 John Knowles : Still not very clear on Facebook connect. is it to facilitate you sharing content without leaving a site, or are you effectively adding that site as a facebook friend? Or something else?
09:33:53 Ryan Mcfarlane : haha – yeah not good as in good – if that makes any sense!
09:34:31 Craig : Facebook connect is an API that enables visitors to your site to use 1 link to share the content on their facebook profile
09:34:45 Craig : developers.facebook.com/connect.php
09:34:52 John Knowles : How does that differ from a “share” plugin?
09:35:26 Kristin Zhivago : seems to me that faking faces would lead to the company being “outed” for the fakery…!
09:35:28 Aren : The ‘Share’ plugin allows users to pos content to a variety of sites
09:35:41 Craig : an API is a bunch of code that a developer codes into your site.
09:35:57 Aren : Yes, Kristin.. very true
09:36:07 Kristin Zhivago : API = application programming interface, I think – a code module
09:36:11 John Knowles : I don’t see why Facebook connect would be better
09:36:13 Kristin Zhivago : with hooks
09:36:40 Aren : Facebook connect links the profile to the website and allows them to login in the future.
09:37:11 Aren : Share this functionality allows users to share content with their friends, followers etc only
09:37:12 Josef Nankivell : It is similar, however, it usually allows the site to broadcast to your facebook prfile
09:37:24 John Knowles : Sort of like a share button that remembers you?
09:37:52 Aren : Well, sort of.. however, share this buttons can recognise you and let you login to their service only
09:38:16 Josef Nankivell : for example, “Josef registered for an event using Eventbrite! Webinar: Social Media for Business Taster”. Opposed to “I am attending an event using Eventbright!”
09:38:16 Aren : Toby can say more during Qs – I don’t do technical, ha ha
09:39:30 John Knowles : So your activity with the website is automatically posted to your profile? (I’m not technical – after more of a “what it does” level answer!)
09:39:51 Josef Nankivell : it depends, but that is a possibility
09:40:02 John Knowles : Wouldn’t that just be really annoying?
09:40:47 Josef Nankivell : It wouldn’t be in a companies best interest to be annoying with the facebook connect feature
09:41:00 Aren : Yes, possibly… it depends on what that content is. Spammy content can do more harm than good
09:41:21 John Knowles : Well, exactly. I’m struggling to think of an example where it would be a good thing for the user.
09:41:45 Aren : In defining a strategy you need to take time to consider the options. Just because a feature exists it doesn’t always make it a good idea to use.
09:42:22 Josef Nankivell : if you look at my profile http://facebook.com/josefnankivellyou might be able to see some examples, such as Eventbright.
09:42:38 John Knowles : Thanks Josef
09:43:45 Josef Nankivell : no worries
09:48:42 John Knowles : I keep hearing RSS. What is it?
09:48:43 John Knowles : (Sorry – too many questions)
09:49:12 Elliot Smith : Really simple syndication
09:49:45 Josef Nankivell : its a way of having information that you are interested in come to you
09:50:10 Josef Nankivell : instead of visiting a news website, you could have news headline appear in your RSS “feed”
09:50:45 Kristin Zhivago : it’s the orange button on a lot of sites. If you click on it, you can get that site’s content sent to you via an RSS reader like Google reader
09:50:59 Kristin Zhivago : go to google reader and you’ll get started
09:51:04 habeyhl : and you can view a RSS feed in igoogle or google reader, or display a feed on your web site
09:51:27 Aren : Wikipedia definition: An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”,[3] or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically.
09:52:03 Josef Nankivell : when you subscribe to more than one rss feed in your rss reader, it becomes a very powerful tool allowing you to get information relevant to you in one place
09:52:05 Aren : We use RSS (naturally present on WordPress blogs) to feed info across to other sites. i.e. To Facebook profiles
09:53:26 Aren : And as Josef says.. you can use RSS as a method to subscribe to the stories /articles from a site and read them in your RSS reader such as Google Reader
09:53:45 Aren : instead of visiting those sites to check for new content all the time
09:55:37 Josef Nankivell : Exactly! If it helps John, imagine one tv channel with all your favourite programmes on all day!
09:55:47 Kristin Zhivago : you can also set up an automatic feed – from your RSS reader to tweets – using twitterfeed.com
09:56:20 Aren : Yes, this is how Business Cornwall sends new stories out on twitter
09:57:17 cathy : It’s been very interesting ,thank you.Some of it went over my head but I will see how it might help us at www.penhaligonsfriends.org.ukin the 3rd sector.
09:57:46 Tony Conte : would you say then regsitering a Facebook business page is better than a personal one?
09:57:47 John Knowles : Just a few. Sorry…
09:58:05 Tony Conte : sunny
09:58:15 Gary J : When moderating comments, do you have an automatic banned words filter? What do you recommend?
09:59:40 Tony Conte : thanks Toby
09:59:41 Kristin Zhivago : do you see that linked in is all business, twitter is a mix, and facebook is becoming more personal?
09:59:50 Josef Nankivell : I think you are providing a very useful service to people who are unsure about social media. Once you help set them up, you are introducing them to a community full of helpful people!
10:00:51 Aren : LinkedIn is mostly business, Twitter and FB are what you want them to be, in my opinion… it depends on your friends / followers- you are in control
10:00:54 Josef Nankivell : I do not know of many businesses that offer that “leg-up” into social media for small businesses
10:01:02 Ray Bolitho : Thanks Toby & Aren. I’ll be in touch with Toby shortly.
10:01:23 John Knowles : Everything in moderation!
10:04:19 Kristin Zhivago : good summary, thanks
10:04:56 Gary J : All done – great info Thank you
10:04:57 John Knowles : me: me: Are blog homepages more effective as a list of full articles, or just headlines / first paragraphs where you can click through? me: What about Facebook Causes? Can you communicate with everyone at once on those?
10:05:01 Kristin Zhivago : how do we contact you?
10:05:27 Charla Symons : Thank you very much Aren & Toby, Totally Truro has found this webinar very useful
10:05:40 Aren : To contact Toby call +44 (0)1872 555933 or email toby@uknetweb.com
10:06:07 Aren : My contacts are: 07501 259000, aren@tonickmedia.com
10:06:23 Kristin Zhivago : thanks
10:06:27 Paul : Lot of good info to think about/explore. Thanks.
10:06:35 Aren : search our names on Google to find profiles and other contact details
10:06:42 cathy : I wanted to know which if any you would most recommend for a charity viz last statement ?
10:08:01 Josef Nankivell : Using facebook for fundraising events would be useful!
10:08:27 Kristin Zhivago : muxt go thanks so much. great meeting
10:08:37 Kristin Zhivago : will be in touch as soon as I reboot
10:08:45 habeyhl : can a facebook (fan) page post an event?
10:08:47 Jemiina Hautamäki : thank you very much, this was a good two hours! will follow you guys on twitter
10:09:08 Aren : Thank you
10:09:32 Gary J : Thanks – see ya !
10:09:38 Tony Conte : many thanks guys, much appreciated.
10:09:48 habeyhl : thanks, this was great
10:09:48 John Knowles : Tom and David want to know if you’re all at Skinners later.
10:09:50 Josef Nankivell : Thanks very much Toby & Aren! It has bee a very enjoyable and helpful experience!
10:09:57 Aren : Yes I will be at Skinners
10:10:20 Aren : For the Cornish delegates – pls check out http://cornwall.twestival.com
10:10:21 John Knowles : Well, have a great time!
10:11:19 Aren : Thanks John, I’m sure I will. Are you not going?

Faye wins the prize against stiff competition from other course delegates who demonstrated great enthusiasm in their entries.

The reasons Faye has won the prize are as follows:

We were immediately impressed with Poppy Treffy’s efforts to establish a community around the company and its products. The Facebook page, which was clearly created the day after the course, already boasts 90 fans and a range of content.

The content of the page has a good balance of company created and user generated content. Status updates shown on the wall are personal and engaging whilst business focused. Links to products and further information are regularly included.

Efforts to engage users in conversation have been initiated with a couple of discussions appearing on the discussion board and requests for users (fans) to add their own photos or videos to the collections.

A mixture of different content has been utilised with photos, video, links and text, all forming key elements of the page.

In their entry on the UKNetWeb wall, Faye has clearly detailed further plans to integrate their Facebook and Twitter campaigns, showing a staged development plan is in place. This is important as trying to do everything at once can mean that businesses risk spreading themselves too thin to truly engage with their audience.

Like their Facebook page, the Poppy Treffry Twitter account shows high levels of interaction with their community. There are regular exchanges of ideas and requests for feedback, once again showing their focus on engagement. Many Tweets feature a link back to the main site, driving traffic towards the ecommerce site.

The ongoing monitoring of Google Analytics (referenced in their entry) shows that they are keeping track of the results, demonstrating a focus on the business results.

Thank you once again to all who entered. We hope that you will see the benefits from your activity despite missing out on the initial prize of the champagne. Please continue to keep us informed on your progress through the UKNetWeb Facebook Page, Twitter accounts (@UKNetWeb, @TobyParkins, @ArenGrimshaw) or UKNetWeb Blog (http://www.uknetweb.com/blog/).

For all those who could not get a place on the first course, please get in touch, as we are hoping to run another event on Thursday May 7th.

Social Media Taster Course

All the resources used to prepare the presenation have been added to our Delicious Social Bookmarks under the tag ‘smtc’ – you can access these by going to http://www.delicious.com/galileorm/smtc

More details on the presenters can be found below:

Aren Grimshaw
Social Media Consultant (UKNetWeb Limited)
Aren is an experienced marketer with a good knowledge of social media tools, trends and emerging technology. He has worked with a range of small to medium enterprises in identifying routes to market their business on and offline. In 2008 he was awarded the Hub Innovator of the Year Award for his work on virtual conferences and the new Business Cornwall website.

Rob Edlin
Internet Marketing Consultant (Niddocks Limited)
Rob works with small, medium and large businesses throughout the UK, delivering training and consultancy on how to improve paid search results, natural search marketing, SEO and other forms of online marketing. His company, Niddocks, is a Google Adwords Qualified Company. Clients include: Fifteen Cornwall, Eden Project and Frugi.

Toby Parkins
Web and Ecommerce Consultant (UKNetWeb Limited)
Toby has worked with a range of small, medium and large businesses to identify routes to maximise their revenue online. His work with UKNetWeb has seen him deliver a number of world firsts on behalf of clients. In 2007 he was responsible for generating a mobile application for Nokia, forming part of a multi-channel campaign across numerous countries.