My friend Kiva and I spent our first three weeks in Thailand working for a Phikkuni with several other volunteers from all over the place. I’ve decided to use this post to give the lo-down on the chores we had to do for her and, naturally, I will be using a Tangled When Will My Life Begin format! I will be writing a proper story based on Tangled soon, involving Rapunzel travelling without Eugene… I’ve been having Long Distance Relationship woes and what better way to deal with them than through my favourite Disney movie? For now, a light-hearted sing-song.
On Tuesday the 14th of October DCU students, faculty, business men and women all gathered in The Helix for the much anticipated annual ‘Get Social’ mini conference. Mahony Hall was jam-packed with inquisitive, keen listeners to avail of insightful and innovative information from a selection of experienced speakers including; Dr Theo Lynn, Deirdre Hogan, Jane McDaid, Lucy Campbell, Alan Coleman, Nicolas Cappiello and Eric Weaver. The four hours seemed to fly by as everyone, myself included, gained memorable advice and indispensable knowledge on all things social!
Dr Theo Lynn, Business Innovation Platform Director, DCU.
Dr Theo Lynn got the ball rolling by engaging us all with a catchy quote:
‘Social Media is not a destination, it’s a way of life’
This quote really struck me and it made me realize how important social media is in our lives, how it’s improved the world we live in today. Dr Lynn talked about the future and how with each generation we can improve it by being open to social media. He promoted the concept of cloud computing and showed us that it is certainly a useful resource that will be used in the future. For those of you interested further in the vast and ingenious mode of cloud computing I strongly suggest you visit :’The Irish Center for Cloud Computing and Commerce‘.
Deirdre Hogan, Senior Research Fellow at Dublin City University.
Next up was Deirdre Hogan who talked to us all enthusiastically about Gajo. I must admit i had no prior knowledge of this newly developed company but Hogan gave a great presentation on Gajo, a quick and simple way to unearth your target audience by using key words on individual’s social media. Admittedly, this takes precision and Hogan reminded us that it’s important not to overload people with information they may not want. This is when she introduced the concept of intent filter, which separates people into various groups such as occupation and gender. Personally, I feel this is the future and I have no doubt that we’ll be seeing much more of Gajo soon. Remember folks, you heard it here first!
Jane McDaid, Director and Founder of Thinkhouse.
Following after Deirdre Hogan was yet another high-spirited and cheerful entrepreneur, none other than the Director of Thinkhouse, Jane McDaid. I must admit that Jane captured my attention from the get-go and the hundreds of others gathered in Mahony Hall with her energetic personality and her dynamic video clips. She certainly maintained my attention through-out her speech and she evoked many emotions among her audience.
Thinkhouse, a youth communications agency,connects 18-35 year olds and works in collaboration with an array of companies such as Coca Cola, Vaseline and Barry’s Tea-but to name a few! Their main motivation is to connect people through social media in a fun and innovative way. For those of you who were unfortunate enough not to attend, I’d like to share with you one of the many entertaining and humorous videos we all enjoyed!
The point of showing us this video (believe me, there was a point, I swear!) was that when people go online they seek comedy, it’s one of the main ‘Seven Sins of Killer Content’. But it’s not all a barrel of laughs,YouTube is certainly an excellent means for wasting time -100 hours of content is uploaded every minute- however McDaid showed us that social media can be used to help others:
‘52% of Irish YouTubers take action after seeing a video’
These videos push us to act and help others who may be suffering or in need of dire assistance. By sharing content with each other you can …
‘Be the change you wish to see in the World’ – Gandhi.
Lucy Campbell, Marketing Director of RTÉ Digital.
Shortly after Jane McDaid, Lucy Campbell made her appearance. I thought her talk was interesting yet personally I felt over-burdened with statistics, facts and figures and conclude that not all data was entirely necessary.
Campbell spoke intently of the progression of RTÉ Player, RTÉ.ie and RTÉ news now since 2009. She is in charge of constantly improving and updating RTÉ Digital so to attract more people to their websites.
What I found immensely intriguing was GAA GO. First introduced in May 2014, GAA GO is a way for those Irish living abroad and those with a keen interest in Irish Sport to live stream matches from anywhere in the world! Having relations in England it brings a smile to my face knowing that even though they’re across the pond we can still connect through a common Irish interest, GAA! No more will people be forced to wait in agony for the match to end and receive a stressful phone call of the final score, they can now experience the emotional anxiety and pure exhilaration of those seventy-something minutes. It’s certainly a brilliant means of uniting us all.
Alan Coleman, CEO of Wolfgang Digital.
CEO of Wolfgang Digital, Alan Coleman became bewitched with Google AdWords in 2007 and then decided to set up Wolfgang Digital from his kitchen table. His determination and persistence proved productive when Wolfgang Digital’s work got noticed by Google itself (a dream come true for Coleman)!
From the outset Coleman was captivating and certainly gained our attention, especially when he informed us all of the sex shop him and his team decided to run. Now, how can that not grab your attention? As strange as this idea may sound, their intention was to improve their Marketing Agency and isn’t that what entrepreneurship is all about? Willing to take a risk your competitors are too afraid to make? Go where others fear to thread? Take a leap of faith? To ….. well you get the idea!
Coleman had said his reasons for setting this up was to :
‘• Walk a mile in our customer’s shoes.
• Create a resource that could be a vehicle for our wildest ideas (digital marketing ideas, of course).
• Have a website for new recruits to muck around with for training purposes.
• Break even or make a little bit of money.
• Learn, learn, learn.’
Coleman proceed to talk to us all about the power of newsfeed but you can’t let it do all the work for you. It’s necessary to think of paths to purchase and use social media to create brand advocacy. He reiterated that you have to engage with your target market and do more than just rely on social media. I must say, Coleman proves that with a lot of dedication and a little bit of stubbornness you truly can achieve your goals.
‘ A dream doesn’t become reality by magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work’- Colin Powell.
Nicolas Cappiello, EMEA Sales Director – Mid Market at LinkedIn.
Although Cappiello’s speech was short, it was precise, to the point and light-hearted. LinkedIn, a business orientated networking service, that collects and shows data in an intelligent way.
Cappiello, who has worked with Google in the past, expressed the importance of informing and inspiring your customers. He explained when working with social media that content is key to engaging with your audience.
Eric Weaver, Chief Social Officer at IPG Mediabrands
Attention spans were waning as the clock neared six, yet Weavers effervescent and animated charisma woke the crowd from its zombie-state!
Much like Nicolas Cappiello, Weaver emphasized the relevance of content and engagement with existing and prospective customers. He highlighted the vital importance of being different, that normal is only ordinary and to succeed you must …..
To reinforce this concept Weaver showed us the 2012 campaign ‘Oreo Daily Twist’ which incorporated a production team, who each day, for a hundred days, created an Oreo with a twist to celebrate their hundred birthday.
Weaver certainly practiced what he preached when he engaged with all of us gathered in The Helix that evening. He then continued to talk about T Mobile CEO John Legere, who, because of his bold and daring comments, has more followers on twitter then T Mobile itself! Personally, I think Weaver was demonstrating the importance of a little grit in business.
A truly inspiring evening listening to insightful business minds and i can honestly say that I now appreciate the ultimate power of social media. It’s not just a means of posting photos of food, fashion and chatting with friends and family, it’s so much more! Can anyone of us -honestly- say that we could live without this connective network in our lives? Those businesses that don’t put themselves out there or use social media to their advantage are going to suffer. This is the technology era.
Social media is an interaction among people where we share, create or exchange our thoughts and ideas in virtual communities, these communities have not only the power to inform us but also unite us all. As J.K Rowling once wrote:
‘We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided’
For any queries, do not hesitate to contact me!
Check out the gallery with some of the photos from this event: photos
The Para-DICE! 