Georgina Lester - Business and Marketing Mentor

What are your predictions for the future of the internet and developments in technology?

Georgina Lester's blog at Ecademy — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:54:03 +0000

Technology is developing at an exponential rate. New things are being revealed constantly. It seems that we have shot passed the stage where science fiction technologies of fantasy programmes like Star Trek are considered impossible. In fact they have been overtaken with even more fantastical innovations having become science fact and every day reality.

New platforms are being launched daily. Some are new however, some are old hat before they have got off the starting blocks. Some are just too innovative and off the wall to be understood by that critical mass of people for it to develop a real presence in the world.

Mobile technology is set to revolutionise many things. I wonder how that will develop. What will the role of the internet be once mobile has become the primary way of getting online for everyone?

What do you see happening in the future of technology and the way that it is offering new ways to connect with our audiences?

What do you think will change? What will fade and die?

How do you think that will affect our businesses and our marketing?

P.S. Don't cheat by just repeating something that Thomas says - I want to hear YOUR thoughts.

Pinterest: A picture worth a thousand words – no need for translation

Georgina Lester's blog at Ecademy — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:56:13 +0000

Another #SM network to manage? Really? Is Connect.Me just another Klout? @respectconnect

Georgina Lester's blog at Ecademy — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:56:55 +0000

If you hated Klout - then what will you think of Connect.Me? Will it make your blood boil in frustration or will you give this peer-to-peer reputation network a more positive review? I hear the groans now from the many of us who have gone way passed social media fatigue. However, I would suggest that this one is worth a second glance.

The debates and discussions have been rippling through various corners of the internet as Connect.Me begins its amorphous journey through various communities. It has taken on a life of its own.

The value of vouches for real people endorsement

Campaigners will argue that sites like Klout bear little resemblance to the real world, showing a distinct lack of correlation between business value and the digitally driven reputation metrics. The fact that they never set out to be a whole solution is of course beside the point.

This site though is aiming to create more holistic solution. Regardless of whether you want to vouch for your hairdresser, builder or the biggest most trustworthy business experts and social media gurus, your personal vote for someone's expertise has tremendous value. Real clout if you like. Additionally, if people trust you then they will trust those for whom you are willing to vouch.

Connect.Me has been letting users into the Private Beta very slowly in order to ensure vouching credibility and set the right tone for the network. These are the latest statistics from the founders:

Over 1/2 million vouches.
Over 15K active users, with a waiting list of another 60K (we can only let in so many new users every day).
567 Trust Anchors, with over 1000 additional nominees

The Credibility factor and the scarcity value of your votes of confidence

Connect.Me is based on a solid ethos and vision - You can read more about the Respect Trust Framework here. The credentials of the founders Drummond Reed, Joe Johnston and Marc Coluccio appear to be worthy of note and their interaction with us demonstrates an admirable approach that has a great deal of integrity.

The challenge is that the followers need to understand the value that the platform has to offer. We have already witnessed a surge of users promoting 'vouch for vouch' exchanges with people that they do not know, One or two who have used far more dubious tactics to improve their popularity rankings. Both approaches completely defeat the object of the exercise.

The truth will always come out. The best way to police the internet is to empower individuals to make choices based on their own values. I am pleased to see that the honourable have won the day. People are hording their vouches like precious jewels. They are thinking very carefully about those who they are willing to publicly recommend.

Social people curation - gathering people YOU value the most.

This peer-to-peer reputation network looks like it has the potential to provide ....

a way in which people can curate their own credibility network
real people can endorse those who have demonstrated real life value
a human reputation measure that complements and works alongside the digitally driven algorithms such as on Klout, PeerIndex, Empire Avenue, etc.
a means to balance the gamers who have achieved high scores just because they have understood the mathematics and mechanics rather than through demonstrated expertise

How will you vouch for those in your network?

There are ordinary vouches and then when you demonstrate that you are a trusted member of your network, you become a Trust Anchor and have special Trust Anchor vouches. There is a limited supply.

My own directives are straight and to the point. You will not get my vote unless I really know you. As for Trust Anchor vouches - you have to earn one to get one from me. Bribery, cajoling, bullying or bludgeoning will never earn you respect or favours. If you aim to coerce anyone to vouch for you then I will stand by those who would prefer to make their own minds up. Many of those I vote for, I have worked with in real life. All are well known to me from many interactions online. Your directives may not be the same as mine but consistency is important - stick to the way that is right for you.

The future - is it sustainable?

The way that I see it, Connect.Me has the potential to fill a gap - something that fits in between the digital metrics and the close knit communities such as Ecademy in which trust is an inherent part of the way that we nurture relationships with our colleagues, friends and peers.

We have seen many platforms blossom, fade and die within this last year. Some of them have been superb and it has been sad to see them go. I hope that this one rides the waves and emerges as a big player.

Question is do we really need Connect.Me? What value does it have to offer you to convince you that it is worth trying to cope with yet another social network?

If it’s important to you, you will find a way. If it’s not ….

Georgina Lester's blog at Ecademy — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:35:32 +0000

....... you will find an excuse.

What are you making excuses for right now and why is it not important enough for you to find a way?

What should you be doing instead?

I wonder what effect unimportant goals have on our businesses!

Facebook Jail … and I’m not impressed!

Georgina Lester's blog at Ecademy — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:45:02 +0000

I believe in having an open door policy welcoming ALL who wish to connect me on whichever platform suits them. Valuable conversations introduces me to incredible people and I love it. That leads to LOTS of connections.

However, I do worry about the way that some platforms view the way we connect with people who matter. I believe that as humans we are already connected and the digital handshake is merely an acknowledgement of our place in the world and our connectedness. This is a Universal truth. A right for all humans that should not be under the jurisdiction of one controlling force. Especially not one that looks like Facebook.

Several people over the last couple of weeks have been bemoaning the fact that they have been put into Facebook jail. I did wonder whether they were in some kind of obsessive-repetitive-frenzy of hitting that 'Add Friend' button to get blocked so easily? It seems not!

Yesterday I was going through my friend requests! Facebook comes up with its useful suggestions of "Other People you might know" With over 60,000 followers in various places - it does not surprise me if I recognise people across the networks. So I will occasionally hit that "Add Friend" button. Hmm - not such a good idea it seems. Whilst I used to be much more proactive, I have now reached a level of 'critical mass' at which people come to me.

Now though I have been slammed into social klink for two weeks. It might be that I have a lot of outstanding friend requests but of course I can't tell now. For the moment though, I can't send friend requests in that time - doesn't matter if I am on snogging terms with them or not. Can't send messages in case of spam - which is actually a joke because I prefer direct email with real people anyway. Can't do? Bonkers!

So be warned if you are dependent on communicating to your customers via Facebook chat, message, etc. then don't push the boundaries out too far. You might find yourself in jail too.

I personally feel Facebook could do with some lessons on how to use social media more effectively - bit ironic I know but perhaps a bit of advice from Coca Cola might help them. Do you think that I am wrong?

Transparency, Engagement, Innovation – Coca Cola 2020 – have they got it right?

Georgina Lester's blog at Ecademy — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:34:32 +0000

If you are interested in how big name brands can embrace (or are embracing) the new technologies and capitalise on social interaction then these videos are definitely worth watching. Coca Cola are on a compelling journey of story telling to promote their liquid brand. Their mission statement is rather interesting but what do you think?

"We need to produce liquid ideas that earn a disproportionate share of popular culture"

I noticed many superb elements that I think are very cleverly portrayed. It is speaking to an educated audience - they are not dumbing down what they are saying offering transparency in their strategy. It is a clever move to speak to the early adopters who get the power of consumer collaboration. They appear to know that they need to communicate with the "data whisperers who are the new messiahs" if they hope to implement the changes, move with the times and make an impact.

I love the way that they are working on the evolution of story-telling engaging the consumers in a collaborative journey of creation and innovation. They are promoting bigger, braver thinking and are actively seeking 'provocations that lead to transformational actions'.

Cultivating a culture of creative content that is collaborative, adaptive and continuous - is spot on in my view especially as they are looking to work with compelling ideas that develop a life force of their own. They acknowledge that the number of ideas generated by the consumer far exceeds the number birthed by the creative teams working for the company.

Five principles of co-creation ..

1. Inspire participation with the very best
2. Connect creative minds
3. Share results of their efforts
4. Continue development
5. Measure success

They want to encourage and embrace brave thinking knowing that they are likely to fail. They intend to celebrate the failures as well as the successes. Genuine consumer collaboration is exciting - do we believe them? Those who are anti the fact that Coca Cola is not the healthiest option in the world is already creating a reaction. As they are looking to use conflict constructively, I am curious as to how they address that.

I would love to know what you think and whether in fact they have got it right yet. What did you notice in the videos? What stood out for you?

How do you build trust online?

Georgina Lester's blog at Ecademy — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:21:48 +0000

Over the last few years, I have observed a significant change in my attitude to trust as I have become more comfortable reaching out to total strangers across the world. In the early days, the internet was a vast and intimidating ocean - an infinity of unknowns with very little known.

I used to be shy and retiring preferring to remain hidden and anonymous (Yes! Really!). I think that I was quite terrified about the potential Indiana Jones inspired traps into which I was sure to find myself plummeting. Whilst I knew that my soul was not going to be left in some oubliette never to be seen again, I was very aware that there was a serious lack of trust. Trust in the people I met. Trust in the systems. Trust in the technology. Trust in the authenticity. Trust that it was ever going to be good for me. And did I trust myself?

My! How I have changed!! How the internet has changed!

Now, my virtual doors are held wide open to welcome anyone who cares to break bread and share a cup of virtual wine with me allowing us to get to know each other. My boundary of trust has shifted beyond recognition.

Then there is the issue of YOU! Why should people trust you? The more connected I become the more likely people want to connect with me. People are willing to trust me. That didn't happen overnight. Building trust online is vital if we hope to grow our businesses and meet new clients.

What about you?

How much do you trust the people you meet online? Has this changed?

Do you rely on instinct or factual knowledge to decide on what or who you can trust?

How do you help people to trust you?

How’s your #cashflow these days? Do you focus on numbers or adding value to your customers?

Georgina Lester's blog at Ecademy — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:26:00 +0000

Profit is sanity. Turnover is vanity. Neither are worth the inky paper they are written on if you do not have a manageable cashflow. If the money isn't flowing where it needs to when it needs to, then you are sunk.

Personally I come from the mindset that great business is about adding immense value to the customer first rather than obsessing about the numbers. I find money is not a great motivator but helping people is.

My goals for this year are about supporting as many people as I can. The intention is to enable them to gain a level of social literacy which will help them to earn a living from doing what they love. It is more about personal empowerment and using social media to connect with the people who matter most than about making sales. However, money is still an important and vital ingredient.

Question is how do you manage your finances so that you are not tripped up by scenarios like this . loads of orders in the order book, promises of lots of dollars being sent (owed) and a ton of lolly going out regardless of whether it is in your account in the first place?

Bristol Boardroom is on Wednesday this week and it would be a surprise if we didn't talk about money at some point in the evening although thankfully it is not always desperate but about getting better solutions to managing the finances. If you are juggling finances then a trip to this city could very well be your saving grace.

Think about this .. six members averaging twenty years business experience. A lot of man hours, love, sweat and tears discovering and learning. That is an awesome amount of talent to tap into in one session and if you are in the spotlight - it can be an incredibly powerful experience.

So how is your cashflow? Is it as healthy as you would like? How are you turning your passion into a viable financially fluid business?

Are you giving away your power to luck?

Georgina Lester's blog at Ecademy — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:19:38 +0000

They say that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity. I'm inclined to agree. Preparation is a much to do with focus as it is with the planning to achieve certain objectives. Others seem to feel that luck is something much more random than that.

To be lucky seems to many to be fortunate. To the outsider lurking in the realms of the unlucky, it can be a heady realm that is as far away as Atlantis is from this world. Some will at times, give away their power in the expectation that luck will bail them out or provide some magical solution to all of life's challenges.

How often we hear people say things like ..

With my luck, I'll probably (insert own interpretations of disaster)?

Or

They only got successful because they got lucky?

Or something like

The lucky sod (s)he got the lot (exchange for whatever enviable great fortune that might be)!

Wishing someone luck might be about putting good vibes someone's way but for many it seems that it can be a fairly meaningless phrase that actually has no impetus to impact anything that might occur.

Why wait for luck? Why not take destiny and luck by the horns and make things happen?

People seem to bow to the idol called luck and expect to get rewarded somehow. That doesn't seem logical even if you do believe in positive thought.

How much do you give your power away in anticipation of either being the victim of bad luck or the winner of good luck?

Follow @Georgina_Lester

Digital Coaching & Social Media Support.
Boardroom - Hotel du Vin Bristol | Arts Wales | Internet Marketing Group | Luxury Wearable Art for women | Georgina Lester | Arts Wales UK

After you have pushed off from this mortal plane ….

Georgina Lester's blog at Ecademy — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:39:56 +0000

What would you like your status updates to say?

Source: Uploaded by user via Debra on Pinterest