Mark Rodgers says, “Go Global, act like a local”

December 20, 2010 · Posted in International Strategy Working Group · 1 Comment 

Mark Rodgers, chair of the IIA International Strategy Working Group and Director of Cipherion was a guest on yesterday’s Sunday Business Show presented by Conall Ó Móráin. You can listen to all of yesterday’s show on the Sunday Business Show site or you can subscribe in iTunes. It’s a show filled with many gems so I would recommend it.

Here is the excerpt with Mark speaking with Conall Ó Móráin about internationalising your business online.

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

You need us like we need you

October 10, 2008 · Posted in podcast, social media, Web 2.0 · Comment 
Looking very concerned there, Roseanne!

Looking very concerned there, Roseanne! Thanks to Krishna De for the photograph

A while ago now I had the great fortune to be invited by Keith Brock in Fingal County Enterprise Board to make a presentation at the Fingal Day of Enterprise. My presentation focussed on Social Media and Business. (The presentation is available to download as a PDF from the IIA website and you can hear a report about the day from RTÉ Radio 1′s The Business broadcast on October 12th  (MP3 file; Report on Fingal Day of Enterprise is at about 18mins 40 seconds) which includes a few words of advice from yours truly.)

My experience at the Fingal Day of Enterprise was revelatory for me in my role with the IIA as Membership manager. My presentation was the first of the day: the room was packed out and people were turned away. Needless to say it wasn’t my reknown as a public speaker that was drawing the crowds especially as this was the first time I delivered a presentation on behalf of the IIA so I was a wee bit nervous. Of course there are aspects of my talk that I would now change especially based on the questions asked during the Q&A and subsequent conversations that day and my own social media experiences since then more of which later all going to plan with my blogging today! I was speaking about how to integrate Social Media into your marketing plan and it’s obviously a subject in which many people have an interest.

The reason the day was revelatory was because it made me more aware than ever before of how much help people who are starting businesses need when creating their online presence. I was standing at our stand from 1pm until 8.15pm with a constant stream of new business owners and entrepreneurs asking me various questions not just about the IIA but about how to get the best return on their investment of time and money in their internet marketing, sales and communications activities. A number of delegates who approached me had web design/ development consultancies and in a way I was sorry I didn’t have a two way queuing system so I could introduce the delegates looking for developers/ designers to the delegates offering developement/ design services!

Krishna De was also there that day as a business mentor and she popped over once or twice to say hello (and take photos see above) and even offered to mind the stand while I grabbed a cuppa which, although I declined, I really appreciated. But her offer and the queue at the stand got me thinking. If I were to be doing outreach work like this in a location close to you would you, as an IIA member, be interested in helping at the stand for 30 minutes to an hour? It was a great way to meet people who were actively seeking advice and information about bringing their business online and I think it would be a great opportunity for IIA members offering those kind of services to meet them. It’s just an idea so let me know what you think of it.

Two days later I packed myself off to Kilkenny for PodCampIreland, and while I was there in a more personal capacity, I didn’t hide the fact that I work for the IIA but most people know that anyway. I was facilitating a conversation about Twitter which I found very interesting and I hope those whose conversation I was facilitating found interesting too. When I asked those attending my presentation in Fingal about their experience of social media, I got one hand up for blogging (who left before I finished eek!), a couple of hands for Facebook and three hands up from the boys in school uniforms when I asked about Bebo and MySpace.* I got a big blank “ye wha’?!” when I asked about use of Twitter in Fingal which contrasted wildly with those at PodCamp – I think only two out of the 20 or so present didn’t use Twitter. While I was mainly asking the PodCampers about what they use Twitter for, how it helps them, why does it appeal to them, what future they see for it, I also asked them how they felt about businesses getting into Twitter, whether they felt it was intrusive or fair enough. As Twitter is all based on permission, I argued, a business joining in a conversation on Twitter is not the same as a representative from a business landing in on top of your cosy chat in the pub which was the common metaphor that day for online conversations. In most social media you have to accept an invitation, befriend someone, follow someone etc. before they can approach you with their ideas or requests. In this spirit, I’ve said it before but no harm re-iterating, you will never be followed by the IIA on Twitter unless you follow the IIA first and I would recommend other businesses to consider a similar approach. If you are thinking about how to get started and you would like to use this approach, make sure you follow the IIA and I will let my followers know you are online and it will help you start to build your presence. And get chatty. It’s all about engaging in conversation! If somebody says they don’t like your product or service ask them how you can help them to have a better experience of it.

But I digress, PodCampIreland had a lot more to offer apart from me :) I attended a really interesting session by Dean Whitbread about Seesmic which was really interactive and involved us waving at a camera. Seesmic is a social network that allows people to converse using asynchronous videos, either recorded quick and dirty before uploading or prepared carefully and lovingly and uploaded. The great thing is that anyone can watch your video and respond. The other very nice thing about Seesmic is that you can set what sort of copyright you want applied to the video so that it can’t be just reproduced willy-nilly wherever the viewers wish unless you also wish it. It’s a great place to experiment with digital video and get feedback on your experiments so give it a go. I might see you there one of these days :)

I also attended a session by Mike Buckley about babyboomers online which turned into a very interesting conversation about who owns virtual space: young people or their parents; and about how technology can help preserve stories and pass them from generation to generation. I was reminded of this conversation on Tuesday when I attended the IIA/Limerick County Enterprise Board/ Marketing Institute of Ireland event on Tuesday. In her presentation Krishna De (who I think I have seen more of recently than my family :) ) suggested that those of us disinclined to write much should consider making their content available as audio or video - it might suit your style a lot more than the writtern word. She drew our attention to Bill Marriott’s Blog which he records and which is then transcribed. Now obviously if you are the owner of the Marriott hotel chain you can afford to pay someone to transcribe your tuppeny worth but for us mere mortals making the audio or video available (and you could use Seesmic or YouTube to make video available) is a snap and is either free or costs very little.

I really hoped to blog about a lot more today. Contrary to my advice at the Fingal Day of Enterprise where I encouraged people to blog on a Friday afternoon because they are more likely to get up and leave and go home/ to the pub rather than allow it to seep into their evening it is after five and I am still here. So I will wish you all a great weekend (I’ll see some of you at the inaugural Irish Web Awards), remind you to vote in the Net Visionary Awards and promised lots more very soon!

*Oh yes I was interested by the three uniformed lads putting their hands up to say they were using Bebo and MySpace and I kicked myself for not pointing out to the audience that if they hope to communicate with those who have disposable incomes in ten years time they better start using social media and their online presence more proactively because this is where the mid-teens of today are learning how to use the web.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Roseanne on the Raidió

September 4, 2008 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

If you enjoy reading my writing you might like to hear what I sound like too. Tonight Dubliners can hear me on Raidió na Life between 8pm and 9pm and tomorrow the whole Irish nation can hear me on Splanc on Newstalk 106 with Daragh Ó Tuama between 10 and 10.30pm. As this is the first year that the IIA & Enterprise Ireland Net Visionary Awards include the category “Best Online Business Use of Irish” I am delighted that the Irish Language media are showing an interest. I  also appreciate this opportunity to make sure the people with whom these businesses are doing business are making the nominations i.e. the Irish Language community. It would be a great honour to win this award as it is the only award for those businesses using the Irish Language online as a business or communication tool.

And yes both programmes will be in Irish so I better go and brush up on my terminology. Mobile Innovation as Gaeilge anyone?

Má taitníonn mo chuid scríobhneoireachta libh gach seans go mbeidh spéis agaibh éisteacht liom freisin. Anocht beidh deis ag pobal Átha Cliath éisteacht liom ar Raidió na Life idir 8i.n. agus 9i.n. agus oíche amárach agus beidh mé ar Splanc Newstalk 106 le Daragh Ó Tuama idir 10 agus 10.30i.n. Os rud é go b’é i mbliana an chéad bhliain ina bhfuil an catagóir “Úsáid is fearr de Ghaeilge sa Ghnó ar line” san áireamh i nGradaim Net Visionary an IIA & Enterpise Ireland tá lúcháir orm go bhfuil na meáin Gaeilge ag cur spéise ann. Is mór liom freisin an deis cinntiú go b’iad siúd atá ag déanamh gnó trí Ghaeilge atá ag ainmniú na comhlachtaí seo .i. pobal na Gaeilge. Onóir mór a bheadh ann an duais seo a bhuachaint ó is é an t-aon duais do chomhlachtaí atá ag úsáid Gaeilge are líne mar uirlis ghnó nó chumarsáide.

Agus ar ndóigh beidh an dá chlár i nGaeilge agus mar sin beidh orm snas a chur ar mo thearmaíocht. Cad é bhur mbarúil ar nuálacht soghluaiste???

Tags: , ,

Easy like Sunday morning

May 9, 2008 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

If you’re up and at ‘em early on Sunday morning catch the IIA CEO Fergal O’Byrne on the Sunday Business Show on Today FM at 10.30 am. (10.30 am is a veritable lie-in in our go-getter household!)

Tags: , , , ,