Passive Marketing with You Tube

This all started as an assignment for one of the Informatics classes that I am taking currently.

You Tube has quickly become a major news outlet. This can be for traditional news sources or from everyday people looking to get an idea out to the general masses. A definition of news is needed because what You Tube is giving people access to is not always what we think of as traditional news. Traditional news is the coverage of stories and events that impact our lives and can change the way we conduct our daily lives. You Tube sometimes presents "news" that does not necessarily have any impact on anything. For example, an individual posting video of other people doing stupid, yet entertaining acts. But in contrast, it is not uncommon to see a major news network using a You Tube video when covering a news story. You Tube has quickly changed how news is spread and interpreted just like it's fast growth on the Internet.

When You Tube first came about it was to post simple video files for public viewing. A way for people to upload, in video format, what they were doing and seeing around them. People were posting videos of high school football games, new additions on projects, a child's recital, etc. These video posts were usually harmless and often quite entertaining to the viewer; however, rogue groups of people did not think before posting video's of violence or vandalism. This led to the exposure of the way some kids and groups interact with each other. Videos of hazing and abuse began to pop up and really bring attention to these acts that are shunned by society. These videos shocked and appalled many, but at the same time brought issues of hazing and abuse back into the forefront of society. This is a good result from acts of cruelty because it has people talking and discussing what needs to be prevented and has given people the drive to educate against and prevent senseless, violent acts. You Tube has helped educate and make people aware of some deviant behavior in our society.

While inadvertently educating people, You Tube also quickly morphed into a way to self promote and really get ideas out to a large audience in a short period of time. Just as You Tube showed society what kinds of hazing and abuse were going on around them, it also became a way to mass market ideas and promotions to people. People and businesses saw how fast bad media was spread and acted upon and realized that You Tube could be used for good and profits. Individuals began to self promote with full force their ideas and skills and companies saw You Tube as an economically viable means to reach mass audiences with little effort when they had new ideas and products to pitch to the world. You Tube went from a simple means of conveying meaningless video clips to mass audiences to a tool that is used to market and promote people and business ideas.

Now you ask how can I use You Tube to help me and my business? Well, don't go and come up with a commercial promoting yourself or your company. One has to be more subtle with their approach to You Tube promoting. Here is an idea, make a video that concerns whatever it is you do. For example, make a video of the work progress on a real nasty, grown up site. Show how your crew was able to work around nature and what She is capable of producing to hamper work flow. Or, show a short business documentary of a development meeting that you are conducting in-house for a major project/client. Be creative and come up with an eye catching video that tells about you or your business.

This Web 2.0 phenomenon of You Tube is a great trend and the way the Internet will be used in the future. User driven content, uploaded to media sharing Web sites, is the way the Web is going. People and businesses have been able to look beyond the dribble that began the trends of Web 2.0 and have been able to harness the previously unseen power of You Tube and use it to gain promotion and profits. These new ideas and ways of interacting with others and the Internet will be the business trends of the future.

Social Media

Social media is quickly becoming a valuable tool for people and business to help promote their ideas. I just attended a webinar on the rise of social media and how it can be utilized to leverage business and/or new clients. The webinar spoke of the big players, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but also mentioned some others that were not so familiar. Social networks dealing with more business specific ideas and involving people that are wanting to grow and network their business ideas. It all really made great sense.

What needs to be done is to build relationships with people that are interested in what you are doing. This needs to be done on a personal level and not approached like a business ad campaign of days gone by. Connect with people in your "Networks" and join user groups so that information can be shared and benefits can be shown. Develop relationships so that trust can be built and a sense of comfort can be achieved so ideas can flow more freely. Interact with your "community" on a regular basis so a feeling of camaraderie can be developed and nurtured. It is all about the relationship!

Join your local user group

Finding and attending the local user group pertaining to your industry or interest, is one of the keys to business success. That was one of the first things I did when deciding to branch out and see how my information technology skills and education could work together with my knowledge and experience with land surveying.

The first thing that came to mind was GIS. How do I find out more about GIS and then get more involved with GIS? The first thing I did was utilize my LinkedIn account and searched for GIS Groups within LinkedIn. Many GIS groups were available and I choose to join some of those groups. Shortly after joining, I receive a weekly LinkedIn GIS Group update via email. In the email one of the group members poses the question "How do I find a GIS job in my area?", one of the responses was "...join your local GIS user group." So that is what I did. I Google'd "GIS Greenville, SC" and one of the first things to be returned was Foothills Arc User Network or FAUN. Utilizing the FAUN website, I was able to find out when the next meeting was being held and I was able to attend. While at the meeting, I got reacquainted with an old colleague who has come down basically the same path that I have, but is 4-5 years further along. What a great opportunity to talk with someone that has had similar experiences and you already know. Just by attending a user group meeting, I was able to rekindle an old friendship and gain a valuable asset when looking at more GIS ideas.

My point is to get out and network. Start slow, via the Internet perhaps and grow into actual interaction with other people and groups. This might take you out of your comfort zone, but the feelings of uneasiness will not out weigh the benefits to you and your business.

Small Businesses and Advisory Boards

Small land surveying and engineering companies are having a tough go at it in this uncertain economic market that we find ourselves in today. Many of these companies are seeing no profits or declines in profits for this year. That has many owners concerned because lower profits mean finding ways to pay for people and services when there is no money coming in the door. And, at the same time, the banking industry is not seen as lending money to small businesses right now. What can a business owner do? Well, start by forming an advisory board. This is different from a board of directors, an advisory board is there to advise and their advise does not necessarily have to be followed. An advisory board is rarely paid outside of any travel expenses and the cost of a meal when discussing business ideas. Advisory board members are paid with a since of giving back to the community or with new networking avenues to pursue. The business owner gets a wealth of experience and advise to help augment the economic crisis we are currently feeling right now.

Sarah Needleman is a contributing journalist for the WSJ - Small Business and she has some excellent ideas and reason for developing an advisory board to help the small business.

Small Businesses Get Free Advice

Raster vs Vector

You often hear these two terms used when referring to imagery data in GIS, land surveying and engineering fields. It is important to know the difference between the two types of imagery. Raster deals with pixels, like the pictures we take with a standard digital camera AND Vector deals with points that have line and color information associated with them, like CAD drawings. Vector images can be easily scaled without losing clarity and integrity, they will look the same big or small for the most part. In contrast, Raster images when scaled up become pixelated and splotchy, losing a lot of their clarity and meaning.

To help clarify the versus statement I ran across a great thread from the Graphics Design Forum, http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41. It really helped to clarify the Raster vs Vector imagery conundrum.

Carlson 2010 Software Suite

Carlson's 2010 office software for land surveying, civil engineering, construction, and mining professionals has been released. Carlson 2010 runs in 64-bit, is Windows 7 compatible, and works on AutoCAD® 2000-2010, with IntelliCAD®6.6 built-in. And, if you purchase Carlson with IntelliCAD, then you are eligible for some ESRI (Arc) software and documentation. To take advantage of this offer, call 1-800-GIS-XPRT (1-800-447-9778) and request the Carlson-IntelliCAD GIS Starter Kit. Please have your Carlson License Code available.
For more Carlson 2010 information, take a look at this The American Surveyor article.

Find more information here: http://www.amerisurv.com/content/view/6655/

Foothills Arc Users Network (FAUN)

I attended my first Foothills Arc User Network FAUN) meeting. This group consist of GIS users in the Upstate SC area. I met people from Anderson, Clinton, Greenville Tech, etc. that all shared a common theme, they use GIS applications and services daily. This is a great group of people that have encountered many industry problems and solutions that they want to share with other GIS people.

In today's meeting we had two speakers that covered some of the educational options when looking towards GIS as a career. The first speaker was Amy Daniels from Greenville Technical College and she touched on the GIS and Land Surveying class options that Greenville Tech offers. Greenville Tech offers a 2-year Associate Degree in GIS/Land Surveying and then also offers a GIS certification program. The school also is working on ways to diversify the GIS options as well as incorporating more online class scenarios into the various programs.
Here is a link to the Greenville Tech website:
http://www.gvltec.edu/display.aspx?id=882
The second speaker was Steve Sperry from Clemson University. Steve has a long history with GIS and like concepts that spans nearly 40 years. He has worked with all aspects of the GIS community and has found his current calling at Clemson. He presented some very interesting uses for GIS that included many areas of development, whether that development be by private entities looking for profits or government entities trying to plan for the future. He also mentioned that Clemson was working on ideas for offering GIS classes via an online medium.
Here is the link to the Clemson University website:
http://www.clemson.edu/caah/pla/

And, if you are interested in attending a FAUN meeting, member dues are minimal ($20/yr and only $5/yr for students) and you can sign up from their website.
http://www.scfaun.org/
I look forward to seeing new faces at the next meeting.

Point of Beginning (POB) Group News | LinkedIn

Educating our youth and others is important to bettering our communities and the people that we interact with everyday. Here Missouri is taking that step and letting people know about Earth Sciences (that includes land surveying!)

Point of Beginning (POB) Group News | LinkedIn

Employee retention

With the market on the upturn, but not quite reaching into the housing and development sectors right now, business owners need to retain the employees that they have on the corporate roster. We need to be prepared with a full staff when the demand for work returns. That can be real tough when the trends are shorter work week hours, lay-offs and the absence of actual field work. Well in order to retain the vital employees, employers need to look strongly into furthering the education of the employees that they have in house right now. This article helps shed some light on how to train and retain employees!

The Business Side: Employee training: the key to success. - Columns from our latest issue - Point of Beginning

No job and student loans due? Don’t fret - Personal finance- msnbc.com

No job and student loans due? Don’t fret - Personal finance- msnbc.com

We can all use a little help right now. Don't just blow off debt, pursue the right course of action so it doesn't adversely effect your credit rating. More and more employers, banks and insurance companies are reviewing a person's credit report and giving or hiring based on what they find.

AIIM.org seminar

A seminar, that sounds quite interesting, will be in the Buckhead Area of ATL, Ga on Nov. 3, 2009. It pertains to information and practices for managing that information. Here is the link:

http://www.aiim.org/ecmseminar/SessionView.aspx?SessionID=305

I believe that the event is free. In order to register for it though, you have to create an account with AIIM.org, I think. Not a big deal and it gets you on their emailer for other training and events. Hope this can be helpful to someone. I will be attending.

A Pocket Guide to Business for Engineers and Surveyors - BNP Media Store

A Pocket Guide to Business for Engineers and Surveyors - BNP Media Store

Anyone who is a land surveyor or engineer probably should read this book or something equivalent. We tend to do our jobs really well, but when it comes to actually running a business, land surveyors and engineers tend to fall a bit short of the mark. Running a business is about doing the job, but it is also about making informed business decisions. By not being business minded, we run the risk of losing valued employees, valued projects and eventually the valued business itself. Just because we can survey or engineer doesn't mean that one can run a business!

http://www.pobonline.com/Articles/Features/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000672501

http://www.pobonline.com/Articles/Features/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000672501

Shared via AddThis

Welcome to where Stephen will be posting links to industry news (land surveying, engineering, GIS, "green" initiatives). I look forward to providing helpful articles and links to happenings in my industry.