A brief note today to announce that as usual, I shall be resting this blog over the holidays. I’m planning to restart on Monday 9 January 2017, a break of 3 weeks. It is possible I shall need a longer break while I build support and if so I’ll let you know what is happening.
The reason I’m not 100% certain is that I am planning a number of projects to increase support for my work promoting the local economy and the role of coaches in supporting change. I may decide to take another week or two to bed down these new initiatives. Here’s a sample of what I have planned. There are a few other things in the pipeline that I am not ready to announce just yet.
Facebook Live
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my plan to promote my work by integrating online and offline marketing. At the time I had just started using Facebook Live and was on day 2!
Today is day 16 and I think I’ve improved my approach. I’ve found I’m better if I stand to deliver the talk. I usually plan what I am going to say the previous day and then rehearse just before I go online. You can find the Facebook Live posts on my Community Web Consultant Facebook page. You may have to scroll a long way down the page to find them all. They are all numbered to help you follow the sequence.
A few problems I have not yet resolved include:
- I’m aiming for 1-2 minutes and so far I’ve been going on for too long.
- I cannot find a time of day when I can regularly post. There are advantages to doing this if you can because some people may be present to watch you live. I’m not sure what the advantages of performing with a live audience are but there you go!
- I have not so far been able to find a way to link to individual posts, which means it will be difficult to get access to them in the future.
- People are visiting these posts and some of them are watching them. I do need to remind people they are there though.
I’ve pinned a Facebook Live video at the top of my Facebook page, where I interviewed several people about the proposal to sell Sheffield’s Central Library to a 5-star hotel. This is one example of how Facebook Live can be used. I’m planning to complete the current sequence of posts at day 30. After that I want to explore possibilities for using Facebook Live at events. I shall also use it to promote events before they happen.
I’m sure there are many other ways to use this new tool and once I complete the current sequence, I shall post about how to use it for marketing.
Webinars
I held my first Webinar on Wednesday 14 December. You can find the replay of “It’s Where Your Feet Are“, so please go over and watch it there. There is a comments facility below the video and I shall respond to all relevant comments as soon as I see them.
Three people watched the video live and as far as I know they appreciated it. I felt my planning and rehearsals paid off and the words seemed to flow. I need to find time to watch it myself and see how I come over.
The next webinar is on Wednesday 4 January and you can sign up for “A Brief History of Social Enterprise” by following the link. If you signed up for the first, there’s no need to sign up again! The third in this series will be on 18 January.
I have exciting plans for webinars following these three. I see these first three as opportunities to set out my manifesto and to become used to the system. Once I feel confident in the approach, I’m planning to branch out in an entirely new direction, so stay tuned to find out what happens next!
Business Success Summit
Finally, for those of you who live close enough to Sheffield, I am part of a team planning a live event. It will be a day event on Saturday 11 February 2017. I can’t say much about it at this stage. Make a note of the date in your diary and I shall put a link here as soon as I can.
I’m hoping to encourage coaches and consultants to attend this event but it is for any local business in the region. We’re aiming for 200 people to attend the event and so, if we get it right, it will be huge.