Chuck Welch, Human » Appearances

Free Social Media Workshop on November 16th

Chuck Welch — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 21:46:10 +0000

Downtown at City Hall on the 16th of November from 6-8pm, I’m leading a Foursquare free-for-all. Sponsored by the kind folks at Dixieland and the Downtown Lakeland Partnership.

Did I mention “free?”

We’ll spend an hour on Foursquare and other business related social media. Then bring your questions and concerns for the hour open Q&A.

Professional Development Workshops with Lakeland Local’s Chuck Welch

Chuck Welch — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:08:27 +0000

Note: I’ve offered to lead a pair of workshops for the Dick pope/Polk County Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association. Here’s the info…

May 12 for Social Media “Newbie’s” / May 20 for SM Veterans

Social media consultant and hyperlocal writer Chuck Welch ( Lakeland Local and Metro i4 News) has graciously offered to conduct two professional development sessions in May. Both will be held at the new campus of Webster University and will take place from 8 a.m. – 10 a.m.

An ex-journalist, Chuck “retired” to Florida to concentrate on being a father, husband and writer. His online presence is primarily through as the editor, writer and occasional photographer for the news sites, Lakeland Local, a sampling of the news, concerns and events for Lakeland and Metro i4 News, which covers the Interstate 4 corridor. Both sites feature Chuck’s work and that of other contributors. Chuck is an early adopter of social media tools to discover their faults and best uses. He works to find tools best suited to connect citizens and small businesses to their community.

The first session will be Wednesday, May 12, for those with little to no social media experience. It will be an introduction to the concepts of social media as a viable tool for Public Relations professionals to use for their clients and/or employers. During class, participants will create a personal or hobby social media presence.

The second session will take place Thursday, May 20, for those with some social media experience and include an introduction to the five tools and one cardinal rule when using social media for clients/employers.

Webster University is located at 1479 Town Center Drive, Suite 202, at Lakeside Village. That’s the second floor of the building that houses New York and Company and Fish City Grille, around the fountain area. Parking is located at the rear of the building and the Hampton Inn.

Cost is $10 for FPRA members, $5 for students and $15 for non-members. Coffee, OJ and light snacks will be served. Reservations are on a first come, first served basis. Seating is limited for both sessions.

For reservations, email Jim Frankowiak, jim@cprg-web.com.

Our special thanks to Chuck and Webster University for this opportunity.

photo credit: Tom Hagerty

AFP

Chuck Welch — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:40:06 +0000

Later this morning, I’m speaking to the regional Association of Fundraising Professionals. Of course, the topic is Social Media.

This entry will grow after the program. I’ll add information I consider relevant to the questions they have during and after.

You can follow me on Twitter @chuckwelch or email me any questions AFP@chuckwelch.com.

Resources:

Tapping Into Social Networks—Raise Funds, Build Community (AFP)
10 Ways to Support Charity Through Social Media (Mashable)

Twitter Specific:

Mashable’s Guide to Twitter
Finding Locals on Twitter (Mashable)
10 Twitter Best Practices for Brands (Michael Brito)

Facebook Specific:

Facebook Users are Getting Older (Mashable)

Tools:

Hootsuite.com – Send from multiple accounts, use multiple authors, schedule Tweets
TweetDeck – Desktop and iPhone tool – Easily group followers or send from multiple accounts

Social Media Information Sites:

Mashable
Twitip

Reports:

Nielsen: Consumers Trust Online Opinions (Adweek)

•

Update:

Status Updates: LinkedIn, Facebook, & Twitter. What’s the difference? (Youtube)

20 Business Lessons Learned from Monty Python

Creative Class

Chuck Welch — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:08:34 +0000

Florida on the Creative Class in Washington Monthly
The Rise of the Creative Class – Florida (video 59:22)
What is the Creative Class? (presentation 3:47)

Savannah, Memphis, Tampa Bay, Louisville

Possibility City

20 Thoughts on Using Twitter and Other Social Media

Chuck Welch — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:22:17 +0000

Tamara Sakagawa claims I made the follow points during a workshop on social media. I’ll take her word for it as I don’t remember the workshop at all. I think I was channeling someone else. Anyway, the workshop was for Dixieland Community Redevelopment Area and USFPoly was nice enough to loan a lab. Not that I was there, mind you.

1. You are your brand and you can (and should) control your image on the Web.
2. Keep your website current, the more often you update your site, the better your Google rank.
3. Blogs are currently good ways to get higher up in Google searches- Use www.wordpress.com- you can “play” with a dummy site.
4. However, blogs, comments and forums are old skool- Social Media is new skool – FOR NOW.
5. “Social media is about starting conversations.”
6. Use Social Media (Internet-based tech based on user participation and user-generated content) to see WHAT and WHO people are talking about.
7. Sites like twitter.com and yelp.com are “searchable” for information about people, businesses and topics of interest.
8. As a Social Media user, know your audience- write to your audience. Talk about things you want them to know.
9. Twitter is broadcasting AND narrow-casting. Anyone can see your tweets (public timeline) a select group can see what you tweet immediately (followers).
10. AS A RESULT, keep your business tweets and your personal tweets separate – don’t tweet about things that you wouldn’t pay for in an ad.**
11. Find the hashtag # (keywords) for your industry or location (hashtags.org) and use it in your tweets in order to make sure you can be found in searches.
12. Example: #lkld is used for Lakeland and #corn is used for, well, corn.
13. Use Twitter-management systems like www.Hootsuite.com or www.tweetdeck.com to make this less complicated.
14. Hootsuite saves keyword searches and allows for “timed” tweets (load ‘em all up on the first of the month and then let ‘er rip).
15. Tweetdeck allows followers to be separated by groups, clusters real-time searches and shows direct messages- all on the same screen.
16. Facebook pages and groups are great for sharing information- not for local marketing.
17. Use FB for communicating with friends; FB pages for your business should be for fun.
18. Don’t be afraid to show your personality in your tweets.
19. When you start: follow the people you trust and follow who they follow.
20. Try to use your real name: http://ow.ly/4wCX

** — Unless you are your business, but I still prefer separate accounts for personal and business use.

PS: If you like any of these, note that Tamara improved what I said. If you disagree with any, she quoted those accurately.

Photo by Tom Hagerty

Where else?

Chuck Welch — Sun, 25 May 2008 16:04:40 +0000

You can find me at a few other sites. The photo at left is from my Flickr account.

I had an idea for unique reading lists a couple of years ago. Thanks again Andrew.

I did contribute a chapter to the the audio book, Free Culture. And in case you’re wondering — I still believe MLB should not have moved the Expos.

The Illuminated Crowd

Chuck Welch — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:30:19 +0000

“Schmap’s series of digital travel guides integrates dynamic maps with useful background reading, suggested tours, photos from the traveling public and reviews by local correspondents (for sights and attractions, hotels, restaurants, bars, parks, theaters, galleries, museums and more) to profile 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.”

They also cleverly use photos from Flickr users to illustrate their maps. They chose this one of mine for La Foule Illuminee (The Illuminated Crowd) in downtown Montreal.