Tag: andrea vascellari

Cisco TelePresence & Education

Overview
Cisco’s Telepresence is one of the most advanced virtual meeting systems in the world.
In cooperation with the Finnish organizations of KOKO, SEK and SuupohjanSeutuverkko, which runs one of the fastest broadband networks in Europe, my team and I tested Cisco Telepresence as a primary means to present information across distances without breaking budgets.

Objectives

  • Create an engaging experience to test the use of Cisco Telepresence in a higher education environment.
  • Provide feedback to Cisco on the target audience’s experience using online video communication tools.

The Idea
We organized a live, interactive video conference connecting university students with thoughtful leaders of today’s digital Communications industry. Continue reading “Cisco TelePresence & Education”

Strategic Online Marketing & Advertising

UPDATE:

Strategic Online Marketing

The Advertising Club of Toledo recently invited me as the guest speaker for their monthly luncheon program held at the Toledo Club in – you guessed it – Toledo, Ohio.

My presentation focused on strategic online advertising and marketing, but in order to make sure I addressed the interests and questions of people who would be attending the luncheon, I created a survey that people could fill out and submit beforehand so I could tailor a few points to their input. Continue reading “Strategic Online Marketing & Advertising”

Advertising Club of Toledo – Luncheon Program

On November 16th, I’ll be speaking at the Advertising Club of Toledo‘s monthly luncheon program in Toledo, Ohio (U.S.A.). The general theme of my talk will be about strategic online advertising and marketing.

As I finish to prepare my presentation, I would like to know what AdClub members are most interested in learning about, their professional background, and their level of experience in the “digital space”, so that I can tailor a few points of my presentation to their interests and experiences.

For example, would AdClub members like to know more about how to use social media within their advertising/marketing strategies? About the importance of creating relevant content as part of a digital strategy? Or perhaps about any campaigns with a positive ROI where new tactics made the difference?

Those are just a couple of examples to get the juices flowing, but please go ahead and fill out the following form and I will incorporate your interests into my final presentation.

You can also feel free to email me at andrea@itive.net or @/DM me on Twitter – @vascellari

And just a friendly remember that registration for the luncheon must be made by Monday, November 14th.

Thanks for your input and I look forward to meeting and speaking with you on November 16th!
I’d like to thank Joe & Nick from UlrichPinciotti Design Group for sponsoring my presentation.

Andrea

Top 20 Social Media Influencers and Beyond…

Kristi Hines (@kikolani) published a nice list of “The 20 most influential people in social media” and Simon Kemp (@eskimon) did a good job in this thread reminding us all that since more than 80% of the world’s social media users live outside of the US it would be a good idea to add some other influential names beyond America’s shores to the list.

Brava Kristi and bravo Simon. So far so good.

Krishna De is an outstanding communicator and a long time digital-friend. She suggested that I could be considered as an influencer in Finland. First of all, I’d like to thank Krishna for mentioning me as an influencer. I tend to work with my “head down”, putting all the passion and commitment I have into everything I do in this industry. Ultimately, my greatest reward is to see a satisfied smile on the face of whoever I’m working with because what we did together meant something to them and made a difference. So, when someone points me out for any reason related to what I do, I feel honored.

Secondly, though, after reading the following comment I felt that I should probably clarify my position a bit and give out a little bit more information about what I do since I have been – and still am – very involved in the Finnish social media and technology space…

Jaana Nyström - Not wanting to promote myself but I'm the "Google+ envoy in Finland", according to the local Google Industry Manager... At least I'm diligent! :D

If you can’t see/load the picture above:

Jaana Nyström – +Krishna De New York in Finland now? 🙂 +Andrea Vascellari has nothing to do with Finland, I think? Must be an error this…

Not wanting to promote myself but I’m the “Google+ envoy in Finland”, according to the local Google Industry Manager… At least I’m diligent! 😀

For those of you who have been connected with me for a while now, you are probably aware that my company and I work on international projects, but for the sake of this thread on G+, here’s my reply which just focuses on some of the ways I’ve been “influential” in Finland.

Hi Everyone,

Hi Jaana,

Jaana I’ve been living and working in Finland since 2005 and I’ve been researching and studying the Finnish information society cluster since 2002.

In Finland, I’m currently running several projects for national and local governments, regional development, B2B, B2C, pharma and education. If you have a look at the people/connections we commonly share here on Google+ you’ll notice that I’m well-networked with the Finnish social media sphere 😉

I’m often a contributor to various international podcasts sharing my point of view from the Finnish perspective (but not only, since I have Italian-Canadian roots) specifically in the fields of PR, marketing and communications. In addition to that, since public speaking is part of what I do, I’ve been invited to speak at some of the largest conferences in Finland i.e. Mindtrek, ITK, etc. If you quickly browse through my Linkedin profile you’ll notice that I’ve been invited as an official blogger to many industry conferences, such as the LeWeb, Web 2.0 Expo, etc. and I’ve also represented Finland at two editions of the Bloggers World Forum respectively in Bucharest and Vienna. So these are most likely some of the reasons why you’ll find a fairly large group of people worldwide referring to me when they think of Finland – it’s the same for me when I think of Ireland and 2 names immediately come to mind Krishna De (@krishnade) and Bernie Goldbach (@topgold).

On the other hand, leading an international digital strategy agency requires me to travel quite often, but my home is currently in Finland. My team and I work across 4 continents and we recently opened a new office in New York (NYC) so the information you see on my Twitter profile refers to that. I hope this explains and clarifies everything.

Andrea @vascellari

– Good to meet you, Jaana. Andrea

This is Something Personal

11-03-00 Lignano (Italy)

Do you know what’s missing here? Me, the real me.

Sounds crazy I know, but it’s true.
I spent the last few years sharing tons of valuable stuff that can help you to succeed online. I did it because I believed in it, because I wanted to help people and because the time was right. Now all the late comers joined the party and it seems to me that there’s nothing else to read online. “How to do this, what to to do to get the best out of that, or 1,000 tips to kick ass on this other thing…”

What’s missing is the personal perspective on things.

So, I think it’s time for me to change gears and share my experience from a different perspective.
Because when you need to find out ‘what’ or ‘how’ in order to do this or that, what do you do? You search on Google and you find all the answers.

From now on, you won’t find the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ here, I’ll leave that to Google. On my blog, you’ll find the ‘why’.

And you’ll find an absolutely unique ‘why’ because it’s going to always be from my experience, which is something that no one else will be able to tell you. That’s the new value that I’ll offer and share with you.

At times you might actually end up disagreeing with me, but hey…isn’t learning from each other the best part of a sincere discussion? It will be great to do this on a new and different level.

Every now and then, I might share an interesting post on what and how you should keep your eyes on things, but I’ll focus more on this new direction.

Love it? Hate it? Questions?

This is my digital living room and you are welcome here. Grab a drink and let’s talk.

Andrea

P.S. If you like the new vibe, here’s my RSS feed and this is my newsletter. Let’s stay tuned.

Pathetic Outreach Strategy

Backlinks are good because they prove the usefulness of your site i.e. I write a good post and people link back to it sharing or giving credit to me on their blogs, etc.

‘Pathetic’ is the only word that, in my opinion, can describe the latest series of attempts of certain individuals to get backlinks.

They write you an email in which there’s no link to their personal sites/blogs or sites of organizations they work for, etc. (first red flag) At times they even write you claiming that they previously wrote you even if they never did (second red flag)…(yes, there are other red flags, but I think you get the picture).

The message they send you is basically a condensed mix of useless compliments with the only aim of praising you to get in return a post with a link to their/the content that they are trying to build authority for.

Over time I received several of these requests, but today I’m sharing this one from Mxxx Txxxxxxxx. He didn’t just do a great job in bothering me, polluting my email inbox and wasting my time, but apparently something also went wrong with the research he did on me (that I’m sure he did before contacting me, right Mxxx?) …because I don’t have a daughter (at least not yet)!

You’ll find the message below.

This is hilarious and sad at the same time. I’m sharing this to remind you to take distance from people like this who want to offer you similar services or shady guest posts. And yes, please make sure to do some good research before you try to get in touch with me. If you don’t know where to start, here’s an entire post that includes valuable tips on how to reach out to someone.

Andrea

On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 4:38 PM, Mxxx Txxxxxxxx wrote:

Dear Andrea,

This is Mxxx Txxxxxxxx, writer and website usability consultant – hope this e-mail finds you (and your daughter) well! I would like to begin by saying that I appreciate how unusual most of your posts are; your blog actually does seem to be different, and not another one of those websites that constantly speak about “7 Tools For Facebook.” If you know what I mean. 🙂
I’m getting in touch because I wanted to submit to you an article that I have recently written and which, in my opinion, will fit your readers very well. The piece was written entirely based on my own professional experience, and I would love to see it posted on your blog (at no costs to you.) I only ask that you allow me to include one in-content link from within the article, pointing to a very relevant website that I’m currently working on.

Title: How SEO Has Changed The Online World For The Worse
People are constantly speaking about the positive sides of SEO and how important it is for “MY” business, but not many people choose to address the negative influence it has had on the internet as a whole.

Length: close to 650 words .

Form: HTML file with necessary HTML tags.

Copyrights: 100% original and not published anywhere else.
I hope you like the idea Andrea? If so, please let me know and I will forward the article for your review. If you would like me to write on a different subject then that’s just as fine.
What do you think?
Talk to you soon,

Mxxx

Influencer Outreach Tips

Due to the increasing number of bad pitches that I keep receiving everyday, I decided to share a list of tips that you might want to keep in mind when you are getting in touch with me or any other blogger/influencer. Andrea

  1. When you are trying to pitch someone, please have a look if they have a page in which they provide information related to advertisement on their site. (Rates, policy, requirements, etc.).
  2. Check if the blog/site has the audience that you are really looking for (pitching a blogger without even paying attention to his/her audience is not a good move).
  3. Provide proper contact information about you, your company, the client you are representing (not just your website…).
  4. What are the benefits? (Simple… Make it clear).
  5. Keep it short and on topic. (Skip irrelevant details. People are spending their time reading your message).
  6. Don’t beg for backlinks.
  7. Don’t use pathetic tricks like “Just wanted to follow up on my last e-mail…” if you actually never wrote ‘that last e-mail’…
  8. If you are trying to reach people in the social media space it would be a good idea to at least have a social media presence. (Having a channel where people can join the conversation with you is a plus and an advantage for both. And I mean something more than a simple contact form on your site).
  9. Research before pitching. (Search on the blog/site for any post that might contain information about advertising/guest posting etc.).
  10. Personalize your message and be genuine (Nobody likes to receive an automated, cliche, cold message that you are probably sending out to hundreds of bloggers/influencers).
  11. Be polite (I don’t think I have to add anything to this… right?).
  12. Show that you know the person you are trying to reach. (Show that you’ve dug a bit deeper than finding the email address on their contact page).

Do you have additional tips that other people might find useful? Feel free to share them in the comments or tweet them @vascellari. Andrea

Quality Content Pays Off Over Time [STATS]

First – Make sure to read the tips I shared on how to increase online visibility.

Second – Keep in mind it all takes time.

Yes…the most important thing is to remember that nothing happens overnight.

How does this work?

People search on Google solutions for their problem and they find your content. If it helps them in satisfying their needs, people will then happily share your content by either blogging about it or recommending it to friends in their social networks. This will increase your authority and the authority of your content so you will show up higher in the search results that Google will offer to those who are searching for solutions. But this will only happen in the long run. To prove it I conducted a test here on my blog.

One year ago I wrote a very informative post on how to use Google Calendar as a project management tool. Here’s what happened:

Content - visibility growth

After the first spike related to the launch of the post, the traffic decreased to then constantly increased in the long run. These are some numbers that will help you to get a better idea:

Content - visibility growth

Conclusion: Google will trust you as more people trust you and to reward you it will give you, and obviously your content, a higher authority. So follow these tips and be patient. It will payoff in the long run.

Andrea

4 Steps to Reach your Target Audience

What are some of the first steps a business owner should take when creating his or her digital strategy? I shared 4 tips to better reach your target audience during an interview with Andrea Genovese of Wind Business Factor. The video is in Italian, but the original transcript has been translated into English below by my team at itive.net. Enjoy!
Andrea

The Experience of a Business Owner

When a business owner is going to use the web for the first time he or she should keep a few important things in mind. First and foremost, a business owner should no longer think of the web or “digital world” as something disconnected from the real one.

Today, the web is constantly evolving. And a consumer and a business owner can do business exactly as they would if they were downtown “IRL” (in real life).

First, the most important thing to understand is where you are as a business and where you would like to go. Therefore, at this initial starting point there is a need to create a digital strategy that will allow you to reach your goals.

Second, you should analyze the tactics that will be utilized to achieve your objectives and reach the finish line. After that, you could reach out for support from somebody who has experience in this arena. It could be a web agency like us at itive.net, it could be an external consultant, an online communicator who in a certain sense could help you move through these “first steps” of the digital world.

Before you start to do any of this, though, be silent and use these, one of the most important organs we have, your ears. You have to listen carefully in order to learn about what is happening in your niche market. You have to be attentive listeners and figure out the dynamics that are in your market, as well as to identify the needs of your consumers. Once you understand the current situation within your market, you should contribute to the conversation and become an active member who interacts with the digital communication dynamics that are already taking place in your field.

In summary, the 4 tips for creating digital strategy are:

  • Listen to what is happening within your niche market
  • Analyze the market dynamics
  • Evaluate the needs of your consumers
  • Contribute to the conversation and to the digital dynamics

If you’re interested in creating your digital strategy with us, feel free to contact us or go ahead and click here to fill out a “get started” form and we’ll help you get there!