This evening I was lucky enough to attend The Marketing Dangerously Social Media Challenge Meetup put on each month by Jonathan Christian (@jdgem) and Neil Godin (@NeilGodin).
Moving here from Halifax, I never imagined how useful a tool meetup.com could be for any topic, hobby or interest imaginable… until I randomly decided to go to this one! Not only have I met some truly wonderful people though these meetups, but I’ve learned A LOT when it comes to social media.
Tonight’s meetup in particular was about how to use your smart phone for business. The experts on the panel this evening were Gary Jones (@financialrunner) and Isaac Kendall (@isaackendall). The great thing about the MDSMC meetup is that Jonathan and Neil either take turns presenting different topics, or seek out experts who are experts in other social media topics to share their knowledge! Ingenious don’t you think? I believe that social media is all about making personal and beneficial connections with people in order to share what you know, trade expertise and seek out individuals who can help you learn more. Whether you are interested in gaining social media knowledge for personal, business or purely educational use (or all three at once!), you will meet someone who you can help you achieve your goals.
As I am a very proud iphone user (Don’t even try it you BB users – you cannot convert me!) I loved that Gary and Isaac presented their knowledge on both smart phone platforms. It was great to hear which apps are more beneficial to be used on the iphone and which on the black berry as well as giving personal tips, and the advantages vs. disadvantages! The focus of the information is for business owners, but I took a lot away from it on a purely mutually beneficial social media way of meeting new contacts… and potential employers of course :)
I honestly have to admit that I thought I knew all there was to know about the apps I already had… I was wrong! For example: Did you know that you can sync your contacts on both phone types with facebook (had already) and linkedin (just downloaded) AND their pictures will even sync so when they call it will be their photos? Cool huh? Something really cool I learned about the twitter app (had already): When you are out and about you can actually link onto a local twitter map if you will that is used by GPS positioning to find others around you who are tweeting as well! Who knows what kind of contacts you could stumble upon using this!
We then heard about FourSquare (already use) and I learned that it’s actually a great idea to check in and find others who are in the same places as you – who knows the similarities you could have! Also, something really good specifically for business owners is that the advantage of becoming the mayor of your own business is that people can befriend you and who knows the advantages for potential new business that could bring. We also heard about a few file sharing apps called Dropbox and SugarSync which are both beneficial for file sharing, especially larger files if you opt for the paid versions. A great organizer called To Do which is very similar to the one I use called Awesome Note (both free!). I like awesome note because you can customize eve-ry-thing and it’s really easy to use.
Rounding out the phone app session we focused on a few wicked apps that could reduce stress when it comes to contacts: a business card reader, contact bump app and a QR reader! First of all, the business card reader is such a great idea and tool when it comes to making and keeping track of contacts. Basically all you have to do is download the app (there are several, some paid, some free, keep in mind that the paid ones normally give you better or more advanced results – read the ratings and comments before buying!), scan the business card and save the details in your contacts! It’s so easy and makes your life so much simpler. Secondly, another scan-able app is the QR readers. In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, a QR code looks a little like this:
When you scan one of these QR (Quick Response) codes, your phone will actually take you the website or link that the QR code has been coded to link to. It’s a great marketing tool and great for social media minded mavens. If you want to learn more visit Jonathan’s blog posts here and here. Lastly, the coolest app I learned about this evening is called Bump and basically it’s an app designed to allow you to literally “bump” (or shake in front of another iphone – sorry BB’ers this ones purely iphone accessable!) and you can share contact details, photos, music, apps, etc. I cannot wait to try this one out (please let me know if you have the bump app so we can give it a try)!
Which smart phone apps do you use on a daily basis and how are they most useful for you? I’d love to hear your smart phone app suggestions and reviews – after all this is a topic that is mutually beneficial to keeps on sharing!
The PR Life 