Cali is my new home! I love living near San Francisco, and going to Silicon Valley. Being in Tech, this is the place to be!
But here are a few observations I have seen from moving from the East Coast!
• Tesla’s are everywhere. I love Tesla and there are no shortage out in the West!
• T-shirts rule the day. I see them on their own, under hoodies, and even under suit jackets.
• Kale is a major food group. I have eaten more Kale in the last months than in my entire life!
• Vball rocks. Yep, at Stanford, they even have a band and cheerleaders for volleyball games. Back in NY it is football, Lacrosse that rule. Not here! My daughters are thrilled (my oldest made second team all-district!)
• No main food. In Texas, you must have TexMex and Barbque, in NY, Italian, but what is the food of Cali? It is healthy and very diverse!
• Longchamp bags. My purse is a Longchamp that is a cool, Parisan bag, that I carry everywhere. No one I know in NY carries one but here I see them everywhere!
• Talented nice, helpful people abound. In NYC, I could find a great restaurant at every corner, In San Francisco, I find great talent and people at every corner.
As you know, I’m a HUGE fan of growth hacking and content marketing. Businesses need to embrace the most powerful digital engagement strategies and make data-driven decisions!
And what’s a core ingredient to make this happen? Skills!
We need new marketers that understand how to mine data to build PERSONALIZED relationships. We need project managers that know how to run an EFFECTIVE content calendar. We need data scientists and developers that can build the tools to TRANSFORM industries.
How do we build these skills? Through partnerships and development of an ECOSYSTEM. That’s exactly what we are doing with the Nustory Project. We’re matching student teams with startups to work on real-world challenges building and executing on content marketing plans.
Recipes for success:
Pair students with living, breathing startups
For this project, we are leveraging two key components of our ecosystem: faculty and students from our Academic Initiative AND startups from our Global Entrepreneur Program.
Faculty realize the need to build content marketing skills. As Peter Cardon from USC’s Marshall School of Business says, “Social media has turned brands into publishers, and the pressure to produce quality content is growing.”
Startups realize the importance of building content strategies to differentiate themselves as digital engagement becomes increasingly important.
Give students access to the best tools and platforms
To create a culture of success, we need to give students and startups access to the best tools!
Again we leverage our ecosystem, bringing in Hootsuite, the world’s most widely used social relationship platform and a key IBM social business partner . Through Hootsuite’s Higher Education Program, students access the Hootsuite platform for sharing content across social media and measuring its effectiveness. Startups access the platform to validate content and provide feedback.
For a successful content marketing strategy, COLLABORATION is KEY! And when it comes to collaboration, developerWorks offers a best-in-class suite of tools, whether its wiki for posting challenges or the forums for sharing best practices across a number of student teams.
Use analytics and certification to drive performance
Today’s volatile business environment demands a flexible data-driven strategy to drive success. Throughout the Nustory Project, students assess the reach, engagement and action from the social content they generate. They use agile processes to constantly move in the direction of higher value for customers and the startups they represent.
It’s one thing developing skills, but how can students actually PROVE that they are knowledgeable in Content Marketing? All students in the Nustory Project have access to Hootsuite University’s Certification Program – one of the best in the business for social media and content marketing.
So remember, when it comes to successful growth hacking and content marketing, think SKILLS and think ECOSYSTEM!
2) Hootsuite University – Stay up to date in today’s rapidly changing media landscape through social media education and industry-recognized certification
As you know, I’m a HUGE fan of growth hacking and content marketing. Businesses need to embrace the most powerful digital engagement strategies and make data-driven decisions!
And what’s a core ingredient to make this happen? Skills!
We need new marketers that understand how to mine data to build PERSONALIZED relationships. We need project managers that know how to run an EFFECTIVE content calendar. We need data scientists and developers that can build the tools to TRANSFORM industries.
How do we build these skills? Through partnerships and development of an ECOSYSTEM. That’s exactly what we are doing with the Nustory Project. We’re matching student teams with startups to work on real-world challenges building and executing on content marketing plans.
Recipes for success:
Pair students with living, breathing startups
For this project, we are leveraging two key components of our ecosystem: faculty and students from our Academic Initiative AND startups from our Global Entrepreneur Program.
Faculty realize the need to build content marketing skills. As Peter Cardon from USC’s Marshall School of Business says, “Social media has turned brands into publishers, and the pressure to produce quality content is growing.”
Startups realize the importance of building content strategies to differentiate themselves as digital engagement becomes increasingly important.
Give students access to the best tools and platforms
To create a culture of success, we need to give students and startups access to the best tools!
Again we leverage our ecosystem, bringing in Hootsuite, the world’s most widely used social relationship platform and a key IBM social business partner . Through Hootsuite’s Higher Education Program, students access the Hootsuite platform for sharing content across social media and measuring its effectiveness. Startups access the platform to validate content and provide feedback.
For a successful content marketing strategy, COLLABORATION is KEY! And when it comes to collaboration, developerWorks offers a best-in-class suite of tools, whether its wiki for posting challenges or the forums for sharing best practices across a number of student teams.
Use analytics and certification to drive performance
Today’s volatile business environment demands a flexible data-driven strategy to drive success. Throughout the Nustory Project, students assess the reach, engagement and action from the social content they generate. They use agile processes to constantly move in the direction of higher value for customers and the startups they represent.
It’s one thing developing skills, but how can students actually PROVE that they are knowledgeable in Content Marketing? All students in the Nustory Project have access to Hootsuite University’s Certification Program – one of the best in the business for social media and content marketing.
So remember, when it comes to successful growth hacking and content marketing, think SKILLS and think ECOSYSTEM!
2) Hootsuite University – Stay up to date in today’s rapidly changing media landscape through social media education and industry-recognized certification
Everyone is talking about growth hacking … but what is it?
Well here are some facts!
It was created by start ups and entrepreneurs as a way to do “marketing” but I really consider it an intersection of product, marketing, and data.
It is typically low cost alternative to costly ways to get attention
It is part of an online marketing ecosystem!!!
Growth Hacking runs on the engine of “content”
Skills needed are techniques such as search engine optimization, website analytics, content marketing and A/B testing which are already mainstream.
Some examples include:
An early example of “growth hacking” was Hotmail‘s inclusion of “PS I Love You” with a link for others to get the free online mail service. Another example was the offer of more storage by Dropbox to users who referred their friends (these were featured as well in Wikipedia)
One way to learn Growth Hacking, is to do Growth Hacking!
Maybe start simply with a blog! Why a blog? Well, a lot of growth hacking is about content marketing — But don’t let the word “blog” throw you off. “The better you become at creating content, promoting content and sustaining an output of content, the better you’ll be at growth hacking. Start simply on this one! ” Entrepreneur Magazine
