Online Community Start-up Guide – Online Branding

by Nancy Ford

Companies have probably used some form of branding for identification purposes from the time competition began. According to Wikipedia, a brand is the symbolic embodiment of a product or service. Thankfully, the process has evolved. Although we no longer sear flesh with a hot iron, we want our brand to be universally recognized and remembered.

This chapter of the Online Community Startup Guide deals with establishing and maintaining online brand recognition. Among the topics we shall consider are:
≈ Developing your own “look and feel”
≈ Trademarks and Copyrights
≈ Developing Brand Loyalty
≈ Tools

Please visit our website for the full post.
http://blacksgonegeek.org/OCSGBranding.aspx

Join The Blacks Gone Geek Community
http://blacksgonegeek.org/JoinTheBlacksGoneGeekCommunity.aspx

You Are What You Write

This social media phenomenon is a reality, and it’s a force that we all need to quickly come to terms with. It’s impacting all of us, no matter how young and how old. It doesn’t matter if you’re texting from your iPhone, typing IM’s from your PC, or connecting with your friends on Twitter, Facebook LinkedIn, and CollectiveX, you are part of this explosive online community.

Since the first of the year, we’ve had 8,530 visits and 16,654 page views from 6,890 visitors at Blacks Gone Geek. We’re a global community with visitors from 722 cities and 47 countries. This online community is the place to be, the place where you can connect online with folks like you, who share common interests and objectives.

At Blacks Gone Geek we are dedicated to providing great content like Geeks Gone Great, the Online Community Start-up Guide and the 2009 IT Job Outlook because we believe that “you are what you write”.

Come join us. We’re only one click away. And if you like what you see, invite your friends too!

Milt Haynes, Founder
Blacks Gone Geek

Join The Blacks Gone Geek Community http://blacksgonegeek.org/JoinTheBlacksGoneGeekCommunity.aspx

Online Community Start-up Guide – Writing Tips
by Karla Williams

When you build a blog or a social networking site, the purpose, of course, is to get people to follow you, join your site, and build your reputation as an expert in your chosen discipline. But how do you decide what to write about and how to write it? What can you do to promote it? How can you determine if it will meet your professional/business needs?

We will answer these questions and provide other tips in this chapter that will help you write persuasive and interesting online content. Among the things we’ll discuss are:
≈ What to Write/Include
≈ How to Write It
≈ How to Use and Create Titles – Your Basic Promotion Tool
≈ How to Maintain a Professional Image
≈ Where to Go for More Writing Tips

Please visit our website for the full post.
http://blacksgonegeek.org/OCSGWritingTips.aspx

Join The Blacks Gone Geek Community
http://blacksgonegeek.org/JoinTheBlacksGoneGeekCommunity.aspx

BGG Alert - How Marketers are Using Social Media to Grow their Businesses

An overwhelming majority (88%) of marketers in a recent survey say they are now using some form of social media to market their business, though 72% of those using it say they have only been at it a few months or less, according to a social media study by Michael Stelzner, sponsored by the upcoming Social Media Success Summit 2009.

...

Click here for more info
http://blacksgonegeek.org/Publications.aspx

Join The Blacks Gone Geek Community
http://blacksgonegeek.org/JoinTheBlacksGoneGeekCommunity.aspx

BGG Alert - TweetDeck

I just started using TweetDeck. I like it so far. It alerts me when I get a tweet and it lets me group my followers. There are many other features too...

Click here for the full post.

http://blacksgonegeek.org/BGGAlertTweetDeck.aspx

Join the Blacks Gone Geek Community
http://blacksgonegeek.org/JoinTheBlacksGoneGeekCommunity.aspx

Blacks Gone Geek Live 6/20/09 Blogging While Brown Conference

Why Go Geek?

Continuing Blogger Education/Technology Update Workshop

Who: Milt Haynes, Founder, Blacks Gone Geek

Date: Saturday June 20, 2009

Time: 8:35 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.

Where: University Center, 525 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60605

The purpose of the Blogging While Brown Conference is to give Bloggers of Color an opportunity to meet each other for the first time, discuss current issues affecting Bloggers of Color, and learn about the latest technology that will assist them with publishing their work.

Synopsis
How can I use social networking tools to build an online community?
What is Inbound Internet Marketing and how did it influence on Barack Obama's presidential campaign?

What does it take to build a successful career in the IT Industry?

This workshop will address the key skills that are needed and how to obtain them. This seminar will also show you how to tap into talent communities using web 2.0 tools and techniques to find lucrative and rewarding career opportunities. This is a must attend seminar for anyone interested in building an online business or pursuing a long-term career in IT.

Come join us at the 6/20/09 Blogging While Brown Conference - Click Here to Registerhttp://www.eventbrite.com/event/214160560/bwbaffiliate/65388538

BGG Alerts - Blacks Are Creating Power Using Twitter

Los Angeles, CA (BlackNews.com)

Black people can be micro-influencers on Twitter to millions of people, far extending their particular region...

http://blacksgonegeek.org/BGGAlertBlacksCreatingPower.aspx

IT Hiring Trends Among Consulting and Staffing Firms

by Stephanie Fedrick

In the midst of the current economic downtown, some companies are still hiring. There are some staffing firms who are experiencing an increase in demand for temporary workers. Because of the uncertainty they face in forecasting financial growth, firms are increasingly turning to temporary workers to complete project assignments. Many companies have projects that have to be completed, despite budget constraints. According to staffing service Robert Half International, firms that are unable to add full-time employees during periods of economic uncertainty, often bring in professionals on a temporary basis. In the current environment, it can be difficult for firms to project their long term hiring needs. As a result, temporary workers are used to maintain productivity, while minimizing the cost associated with hiring a full time employee. One advantage of companies hiring temporary workers at the time of an economic downturn is the ability to choose from a larger pool of qualified candidates.

Please click this link for the full article
http://blacksgonegeek.org/HiringTrendsConsulting.aspx

Join Blacks Gone Geek Community
http://blacksgonegeek.org/JoinTheBlacksGoneGeekCommunity.aspx

Online Community Start-up Guide - Social Networking Sites

by Nancy Ford

Let’s explore the wonderful world of social networks! This is not just your grandchild’s pastime anymore. After we define social networks, among the things we’ll discuss are:
≈ Profiles
≈ Relationships
≈ Connections
≈ Types of Sites
≈ Groups
≈ Creating Your Own Social Network
≈ Safety
≈ How Wayne Hicks Has Grown the BDPA CollectiveX Groupsite
≈ Consolidation for Time Management

Please visit our website for the full post.

http://blacksgonegeek.org/OCSGSocialNetworks.aspx

Join the Blacks Gone Geek Community

http://blacksgonegeek.org/JoinTheBlacksGoneGeekCommunity.aspx

Attention: Online Community Organizers

Blacks Gone Geek was founded in October 2007 for the sole purpose of growing an online community to promote African Americans in IT. In the spirit of Ujima, we envisioned a vibrant community where folks would gather to share a part of their lives. Anyone who blasts email to their colleagues, friends and relatives is building an online community and that’s just how we started growing our community way back when. But since then we’ve learned a lot more effective ways to grow an online community, so we started writing an eBook, just a few weeks ago, to capture lessons learned and best practices.

This eBook called the Online Community Start-up Guide, has been published chapter by chapter, week by week and we’re almost done. We believe that this guide will help take the mystery out of starting online communities and help others promote causes near and dear to their hearts.

Times have changed dramatically over the last few months. Now, instead of dumping money into traditional advertising like expensive super bowl commercials, companies are taking the cheaper and more effective alternative of promoting their products online. How many emails with KFC coupons did you get?

But why aren’t community organizations, churches and small businesses promoting themselves using the myriad of free services online? And why aren’t our folks learning the skills needed to get a job in this new economy? You’ve got to start somewhere and I suggest you start here. We’re writing the Online Community Start-up Guide for beginners, with easy to follow instructions to help them get started.

We thought it would satisfy their needs but now it’s clear that we were wrong. While writing this eBook, we found that as fast as we wrote about the latest developments in web technology, blogs, and social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, and CollectiveX, new developments like the meteoric rise of Twitter usage came into play.

Over the past year, Twitter has become a wildly-popular social network, allowing people to stay in touch not just with their friends but also with celebrities like MC Hammer and Shaquille O’Neal, who use the service to talk directly to their fans. Now the NBA is on Twitter and Twitter usage continues to grow with a surprisingly “older” demographic.

Before the ink was dry on our pages, new topics to write about popped up like Ping.fm, TwitterGroups, TwitterFeed and FriendFeed. So to keep up with this growing demand for fresh, we’ve decided to continue providing tips and techniques to our community in form of blog posts, email blasts, and news articles.

This is a safe haven where you can grow your own online community too. How? By sharing your own fresh content too. Feel free to join our discussion group to share your own experiences, and tips, tricks and techniques. And please pass this message on to other to help your friends grow their own online communities too.

Join BGG Community
http://blacksgonegeek.org/JoinTheBlacksGoneGeekCommunity.aspx