Just a few short weeks ago the Oceanside Chamber joined the Twitter revolution. We can be found at http://www.twitter.com/OsideCAChamber. We're closing in on our first 100 followers and are excited about the opportunties that this social media outlet has provided and will provide for the Chamber and our members.
I would like to recognize some of the Chamber members who we are currently following on Twitter. If you have a Twitter account and you're not on this list, please email me at scott@oceansidechamber.com so we can follow what's happening in your business.
If you don't already have a Twitter account, I recommend that you sign up and start following these Chamber members...
http://twitter.com/101Cafe - 101 Cafe
http://twitter.com/BeachSoccer - Oceanside Beach Soccer
http://twitter.com/legoland_ca - Legoland California
http://twitter.com/jerrysalyer - Salyer Insurance
http://twitter.com/GoNCTD - North County Transit District
http://twitter.com/scaldera - Quantum Learning Network
http://twitter.com/401COUNTRYCLUB - Boys & Girls Club of Oceanside
http://twitter.com/SanDiegoBBB - San Diego BBB
http://twitter.com/UnionTribune - San Diego Union Tribune
http://twitter.com/visitsandiego - San Diego Convis
http://twitter.com/Amazeinc - A-MAZEINC Internet Solutions
http://twitter.com/janicex21 - Residence Inn by Marriott Oceanside
http://twitter.com/RIOceanside - Residence Inn by Marriott Oceanside
http://twitter.com/Harney_Sushi - Harney Sushi
http://twitter.com/sddt - The Daily Transcipt
http://twitter.com/nctimes - North County Times
http://twitter.com/cooleremail - Cooler Email
http://twitter.com/jchapon - Quantum Learning Networking
http://twitter.com/DiveandKayak - Oceanside Dive & Kayak
http://twitter.com/onelily - One Lily Web Solutions
http://twitter.com/vespasandiego - Vespa San Diego
http://twitter.com/QuinnsRapidWebs - Quinn's Rapid Recharger
http://twitter.com/sonictweet - Sonic Spider
http://twitter.com/fpandg - Foremost Printing & Graphics
http://twitter.com/BtrVacationRent - Better Vacation Rentals
http://twitter.com/CoCoGal - Coco & Associates, Inc.
http://twitter.com/smartersmallbiz - Smarter Small Business
http://twitter.com/melmoore - Sonic Spider
http://twitter.com/ComputerGeeks - Computer Geeks
http://twitter.com/SuperCamp - Supercamp
I can only imagine how long this list will be one year from now. Keep tweeting!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Oh My!
My role at the chamber has become measurably more exciting in the last few months. We have become more in touch with the great opportunities we have to be a leader to our business community in terms of technology.
It really started to take off during the planning of our 2009 North County Business Showcase when committee members Don Reedy, Mark Baldwin and Richard Peat-Hanna started talking about the opportunties to promote the Showcase through blogging and Twitter. While we didn't get off the ground with Twitter until this month, we start our Business Showcase Blog right away, with the help of Don and Mark. Actually they did all the work and taught me how to use it. This provided instant "added value" to our exhibitors as we were able to give them the opportunity to post on the blog as soon as they signed up for booth space. It gave us a way to turn a one-day event into several months worth of exposure for our exhibitors, as you can still go to the site today and read their posts.
After that, it was time to turn my attention toward Twitter. I started my own personal Twitter account in March and then created one for the Chamber about 2 weeks ago. I see incredible opportunties for the Chamber to use Twitter to promote our members, disseminate news, publicize upcoming events, and more. You can follow us at http://twitter.com/osidecachamber.
After that, it was time to turn my attention toward Twitter. I started my own personal Twitter account in March and then created one for the Chamber about 2 weeks ago. I see incredible opportunties for the Chamber to use Twitter to promote our members, disseminate news, publicize upcoming events, and more. You can follow us at http://twitter.com/osidecachamber.
Then of course, there is LinkedIn. I have had my own LinkedIn Profile for quite a while, but have really just begun to use it more effectively by writing recommendations for business associates, co-workers, our LINK Luncheon speakers, etc. I'll also be creating a profile for the Chamber very soon.
So what's next? Well, here are some things the Chamber be working on in upcoming months...
- A YouTube Channel for the Chamber - a place where we can feature video testimonials, videos of events, chamber member commercials and more
- A Chamber Facebook Page
- A social networking community for Chamber members
- A series of seminars on Social Networking for local businesses
Most importantly, we will keep our eyes and ears open for all opportunties that come our way to help our members grow through technology. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
It Isn't All Negative
Today I went to our LINK Luncheon and listened to Ursula Mentjes talk about "Selling in Tough Times". Anytime Ursula speaks it is empowering and I can see mental sparks flying around our audience. One of Ursula's points today,"Thinking about different ways to do business", really tapped my spark.
Being in the Chamber business for 4 years I have seen changes in how business is being done. I realize 4 years doesn't seem like a long time, but it has been long enough to see trends.
It seems to me, let me remind you this is just my personal opinion, that when times were good it was very easy to be successful. I mean the homeless guy down at the beach who wanted to sell hats and crickets made out of palm frawns was even doing well! It didn't take a genius to make money.
It still doesn't take a genius to make money...just a different mindset, some creativity, and great customer service. Business is still booming, people are still making connections and our economy will keep going despite the negative news we are fed through the press. Yes some things have dropped to the wasteside and those opportunities are no longer, but isn't that how the world works?
How many people do you see buying and using typewriters any more? Think about how stressed the people who made those gadgets must have been with the invention of the PC? Or how the people who made VCR and VCR tapes felt with the invention of the CD? All of these industries had to rethink how they were doing business and then reposition themselves in the face of change and technology.
Today is no different than any other time of rethinking, repositioning, and coming up with ways to be innovative and stand out from the competition.
I personally hate "Well, this is how we have always done it" type of thinking. One of my challenges in the Chamber is taking an event that I do every year and giving it a different spin, a fresh prespective, and coming up with something you haven't seen or done before. It isn't easy, believe me. But, as you can see the Chamber is trying new avenues of business as well.
Scott has been instumental with our Blog, Twitter account, and all of the Social Networking type of tools available to us. Our Chamber has been amazing with outreach to the other San Diego Chambers, and we will continue to look for new avenues of opportunity to help each one of our members thrive in the face of adversity.
If nothing else, if we all have to try just a little bit harder than we had to in the past, can you imagine how strong we will be when we pull out of this rough spot.
Let's take our businesses to the A+ level and have some fun doing it!
Being in the Chamber business for 4 years I have seen changes in how business is being done. I realize 4 years doesn't seem like a long time, but it has been long enough to see trends.
It seems to me, let me remind you this is just my personal opinion, that when times were good it was very easy to be successful. I mean the homeless guy down at the beach who wanted to sell hats and crickets made out of palm frawns was even doing well! It didn't take a genius to make money.
It still doesn't take a genius to make money...just a different mindset, some creativity, and great customer service. Business is still booming, people are still making connections and our economy will keep going despite the negative news we are fed through the press. Yes some things have dropped to the wasteside and those opportunities are no longer, but isn't that how the world works?
How many people do you see buying and using typewriters any more? Think about how stressed the people who made those gadgets must have been with the invention of the PC? Or how the people who made VCR and VCR tapes felt with the invention of the CD? All of these industries had to rethink how they were doing business and then reposition themselves in the face of change and technology.
Today is no different than any other time of rethinking, repositioning, and coming up with ways to be innovative and stand out from the competition.
I personally hate "Well, this is how we have always done it" type of thinking. One of my challenges in the Chamber is taking an event that I do every year and giving it a different spin, a fresh prespective, and coming up with something you haven't seen or done before. It isn't easy, believe me. But, as you can see the Chamber is trying new avenues of business as well.
Scott has been instumental with our Blog, Twitter account, and all of the Social Networking type of tools available to us. Our Chamber has been amazing with outreach to the other San Diego Chambers, and we will continue to look for new avenues of opportunity to help each one of our members thrive in the face of adversity.
If nothing else, if we all have to try just a little bit harder than we had to in the past, can you imagine how strong we will be when we pull out of this rough spot.
Let's take our businesses to the A+ level and have some fun doing it!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Come Follow us on Twitter!
The Oceanside Chamber is excited to now have a presence on Twitter. In about 2 weeks, we have attracted over 50 followers and have added 29 updates. We have found that Twitter is going to be a very valuable resource for our Chamber over the upcoming months and years. How have we used Twitter so far? Here's how...
1). To welcome our new members
2). To let our followers know about our upcoming events
3). To share interesting articles
4). To pass on links to our State Assemblymembers's e-newsletters
5). To remind our followers to vote today
This is only the tip of the iceberg in what we can potentially do with Twitter and other social networking avenues. I am tremendously excited about the opportunity for our Chamber to take the lead on social networking for our business community.
Our Twitter bio sums up what we want to do for our businesses: Embracing technology to better serve our members and community.
Check us out at http://twitter.com/OsideCAChamber
1). To welcome our new members
2). To let our followers know about our upcoming events
3). To share interesting articles
4). To pass on links to our State Assemblymembers's e-newsletters
5). To remind our followers to vote today
This is only the tip of the iceberg in what we can potentially do with Twitter and other social networking avenues. I am tremendously excited about the opportunity for our Chamber to take the lead on social networking for our business community.
Our Twitter bio sums up what we want to do for our businesses: Embracing technology to better serve our members and community.
Check us out at http://twitter.com/OsideCAChamber
Generous Support for Golf with a Hero
At one of our recent planning meetings for our Annual Golf with a Hero event, the topic of sponsorship came up. With the challenging times in our economy, making phone calls to potential sponsors did not seem like such an appealing task this year. One of our committee members suggested contacting the companies that are currently doing business on Camp Pendleton and asking for their support.
This turned out to be a tremendously valuable suggestion, as the support from these companies has been very strong so far. Many of them responded to my initial round of emails with enthusiasm and have contributed golfers, sponsorship and more.
It is great to see the willingness of the business community to give back to our local military heroes!
This turned out to be a tremendously valuable suggestion, as the support from these companies has been very strong so far. Many of them responded to my initial round of emails with enthusiasm and have contributed golfers, sponsorship and more.
It is great to see the willingness of the business community to give back to our local military heroes!
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