Twitter lists seem to be the greatest thing since sliced bread lately.  I have to say that I do love them.  I read a post by my former lovely co-worker Manda Otto about what lists she’s on.  I have to admit that got me thinking and wondering what lists I’m on.  Vanity, and all.  So I looked it up.

28 Listed… Pretty Sweet!

• @mcbrundage/affiliate
• @startpoken/poken-fans
• @Route53/affiliatefriends
• @Garth_OBrien/social-media
• @stefaniehutson/internet-marketing-women
• @Happy213/viewaskew
• @LisaP/affiliatemarketing
• @LisaP/coolsfpeeps
• @FredericPrigent/affiliation
• @JudiM/marketingwork
• @karengarcia/affiliate-marketing
• @CRschilliger/etc
• @LindaSherman/geeky-girls-to-love
• @latenitecoder/affiliatebiz
• @jangro/affiliatorati
• @danielmclark/geekcast-fm-podcasters
• @sharonmostyn/amazing-affiliate
• @Rexanne/affiliate-marketing
• @MarketLeverage/friends-and-fans
• @brettbum/affiliateindustryinsiders
• @jgoode/affiliate-pals
• @toddfarmer/affiliate-marketing
• @TFNDina/orlando
• @TFNDina/too-awesome-for-titles
• @nikkixbee/irl
• @nikkixbee/friends
• @drcool73/awesome-affiliate-people
• @angies91/affiliate-marketing

So let’s examine the stats… 14 mentions of affiliate… two mentions of awesome, one mention of amazing.  As you can tell, I seem to have done a pretty good job branding myself as an affiliate marketing professional.  I’m sure I probably reside on more lists that users have chosen to keep private.  I think my two favorite are Dina’s “Too Awesome for Titles” and Linda’s “Geeky Girls to Love”.  Thanks a lot ladies!  Thanks to everyone who thought to toss me onto a list, for that matter.  I know that, personally, a lot of my lists are private because I just don’t feel like making them public.  I know when Twitter lists came out, I went through my entire list and categorized EVERYONE.  And if I didn’t know what category they really belonged in, I cut some.  I think this is a great development for Twitter… much better than the new retweet function!

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

According to a May 2009 report by the U.S. Department of Education, “Online learning… is one of the fastest growing trends in educational uses of technology.”  This is a great opportunity for ANYONE to share their knowledge of any subject with others and actually make some money.  This is a game changer as it takes education to a level more easily accessible for everyone.  Anyone with extensive knowledge on any topic can create their own university and spread knowledge to others.

Prfessor is to online universities what Blogger is to online weblogs – a super easy, brandable way to start your own university.  The genius of Prfessor is that you can set up the university to teach whatever you want that you hold expertise on, whether that’s business and marketing, or something more fun like cross-stitch and needlepoint or model train building.  You don’t have to bear the brunt of the work either – many Prfessor based online universities have grown to include not only the founder as a professor, but other skilled teachers have been recruited to offer students incredibly well rounded content.

Online learning (a) helps increase the availability of learning experiences for learners who cannot or choose not to attend traditional face-to-face offerings… (b) is a cost-efficient way to put together and disseminate instructional content… or (c) helps instructors to “handle more students while maintaining learning outcome quality.”.  I can tell you that this is true  – my husband is about to graduate from DeVry University after having taken three years of courses part-time online after work.  There’s no way he could have achieved this if he was forced to attend a physical school as his work hours often include on-call service calls and overtime.  People want to learn, and online is the way to go.

Prfessor just launched yesterday, and only 200 accounts are being offered to begin with.  It’s a relatively low barrier of entry to start a university – $1997 for a custom-skinned (designed) account, and that after 30-days you will be charged only $49.97 a month for the use of the software.  You’ll also get the bonuses of the branding, help from content experts to get you going, and hands-on premium support.  Go ahead – start sharing your extensive knowledge on a topic and let me know – I just might take your class!

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

Guest Post by Dominic Fawver.

During Affiliate Summit I visited both the Meet Market and the exposition hall to see the booths.  I was impressed at how good some of the booths and tables were, and also at how bad some were.  If I could recognize they were bad as a first time attendee, they must have stood out to veterans.  Here are some general comments based upon my experiences.

• Have a banner behind the table, giving your name and hopefully an idea of what you are (network, merchant, etc.)
• Have a give away: this is something that will make people remember you later.  It is even better if it ties in with your company name, slogan, or something of that nature.  It never hurts to be unique.
• Have people at the booth (I would have assumed that was obvious).
• Be friendly (again, obvious).
• Don’t have several people working the crowd and handing out stuff (I got asked if I wanted Perfect English at least 10 times) and no one at the table.
• If you have a giveaway or are doing a contest make sure to enter people that come up in it.  If there is a scanner make sure that all of the people working the booth know how to use it.
• Make sure that you are not crowding into the booth next to you.
• If your giveaway is beer make sure there is plenty of room for people (very good attention getter in my opinion, but a zoo if not handled right).

I would have thought most of these would be completely obvious, but I saw multiple examples of each.  Companies are paying for these tables, so the focus should be optimizing the experience to bring in business, not turn it away.  I was really impressed with adCanadian and how every little detail of their table tied into company branding – their banner, the sticker, the giveaway, their jersey – and they were really nice guys to boot (eh!).  They created a positive, lasting impression, which is what you should be doing when representing the company at any conference or industry event.  Keep these tips in mind when planning your own Meet Market table or booth for future conferences!

 Powered by Max Banner Ads