Nashville Technology Council

This week, we had the pleasure of hearing pitches from Belmont students for a new Social Media plan for the NTC initiative “Nashville is Hiring”, aka “Nash Hire”. NTC Member Steve Chandler and co-teacher Jason Elkins began the Social Media class to teach the fundamentals of social media marketing, what works and what doesn’t.

This is a new class, and “Nash Hire” was glad to be their first client! Students had to present us with a Social Media plan for Nash Hire that could be put to use by the NTC. The class was divided into teams of 4. Each team presented us with a detailed plan for “Nash Hire” with areas that included Linked-In, Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, Press Releases and Metrics… to name a few.

Each team was truly thoughtful and engaging. They all took the time to get to know our brand and objectives. We are going to have a difficult time choosing the winner, but we really enjoyed hearing all the pitches. We just wanted to share a few pictures with you so you can see what fun we had. These students clearly have a bright future ahead of them.

Be sure to check back to see the winner. You will also get to see them at the 2011 Technology Awards Gala. The winning team gets a table at the event as our special guests!

To me, golf always seemed like one of those sports that had a lot of tradition… one of which was being quiet. That means no cell phones allowed, right? But it also seemed like the perfect place to use Twitter. The game is slow paced and lots of people follow it. I guess I wasn’t the only one who thought that!

“With an unparalleled ability for sports, franchises, and players to interact with fans, one group has finally joined the technology-savvy masses; the Professional Golf Association has at long last embraced social media. In a sport ruled by tradition, civility, and gamesmanship, an attempt to gain a greater audience and connect with fans has led to the embrace of Twitter and Facebook.”

Read the article here.

Last Thursday, The Aberdeen Group hosted a digital media presentation with Domino Pizza and WebTrends.  Below is a link to the presentation for your knowledge base.

View SlideShare of Presentation

From time to time, we feature contributions on the Council Newswire from our members.  Today, Avaya’s Cary Bush comments on working “smarter” with social media in 2011 and a tool at hand that can help us all improve business collaboration.

Learn more ways you and your company can contribute to a smarter planet and smarter Nashville at our Membership Meeting on Tuesday, January 18th!

The ability to stay “top of mind” with our customers and clients has taken a huge leap with the various social media resources available today (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). There are so many ways to “get your point across” that it is easy wonder where to begin. Those of us in the technology industry have a bit of a head start as these tools were created in our own backyard, but even with this jump on the rest of the world, our traditional means of communications processes can slow down with what, and how, we adopt and implement these technologies.

Process is key to any winning strategy, and is true here as well. Simply jumping “online” with the latest application widget does not necessarily mean we will be front and center. For these tools to be both informative and productive, each business needs to understand how their core customer base communicates, and develop a combination strategy that best fits those needs. I would submit that in order to bridge the gap between business collaboration and social media, each business (and even business units within a company) needs to identify exactly what that gap is (it will be largely different depending on your line of work).

Many application companies have put forth attempts to consolidate the media… making it more collaborative and user friendly. Avaya has developed a very unique tool in the Flare Experience. This software solution is purpose built around the way businesses work, with intuitive touch screen interface, document and data sharing, HD video and voice, and “pooling” contacts from various media (including the usual suspects in social media) into a “contextual” experience. More software and application companies are developing integration tools continually, so it will be interesting to look back to see what solutions actually become the match-makers between social media and true business collaboration.

We have heard this a lot, but we must work “smarter”, and to do this we need to apply technologies that are in sync with our core competencies. If all we do is setup a company Facebook page or Tweet about our last trip to Starbucks, we aren’t fully utilizing the tools that are available. Knowing where our prospects go to find out about or research something they need is the first step toward building a collaboration process that benefits both parties.

- Cary Bush

Berklee’s Career Development Center recently announced a study of salary ranges for a variety of positions in the music industry.  As a result of the analysis of top career paths for music industry professionals, Berklee’s survey assesses that in the arena of music business and communication fields, music technology and social media related positions are experiencing the most growth in regard to job creation.  There is little data to analyze salaries for these positions, but it was noted that developers (mobile applications, widgets, specialized platforms), consultants, bloggers, digital and online marketers were among the emerging, high growth jobs.

If position creation and growth naturally leads to specialization and segmentation, this can explain some of what we’ve been seeing in regard to the explosion of music related technology startups that have been born in Nashville in the last few years, including Moontoast, MyWerx, Bandbox and Carazel.  Obedia, a Los Angeles based audio technology company that provides training, technical support and consultancy services, recently relocated its main office to Nashville.  Landmark Digital which provides pivotal audio recognition technology to BMI and other partners, is based in Nashville.  With the rich artist community, label and management presence and growing technology and entrepreneur community, is Nashville poised to be the home of music technology innovation?

To read the full report, visit: http://www.berklee.edu/pdf/parents/music-industry-salaries.pdf

We’re happy to announce that the 2010 edition of Catalyst has been released to the public!  Here is the information from today’s press release:

The Nashville Technology Council officially released its annual technology business magazine Catalyst. Catalyst is a self published technology publication featuring a cross section of articles concerning the variety of technology verticals in Middle Tennessee and around the State. Members of the Technology Council received an advance copy of the 2011 addition prior to its release to the public.

“We are very excited to highlight the tech companies that make Middle Tennessee home,” said J. Tod Fetherling, President/CEO Nashville Technology Council. “This year’s edition covers education, robotics, electronic medical records, and music. Our technology industry is as diverse as any in the country and powers today’s industries in America who are transforming the global markets in health, music, and transactions.”

Featured articles include:

The Top 100 Technology Leaders in Tennessee

Nashville’s Next Big Hit- Electronic Medical Records

Venture Capital in Tennessee

New Tunes– Music Startups

BioTech– Strengthening Bones and the Community

Social Media

iRobot – Robots that Learn

“Catalyst will be used in economic development, recruiting, and in our T3 Initiative to educate future students about the benefits of pursuing technology careers,” said Andy Flatt, Chair of the Nashville Technology Council Board of Directors. “This vehicle will be used extensively over the next 12 months to promote our city, our businesses and our future.”

To order a copy of Catalyst or to find out more information, email catalyst@technologycouncil.com.

Nashville Tech Story (1/8/10)

poken |pōkən|
verb [trans.]
to touch two poken devices together, exchange data and make, keep and cultivate human connections.

noun (plural same) trademark
1. any poken product: pokenSPARK ™, pokenPULSE™, pokenHUB™; the poken website: www.poken.com
2. the actual company behind the whole thing. when Poken is written with a capital “P”, we’re talking about Poken S.A., all official and whatnot.

Today, it seems like there are new social media tools coming out by the second. The Poken, “your social media business card,” is making business connections even easier. Much like the iPhone’s Bump Application, you can gather your new friend’s contact information with a simple touch.  This information is then stored on a USB drive, and you can view all of your “social business cards” in one place.

The Poken also records the date and time, which you gathered your contact information.  So, if you know you met someone two weeks ago, and want to check out their LinkedIn profile, you can simply scroll back in time to the date you met them.   Your Poken can store up to fifty contacts before transferring the data onto your computer.

Check out the Poken demonstration video below, and get to poken.

Poken Explained from Poken on Vimeo.

Nashville Tech Story (11/23/09)

[meta]marketer’s Kate O’Neill led the audience through key points to a strategic social media plan last week, as she introduced the group to a number of tools including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  As the workshop began, the audience emphasized their need for understanding Social Media as a business promoter, the safety and privacy of these tools, and the proper etiquette for the use of these tools.

Kate began the workshop by emphasizing the importance of adapting to this form of marketing, and embracing these tools as the “new normal.”  An interesting statistic she pointed out is that Facebook is beginning to encroach Google in quantity of web traffic, and very soon might surpass it completely.  Another interesting point, thanks to @Bazaarvoice, is that 64% of consumers connected to brands on social media made their first purchase from that brand due to a digital experience.  This really laid down the ground rules of the importance of getting to know and understand this type of marketing.

Although it is extremely tempting just to dive in and start using these tools, Kate illustrated the importance of creating a strategy for your marketing efforts.  You should ask yourself:
-Who are you trying to reach?
-Who are the audiences you are trying to connect?
-What channel is appropriate to communicate with your audience?  
-What are the key concepts that you want to get across?
-What are the key terms you would use to describe that concept?  
-Who are your content contributors?

After defining your strategy, it is important to participate, but in the proper way.  So, what is the etiquette for Social Media use?  Kate referred to this as, “Think of it like a cocktail party…. light and interesting.”  She also emphasized the importance of not only talking about what you think is interesting, but make sure it will be interesting to your target audience as well.  In addition, she stated that it is essential to think about everything and make sure it is always back on a strategic level.

If you missed Kate’ presentation, and want to find out more, take a look at her slideshow below:

Nashville Tech Story (11/10/09)

Now you can spam your LinkedIn profile with a cryptic 140 character messages.  Thanks to a new partnership between Twitter and LinkedIn, you can now sync your updates on both platforms.  For the business users of LinkedIn, get ready for more updates about the kids, day-dreaming, and other stream of conscience thoughts.  It should be interesting.  Before you go ranting and raving too much, you might want to think about everyone who has linked to you in your professional persona!

Click Here to read more.

Nashville Tech Story (10/30/09)

Did you miss the Nashville Technology Awards last Tuesday night?  Don’t worry, we have plenty of pictures to fill you in on everything you may have missed.  Take a look at the finalists and winners celebrating backstage in the slide show below.  In case you are wondering, yes, those are real Gibson Epiphone guitars, designed especially for the 2009 Nashville Technology Awards.

Finalists and winners weren’t the only one’s celebrating Tuesday night.  Over 375 participants walked the red carpet at this event.  See pictures from the red carpet cocktail reception below.

Special thanks to XO Communications, the Platinum Sponsor of the 2009 Nashville Technology Awards.