PentaVision's "What's Your Story?" Blog

If you’re not using the internet as much as possible, you could be missing out on some potential opportunities to make your company stand out from the rest.  One web application that more and more companies are baiting their hooks with, and one that we are getting more and more requests for, is live web streaming.  With choices like Ustream, Livestream, Freedocast and Justin.tv offering free, live web streaming, it is becoming easier and easier to use this technology for your company. Read the rest of this entry →

When I was still in college (sigh…), wireless laptops were the professors biggest competition in the classroom.  Having wireless in classrooms was a big thing ~ even bigger when professors allowed you to bring your own laptop to “take notes” but it also gave everyone around you free reign to see what you were looking at. (Note taking, 100% of the time, I swear!!!) Majority of the time, most students had one popular social networking site always up – Facebook.  Back then (2-3 years ago), Facebook was still predominantly for college and high school kids.  It had started to grow among recent graduates but it definitely had not escalated to parents, grandparents or professors…yet.  As these students graduated and went off into the working world, they often found social media sites blocked by their employers.  How dare they!?!? Read the rest of this entry →

Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend the annual eduWeb Conference held in Chicago. For those of you who are not familiar with this conference, you might take a gander from the two root words, edu (short for education) and web that it might deal with online strategies for the higher education industry. That you are right! As the website states, “The eduWeb Conference is an annual, internationally recognized event for the higher education community, attracting those who are involved in online strategy, marketing and technology.” Read the rest of this entry →

On August 4, 2010 I will post my last participation comments at Baker College Online as an undergraduate student in marketing. I’m what colleges and universities would refer to as a “non-traditional” student – I’m 31, a working professional and don’t have the flexibility to attend class on campus (nor would I want to attend on campus). I live at least 20 minutes from the nearest community college campus and while that might not seem like a long commute, see how long it takes during a Lake Michigan lake-effect snowstorm! I also didn’t really want to dedicate the necessary resources to make it to a “real” classroom. On the flip side, I definitely felt that I missed out on enriching in-person, real-time discussion and interactions. To be honest, statistics was not an easy class to learn solo!

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Everyone wants to make the right impression – whether it’s in person, by phone, email or other mode of communication. We practice what we’ll say, spend time crafting a solid email introduction, make sure our hair is neat and breath is fresh. But when it comes to social media marketing, some of us show up with bad form and no game plan.

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I’ve been attending quite a few great webinars lately – but none of them really gave me a jolt of life and inspiration like the one I attended on Tuesday presented by HubSpot that featured Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Crush It! and host of Wine Library TV – a vlog (video blog) all about one of my favorite topics, wine (I’ve created a Facebook group dedicated to that very topic!). Maybe it was the copious amounts of Starbucks bold coffee coursing through my veins, but a major fire was lit under me as I listened to Gary’s discussion about infusing passion into storytelling and interacting with customers to create dialogue and cultivate relationships.

You might be wondering how a guy who blogs about wine has earned the reputation as a best-selling author, social media guru and in-demand speaker. To anyone who attended, it was probably obvious:  Gary is absolutely passionate about everything he does. He lives, breathes and drinks(!) what he loves.

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If you’ve been following trends in the world of business over the last few years, you know that the way business is being conducted has changed in new and dramatic ways. From social networking to the growth of digital strategies such as viral marketing campaigns, getting out a message to the right people at the right time has become critical to business success. We’re seeing that the services our clients are using are changing and we are responding to these needs by adapting how we do business, too. Read the rest of this entry →