Lecturing at SCU: online social networking as a contemporary business practice

Name a company, professional person, business or brand that you follow on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest or get email newsletters from. How did you come to follow that source and what do you like about being in touch? How do you interact (customer service, community, feedback on product, promos, education, entertainment)? What brand or business are you aware of on social media not doing it well or otherwise making big mistakes? These are some of the questions I asked two business classes at Santa Clara recently.

Had a great time lecturing on #socialnetworking & #digitalmarketing to 2 biz classes at @santaclarauniv https://t.co/DuetiZyOji — Anastasia Ashman (@AnastasiaAshman) October 13, 2014

Great to have @AnastasiaAshman at SCU today in my business class as guest lecturer on #digitalmarketing -real world expertise #SiliconValley — Tanya Monsef Bunger (@TMonsefBunger) October 2, 2014

enterprising women surfers in the front row! MT @TMonsefBunger: Great to have @AnastasiaAshman at #SCU guest lecture on #digitalmarketing — Anastasia Ashman (@AnastasiaAshman) October 2, 2014

Looking forward to lecturing on #digitalmarketing & #socialnetworking to Contempo American Biz Issues classes at Santa Clara Univ this week! — Anastasia Ashman (@AnastasiaAshman) September 28, 2014

 In fun, interactive hour and a half sessions, I encouraged the students to become independent scholars on the topic of digital marketing and social networking since it's a topic moving at the speed of light and will never be able to be covered properly at the pace of traditional textbook publishing.

To supplement the student's rudimentary and out of date textbook chapter on this subject -- MySpace was listed first in section about social networks -- I shared my favorite cutting-edge sources for all things social networking and digital marketing:

• tools like Slideshare and Twitter chats like @MarketingNut Pam Moore's #mktgchat,
• relevant ters like content marketing, social curation, social discovery and double opt-in, and
• thought leaders in the space who produce free newsletters, webinars and other content that the students can subscribe to and learn as it happens: Brian Solis, Bryan Kramer,  Jay Baer's ConvinceandConvert, Chris Brogan, Derek Halpern's Social Triggers, Shelly Kramer, ConversationAgent, Chris Garrett, Sonia Simone, Olivier Blanchard, Tara Gentile, Meghan Biro and Brian Clark.

I suggested the students can also make a Twitter list of digital marketing leaders and easily dip into what these players are discussing and with whom.

Thanks for the invitation to lead the digital marketing discussion for two of your business classes, Tanya Monsef Bunger! Your students are inspiring. Several have fledgling businesses, and many are aware consumers watching closely which businesses engage them online in meaningful ways, and which companies are failing to use digital tools to foster closer connection with their market.

Was pleased to be able to award a very participatory student, John, with a signed copy of Porter Gale's Your Network is Your Net Worth. Enjoy it!

And extra thanks to all the students of Contemporary American Business Issues for your participation and feedback, including Cindy, Armand, Jerica, Liv, Anabel, Brynn, Mariam, Meaghan, Alex, Marc, Paulina, Alec, Nicholas, Josalvin, and Ashley.

Pitched visual storytelling app to MBAs from South Korea

Had a great time today presenting SELFish, a social & visual storytelling mobile app in open beta for the next few months, to 30 MBA student-professionals from LG CNS visiting from South Korea, at RocketSpace. Thanks RocketStudios and LG!

I created and delivered the company's first live, public presentation of the product, the team, and our roadmap to market.

The event organizers asked each of the three RocketSpace startups which presented (social smartphone camera app Shoto.com and social betting app Youbetme.com) to include a particular challenge we are facing so the MBA students can address it in their afternoon session. I chose the challenge of selecting only one UVP as we go to market. At SELFish, we have several. Which should we emphasize to consumers? Is it our controls that allow us to pick who sees or contributes to our stories? Or is it our connection of moments into ongoing stories?

Thanks too, to Ronan Roche, a business analyst at RocketSpace, for making this homestyle video for me on short notice.

Biggest Startup Lessons, Fun Tech Coworking Spaces, A New Product's Superpower

Thanks to RocketSpace for interviewing me for their Startup Spotlight series this month about SELFish, the new social network I joined earlier this year. We're based at RocketSpace, a really fun coworking and office space for high growth tech companies.

An excerpt from the interview (you can catch the whole thing here:

What’s your favorite thing about RocketSpace?

I’ve been working remotely as a cultural entrepreneur for many years so my favorite thing about RocketSpace is the energy and the serendipity of meeting others who are on a similar journey. After living globally for 14 years, I especially appreciate the borderless, international nature of RS. And I have to give props to RS’s sense of humor. The “wtf@” and “omg@” email aliases for reporting issues or happy occasions are your brand voice. You manage to be substantial and lighthearted at the same time.

What is your product’s superpower?

I’d say it’s that there are no social conventions to worry about at SELFish. We give you control, so you can indulge your self expression. Share what you want, how much you want, with whom you want. Since I’m a high volume publisher with very disparate interests and communities I want to interact with, I especially like that aspect of the product.

Sneak Peek At New Social Networking App To Collaborate On Your Life Stories

Sneak peek what I've been working on as a community and content person at the Selfish startup since February... we go live in the Canada and Russian app stores this summer and the USA app store soon after!

If you want to beta test this new social networking app for collaborating on your life stories with your favorite people, let me know and I'll send you a super special link.

Happy Memorial Day!

Executing Global Rollout Of A New Social Networking Collaboration Tool

Selfish: Capture, collaborate on, and share life's important moments http://t.co/0o2jSACIz4 — BetaList (@BetaList) April 6, 2014

BetaList highlights to thousands of tech-savvy early adopters the upcoming mobile app of Selfish.me, the San Francisco startup I joined in February as director of community...

So fun strategizing and executing the global rollout of this new social networking collaboration tool! Sign up now to be notified as soon as it hits the app store.

Talking 21st Century Tools For Legal Careers

In April I'll be speaking to female law students and young lawyers about taking control of their career with the help of an intentional online presence. The event is a new 21st century legal skills conference launched by Alison Monahan of The Girl’s Guide to Law School and Law School Toolbox and Lee Burgess of Amicus Tutoring. Along with Adrian Lurssen of JD Supra and Titilayo Tinubu of  JD Job Coach, I'll be a member of a Catapult 2013 workshop about using social media and online publishing to develop your career, build your personal brand, and expand your networks.

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Read my follow up of the conference, "Lawyers Online: The Merits of Taking Calculated Risks" and the handout I made for my social media workshop.

Migrating My 2-Year Old Creative Entrepreneurs Facebook Page & LinkedIn Group To GlobalNiche

After two years, Tara and I are closing our Creative Entrepreneurs Facebook page. Members of this group are scattered all over the globe. We are working in a variety of areas and are hybrids of some sort. We identify with being suspended between multiple worlds and find ourselves challenged by culture, geography, language and time zone. But we believe that limbo state is our secret weapon.

We are looking forward to more discussions about how you turn disadvantages into springboards, and how you flourish in the niche you create for yourself.

What we've been doing here and at our LinkedIn group we've been taking to the next level at our GlobalNiche page for more than six months. Come join us there and keep evolving your creative enterprise...

Our mission at this page and at LinkedIn since 2009 is to aid creative entrepreneurs poised to maximize the benefits of social networks by actively connecting with each other and pooling resources and inspiration.

Creative entrepreneurs tap into their own skills, talents and circumstances to develop work tailor-made to their interests and lifestyle.

Social media provides creative professionals the ability and opportunity to leverage web technologies to build and grow their projects and businesses.

How To Build Community On Twitter: A Workshop for Professional American Women Of Istanbul

Today Tara Agacayak and I are conducting a workshop for the members of the PAWI professional network.

We'll be demonstrating how to use Twitter and talking about next steps.

Of particular interest to foreign national professional women, we'll emphasize how to tap into like-minded, interested communities for your own personal and professional purposes.

Figurehead Travel Model For The Sharing Economy

Acknowledging a tendency for certain students to be natural leaders in their social circles, Kerim Baran, principal of a figurehead travel service based in San Francisco, invites magnetic personalities to serve as unencumbered trip leaders while their classmates cement social and professional bonds in style.

“Imagine jetting off to an exotic locale with your favorite college crowd,” says Baran. “Without the buzz-killing responsibility of being in charge.”

Inspired by his own social travel peaks while in the academy, this Harvard MBA offers a short-cut to quality group travel in Turkey and beyond, absorbing intensive logistics and tailoring trips to culturally curious, active collegiates.

In its maiden season this past summer, Baran chartered Istanbul nightclub hopping and Aegean yachting tours for several assemblies of Harvard students.

Staging my destination wedding in Turkey last year was a first-hand lesson in the immense energy investment -- and memorable profit -- of group travel. Through social connections I have become acquainted with Mr. Baran and his travel philosophy.

I see it as a way to maximize college holidays: students with less cash to drop than shoulders to rub can benefit from the economy of scale offered by this new form of group trip. The figurehead model.