It's Friday!

It's Friday!
Mick Sharpe did some heavy lifting this week. Friday Favourites rounds up worth watching and reading from Google+.

#fridayfavourites  

Originally shared by Mick Sharpe

Catching the wind

Here we are, well rested, hands on the tiller and ready to sail into 2015 with a vengeance. So weigh anchor, trim the sails and let’s get underway.

First port of call is the weekend edition of The Mia Connect Power Chat (http://goo.gl/bMztpP) and what a way to get started. Mia Voss living up to aim of interviewing cool people doing cool stuff. This week’s guests David Amerland, Kiragan Mercer, Rachel Jaffe, Zack Jones and Frank Romo share their thoughts on the coming year including YouTube, wearable technology and 3D printing! I found the enthusiasm and passion of the youngsters on this panel infectious - it’s just great to see such positivity tempered with a large dose of common sense. Very refreshing that the future does indeed look bright. Here’s the #batcrapcrazy #timestamp post for all of us short on time (http://goo.gl/QKSI0v)

Mia was also on our screens as host of the Black Lotus DDoS and Cybersecurity Power Talk (http://goo.gl/xWd4Yw) with a return visit from MaAnna Stephenson bringing the issues down to a non-geek level. It is still a scary world out there but with the application of some common sense we can all sleep at night. Take a look and keep yourself safe online.

If that’s all a little too scary for you then treat yourself to an hour or so of musical entertainment with the Aston Family (http://goo.gl/hURPHe). You may remember that the incredibly talented Phil Aston, Sue Aston, Dan Aston and Lee Aston promised us a Christmas Special following their much viewed summer show with Christine DeGraff’s My Music Hangout. Well here it is with some great production from John Ellis and Phil himself.  Co-hosted by Christine and Alexandra Riecke-Gonzales with wide-eyed commentary from Mia Voss and Chef Dennis Littley you’ll really enjoy this relaxing show. I’m sure there is a tradition in the offing here ;-)

I really liked the new format PYB Show featuring Chef Dennis Littley  (http://goo.gl/6blkRH). Stan Bush, martin shervington and the PYB regulars Mary Stovall, Travis Taylor, Karen V Chin, Greg Cooper, Debi Davis, Christian Karasiewicz sharing updates from the PYB community and then looking in detail at the #EagleCO project. The panel, and the audience, crowdsourcing ideas for a real, live project using digital as a primary method of generating business in Eagle, Colorado, based on the catalyst that is the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships to be held in Vail, Colorado in February. This is just the kind of show, community and project to really help businesses looking to move forward with Google+ in a meaningful, measurable way. Take a look now.

When it comes to generating traffic for your website there is no better guide than Ana Hoffman. In How to Drive Web Traffic with Content (http://goo.gl/G3jU37) Ana gives us ten takeaways to consider when looking at content marketing. Based on an article by Steve Faber (linked in Ana’s post) which is also well worth your time. I particularly liked the What does it all mean? closing section of Steve’s article. Get your 2015 content marketing off on the right foot and make the difference to your business.

Another lesson filled Possibility Partners Show - Becoming an Entrepreneur (http://goo.gl/XSCUFn) with Ande Lyons and guest Jake Desyllas. Jake shares some of his working practices and his book Becoming an Entrepreneur: How to Find Freedom and Fulfillment as a Business Owner. The importance of listening to your customers and serving their needs comes through loud and clear along side good tracking and record keeping to enable those vital course corrections as the business develops. Jake also stresses the importance of removing the need for you to be directly involved with your business processes - essential if your business is to scale or you have an idea to sell up and move on. Well worth 40 minutes of your time.

For me it’s always interesting to hear what others think of Social Media and how they use it particularly if they are very active users. Peg Fitzpatrick and Guy Kawasaki welcome Kim Garst to The Art of Social Media Power Users Show (http://goo.gl/09z9xf). Take a look and pick up a few pointers for your social media activities.

Simplicity, resiliency, and courage

A great start to the new series of Wade Harman’s Relationship Marketing Show (http://goo.gl/U4ueFr) with one of my favourite Plussers, Ray Hiltz, in the guest seat. Some well grounded, down to earth advice about finding your unique value (that authenticity thing again) and your why? I found the section about telling your own story in 2015 particularly resonant and I feel it would be a good thing to see more personal thought when sharing or creating content. Carrie-Anne Foster jumped into the latter part of the show with a great question that expanded the conversation. Looking forward to more great stuff from Wade and guests this year.

Thinkers corner

So you want to be famous? (http://goo.gl/NVd0Dm) is the question posed by Padraig Ó Raghaill as he takes a look at personal brand, its value, and danger, when building your business from it. As with so many great thought-provoking posts the ensuing conversation in the comments lend even greater value.

The conversation develops in todd l lebeauc’s share Why Famous? What is it really about Personal Brand that is so damn CRITICAL? (http://goo.gl/W5VKvU). Good questions to ponder and there is some interesting discussion that brings home the difficulties we face as we all grow and learn in this brave new digital world.

And finally…

Nope (http://goo.gl/dQxmS8) is a short, amusing video from Savvy Sexy Social advising against the upsurge of ‘follow me’ comments. Amy always reveals large amounts of common sense in her Social Thursday videos, each delivered in her own inimitable style. Well worth circling Amy for a refreshing five minutes every Thursday.

Time to splice the mainbrace!


Have a great weekend wherever you are

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Created by Mick Sharpe of Bitingedge