Vickie Maris | Online Course Design, Digital Content Strategy and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Learn 15 Social Media Tools and Tips From Successful Entrepreneurs Featured in BizChix Podcast

2015-09-01 by Vickie Maris 20 Comments

Each of the BizChix podcast episodes this summer was an element of the themed series, Social Media Summer Camp. The podcast host is my friend and fellow entrepreneur, Natalie Eckdahl, who interviews female entrepreneurs, and “a few cool dudes.”

You won’t want to miss this episode. It is full to the brim with useful tips and social media tools that will help you improve your social media presence for your business and your engagement with customers.

Here is a quick rundown of the topics in this episode, which includes a brief contribution about your smartphone cameras and mics from yours truly! www.bizchix.com/189

Anna Spooner – Suggests that you choose 1-3 social media outlets when getting started. Select channels where your customers are spending time. @AnnaMSpooner

Nika Stewart of Ghost Tweeting – Suggests that you find a balance between scheduling posts and live interaction on a social media channel. Log in 10-20 minutes per day to engage with your customers. @NikaStewart

Jeff Sieh of Manly Pinterest Tips podcast – Talks about repurposing your content in several different outlets. @jeffsieh

Natalie Eckdahl adds several tips about video lengths and reminds listeners to upload videos to Facebook directly rather than linking to videos that reside on YouTube or another host. @bixchixpodcast

She also shared a tip about using Katch to “catch” your Periscope (or Meerkat) live streams and then embed the video from Katch to a blog. You can also create a pinnable graphic to use in your blog post that visitors could pin to their Pinterest page. For an example of “caught” scopes from Periscope that are stored in the cloud, here is a link to my page on Katch: www.katch.me/vickiemaris

A recap about the episode with Rachel Miller and Holly Homer covers organic growth on Facebook, and thoughts about frequency of posting to your page. @4kidsactivities

JoAnn Funch of Marketing Dish reminds us to make an accompanying image to go with each blog post that depicts the content well. Website tools and apps recommended include: canva.com, picmonkey.com and the iOS app, Word Swag. @JoAnnFunch

The creation of a watermark, such as your website URL, to go across your images, was suggested as a way to help people know the origin of an image, and to perhaps, drive them back to your website.

Vickie Maris – that’s me! – In the section about live video streaming apps, I shared an audio clip about the value of learning how your smartphone chooses which of its camera/mic combinations to use. Knowing which mic your camera is going to use in a given situation can greatly improve the quality of your Periscope or Meerkat live streams. @vickiemaris

Google+ was mentioned too. Stacey Harris and Carol Sanek touch on this channel. You’ll hear the quote, “It’s an IV to the Internet!” Google+ Hangouts on Air are touted as a terrific solution to webinars for smaller business. @TheStaceyHarris and @carolsanek

Podcaster Katie Krimitsos shares her enthusiasm about starting and running a Facebook group for your followers. Natalie adds the advice about the Facebook Groups app. Put it on your phone if you’re running a group. It’s a big time saver! @katiekrimitsos

Scheduling Tools

Tools for scheduling posts and monitoring feeds were discussed. These include but are not limited to Hootsuite, Social Oomph, Meet Edgar and SproutSocial. For Tweet chats, you’ll hear a shout out for TweetDeck.

Do you get the idea? It’s an episode with tons of takeaways. You won’t want to miss it. Plus – you’ll not only get to hear Natalie’s podcast, which I know you’re going to subscribe to if you haven’t already – but you’ll also get to hear the voices of several other entrepreneurs and business owners sharing nuggets for your social media success. www.bizchix.com/189

Which Social Media Tools Do You Like to Use?

Are you already implementing any of this tools or tips? Do you have another tool or tip to suggest? Please add a comment to let me know which one is a favorite.

7 Bonus Takeaways for Students in Udemy Course

2015-07-31 by Vickie Maris 23 Comments

Sometimes, you just need to stop and celebrate the milestones in your business! That’s what I’m doing today with this brief blog post, and I’m so glad you stopped by to join me!

What milestone am I celebrating?

Udemy Course is Live and Attracting Students!

My first Udemy course is now online and open to the public around the globe. After running for about 24 hours, there are 21 students already enrolled! The course has even received its first 5-star rating and review from a student.

(Update! Five days since launch, the course has 489 enrollments!)

Maybe that doesn’t sound like a big deal for a course design professional, but this milestone is different. This course is about a topic I have a lot of interest in and my content expert, whom I interviewed on video for the course, is my 93-year-old mom, Lucille Maris. What a delightful adventure!

Photo from 1945 of bomber pilot Jim Maris, and his wife, Lucille, and dog, Blondie — Lucille Maris in 1945, with her aviator husband, Jim Maris, and their much-loved Cocker Spaniel, Blondie. You can learn, in the Udemy course, how they got Blondie home from the military base in England during World War 2.

The course is titled, Life of a Pilot’s Wife During World War 2 (You can enroll for the special price of $17 when you click the course title to follow the link). If you’re already a student in Udemy, then just go to the course at this link and enter the code, WEBSITE.

The content is proving to have appeal among students who are interested in topics way beyond World War 2 history. Here are seven bonuses that students are telling me they gain as the watch the videos in this Udemy course:

Family historians get ideas about recording or capturing your own family’s history.
People who enjoy a sweet love story are reporting their fondness of the obvious love between my dad and mom – a military pilot who adored his bride for 65 years.
Mothers and daughters are having fun watching my mom interact with me on camera during the interviews!
Aviation history buffs and those who like to learn more about World War 2 aviation comment on the photos of the war planes, and the planes Jim Maris brought in to Purdue University for students to restore (now on display in museums).
Dog lovers like the stories about Blondie, the Cocker Spaniel that Jim Maris acquired as a puppy while flying out of a base in Wendling, England.
Young people comment on the concept of life before television and before Internet and wifi!
Course designers get ideas on how to bring in content experts via video interview for courses they are creating.

If you enjoy a documentary, you will have fun watching this course. It consists of about two hours of videos, that range in length from 2 – 5 minutes. The three slide presentations (one in each section) are full to the brim with photographs, receipts, maps and other material from my parents’ World War 2 / 1940s archives.

Yes. This is definitely a milestone to celebrate! I really appreciate that you’ve been a part of the celebration by reading about the course.

I’ve started covering the course topic in some of my scopes on Periscope, so if you have a question you’d like for me to address in an upcoming scope about the course content or the making of a Udemy course, please add a comment to this blog post.

I look forward to seeing you online!!

Vickie

PS – Several of the videos in the course and one of the slide decks are set to preview mode which allows you to check out the content before enrolling. And Udemy provides a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you enroll in this course, or any Udemy course, and discover it isn’t what you expected, you can get a refund during the first 30 days of your enrollment.

5 Tools You Can Use For a Periscope Live Stream

2015-07-07 by Vickie Maris 45 Comments

Are you ready to start doing a Periscope live stream, but not sure what tools to use to improve your video? Or perhaps you’re already scoping but you would like to improve the quality of your scopes to better engage with your followers.

I’ve put together a list of the simple tools that I am using for Periscopes and Meerkats (another live streaming app). These should make it easier for you to improve your setup or to get started if you’re still hesitating about doing a live stream. Please note that the links and photos (also links) are my affiliate links with Amazon.

Tripods

One of the most important of these tools is a tripod for your smartphone. Having your phone on a tripod eliminates the camera shake and makes it much easier for people to watch you or whatever it is you’re streaming.

If you already have a selfie stick, check to see if you can screw a tripod into the bottom of the stick. Since I didn’t yet have a selfie stick, I started out with the Accmor Rhythm Pro Selfie Stick. It has a tripod attachment and a remote. If you are interested in owning a tool that serves as both a selfie stick and a tripod, then this is a great way to go.

Note: After about 30 scopes, I decided that I would like to have a heavier bracket to grip my iPhone 6 Plus on the Accmor Rhythm Pro Selfie Stick. I bought the MegaGrab2 by ChargerCity through Amazon.com. It is more of a workhorse as far as brackets are concerned. You will find that it is really easy to swivel your phone from portrait to landscape mode and back. It fit easily onto my selfie stick.

I also use a tripod with flexible legs by CamRah. I like the strong, flexible legs in this tripod, but the joint at the top does not allow you to put your smartphone in the vertical position for a scope. Those flexible legs, though, will let you position your phone in odd places such as a tree branch or another place where you would need to wrap the tripod legs around something.

Magnetic White Board

You can also find value in a small white board and an easel to hold the white board. I love this type of setup for a live stream. You can write the topic of your stream on the white board and point your camera towards that when you first start your stream. I suggest pointing back to the white board that shows your topic at the end of your stream too.

If you use a magnetic white board, then it serves dual purpose during your Meerkat or Periscope live stream. I post a one-page list of tips or topics that I plan to cover in the stream onto the white board using the magnets.

With this method, you don’t have to spend time erasing anything from the white board during your stream since you’re just temporarily covering it with your sheet of tips and topics. You have the option of pointing your camera towards the list, or you can keep the camera pointed towards yourself and use the list as a teleprompter of sorts.

This will keep you more organized. I’m seeing that it also seems to help keep my visitors more engaged in the conversation during the stream.

Tabletop Easel

The other handy piece of equipment that I use during a live stream is a tabletop easel that holds my white board. It keeps things at eye level for me while I’m streaming and prevents paper shuffling when I switch the camera from front facing to rear facing.

Mics for Your Smartphone

You can improve the audio quality of your live stream if you attach a microphone to your phone. The external mic that you choose will override the internal mics on your smartphone when plugged in to your phone. Note: Keep in mind that your followers will forgive video that is poor quality for much longer than they will forgive poor audio quality, so an external mic is always a good idea for your scopes.

If you’re going to be more than a few feet from your smartphone during a scope, or if you’re going to be using the rear-facing camera to show your followers something while you continue talking, then you should use your mic on your earbuds or another external mic.

A lav mic is a good option since you don’t have to hold it while you’re speaking. I am loving my new Rode (pronounced “road”) lavalier mic that I use for scopes. It plugs in to the earphone jack on my iPhone 6 Plus. It has greatly improved the audio quality of my scopes. If it is within your budget, I recommend this mic. It’s very popular in the industry.

In one of my earliest scopes, I used my IK iRig mic which is a mic that you hold or place in a table top mic stand. The iRig is an HD mic. Instead of an XLR connection of a standard mic, it too plugs right into your iPhone or iPad like the Rode mic mentioned above. If you’d like a handheld mic rather than a lavalier, this is a great option.

Another brand I’ve seen promoted in a scope is the MXL, but I don’t own this brand of microphone, so can’t speak from any personal experience in use of this mic.

Fisheye and Wide Angle Clip-on Lens Set

Another tool in my kit for broadcasting via Periscope is a set of clip-on lenses for my smartphone. If you are interviewing another person in your broadcast, the addition of a clip-on lens to expand the field of view will make it easier to include both people in the scene while the phone is in portrait (vertical) position. The photo below is a live affiliate link to Amazon for the set of clip-on VicTsing lenses to use with your smartphone. I purchased this set and use the lenses on a regular basis in my scopes. They are really handy!

You’ll see the other tools that I’ve mentioned in this post, and that I have referred to in scopes, when you check out the images and links below. Hope you find this helpful.

What is your favorite tool or tip for Periscope or Meerkat?

Do you have a favorite tool or tip about live streaming with Meerkat or Periscope that you would like to share? Please add a comment on this post and let’s get a conversation going about ideas for improving the quality of live streams and making them easier to conduct.

Feel free to add your Twitter handle in your comment if you’d like for me and other readers of the comments to follow you in Periscope.

Vickie

PS – Please follow me on Periscope (@vickiemaris) for course design tips, elearning news and the occasional llama training or music conversation.

Disclosure: The links above are my Amazon Associate affiliate links. If you click through to Amazon using one of these links, I earn a small commission for your purchase. I appreciate it when you make a purchase through these links as it helps me cover the expenses of running the podcast and the blog.

Don’t Even Think About Taking Online Courses

2015-06-18 by Vickie Maris Leave a Comment

Have you been told, “don’t take online courses,” by a teacher, professor, family member or friend? Thank goodness it is not spoken as much today as it was a decade ago when people were still more skeptical about the quality of online courses. But even back then, the statement made me want to cry as an avid lifelong learner and proponent of elearning.

Learning opportunities in the online environment parallel if not surpass learning in the traditional classroom. That of course, depends on the topic, the design of the course, the instructor, the format and the motivation level of the learner. But I truly am saddened when online course or teaching opportunities are thrown away because of a mindset that online goes hand-in-hand with poor quality.

Let’s take a look at the different types of online courses that exist, so that you can make a more informed decision as you plan your next online learning or teaching experience.

Online courses can be delivered in a variety of formats.

You will find that online courses come in many formats and have many names. In addition to the name online course, they are also called e-courses, digital courses, TV courses, distance courses, Web courses, MOOCs (massive open online courses), cd courses, video courses, computer-based courses, and more.

As you can see from the names, the delivery formats also vary. You can enroll in a course that is purely online (learners have no in-the-class or face-to-face component in the learning) or a blended learning course (also called a hybrid course) in which online and face-to-face components are combined.

As you’re considering your next lifelong learning experience, you will want to decide if your preference is for a self-study course where in which there is little to no interaction with an instructor, or you might choose an instructor-led course in which you interact with an instructor or subject matter expert.

There are variations of instructor-led courses. These can range from an instructor leading the discussion in discussion threads on a regular basis, to an instructor-led course in which an instructor is not only participating in discussion threads but also grading assessments, holding online help or coaching sessions and more. In the latter of these two instructor-led courses, you are more likely to see the content “dripped” to the students in the online environment.

What is dripped content in an online course?

Dripping content in an online course means that the students are given access to content on a pre-determined schedule. For instance, as a new student in a course, you might get access to the Week 1 content at the point of enrollment, and then get access to additional content for each additional week of the course. This technique can be used in either self-study courses or in instructor-led courses.

Sample a video course in public platforms like Kajabi Next or Udemy before rejecting the idea of taking a course.

As an instructional designer and course developer, I have been learning a lesson in semantics as I promote one of my new courses, World War 2 History: A View of the USA Home Front. The people who have had great interest in the interviews I’ve done for the course with my 93-year-old mom about the home front and life as a young newlywed during World War 2, are stumped by the word, “course.” Many are members of generations not as familiar with the Internet and common technology uses of the day for online learning. One of my own family members responded with, “I have no idea what an online course is. Don’t even try to explain it to me.”

That is the type of response you and I both should use to inspire us to ask questions in order to better understand our audience of learners or customers. You will probably hear things similar to what I’ve been hearing such as: “I don’t have time to study,” or “I don’t want to take a quiz.” If your course consists primarily of videos and a few other files that can be viewed or downloaded, then it is more aligned with “watching a movie” than it is “taking a course.” Now the trick is to figure out how to convey that message to the people interested in your content, and who would find it very easy to take time to watch a movie.

Do you prefer a cohort or to learn on your own?

Do you like to learn “alongside” others in your class? If so, you would want to look for an online course that is run in cohort groups. If the students are set up in a cohort, then everyone in the class section starts on the same day and ends at the same time. If enrollment numbers are large, then the organization or institution hosting the course might start several cohorts, each with its own instructor, of the same course.

TV courses are also referred to as lecture-capture courses

When you hear the term TV course, it usually is a reference to a lecture-captured course. In these types of courses, an instructor delivering a lecture for each in-class meeting is recorded on audio, video or both, and then the recordings are made available to the students who are learning from a distance. This type of course could be delivered as an online course or might be sent out on a DVD or other type of recording.

Is your learning schedule flexible?

The terms asynchronous and synchronous are other terms you will hear in the world of course design and e-learning. If your schedule is flexible and you can “attend” class online at a specified time, then an asynchronous course could be a good fit. This type of learning connection allows the students to be in class while a lecture or other learning activity is happening in real time. There are benefits from getting to interact with the instructor and other learners in a synchronous environment. But this delivery also has its pitfalls in that you might have to deal with dropped connections, differing Internet connection speeds causing issues, and less ability to scale the reach of the course to larger numbers of students.

If a course is promoted as asynchronous, then students do not need to be connected online at the same time as the instructor. Learning materials are accessible on the student’s schedule. For instance, a student can watch a pre-recorded lecture at any time and then post in a discussion forum or take an online quiz during the time they are connected to the learning platform.

For access to free content, try a MOOC.

A MOOC, referred to at the beginning of this article, is a Web-based distance learning course. It is designed for participation by large numbers of students and is typically free. They range in format from self-study to instructor-led. MOOCs are an easy way to access content for learning, but you will hear some say that it takes a motivated learner to stay engaged in the content and finish the course. MOOCs typically have a high rate of enrollment and low rate of completion.

Businesses offer video courses as a way to educate customers.

Video courses are becoming more and more popular as a way for entrepreneurs or businesses to share expertise for customers or clients. Creating a video course to make accessible to customers – either for free or for a registration fee – is an example of practicing the one-to-many model of reaching your following. With the fast-advancing video technology in smart phones, web cameras and screen capture software, it has opened the door wide for many to provide training in an easy-to-consume format.

As an example, a guitar teacher might teach 10 students in a day of half-hour lessons. Unless she increases her lesson price or teaches more lessons in a single day, it is difficult to scale this model of a business. That same guitar teacher could teach 100s or 1000s of students online if she created a video course to make available online as a self-study in beginning guitar.

What are your experiences with online courses?

The world of teaching and learning is changing in a quick pace as new technologies come online and make it easier to reach students or customers around the globe with instruction in just about any topic.

In what ways have you experienced online courses? As a student? As an instructor? Share a comment on this post about your experience and how you might change it in the future.

Podcast Episodes to Help You Grow Your Business

2015-05-07 by Vickie Maris Leave a Comment

Graphic depicting tablet & headphones — A collection of podcast episodes I have listened to in recent months that will help you grow your business.

I often get asked about which podcasts I listen to or which ones I recommend, so I now keep a running list of episodes that stand out. These are shows and episodes that you too can benefit from as you grow your business. I primarily listen to audio podcasts rather than watching video podcasts (vodcasts), but you’ll find that several of these shows have video formats in addition to the audio. Many shows also include a downloadable transcript in the show notes, so be sure to check out the links provided below!

To learn about life routines, software applications and other productivity hacks for being more efficient:

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week, interviews Noah Kagan about quite a few topics related to productivity in this podcast episode. Noah was the 30^th hire at Facebook and later the 4^th hire at Mint.com. He has since founded SumoMe.com which is a site to visit if you’re looking for easy-to-use tools for growing web traffic.

This is nearly a two-hour-long episode, but it’s definitely worth a listen. http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/05/07/noah-kagan/

“I’ve never met any super successful people who don’t read,” Noah Kagan.

Tim Ferriss also shares many insights in the interview. He passes along wisdom he gained from the mother of a family he stayed with in Panama. “You should make sure you always have an incredible bed and at least one incredible pair of shoes. If you’re not in one, you’ll be in the other.”

You can follow Noah on Twitter: www.twitter.com/noahkagan

You can follow Tim on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tferriss

To learn about creating a culture in which your employees desire to participate:

The Eventual Millionaire podcast is one I listen to on a weekly basis. Jaime Tardy, author of a book by the same name as the podcast, interviews entrepreneurs and business owners who are millionaires. Every episode brings something different and very useful! Let me suggest that you listen to her interview with David Long in which they discuss, How to Attract (and Keep) Your Top Notch Employees. (Episode released April 13, 2015)

You can follow Jaime on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eventualmillion

To learn to differentiate between business items that deserve your personal attention and items that should be outsourced:

This podcast interview by Amy Porterfield with her personal business coach, Todd Herman, became an episode that moved over to my “listen again” list. These two entrepreneurs provide several useful insights about focusing on efforts that are critical to the growth of your business. You can even download a free, entrepreneurial scorecard for tracking your daily activities. When you complete the scorecard on a regular basis, it sheds light on the items you should be outsourcing and which items deserve your personal focus. Take a listen to Episode 47 of the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast with Amy Porterfield. Here’s a link: http://bit.ly/AmyPorterfieldToddHerman

Note: I also have been taking notes on Amy’s use of SMS (short message service) in which she gives her podcast listener the opportunity to text a code on a mobile device to a provided number and in turn receive a pdf download. In the case above, she provides the entrepreneurial scorecard after you provide your email address. It’s a neat way to capture email addresses of your listeners and provide them with useful tools and services aligned with their interests. You can read more about SMS services for mobile in this article at Social Media Examiner.

You can follow Amy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/amyporterfield

Graphic of SMS screen grab — This screen grab of my mobile shows the first text I received in reply after sending a text to the number Amy Porterfield supplied in her podcast episode. She collected my email address in the following text.

To learn more about using YouTube to deliver your content:

Beauty and the Vlog by Erika Vieira

One example of a YouTube channel in which you can learn more about using YouTube to reach your audience is created by Erika Vieira of www.beautyandthevlog.com.

I met Erika through my participation in the online community, Podcasters’ Paradise. She has both a podcast and a vlog (video blog) that have become very popular. Erika teaches people how to start a YouTube channel; how to vlog; how to be a beauty guru, and more. She interviews full time YouTubers. Even if your niche is something other than beauty, you can learn a lot from Erika and her guests. Visit her YouTube channel via this link: http://bit.ly/1Al2L3a.

You can follow Erika on Twitter: www.twitter.com/iamEGR

To learn tips about using Twitter:

Episode 138 of the BizChix podcast by Natalie Eckdahl is an interview with Nika Stewart, who owns a boutique agency, Ghost Tweeting, for providing social media services.

Nika provides several immediately-applicable tips for you to use as you grow your presence on Twitter. She shares several interesting stories about her journey as an entrepreneur. Nika and Natalie interact so easily in this podcast conversation. You’ll enjoy this episode!

Natalie and Mark Eckdahl have been an inspiration to me and my husband, Scott Greeson, as we further develop our businesses. I am growing my online business as an online course designer, instructor and social media marketing consultant/ author. Scott is taking his music business, Hoosier Surf Records, Inc., and our lives as songwriters, entertainers and recording artists, to a new level.

Note: I first met Natalie and Mark in 2014 while attending the Social Media Marketing World Conference. We were at a networking event on the USS Midway, docked in San Diego, California. We saw each other again at the 2015 Social Media Marketing World event and Natalie later included me in an episode of her podcast in which several women podcasters shared key takeaways from the event for use in your social media marketing.

You can follow Natalie on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bizchixpodcast

Click to listen to Episode 167

To learn more about visual literacy and the importance this artist places on down time:

I heard Sunni Brown interviewed on the podcast, Entrepreneur on Fire. Her title (within her company) is Infodoodler-in-Chief of SB Ink, and she has been named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business and one of the 10 Most Creative People on Twitter by Fast Company. I was inspired to learn about her journey in this episode: http://www.entrepreneuronfire.com/podcast/sunnibrown/

You can follow Sunni on Twitter too: www.twitter.com/sunnibrown

Now it’s your turn:

Please share a comment on this post about something you gained from one of these episodes, or suggest another show or episode that has been useful to you in your business life.