Vancouver Startup Workshop: Taking Internet to the Next Level

Overview

A workshop on startup marketing and online reputation featuring insights from @alextoul (marketing major) and @martiniyen from Hockey Community. The team of 5 people operates from Bootup Enterprises.

Learning Journey

• 3 months of intensive learning about startups from the community
• Attended 20 conferences
• Met with 70 startups
• Silicon Valley visits including:
  • Zappos
  • Google
  • Dropbox
  • Web 2.0 Expo
  • LeWeb Paris
  • TechCrunch Disrupt

Key Paradoxes

1. Psychology vs Technology

• Focus on human interaction
• Understanding web behavior
• Recommended reading: “Predictably Irrational”

2. Reality vs Virtuality

• Cloud computing revolution
• Services: Amazon, Dropbox, Twitter
• Community sharing economy
• Resource optimization

3. Internet vs TV

• Evolution of digital advertising
• Google’s success with AdWords/AdSense ($3B revenue)
• Future of web monetization

Two Major Layers

1. Social Layer

• Website personalization
• Community building
• Facebook API integration (18-35 demographic)
• Mobile advertising effectiveness
• Privacy considerations
• User education
• The “Like” phenomenon
  • Social acceptance
  • Facebook’s positive reinforcement strategy

2. Gaming Layer

Six Game Dynamics

1. Meet Specific Conditions

   • Example: Happy hour promotions

2. Balanced Challenge

   • IKEA effect
   • User experience design
   • Apple’s intuitive design philosophy

3. Rewards Systems

4. Progress Tracking

5. Short vs Long Term Goals

6. Element of Uncertainty

   • Hidden features
   • Discovery satisfaction

Major Changes in Digital Landscape

1. The Long Tail

• Distribution:
  • Fat head (18.5%)
  • Chunky middle (11.5%)
  • Long tail (70%)
• Competition vs Conversion rate spectrum

2. Safe is Risky (Seth Godin)

• Viral marketing principles
• Innovation necessity

Twitter Strategy Guide

Platform Benefits

• Premier marketing tool
• Community management platform
• Key metrics:
  • 20% traffic from Twitter
  • 60% contacts/partners via Twitter
  • 5,000 community members
  • 500,000 Twitter accounts in database

Best Practices

1. Profile Optimization

   • Professional username
   • Complete bio
   • Location strategy
   • Following ratio
   • Visual branding

2. Daily Engagement

   • 5 Retweets
   • 5 Replies
   • 5 Original tweets
   • 5 Questions
   • Time investment: 30-60 minutes daily

3. Growth Tactics

   • Strategic following
   • List utilization
   • Trending topics engagement
   • Cross-platform promotion

Contact Information

For more information:

• Email: Contact
• Expertise: Rails Developer, Java

Action Items

1. Review Twitter API documentation
2. Target Vancouver AutoCAD and house design community
3. Develop Twitter community management strategy
4. Implement Facebook engagement features

Future Trends

• Web 2.0 and mobile integration
• Location-based services
• Augmented reality
• Foursquare and niche players