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April 28, 2009

MySpace and Your Business


MySpace is one of the oldest social networking sites. It also has the worst reputation because of its age. It is similar to rebellious teenager who has potential but keeps making wrong choices. I’m sure you’ve heard about people who abuse MySpace and use it to find people to perform sexual acts, typically with minors. Dateline has done several television shows on this. People’s accounts have been hacked and profiles have been altered. It’s enough to make any company nervous about using MySpace. Old technology and a negative reputation can discourage people and companies from avoiding MySpace. But don’t write it off just yet.

So what’s good about MySpace? You can upload music, videos, and pictures, customize the look of your page, write blog entries, and connect with fans. It has taken several pointers from facebook and allows you to add applications and keep people in the know with status updates. It is very music and video driven, rather than content driven like facebook. Some people and companies choose either facebook or MySpace but others use both.

MySpace has a great niche with the entertainment industry. Most musicians, actors, actresses, and entertainers have a MySpace page. This enables them to post their singles or clips from their latest projects. MySpace allows for a level playing field, garage bands as well as Grammy award winning artists can have a page.

MySpace ‘s age also is a benefit, most people have heard of it and probably used it before. It is trustworthy, as it has been around for many years and has survived several newer technologies trying to oust it.

NuVisions does not have a MySpace page at this time, as we are focusing our social media marketing on facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter. However, as we expand our services into podcasts and other media, MySpace may fit into our marketing plan.

Look for my next blog entry exploring another kind of social media: social bookmarking.

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April 27, 2009

Interview with Eli Williamson from Leave No Veteran Behind


I just completed the first in a very long line of interviews with Nonprofit organizations.  If you would like to listen to the interview podcast, please click the link below:

Listen To Interview Audio Podcast

I just wanted to say thank you Eli for participating in this interview series. My goal is to talk to as many Nonprofit organizations as I can and talk about their mission, vision, programs, why they were created, what the community can do to support them and what companies can do to help further their mission. I want to do my part by helping give them a voice for the world to hear for free.  NuVisions works with nonprofit organizations develop a voice. We write grants, inbound marketing and PR, any kind of business and technical writing, program and fund development creation and now we are offering this free interview service that we are making into a weekly podcast that we hope can turn in to a video podcast…once I figure out how to do that. I have organizations in Africa and Argentina who are going to be part of this series as well.

This series will not only be done on Nonprofits. I will also be interviewing for profit companies to see just how they tic as it were and see how they are supporting their community and hopefully out of that we can connect nonprofits and companies in their communities to work together. Build new relationships and funding sources.

We at NuVisions want to give a voice to those organizations for free to help further their missions. I was very impressed with Eli and what they were trying to accomplish. I strongly recommend anyone getting involved with their time or if they can donating. I will be adding the audio to the blog under Interviews as soon as I can.  Take a look and listen…:)

Here is a brief bio on who Leave No Veteran Behind.

My name is Eli Williamson and I am a Veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan
and executive director and co-founder of a nonprofit called Leave No
Veteran Behind. Our nonprofit works to relieve the educational debt of
veterans who are serving and have served in the US Military.

I took their mission right from their site. www.leavenoveteranbehind.org CORPORATE MISSION OF LEAVE NO VETE

The military has many codes of conduct that enable diverse individuals from all parts of the nation to represent the US with honor and win our nation’s wars. One code that is paramount is that we never leave a soldier, seaman, airman, or marine behind.

This principle should transcend the military and should be a part of our national fabric as Americans.  We should not allow individuals to slip through the cracks, especially if they are bettering themselves as citizens and soldiers by attaining higher education so that they may bring their expertise to the military and civilian workplace.

It is well understood that veterans of wars are highly vulnerable to a number of social and mental ills that affect them at higher rates than average Americans. It is also well known that veterans make up a disproportionate amount of our homeless population. This is a travesty — but a solid education can serve as an essential lifeline for returning veterans making the transition back to civilian life. Veterans should not have to struggle to secure this vital right to a secure, productive life.

Leave No Veteran Behind mitigates this problem through a low-overhead, high-impact program that obtains private donations and applies them to the payment of veterans’ student loans directly. The Military Student Loan Repayment Program has helped many veterans pay off the costs of their education. This, in tandem with the recently passed G.I Bill, will continue to have a tremendous positive impact on veterans and the nation. However, they do not apply to all veterans who have served honorably. For example:

-The GI Bill does not reimburse veterans for loans that have already been used for education.

-The Military Student Loan Repayment Program does not cover private loans.

-The Military Student Loan Repayment Program is not available to all veterans.



In order to take advantage of the lessons learned from the current programs, Leave No Veteran Behind has established a process that will fully supplement the repayment of veterans’ student loans. Using a public/private partnership concept, Leave No Veteran Behind operates with the support of professional veterans organizations such as the American Legion and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association, and will seek the support of the appropriate United States Government organizations.

It obtains private donations and disburses funds by way of a fully transparent procedure. Leave No Veteran Behind makes up for the inadequacies of existing programs by fully supporting veterans’ education through financial assistance, which will bring a high return on investment by relieving their debt burden and facilitating their transition into more productive circumstances.

Leave No Veteran Behind also requires all veterans helped by this program to give back 100 hours of community service. We will work in conjunction with other nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, governmental agencies, and religious social service groups so that we may allow veterans the chance to use their skills and lack of indebtedness to improve the lives of people in their communities and country.

Finally, Leave No Veteran Behind works with business to help veterans find employment. As an organization we recognize the special skill sets that veterans acquire during their service in the military. We make sure to promote the skills of our veterans to any companies seeking high quality workers.

How You Can Help

In order to address this problem, Leave No Veteran Behind is taking donations to help pay the debts of veterans who have answered our nation’s highest call for sacrifice. Please help us give back to those who have given so much. Donate now and tell others about our organization and our cause


RAN BEHIND

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April 26, 2009

LinkedIn: Professional Networking


Facebook is a great tool for staying in touch with business colleagues, networking, and promoting your brand. However, Facebook is used both professionally and personally by its users. What do you get if you remove the personal aspect from facebook? You get LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com).

LinkedIn has 39 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world. Just like facebook you create a profile, tailored to your professional history and interests and add people to your network. You can join groups like alumni associations or professional associations. Within these groups you post questions for others to respond, answer someone’s question and connect with other professionals locally and in your field.

In fact, the request NuVisions posted on our blog, looking for interview leaders to interview had such a large success rate on LinkedIn we had to close the request within a few days. We were overwhelmed with the response. People from across the globe in South America, Europe, and the United State responded to our post. They all had something they wanted to say and were looking for someone to connect to.

LinkedIn recommends contacts for you, based on your current connections, your job history, and educational history. You can connect with your university professors, your current and former coworkers as well as the CEO of companies with whom you’d like to establish a professional relationship.  Establish business contacts on LinkedIn that could lead to new business, new job opportunites, and new partnerships.

LinkedIn allows for status updates, similar to Facebook and Twitter. Keep your connections informed on projects you are working on, new business ventures, or whatever you’d like to tell your connections. Additionally, you can stream your blog into LinkedIn to keep everyone on LinkedIn up-to-date on your blog posts.

You can connect with NuVisions through Erin Schneider or Kat Davis. You can also join our group, NuVisions Consulting Group.

Next blog I’ll focus on using MySpace.  But social media isn’t just profile websites and status updates. Soon we’re going to switch gears a little and focus on another form of social media: social bookmarking with websites such as del.ic.ious and Digg.

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